A 






A DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. 



DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE: 

COMPRISING ITS 



ANTIQUITIES, BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, NATURAL HISTORY 
AND LITERATURE. 

WITH THE 

LATEST RESEARCHES AND REFERENCES TO THE REVISED VERSION 
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 



WITH EIGHT COLOEED MAPS 

AND 

FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS. 



BY 

WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D. 

REVISED AND EDITED BY 

REV. F. 1ST. and MfAf^LOUBET, 

AUTHORS OF "SELECT NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSONS. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PORTER and COATES, 




Copyright, 1884, 
By PORTER and COATES. 



PREFACE. 



Every one acknowledges the great value of Dr. William Smith's Bible 
Dictionary, as containing "the fruit of the ripest biblical scholarship of Eng- 
land," and that much of this value remains in the condensation of his larger 
work into one smaller volume. 

At the request of the publishers of this volume to make an abridgment of the 
work, and adapt it to the present wants of Sunday-school teachers, we have 
faithfully endeavored to embody the following results : 

1. The main body of the work is precisely as Dr. Smith himself made it. 

2. We have made some abridgments, but almost entirely of matter not spe- 
cially helpful or interesting to teachers, or to any who would not be likely to 
have the large four-volume edition. 

3. We have added all the proper names used in the New Revision, where they 
have differed from those in the Authorized Version. 

4. The signification of all the proper names has been inserted from the best 
authorities, in addition to the few which are found in the former editions. 

5. The results of the latest research, especially in regard to the topography 
of Palestine, are embodied in various articles. 

6. Some subjects have been rearranged, to make them clearer, and sometimes 
fuller and more definite information has been given. 

7. The dates at which persons lived and events took place have been inserted, 
not because absolute reliance can be placed on their accuracy, but in order to 
show the relative positions of each, and hence to give a clearer idea of the 
history and progress of events. The dates are in accordance with Archbishop 
Ussher's system as printed in our common Bibles. Those after the reign of 
David, from which time a good degree of accuracy is obtainable, are from 
M'Clintock and Strong's large Cyclopedia. 

8. All important changes are marked with the signature " Ed.," so that Dr. 
Smith may not be regarded as responsible for them. 

9. Special thanks are due to the American Sunday-School Union for the use 
of some of the very excellent illustrations from SchafFs Bible Dictionary. 



F. N. and M. A. PELOUBET. 



LIST OF WRITERS. 



ALFORD, REV. HENRY, D.D., 

Dean of Canterbury. 
BAILEY, REV. HENRY, B.D., 

Warden of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury. 
BARRY, REV. ALFRED, B.D., 

Principal of Cheltenham College. 
BE VAN, REV. WILLIAM L., M.A., 

Vicar of Hav, Brecknockshire. 
BLAKESLEY, REV. JOSEPH W., B.D., 

Canon of Canterbury. 
BONAR, REV. HORATIUS, D.D., 

Kelso, N. B., author of " The Land of Promise," etc. 
BROWN, REV. THOMAS E., M.A., 

Vice-Principal of King William's College, Isle of Man. 
BROWNE, REV. E. HAROLD, D.D., 

Lord Bishop of Ely. 
BROWNE, REV. ROBERT W., M.A., 

Archdeacon of Bath. 
BULLOCK, REV. WILLIAM T., M.A., 

Sec. of the Societv for the Propagation of the Gospel. 
CLARK, REV. SAMUEL, M.A., 

Vicar of Bredwardine with Brobury, Herefordshire. 
COOK, REV. F. C, M.A., 

Canon of Exeter. 
COTTON, REV. GEORGE E. L., D.D., 

Lord Bishop of Calcutta. 
DAVIES, REV. J. LLEWELYN, M.A., 

Rector of Christ Church, Marylebone. 
DAY, REV. GEORGE E, D.D., 

Prof, of Biblical Theologv, Yale College, New Haven. 
DEUTSCH, EMANUEL, M.R.A.S., 

University of Berlin and British Museum. 
DRAKE/REV. WILLIAM, M.A., 

Hon. Canon of Worcester. 
EDDRUP, REV. EDWARD P., M.A., 

Principal of the Theological College, Salisbury. 
ELLICOTT, REV. CHARLES J., D.D., 

Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. 
EL WIN, REV. WHITWELL, B.A., 

Rector of Booton, Norfolk. 
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. 
FARRAR, REV. FREDERICK W., M.A., 

Assistant Master of Harrow School. 
FELTON, C. C, LL.D., 

Prof, of Greek Lit., Harv. Univ., Cambridge, Mass. 
FERGUSSON, JAMES, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., 

Royal Institution of British Architects. 
FFOULKES, EDMUND S., M.A., 

Late Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. 
FITZGERALD, REV. WILLIAM, D.D., 

Lord Bishop of Killaloe. 
GARDEN, REV. FRANCIS, M.A., 

Subdean of the Chapel Royal. 
GOTCH, F. W., LL.D., 

Hebrew Examiner, University of London. 
GROVE, GEORGE, 

Crystal Palace, Sydenham. 

HACKETT, REV. HORATIO B., D.D., 

Prof, of Bib. Literature, Theological Sem., Newton, Ms. 
HAW KINS, REV. ERNEST, B.D., 

HAYMAN, REV. HENRY, M.A., 

Head Master of Grammar School, Cheltenham. 

KERVEY, LORD ARTHUR C, M.A., 

Author of " (Jenealogics of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

HESSEY, REV. JAMES A., D.C.L., 

Bead Master of Merchant Tailors' School. 
HOOKER, .JOSEPH I)., M.D., F.R.S., 

Koval Botanic Gardens, Kew. 

HORNBY, REV. J. J., M.A., 
HOUGHTON, R P Ev! WILLIAM, M.A., 

Rector of Preston, Salop. 



HOWSON, REV. JOHN S., D.D., 

Joint-author of " Life and Epistles of St. Paul." 
HUXTABLE, REV. EDGAR, M.A., 

Subdean of Wells. 
JONES, REV. W. BASIL, M.A., 

Prebendary of York and St. David's. 
LAYARD, AUSTEN H., D.C.L., M.P., 

Author of " Nineveh and its Remains," etc. 
LEATHES, REV. STANLEY, M.A., M.R.S.L., 

Professor of Hebrew, King's College, London. 
LIGHTFOOT, REV. JOSEPH B., D.D., 

Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Cambridge, England. 
MARKS, REV. D. W., 

Professor of Hebrew, University College, London. 
MEYRICK, REV. FREDERICK, M.A., 

Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools. 
OPPERT, PROF. JULES, 

Author of " Chronology of Babylon," Paris. 
ORGER, REV. EDWARD R., M.A., 

Fellow of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury. 
ORMEROD, REV. THOMAS J., M.A., 

Archdeacon of Suffolk. 

PELOUBET, F. N. and M. A. 
PEROWNE, REV. JOHN J. S., B.D., 

Vice Principal of St. David's College, Lampeter. 
PEROWNE, REV. THOS. T., B.D., 

Fellow and Tutor, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 
PHILLOTT, REV. H. W., M.A., 

Rector of Staunton-on-Wye. 
PLUMPTRE, REV. EDWARD H., M.A., 

Professor of Divinity, King's College, London. 
POOLE, E. STANLEY, M.R.A.S., 

South Kensington Museum. 
POOLE, R. STUART, M.R.S.L., 

Author of " Horaj jEgvpliacse," etc. 
PORTER, REV. J. LESLIE, M.A., 

Author of " Handbook of Syria and Palestine." 
PRITCHARD, REV. C'HAS., MA., F.R.S., 

Late Fellow of St. John's Collecce, Cambridge, England. 
RAWLINSON, REV. GEORGE, M.A., 

Author of " Great Monarchies of the Ancient World." 
ROSE, REV. HENRY J., B.D., 

Rector of Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire. 
SELWYN, REV. WILLIAM W., B.D., 

Margaret Professor of Divinity, Cambridge, England. 
SMITH, REV. D. T., D.D., 

Prof, of Sacred Lit., Theological Sem., Bangor, Me. 
SMITH, WILLIAM, LL.D. (Editor), 

Classical Examiner, University of London. 
STANLEY, REV. ARTHUR P., D.D., 

Dean of Westminster. 
STOWE, REV. CALVIN E., D.D., 

Late Prof, of Sacred Lit., Theo. Sem., Ardover, Mass. 
THOMPSON, REV. JOSEPH P., D.D., 

Author of "Egypt, Past and Present," N. Y. city. 
THOMSON, REV. WILLIAM, D.D., 

Lord Archbishop of York. 
THRUPP, REV. JOSEPH F., M.A., 

Vicar of Barrington. 
TREGELLES, SAMUEL P., LL.D., 

Author "Ace. of the Printed Text of the Gr. N. T." 
TRISTRAM, REV. H. B., M.A., F.L.S., 

Author of " The Land of Israel." 
TWISLETON, HON. EDW., M.A., 

Late Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford. 
VENABLES, REV. EDMUND, M.A., 

Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. 
WESTCOTT, REV. BROOKE F., M.A., 

Author of " Introduction to the Study of the Gospels " 
WORDSWORTH, REV. CHRISTOPHER, D.D. 

Archdeacon of Westminster. 
WRIGHT, WILLIAM ALDIS, M.A., 

Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, England. 



vi 



ABBREVIATIONS. 



A.D Anno Domini (Latin) = in the 

year of our Lord, 
anc ancient. 

Ann Annals of Tacitus, a Roman his- 
torian. 
Ant Antiquities. 

A. U.C anno urbis conditce=in the year of 

the building of the city, Rome. 

B. & D Hist, of Bel and the Dragon 

(Apoc). 

Bar Baruch (Apoc). 

B.C Before Christ. 

B. R Biblical Researches, by Dr. Rob- 
inson. 

Cant Canticles or Song of Solomon 

(0. T.). 

cf. conferer (French) = compare. 

ch. and chs... chapter and chapters, respec- 
tively. 

1 Chron 1st Book of Chronicles (O. T.). 

2 Chron 2d Book of Chronicles (O. T.). 

Cic. in Verr.. .Cicero's oration against Verres. 
cir circa (Latin) = about. 

Col Ep. to the Colossians (N. T.). 

Coram Commentary. 

comp compare. 

1 Cor 1st Ep. to the Corinthians (N. T.). 

2 Cor 2d Ep. to the Corinthians (N. T.). 

Cyc Cyclopedia. 

Dan Daniel (O. T.). 

Deut Deuteronomy (0. T.). 

Diet Dictionary. 

Eccles Ecclesiastes (O. T.). 

Ecclus Ecclesiasticus (Apoc). 

ed edition. 

e. g exempli gratia (Latin) = for ex- 

ample. 

Eph Ep. to the Ephesians (N. T.). 

1 Esd 1st Book of Esdras (Apoc). 

2 Esd 2d Book of Esdras (Apoc). 

Euseb Eusebius, a Greek historian, who 

died a.d. 340. 

Ex Exodus (0. T.). 

Ezek Ezekiel (O. T.). 

f. following (verse or page). 



fern feminine. 

n°. following (verses or pages). 

Gal Ep. to the Galatians (N. T.). 

Gen Genesis (0. T.). 

Gr Greek. 

Hab Habakkuk (0. T.). 

Hag Haggai (0. T.). 

Haudb Handbook. 

Heb Hebrews or Ep. to the Hebrews 

(N. T.). 

Herod Herodotus, a Greek historian, 

B.C. 484. 
Hist History. 

Hor. Sat Satires of Horace, a Roman poet, 

B.C. 65-8. 

Hos Hosea (0. T.). 

ib. or ibid ibidem (Latin) = in the same 

place. 

i. e id est (Latin) = that is. 

in loc in loco (Latin) = in the place or 

on the passage cited. 

Isa Isaiah (O. T.). 

Jud Judith (Apoc). 

Jer Jeremiah (0. T.). 

Jon Jonah (0. T.). 

Jos Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews. 

Jos. B. J Josephus, Bellum Judaicum = 

Jewish War. 

Josh Joshua (O. T.). 

Juven. Sat Satires of Juvenal, a Roman 

poet. 

Lam Lamentations of Jeremiah (O.T.). 

I. c loco citato (Latin) = at the place 

cited. 

II. cc locis cilatis (Latin) = at the places 

cited. 

Lev Leviticus (0. T.). 

lib Hber (Latin) = book. 

Linn Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist. 

lit literal, or literally. 

Liv Livy, a Roman historian. 

LXX The Seventy, i. e. the Septuagint. 

1 Mace 1st Book of Maccabees (Apoc), 

2 Mace 2d Book of Maccabees (Apoc). 

3 Mace 3d Book of Maccabees (Apoc). 

vii 



ABBREVIATIONS. 



4 Mace 4th Book of Maccabees (Apoc). 

Mai Malachi (0. T.). 

marg margin or marginal. 

Mart Martial, a Roman poet, a.d. 40- 

100. 

Matt Gospel according to Matthew. 

Mic Micah (0. T.). 

Mod. Eg Modern Egyptians, by Lane. 

MS Manuscript. 

MSS Manuscripts. 

Nah Nahum (0. T.). 

Neh Nehemiah (O. T.). 

Nin.andBab..iVmei'eft and Babylon, by Layard. 

Nunr: Numbers (O. T.). 

Obad Obadiah (0. T.). 

p., pp page and pages, respectively. 

Pers Persian. 

1 Pet 1st Ep. of Peter (N. T.). 

2 Pet 2d Ep. of Peter (N. T.). 

Philip Ep. to the Philippians (N. T.). 

Phil Ep. to Philemon (N. T.). 

Polyb Polybius, a Greek historian, B.C. 

205-123. 

Prov Proverbs (0. T.). 

Ps., Pss Psalm or Psalms (0. T.), respec- 
tively. 

Ptol Ptolemy. 

R Rabbi (before a Jewish name). 

Rawl Rawlinson. 

Rev Revelation, or Apocalypse (N.T.). 



Rom Ep. to the Romans (N. T.). 

1 Sam 1st Book of Samuel (O. T.). 

2 Sam 2d Book of Samuel (O. T.). 

S. and P Sinai and Palestine, by Stanley. 

sc scilicet (Latin) = that is to say. 

sq. or seq se<7Mens(Latih)=following(verse). 

seqq sequentia (Latin) = following 

(verses). 

Suet Suetonius, a historian, a.d. '100. 

Sus History of Susanna (Apoc). 

Syr Syria or Syriac. 

Tac Tacitus, a Roman historian, a.d. 

56-135. 

1 Thess 1st Ep. to the Thessalonians 

(N. T.). 

2 Thess ...2d Ep. to the Thessalonians 

(N. T.). 

1 Tim 1st Ep. to Timothy (N. T.). 

2 Tim 2d Ep. to Timothy (N. T.). 

Tit Ep. to Titus (N. T.). 

Tob Tobit (Apoc). 

ver., vs verse, verses. 

viz videlicet (Latin) = namely. 

vol.... volume. 

Wisd Wisdom (Apoc). 

Zech Zechariah (O. T.). 

Zeph Zephaniah (0. T.). 

I denotes section or subdivision of 

chapter. 

= denotes equivalent to. 



Words in brackets and printed in small capitals, thus [Talmud], refer the reader, for further 
information, to those articles in the Dictionary. 



viii 



A DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. 



A 

A. See Alpha. 

Aa'ron (a teacher, or lofty), the son 
of Aniram and Jochebed, and the elder 
brother of Moses and Miriam. Num. 26 : 
59 ; 33 : 39. (B.C. 1573.) He was a Levite, 
and is first mentioned in Ex. 4 : 14. He 
was appointed by Jehovah to be the in- 
terpreter, Ex. 4 : 16, of his brother Moses, 
who was " slow of speech ;" and accord- 
ingly he was not only the organ of com- 
munication with the Israelites and with 
Pharaoh, Ex. 4 : 30 ; 7:2, but also the 
actual instrument of working most of the 
miracles of the Exodus. Ex. 7 : 19, etc. 
On the way to Mount Sinai, during the 
battle with Amalek, Aaron with Hur 
stayed up the weary hands of Moses, 
when they were lifted up for the victory 
of Israel. Ex. 17 : 9. He is mentioned 
as dependent upon his brother and deriv- 
ing all his authority from him. Left, on 
Moses' departure into Sinai, to guide the 
people, Aaron is tried for a moment on 
his own responsibility, and he fails from 
a weak inability to withstand the demand 
of the people for visible " gods to go be- 
fore them," by making an image of Je- 
hovah, in the well-known form of Egyp- 
tian idolatry (Apis or Mnevis). He 
repented of his sin, and Moses gained 
forgiveness for him. Deut. 9 : 20. Aaron 
was now consecrated by Moses to the 
new office of the high priesthood. Ex. 
29 : 9. From this time the history of 
Aaron is almost entirely that of the 
priesthood, and its chief feature is the 
great rebellion of Korah and the Levites. 
Leaning, as he seems to have done, wholly 
on Moses, it is not strange that he should 
have shared his sin at Meribah and its 
punishment. See Moses. Num. 20 : 10- 
12. Aaron's death seems to have fol- 
lowed very speedily. It took place on 
Mount Hor, after the transference of his 
robes and office to Eleazar. Num. 20 : 28. 
This mount is still called the " Mount- 
ain of Aaron." See Hor. The wife of 
Aaron was Elisheba, Ex. 6 : 23 ; and the 
two sons who survived him, Eleazar and 
Ithamar. The high priesthood descend- 
ed to the former, and to his descendants 



ABD 

until the time of Eli, who, although of 
the house of Ithamar, received the high 
priesthood and transmitted it to his chil- 
dren; with them it continued till the 
accession of Solomon, who took it from 
Abiathar and restored it to Zadok (of the 
house of Eleazar). See Abiathar. 

Aar'onites, 1 Chron. 12 : 27, priests 
of the family of Aaron. 

Ab (father), an element in the com- 
position of many proper names, of which 
Abba is a Chaldaic form, having the 
sense of " endowed with," " possessed of." 

Ab. See Month. 

Abad'don. See Apollyon. 

Abag'tha (God-given), one of the 
seven eunuchs in the Persian court of 
Ahasuerus. Esther 1 : 10. 

Ab'ana (perennial, stony), one of the 
" rivers of Damascus." 2 Kings 5 : 12. 
The Barada and the Awaj are now the 
chief streams of Damascus, the former 
representing the Abana and the latter 
the Pharpar of the text. The Barada, 
(Abana) rises in the Antilibanus, at about 
23 miles from the city, after flowing 
through which it runs across the plain, 
of whose fertility it is the chief source, 
till it loses itself in the lake or marsh 
Bahret-el-Kibliych. 

Ab'arim (regions beyond), a mountain 
or range of highlands on the east of the 
Jordan, in the land of Moab, facing Jer- 
icho, and forming the eastern wall of the 
Jordan valley at that part. Its most 
elevated spot was " the Mount Nebo, 
'head' of 'the' Pisgah," from which 
Moses viewed the Promised Land before 
his death. These mountains are men- 
tioned in Num. 27 : 12; 33 : 47, 48, and 
Deut. 32 : 49. 

Ab'ba. See Ab. 

Ab'da. 1. Father of Adoniram. 1 
Kings 4:6. 

2. Son of Shammua, Neh. 11 : 17 ; 
called Obadiah in 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 

Ab'de-el, father of Shelemiah. Jer. 
36 : 26. 

Ab'di (my servant). 1. A Merarite, 
and ancestor of Ethan the singer. 1 
Cdiron. 6 : 44. (B.C. before 1015.) 

9 



ABD 



ABE 



2. The father of Kish, a Merarite, in 
the reign of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 12. 
(B.C. before 736.) 

3. One of the Bene-Elam in the time 
of Ezra, who had married a foreign wife. 
Ezra 10 : 26. (B.C. 659.) 

Ab'di-el (the servant of God), son of 
Guni and father of Ahi, one of the Gad- 
ites who were settled in the land of 
Bashan, 1 Chron. 5 : 15, in the days of 
Jotham king of Judah. (B.C. 758.) 

Ab'don [servile). 1. A judge of Is- 
rael, Judges 12 : 13, 15 ; perhaps the same 




River Abana (now Barada) and Damascus. 

person as Bedan, in 1 Sam. 12 : 11. (B.C. 
1233—1225 ) 

2. Son of Shashak. 1 Chron. 8 : 23. 

3. First-born son of Jehiel, son of Gid- 
eon. 1 Chron. 8 : 30 ; 9 : 35, 36. 

4. Son of Micah, a contemporary of 
Josiah, 2 Chron. 34 : 20, called Achbor 
in 2 Kings 22 : 12. (B.C. 628.) 

5. A city in the tribe of Asher, given 
to the Gershonites, Josh. 21 : 30 ; 1 Chron. 
6 : 74 ; the modern Abdeh, 10 miles north- 
east of Accho. 

Abcd'ncgo (i. e. servant of Nego, per- 
haps the same as Nebo), the Chaldoean 
name given to Azariah, one of the three 
friends of Daniel, miraculously saved 
1V< in tlie fiery furnace. Dan. 3. (B.C. 
about 600.) 

A'bcl (i. c. breath, vapor, transitori- 
ness, probably so called from the short- 
ness of his life), the second son of Adam, 
10 



murdered by his brother Cain, Gen. 4 : 
1-16 ; he was a keeper or feeder of sheep. 
Our Lord spoke of Abel as the first mar- 
tyr, Matt. 23 : 35 ; so did the early Church 
subsequently. The traditional site of his 
murder and his grave are pointed out 
near Damascus. 

A'bel, the name of several places in 
Palestine, probably signifies a meadoto. 

A'bel-beth-ma'achah (meadow of 
the house of oppression), a town of some 
importance, 2 Sam. 20 : 15, in the ex- 
treme north of Palestine, which fell an 
early prey to the in- 
vading kings of Syria, 
1 Kings 15 : 20, and As- 
syria. 2 Kings 15 : 29. 

A'bel-ma'im (A- 
bcl on the waters), also 
called simply Abel, 2 
Sam. 20: 14, 18, anoth- 
er name for Abel-beth- 
maachah. 2 Chron. 
16 : 4. 

A'bel-m eho'lah 
{meadow of the dance), 
in the northern part of 
the Jordan valley, 1 
Kings 4 : 12, to which 
the routed Bedouin 
host fled from Gideon. 
Judges 7 : 22. Here 
Elisha was found at 
his plough by Elijah 
returning up the val- 
ley from Horeb. 1 
Kings 19 : 16-19. 

A'b e 1-m izra'im 
{meadow of Egypt), the 
name given by the Canaanites to the 
floor of Atad, at which Joseph, his broth- 
ers and the Egyptians made their mourn- 
ing for Jacob. Gen. 50 : 11. It was be- 
yond (on the east of) Jordan. See Atad. 
(Schaif and others say it was on the west 
bank, for the writer was on the east of 
Jordan. It was near Jericho, or perhaps 
Hebron.) 

A'bel-shit'tim {the meadow of the 
acacias), in the "plains" of Moab, on 
the low level of the Jordan valley, op- 
posite Jericho. The last resting-place of 
Israel before crossing the Jordan. Num. 
33 : 49. The place is most frequently 
mentioned by its shorter name of Shit- 
tim. See Shittim. 

A'bel, Stone of ("the great abel"), 
the place where the ark rested in the 
field of Joshua at Bcth-shemesh. 1 Sam. 
6 : 18. 



ABE 



ABI 



A'bez {lofty), a town in the possession 
of Issachar, named between Kishion and 
Remeth in Josh. 19 : 20 only. 

A'M, mother of King Hezekiah, 2 
Kings 18 : 2; written Abijah in 2 Chron. 
29 : 1. 

Abi'a, Abi'ah, or Abi'jah. 1. Son of 

Becher, the son of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7: 8. 

2. Wife of Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 24. 

3. Second son of Samuel. 1 Sam. 8:2; 

1 Chron. 7 : 28. 

4. The son of Rehoboam. 1 Chron. 3 : 
10 ; Matt. 1 : 7. See Abijah, 1. 

5. Mother of King Hezekiah. [Abi.] 

6. Same as Abijah, 4. 
Abi'a, Course of, the eighth of the 

24 courses or classes into which the priests 
were divided for serving at the altar. 1 
Chron. 24 ; Luke 1 : 5. See Abijah, 4. 

A'bi-al'bon {father of strength). See 
Abiel. 

Abi/asaph {father of gathering, i. e. 
gathered), Ex. 6 : 24, otherwise written 
Ebi'asaph. 1 Chron. 6 : 23, 37 ; 9 : 19. 
One of the descendants of Korah, and 
head of the Korhites. Among the re- 
markable descendants of Abiasaph were 
Samuel the prophet, 1 Sam. 1 : 11, and 
Heman the singer. 

Abi'athar {father of abundance, i. e. 
liberal), high priest and fourth in descent 
from Eli. (B.C. 1060-1012.) Abiathar was 
the only one of all the sons of Ahim- 
elech the high priest who escaped the 
slaughter inflicted upon his father's house 
by Saul, in revenge for his having in- 
quired of the Lord for David and given 
him the shew-bread to eat. 1 Sam. 22. 
Abiathar having become high priest fled 
to David, and was thus enabled to inquire 
of the Lord for him. 1 Sam. 23 : 9 ; 30 : 7 ; I 

2 Sam. 2:1; 5 : 19, etc. He adhered to 
David in his wanderings while pursued 
by Saul ; he was with him while he 
reigned in Hebron, and afterwards in 
Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 2 : 1-3. He continued 
faithful to him in Absalom's rebellion. 
2 Sam. 15 : 24, 29, 35, 36 ; 17 : 15-17 ; 19 : 
11. When, however, Adonijah set him- 
self up for David's successor on the 
throne, in opposition to Solomon, Abi- 
athar sided with him, while Zadok was 
on Solomon's side. For this Abiathar 
was deprived of the high priesthood. 
Zadok had joined David at Hebron, 1 
Chron. 12 : 28, so that there were hence- 
forth two high priests in the reign of 
David, and till the deposition of Abi- 
athar by Solomon, when Zadok became 
the sole high priest. 



Abib {green fruits). [Month.] 
Abi'da, or Abi'dah {father of knowl- 
edge), a son of Midian. Gen. 25 : 4 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 33. 

Abi'dan {father of the judge), chief 
of the tribe of Benjamin at the time of 
the Exodus. (B.C. 1491.) Num. 1 : 11 ; 2 : 
22 ; 7 : 60, 65 ; 10 : 24. 

A'bi-el or Ab'i-el {father of strength, 
i. e. strong). 1. Father of Kish, and 
consequently grandfather of Saul, 1 Sam. 
9:1, as well as of Abner, Saul's com- 
mander-in-chief. 1 Sam. 14 : 51. (B.C. 
1093-1055.) 

2. One of David's mighty men. 1 
Chron. 11 : 32. In 2 Sam. 23 : 31 he is 
called Abi-albon. (b.c. 1053.) 

Abi-e'zer {father of help, helpful). 
1. Eldest son of Gilead, and descendant 
of Manasseh. Josh. 17 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 
18. (B.C. 1450.) He was the ancestor of 
the great judge Gideon. [Gideon.] 

2. One of David's mighty men. 2 
Sam. 23:27; 1 Chron. 11:28; 27:12. 
(B.C. 1014.) 

Ab'igail {father, i.e. source, of joy). 
1. The beautiful wife of Nabal, a wealthy 
owner of goats and sheep in Carmel. 
(B.C. 1060.) When David's messengers 
were slighted by Nabal, Abigail supplied 
David and his followers with provisions, 
and succeeded in appeasing his anger. 
Ten days after this Nabal died, and 
David sent for Abigail and made her his 
wife. 1 Sam. 25 : 14, etc. By her he had 
a son, called Chileab in 2 Sam. 3 : 3, but 
Daniel in 1 Chron. 3 : 1. 

2. A sister of David, married to Jether • 
the Ishmaelite, and mother, by him, of 
Amasa. 1 Chron. 2 : 17. In 2 Sam. 17 : 
! 25, for Israelite read Ishmaelite. (B.C. 
1068.) 

Abiha'il {father of, i. e. possessing, 
strength). 1. Father of Zuriel, chief of 
the Levitical family of Merari, a con- 
temporary of Moses. Num. 3 : 35. (B.C. 
1490.) 

2. Wife of Abishur. 1 Chron. 2 : 29. 

3. Son of Huri, of the tribe of Gad. 1 
Chron. 5 : 14. 

4. Wife of Rehoboam. She is called 
the daughter, i. e. descendant, of Eliab, 
the elder brother of David. 2 Chron. 11 : 
18. (B.C. 972.) 

5. Father of Esther and uncle of Mor- 
decai. Esther 2 : 15 ; 9 : 29. 

Abi'hu {he {God) is my father), the 
second son, Num. 3 : 2, of Aaron by Eli- 
sheba. Ex. 6 : 23. Being, together with 
j his elder brother Nadab, guilty of ofler- 

11 



ABI 



ABI 



ing strange fire to the Lord, he was con- 
sumed by fire from heaven. Lev. 10 : 1, 
2. (B.C. 1490.) 

Abi'hud {father of renown, famous), 
son of Bela and grandson of Benjamin. 
1 Chron. 8 : 3. 

Abi'jah or Abi'jam {my father is Je- 
hovah). 1. Son and successor of Beho- 
boam on the throne of Judah. 1 Kings 
14 : 21 ; 2 Chron. 12 : 16. He is called 
Abijah in Chronicles, Abijam in Kings. 
He began to reign B.C. 959, and reigned 
three years. He endeavored to recover 
the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, and 
made war on Jeroboam. He was success- 
ful in battle, and took several of the 
cities of Israel. We are told that he 
walked in all the sins of Behoboam. 1 
Kings 14 : 23, 24. 

2. The second son of Samuel, called 
Abiah in our version. [Abia, Abiah, 
No. 3.] 

3. Son of Jeroboam L, king of Israel ; 
died in his childhood. 1 Kings 14. 

4. A descendant of Eleazar, who gave 
his name to the eighth of the 24 courses 
into which the priests were divided by 
David. 1 Chron. 24 : 10 ; 2 Chron. 8 : 14 ; 
Neh. 12 : 4, 17. 

5. One of the priests who entered into 
a covenant with Nehemiah to walk in 
God's law, Neh. 10 : 7 ; unless the name 
is rather that of a family, and the same 
with the preceding. 

AM'jam. [Abijah, 1.] 

Ab'ila. [Abilene.] 

Abile'ne {land of meadows), Luke 3 : 
1, a city situated on the eastern slope of 
Antilibanus, in a district fertilized by the 
river Barada (Abana). The city was 18 
miles from Damascus, and stood in a 
remarkable gorge called Silk Wady Ba- 
rada. 

Abim'a-el ( father of Mael), a descend- 
ant of Joktan, Gen. 10 : 28 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 
22, and probably the progenitor of an 
Arab tribe (Mali). 

Abim'elech {father of the king), the 
name of several" Bhilistine kings, was 
probably a common title of these kings, 
like that of Bharaoh among the Egyp- 
tians and that of Caesar and Augustus 
among the Romans. Hence in the title 
of Bs. 34 the name of Abimelech is given 
to the king, who is called Achish'in 1 
Sam. 21 : 11. 1. A Bhilistine, king of 
Gerar, Gen. 20, 21, who, exercising the 
right claimed by Eastern princes of col- 
lecting all the beautiful women of their 
dominions into their harem, Gen. 12 : 15 ; 
12 



Esther 2 : 3, sent for and took Sarah. A 
similar account is given of Abraham's 
conduct on this occasion to that of his 
behavior towards Bharaoh. [Abra- 
ham.] (B.C. 1920.) 

2. Another king of Gerar in the time 
of Isaac, of whom a similar narrative is 
recorded in relation to Bebekah. Gen. 
26 : 1, etc. (B.C. 1817.) 

3. Son of the judge Gideon by his 
Shechemite concubine. Judg. 8 : 31. (B.C. 
1322-1319.) After his father's death he 
murdered all his brethren, 70 in number, 
with the exception of Jotham, the young- 
est, who concealed himself ; and he then 
persuaded the Shechemites to elect him 
king. Shechem now became an independ- 
ent state. After Abimelech had reigned 
three years, the citizens of Shechem re- 
belled. He was absent at the time, but 
he returned and quelled the insurrection. 
Shortly after he stormed and took The- 
bez, but was struck on the head by a 
woman with the fragment of a mill- 
stone, comp. 2 Sam. 11 : 21 ; and lest he 
should be said to have died by a woman, 
he bade his armor-bearer slay him. 

4. A son of Abiathar. 1 Chron. 18 : 16. 
Abin'adab. 1. A Levite, a native 

of Kirjath-jearim, in whose house the 
ark remained 20 years. 1 Sam. 7:1, 2 ; 
1 Chron. 13 : 7. (B.C. 1124.) 

2. Second son of Jesse, who followed 
Saul to his war against the Bhilistines. 
1 Sam. 16 : 8 ; 17 : 13. (B.C. 1063.) 

3. A son of Saul, who was slain with 
his brothers at the fatal battle on Mount 
Gilboa. 1 Sam. 31 : 2. (B.C. 1053.) 

4. Father of one of the twelve chief 
officers of Solomon. 1 Kings 4 : 11. (B.C. 
before 1014.) 

Ab'iner {father of light). Same as 
Abner. 1 Sam. 14 : 50, margin. 

Abin'o-am, the father of Barak. 
[ Judges 4 : 6, 12 ; 5:1, 12. (B.C. 1300.) 

Abi'ram. 1. A Beubenite, son of 
| Eliab, who with Korah, a Levite, organ- 
! ized a conspiracy against Moses and 
j Aaron. Num. 16. [For details, see Ko- 
j RAH.] (B.C. 1490.) 

2. Eldest son of Hiel the Bethelite, 
who died when his father laid the found- 
ations of Jericho, 1 Kings 16 : 34, and 
thus accomplished the first part of the 
curse of Joshua. Josh. 6 : 26. (B.C. after 
905.) 

Ab'ishag, a beautiful Shunammite 
(from Shunem, in the tribe of Issachar), 
J taken into David's harem to comfort him 
j in his extreme old age. 1 Kings 1 : 1-4. 



ABI 



ABR 



Abisha'i, or Abish'a-i {father of a 
gift), the eldest of the three sons of Ze- 
ruiah, David's sister, and brother to Joab 
and Asahel. 1 Chron. 2 : 16. Like his 
two brothers he was the devoted follower 
of David. He was his companion in the 
desperate night expedition to the camp 
of Saul. 1 Sam. 26 : 6-9. (B.C. 1055.) On 
the outbreak of Absalom's rebellion he 
remained true to the king, and com- 
manded a third part of the army in the | 
decisive battle against Absalom. He | 
rescued David from the hands of a gi- j 
gantic Philistine, Ishbi-benob. 2 Sam. 21 : j 
17. His personal prowess on this, as on j 
another occasion, when he fought single- ! 
handed against three hundred, won for 
him a place as captain of the second ! 
three of David's mighty men. 2 Sam. j 
23 : 18; 1 Chron. 11 : 20. 

Abish'alom {father of peace), father j 
or grandfather of Maachah, who was the ] 
wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah. 
1 Kings 15 : 2, 10. He is called Absalom ! 
in 2 Chron. 11 : 20, 21. This person must 
be David's son. See LXX. ; 2 Sam. 14 : ! 
27. 

Abishu'a, or Abish'u-a {father of i 
deliverance). 1. Son of Bela, of the tribe j 
of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 8 : 4. 

2. Son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, I 
and father of Bukki, in the genealogy of j 
the high priests. 1 Chron. 6 : 4, 5, 50, 51 ; 
Ezra 7 : 4, 5. 

Ab'ishur {father of the wall), son of j 
Shammai. 1 Chron. 2 : 28. 

Ab'ital {father of the dew), one of 
David's wives. 2 Sam. 3:4; 1 Chron. 
3:3. 

Ab'itub {father of goodness), son of 
Shaharaim by Hushim. 1 Chron. 8 : 11. I 

Abi'ud {father of praise), descendant 
of Zorobabel in the genealogy of Jesus j 
Christ. Matt. 1 : 13. 

Ablution. [Purification.] 

Ab'ner {father of light). 1. Son of : 
Ner, who was the brother of Kish, 1 j 
Chron. 9 : 36, the father of Saul. (B.C. j 
1063.) Abner, therefore, was Saul's first i 
cousin, and was made by him command- j 
er-in-chief of his arm v. 1 Sam. 14 : 51 ; j 
17 : 57 ; 26 : 5-14. After the death of 
Saul David was proclaimed king of Ju- 1 
dah ; and some time subsequently Abner | 
proclaimed Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, king 
of Israel. War soon broke out between 
the two rival kings, and a " very sore bat- 
tle " was fought at Gibeon between the 
men of Israel under Abner and the men 
of Judah under Joab. 1 Chron. 2 : 16. 



Abner had married Rizpah, Saul's con- 
cubine, and this, according to the views 
of Oriental courts, might be so inter- 
preted as to imply a design upon the 
throne. Rightly or wrongly, Ish-bosheth 
so understood it, and he even ventured 
to reproach Abner with it. Abner, in- 
censed at his ingratitude, opened nego- 
tiations with David, by whom he was 
most favorably received at Hebron. He 
then undertook to procure his recognition 
throughout Israel ; but after leaving his 
presence for the purpose was enticed back 
by Joab, and treacherously murdered 
by him and his brother Abishai, at the 
gate of the city, partly, no doubt, from 
fear lest so distinguished a convert to 
their cause should gain too high a place 
in David's favor, but ostensibly in retal- 
iation for the death of Asahel. David, 
in sorrow and indignation, poured forth 
a simple dirge over the slain hero. 2 Sam. 
3 : 33, 34. 

2. The father of Jaasiel, chief of the 
Benjamites in David's reign, 1 Chron. 
27 : 21 ; probably the same as the pre- 
ceding. 

Abomination of Desolation, men- 
tioned by our Saviour, Matt. 24 : 15, as a 
sign of the approaching destruction of 
Jerusalem, with reference to Dan. 9 : 27 ; 
11 : 31 ; 12 . 11. The prophecy referred 
ultimately to the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem by the Romans, and consequently 
the " abomination " must describe some 
occurrence connected with that event. 
It appears most probable that the pro- 
fanities of the Zealots constituted the 
abomination, which was the sign of im- 
pending ruin ; but most people refer it to 
the standards or banners of the Ptoman 
army. They were abomination because 
there were idolatrous images upon them. 

A'braham {father of a multitude) 
was the son of Terah, and founder of the 
great Hebrew nation. (B.C. 1996-1822.) 
His family, a branch of the descendants 
of Shem, was settled in Ur of the Chal- 
dees, beyond the Euphrates, where Abra- 
ham was born. Terah had two other 
sons, Nahor and Haran. Haran died 
before his father in Ur of the Chaldees, 
leaving a son, Lot; and Terah, taking 
with him Abram, with Sarai his wife 
and his grandson Lot, emigrated to Ha- 
| ran in Mesopotamia, where he died. On 
' the death of his father, Abram, then in 
the 75th year of his age, with Sarai and 
Lot, pursued his course to the land of 
Canaan, whither he was directed by 

13 



ABR 



ABR 



divine command, Gen. 12 : 5, when he 
received the general promise that he 
should become the founder of a great 
nation, and that all the families of the 
earth should be blessed in him. He 
passed through the heart of the country 
by the great highway to Shechem, and 
pitched his tent beneath the terebinth 
of Moreh. Gen. 12 : 6. Here he received 
in vision from Jehovah the further rev- 
elation that this was the land which his 
descendants should inherit. Gen. 12 : 7. 
The next halting-place of the wanderer 
was on a mountain between Bethel and 
Ai, Gen. 12 : 8 ; but the country was 
suffering from famine, and Abram jour- 
neyed still southward to the rich corn- 
lands of Egypt. There, fearing that the 
great beauty of Sarai might tempt the 
powerful monarch of Egypt and expose 
his own life to peril, he arranged that 
Sarai should represent herself as his 
sister, which her actual relationship to 
him, as probably the daughter of his 
brother Haran, allowed her to do with 
some semblance of truth. But her beauty 
was reported to the king, and she was 
taken into the royal harem. The decep- 
tion was discovered, and Pharaoh with 
some indignation dismissed Abram from 
the country. Gen. 12 : 10-20. He left 
Egypt with great possessions, and, ac- 
companied by Lot, returned by the south 
of Palestine to his former encampment 
between Bethel and Ai. The increased 
wealth of the two kinsmen was the ulti- 
mate cause of their separation. Lot 
chose the fertile plain of the Jordan near 
Sodom, while Abram pitched his tent 
among the oak groves of Mamre, close to 
Hebron. Gen. 13. Lot with his family 
and possessions having been carried away 
captive by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, 
who had invaded Sodom, Abram pursued 
the conquerors and utterly routed them 
not far from Damascus. The captives 
and plunder were all recovered, and 
Abram was greeted on his return by the 
king of Sodom, and by Melchizedek'king 
of Salem, priest of the most high God, 
who mysteriously appears upon the scene 
to bless the patriarch and receive from 
him a tenth of the spoil. Gen. 14. After 
this the thrice-repeated promise that his 
descendants should become a mighty 
nation and possess the land in which he 
was a stranger was confirmed with all the 
solemnity of a religious ceremony. Gen. 
ir>. Ten years had passed since he had 
left his father's house, and the fulfillment 
14 1 



of the promise was apparently more dis- 
tant than at first. At the suggestion of 
Sarai, who despaired of having children 
of her own, he took as his concubine 
Hagar, her Egyptian maid, who bore him 
Ishmael in the 86th year of his age. Gen. 
16. [Hagae ; Ishmael.] But this was 
not the accomplishment of the promise. 
Thirteen years elapsed, during which 
Abram still dwelt in Hebron, when the 
covenant was renewed, and the rite of 
circumcision established as its sign. This 
most important crisis in Abram's life, 
when he was 99 years old, is marked by 
the significant change of his name to 
Abraham, " father of a multitude ;" while 
his wife's from Sarai became Sarah. 
The promise that Sarah should have a 
son was repeated in the remarkable 
scene described in ch. 18. Three men 
stood before Abraham as he sat in his 
tent door in the heat of the day. The 
patriarch, with true Eastern hospitality, 
welcomed the strangers, and bade them 
rest and refresh themselves. The meal 
ended, they foretold the birth of Isaac, 
and went on their way to Sodom. Abra- 
ham accompanied them, and is repre- 
sented as an interlocutor in a dialogue 
with Jehovah, in which he pleaded in vain 
to avert the vengeance threatened to the 
devoted cities of the plain. Gen. 18 : 17- 
33. In remarkable contrast with Abra- 
ham's firm faith with regard to the mag- 
nificent fortunes of his posterity stands 
the incident which occurred during his 
temporary residence among the Philis- 
tines in Gerar, whither he had for some 
cause removed after the destruction of 
Sodom. It was almost a repetition of 
what took place in Egypt a few years 
before. At length Isaac, the long-looked- 
for child, was born. Sarah's jealousy, 
aroused by the mockery of Ishmael at 
the "great banquet" which Abraham 
made to celebrate the weaning of her 
son, Gen. 21 : 9, demanded that, with 
his mother Hagar, he should be driven 
out. Gen. 21 : 10. But the severest trial 
of his faith was yet to come. For a long 
period the history is almost silent. At 
length he receives the strange command 
to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him 
for a burnt offering at an appointed place. 
Abraham hesitated not to obey. His 
faith, hitherto unshaken, supported him 
in this final trial, "accounting that God 
was able to raise up his son, even from 
the dead, from whence also he received 
: him in a figure." Heb. 11 : 19. The sac- 



ABR 



ABS 



rifice was stayed by the angel of Jeho- 
vah, the promise of spiritual blessing 
made for the first time, and Abraham 
with his son returned to Beersheba, and 
for a time dwelt there. Gen. 22. But we 
find him after a few years in his original 
residence at Hebron, for there Sarah died, 
Gen. 23 : 2, and was buried in the cave of 
Machpelah. The remaining years of 
Abraham's life are marked by but few 
incidents. After Isaac's marriage with 
Rebekah and his removal to Lahai-roi, 
Abraham took to wife Keturah, by whom 
he had six children, Zimran, Jokshan, 
Medan, Midian, Ishbok and Shuah, who 
became the ancestors of nomadic tribes 
inhabiting the countries south and south- 
east of Palestine. Abraham lived to see 
the gradual accomplishment of the prom- 
ise in the birth of his grandchildren Ja- 
cob and Esau, and witnessed their growth 
to manhood. Gen. 25 : 26. At the goodly 
age of 175 he was "gathered to his 
people," and laid beside Sarah in the 
tomb of Machpelah by his sons Isaac 
and Ishmael. Gen. 25 : 7-10. 

A'bram (a high father), the earlier 
name of Abraham. 

Ab'salom (father of peace), third son 
of David by Maachah, daughter of Tal- 
mai king of Geshur, a Syrian district 
adjoining the northeast frontier of the 
Holy Land. (Born B.C. 1050.) Absalom 
had a sister, Tamar, who was violated by 
her half-brother Amnon. The natural 
avenger of such an outrage would be 
Tamar's full brother Absalom. He 
brooded over the wrong for two years, 
and then invited all the princes to a 
sheep-shearing feast at his estate in Baal- 
hazor, on the borders of Ephraim and 
Benjamin. Here he ordered his servants 
to murder Amnon, and then fled for 
safety to his grandfather's court at Ge- 
shur, where he remained for three years. 
At the end of that time he was brought 
back by an artifice of Joab. David, 
however, would not see Absalom for two 
more years ; but at length Joab brought 
about a reconciliation. Absalom now 
began at once to prepare for rebellion. 
He tried to supplant his father by court- 
ing popularity, standing in the gate, con- 
versing with every suitor, and lamenting 
the difficulty which he would find in 
getting a hearing. He also maintained 
a splendid retinue, 2 Sam. 15 : 1, and 
was admired for his personal beauty. 
It is probable too that the great tribe of 
J udah had taken some offence at David's 



government. Absalom raised the stand- 
ard of revolt at Hebron, the old capital 
of Judah, now supplanted by Jerusalem. 
The revolt was at first completely suc- 
cessful ; David fled from his capital over 
the Jordan to Mahanaim in Gilead, and 
Absalom occupied Jerusalem. At last, 
after being solemnly anointed king at 
Jerusalem, 2 Sam. 19 : 10, Absalom cross- 
ed the Jordan to attack his father, who 
by this time had rallied round him a 
considerable force. A decisive battle 
was fought in Gilead, in the wood of 
Ephraim. Here Absalom's forces were 
totally defeated, and as he himself was 
escaping his long hair was entangled in 
the branches of a terebinth, where he 
was left hanging while the mule on 
which he was riding ran away from 
under him. He was dispatched by 
Joab in spite of the prohibition of Da- 
vid, who, loving him to the last, had 
desired that his life might be spared. 
He was buried in a great pit in the for- 
est, and the conquerors threw stones over 
his grave, an old proof of bitter hostility. 
Josh. 7 : 26. 




Absalom's Pillar. 

Absalom's Pillar, or Place, a mon- 
ument or tomb which Absalom had built 
during his lifetime in the king's dale, 
i. e. the valley of the Kedron, at the 
foot of Mount Olivet, near Jerusalem, 
2 Sam. 18 : 18, comp. with 14 : 27, for his 
three sons, and where he probably ex- 
pected to be buried. The tomb there 

15 



ACC 



ACH 



now, and called by Absalom's name, 
was probably built at a later date. 

Ac'cad, one of the cities in the land 
of Shinar. Gen. 10 : 10. Its position is 
quite uncertain. 

Ac'caron. [Ekron.] 

Ac'cho (the Ptolemais of the Mac- 
cabees and New Testament), now called 
Acca, or more usually by Europeans St. 
Jean a" Acre, the most important seaport 
town on the Syrian coast, about 30 miles 
south of Tyre. It was situated on a 



slightly projecting headland, at the 
northern extremity of that spacious bay 
which is formed by the bold promon- 
tory of Carmel on the opposite side. 
Later it was named Ptolemais, after one 
one of the Ptolemies, probably Soter. 
The only notice of it in the New Testa- 
ment is in Acts 21 : 7, where it is called 
Ptolemais. 

Acel'dama {the field of blood) (Akel- 
dama in the Revised Version), the name 
given by the Jews of Jerusalem to a 




Aceldama. {From an original Photograph.) 



field near Jerusalem purchased by Judas 
with the money which he received for 
the betrayal of Christ, and so called 
from his violent death therein. Acts 1 : 
19. The " field of blood " is now shown 
on the steep southern face of the valley 
or ravine of Hinnom, " southwest of the 
supposed pool of Siloam." 

Acha'ia {trouble) signifies in the New 
Testament a Roman province which in- 
cluded the whole of the Peloponnesus 
and the greater part of Hellas proper, 
with the adjacent islands. This prov- 
ince, with that of Macedonia, compre- 
hended the whole of Greece; hence 
Achaia and Macedonia are frequently 
mentioned together in the New Testa- 
ment to indicate all Greece. Acts 18 : 12 ; 
19 : 21 ; Rom. 15 : 26 ; 16 : 5 ; 1 Cor. 16 : 
15; 2 Cor. 7:5; 9:2; 11:10; 1 Thess. 
1 : 7, 8. In the time of the emperor 
16 



Claudius it was governed by a procon- 
sul, translated in the Authorized Version 
" deputy," of Achaia. Acts 18 : 12. 

Acha'icus {belonging to Achaia), a 
name of a Christian. 1 Cor. 16 : 17. 

A'chan (iroubler), an Israelite of the 
tribe of Judah, who, when Jericho and 
all that it contained were accursed and 
devoted to destruction, secreted a portion 
of the spoil in his tent. For this sin he 
was stoned to death with his whole 
family by the people, in a valley situated 
between Ai and Jericho, and their re- 
mains, together with his property, were 
burnt. Josh. 7 : 19-26. From this event 
the valley received the name of Achor 
{i.e. trouble). [Achor.] (b.c. 1450.) 

A'char = A'chan. 1 Chron. 2 : 7. 

A / chaz=A / haz, king of Judah. 
Matt. 1 : 9. 

Ach'bor {mouse). 1. Father of Baal- 



ACH 



ADA 



hanan king of Edom. Gen. 36 : 38, 39 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 49. 

2. Son of Michaiah, a contemporary 
of Josiah, 2 Kings 22:12, 14; Jer. 26: 
22 ; 36 : 12, called Abdon in 2 Chron. 
34:20. (B.C. 623.) 

A'chim, son of Sadoc and father of 
Eliud in our Lord's genealogy. Matt. 1 : 
14. The Hebrew form of the name would 
be Jachin, which is a short form of Je- 
hoiachin, the Lord will establish. 

A'chish {angry), a Philistine king of 
Gath, who in the title to the 34th Psalm 
is called Abimelech. David twice found 
a refuge with him when he fled from 
Saul. (B.C. 1061.) On the first occasion 
he was alarmed for his safety, feigned 
madness, and was sent away. 

Ach'metha. [Ecbatana.] 

A'chor, Valley of {valley of trouble), 
the spot at which Achan was stoned. 
Josh. 7 : 24, 26. On the northern bound- 
ary of Judah, Josh. 15 : 7, near Jericho. 

Ach'sa. 1 Chron. 2 : 49. [Achsah.J 

Ach'sah {ankle-chain, anklet), daugh- 
ter of Caleb. Her father promised her 
in marriage to whoever should take De- 
bir. Othniel, her father's younger broth- 
er, took that city, and accordingly re- 
ceived the hand of Achsah as his reward. 
Caleb added to her dowry the upper and 
lower springs. (B.C. 1450-1426.) Josh. 
15 : 15-19 ; Judges 1 : 11-15. 

Ach'shaph {fascination), a city with- 
in the territory of Asher, named between 
Beten and Alammelech, Josh. 19 : 25 ; 
originally the seat of a Canaanite king. 
Josh. 11 : 1 ; 12 : 20. 

Ach'zib {lying, false). 1. A city in 
the lowlands of Judah, named with Kei- 
lah and Mareshah. Josh. 15 : 44 ; Micah 
1 : 14. It is probably the same with 
Chezib and Chozeba, which see. 

2. A town belonging to Asher, Josh. 
19 : 29, from which the Canaanites were 
not expelled, Judges 1 : 31 ; afterwards 
Ecdippa. It is now es-Zib, on the sea- 
shore, 2 h. 20 m. north of Acre. 

Acrab'bim. See Maaleh-Acrab- | 
BIM, Josh. 15 : 3, in the margin. 

Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book 
in the New Testament and the second j 
treatise by the author of the third Gos- 1 
pel, traditionally known as Luke. The , 
book commences with an inscription to 
one Theophilus, who was probably a man 
of birth and station. The readers were 
evidently intended to be the members of 
the Chi-istian Church, whether Jews or 
Gentiles ; for its contents are such as are 
2 



of the utmost consequence to the whole 
Church. They are the fulfillment of the 
promise of the Father by the descent of 
the Holy Spirit, and the results of that 
outpouring by the dispersion of the gospel 
among Jews and Gentiles. Under these 
leading heads all the personal and subor- 
dinate details may be arranged. First 
St. Peter becomes the prima actor under 
God in the founding of the Church. He 
is the centre of the first group of sayings 
and doings. The opening of the door to 
Jews, ch. 2, and Gentiles, ch. 10, is his 
office, and by him, in good time, is ac- 
complished. Then the preparation of 
Saul of Tarsus for the work to be done, 
the progress, in his hand, of that work, 
his journeyings, preachings and perils, 
his stripes and imprisonments, his testify- 
ing in Jerusalem and being brought to 
testify in Rome, — these are the subjects 
of the latter half of the book, of which 
the great central figure is the apostle 
Paul. The history given in the Acts 
occupies about 33 years, and the reigns 
of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Calig- 
ula, Claudius and Nero. It seems most 
probable that the place of writing was 
Rome, and the time about two years from 
the date of St. Paul's arrival there, as 
related in ch. 28 : 30. This would give 
us for the publication about 63 a.d. 

Ad'adah {festival or boundary), one 
of the cities in the extreme south of 
Judah, named with Dimonah and Ke- 
desh. Josh. 15 : 22. 

A'dah {ornament, beauty). 1. The 
first of the two wives of Lamech, by 
whom were borne to him Jabal and Ju- 
bal. Gen. 4 : 19. (B.C. 3600.) 

2. A Hittitess, one of the three wives 
of Esau, mother of Eliphaz. Gen. 36 : 2, 
10, 12, 16. In Gen. 26 : 34 she is called 
Bashemath. (b.c. 1797.) 

Ada'iah {adorned by Jehovah). 1. 
Maternal grandfather of King Josiah, 
and native of Boscath in the lowlands 
of Judah. 2 Kings 22 : 1. (B.C. 648.) 

2. A Levite of the Gershonite branch, 
and ancestor of Asaph. 1 Chron. 6:41. 
In v. 21 he is called Iddo. 

3. A Benjamite, son of Shimhi, 1 
Chron. 8 : 21, who is apparently the 
same as Shema in v. 13. 

4. A priest, son of Jehoram. 1 Chron. 
9:12; Neh. 11:12. 

5. Ancestor of Maaseiah, one of the 
captains who supported Jehoiada. 2 
Chron. 23 : 1. 

6. One of the descendants of Bani, 

17 



ADA 



ADD 



who had married a foreign wife after 
the return from Babylon. Ezra 10 : 29. 
(B.C. 459.) 

7. The descendant of another Bani, 
who had also taken a foreign wife. Ezra 
10 : 39. 

8. A man of Judah, of the line of 
Pharez. Neh. 11:5. 

Adali'a (a fire-god), the fifth son of 
Hainan. Esther 9 : 8. 

Ad'am (red earth), the name given in 
Scripture to the first man. It apparently 
has reference to the ground from which 
he was formed, which is called in Hebrew 
Adamah. The idea of redness of color j 
seems to be inherent in either word. The | 
creation of man was the work of the sixth j 
day — the last and crowning act of creation . j 
Adam was created (not born) a perfect j 
man in body and spirit, but as innocent 
and completely inexperienced as a child, j 
The man Adam was placed in a garden j 
which the Lord God had planted " east- 
ward in Eden," for the purpose of dress- 
ing it and keeping it. [Eden.] Adam 
was permitted to eat of the fruit of every 
tree in the garden but one, which was 
called ("the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil," because it was the test 
of Adam's obedience. By it Adam could 
know good and evil in the divine way, 
through obedience; thus knowing good 
by experience in resisting temptation and 
forming a strong and holy character, 
while he knew evil only by observation 
and inference. Or he could " know good 
and evil," in Satan's way, by experi- 
encing the evil and knowing good only 
by contrast. — Ed.) The prohibition to 
taste the fruit of this tree was enforced 
by the menace of death. There was also 
another tree which was called " the tree 
of life." While Adam was in the gar- 
den of Eden, the beasts of the field and 
the fowls of the air were brought to him 
to be named. After this the Lord God 
caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, 
and took one of his ribs from him, which 
he fashioned into a woman and brought 
her to the man. At this time they are 
both described as being naked without 
the consciousness of shame. By the sub- 
tlety of the serpent the woman who was 
given to be with Adam was beguiled into 
a violation of the one command which 
had been imposed upon them. She took 
of the fruit of the forbidden tree and 
gave it to her husband. The propriety 
of its name was immediately shown in 
the results which followed: sclf-con- 
18 



sciousness was the first-fruits of sin; 
their eyes were opened and they knew 
that they were naked. Though the 
curse of Adam's rebellion of necessity 
fell upon him, yet the very prohibition 
to eat of the tree of life after his trans- 
gression was probably a manifestation 
of divine mercy, because the greatest 
malediction of all would have been to 
have the gift of indestructible life super- 
added to a state of wretchedness and sin. 
The divine mercy was also shown in the 
promise of a deliverer given at the very 
time the curse was imposed, Gen. 3 : 15, 
and opening a door of hope to Paradise 
regained for him and his descendants. 
Adam is stated to have lived 930 years. 
His sons mentioned in Scripture are 
Cain, Abel and Seth ; it is implied, how- 
ever, that he had others. 

Ad'am. Man, generically, for the 
name Adam was not confined to the 
father of the human race, but like homo 
was applicable to woman as well as to 
man. Gen. 5 : 2. 

Ad'am, a city on the Jordan, " beside 
Zaretan," in the time of Joshua. Josh. 
3 : 16. 

Ad'amah (red earth), one of the 
" fenced cities " of Naphtali, named 
between Chinnereth and Ramah. Josh. 
19 : 36. 

Adamant, the translation of the 
Hebrew word Shamir in Ezek. 3 : 9 and 
Zech. 7 : 12. In Jer. 17 : 1 it is trans- 
lated " diamond." In these three pas- 
sages the word is the representative of 
some stone of excessive hardness, and is 
used metaphorically. It is very prob- 
able that by Shamir is intended emery, 
a variety of corundum, a mineral in- 
ferior only to the diamond in hardness. 

Ad'ami (my man, earth), a place on 
the border of Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 33. 

A'dar (high), a place on the south 
boundary of Judah. Josh. 15 : 3. 

A'dar. [Month.] 

Ad'asa (new), a place in Judea, 
about four miles from Beth-horon. 1 
Mace. 7 : 40, 45. [Hadashah.] 

Ad'be-el (offspring of God), a son of 
Ishmael, Gen. 25 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 29, 
and probably the progenitor of an Arab 
tribe. (B.C. about 1850.) 

Ad'dan (strong or stony), one of the 
places from which some of the captivity 
returned with Zerubbabel to Judea who 
could not show their pedigree as Israel- 
ites. Ezra 2 : 59. Called Addon Neh. 
7:61. 



ADD 



ADN 



Ad'dar {mighty one), son of Bela, 1 
Chron. 8:3; called Ard in Num. 26 : 40. 

Ad/der. This word is used for any 
poisonous snake, and is applied in this 
general sense by the translators of the 
Authorized Version. The word adder 
occurs five times in the text of the 
Authorized Version (see below), and 
three times in the margin as synony- 
mous with cockatrice, viz., Isa. 11:8; 
14 : 29 ; 59 : 5. It rejiresents four He- 
brew words : 

1. Acshub is found only in Ps. 140 : 3, 
and may be represented by the Toxicoa 
of Egypt and North Africa. 

2. Peihen. [Asp.] 

3. Tsepha, or Tsiphoni, occurs five 
times in the Hebrew Bible. In Prov. 
23 : 32 it is translated adder, and in Isa. 
11 : 8, 14 : 29, 59 : 5, Jer. 8 : 17, it is ren- 
dered cockatrice. From Jeremiah we 
learn that it was of a hostile nature, 




Horned Cerastes (Adder). 

and from the parallelism of Isa. 11 : 8 
it appears that the Tsiphoni was con- 
sidered even more dreadful than the 
Pethen. 

4. Shephiphon occurs only in Gen. 49 : 
17, where it is used to characterize the 
tribe of Dan. The habit of lurking in 
the sand and biting at the horse's heels 
here alluded to suits the character of a 
well-known species of venomous snake, 
and helps to identify it with the cele- 
brated horned viper, the asp of Cleo- 
patra (Cerastes), which is found abun- 
dantly in the dry sandy deserts of Egypt, 
Syria and Arabia. The cerastes is ex- 
tremely venomous. Bruce compelled a 
specimen to scratch eighteen pigeons 
upon the thigh as quickly as possible, 
and they all died in nearly the same in- 
terval of time. 

Ad'di (ornament). Luke 3 : 28. Son 
of Cosam, and father of Melchi in our 



Lord's genealogy ; the third above Sala- 
thiel. 

Ad'don (lord). [Add an.] 

A'der (flock), a Benjamite, son of Be- 
riah, chief of the inhabitants of Aijalon. 
1 Chron. 8 : 15. The name is more cor- 
rectly Eder. 

Ad'ida, a fortified town near Jerusa- 
lem, probably the Hadid of Ezra 2 : 33, 
and referred to in Mace. 12 : 38. 

A'di-el (ornament of God). 1. A 
prince of the tribe of Simeon, descended 
from the prosperous family of Shimei. 
1 Chron. 4 : 36. He took part in the 
murderous raid made by his tribe upon 
the peaceable Hamite shepherds of the 
valley of Gedor in the reign of Heze- 
kiah. (B.C. about 711.) 

2. A priest, ancestor of Maasiai. 1 
Chron. 9 : 12. 

3. Ancestor of Azmaveth, David's trea- 
surer. 1 Chron. 27 : 25. (B.C. 1050.) 

A'din (dainty, delicate), ancestor 
of a family who returned from Baby- 
lon with Zerubbabel, to the number 
i of 454, Ezra 2 : 15, or 655 according to 
the parallel list in Neh. 7 : 20. (B.C. 
536.) They joined with Nehemiah 
in a covenant to separate themselves 
from the heathen. Neh. 10 : 16. (B.C. 
410.) 

Ad'ina (slender), one of David's 
captains beyond the Jordan, and a 
chief of the Reubenites. 1 Chron. 11 : 
42. 

Adi'no, or Ad'ino, the Eznite. 

2 Sam. 23 : 8. See Jashobeam. 
Aditha'im (double ornament), a 
town belonging to Judah, lying in the 
low country, and named, between Shar- 
aim and hag-Gederah, in Josh. 15 : 36 
only. 

Adla'i, or Ad'la-i (justice of Jeho- 
vah), ancestor of Shaphat, the overseer of 
David's herds that fed in the broad val- 
leys. 1 Chron. 27 : 29. (B.C. before 1050.) 

Ad'mah (earthy, fortress), one of the 
"cities of the plain," always coupled 
with Zeboim. Gen. 10 : 19 ; 14 : 2, 8 ; 
Deut. 29 : 23 ; Hos. 11 : 8. 

Ad'matha (given by the highest), one 
of the seven princes of Persia. Esther 
1 : 14. 

Ad'na (rest, pleasure). 1. One of the 
family of Pahath-moab, who returned 
with Ezra and married a foreign wife. 
Ezra 10: 30. (B.C. 459.) 

2. A priest, descendant of Harim in 
the days of Joiakim, the son of Jeshua. 
Neh. 12 : 15. (B.C. 500.) 

19 



ADN 



ADO 



Ad'nah {pleasure). 1. A Manassite 
who deserted from Saul and joined the 
fortunes of David on his road to Ziklag 
from the camp of the Philistines. He 
was captain of a thousand of his tribe, 
and fought at David's side in the pursuit 
of the Amalekites. 1 Chron. 12 : 20. (B.C. 
1034.) 

2. The captain of over 300,000 men of 
Judah who were in Jehoshaphat's army. 
2 Chron. 17 : 14. (B.C. 908.) 

Adon'i-Be'zek {lord of Bezck), king 
of Bezek, a city of the Canaanites. [Be- 
zek.] This chieftain was vanquished by 
the tribe of Judah, Judges 1 : 3-7, who 
cut off his thumbs and great toes, and 
brought him prisoner to Jerusalem, where 
he died. He confessed that he had in- 
flicted the same cruelty upon 70 petty 
kings whom he had conquered. (B.C. 
1425.) 

Adoni'jah {my Lord is Jehovah). 1. 
The fourth son of David by Haggith, 
born at Hebron while his father was king 
of Judah. 2 Sam. 3 : 4. (B.C. about 1050.) 
After the death of his three brothers, 
Amnon, Chileab and Absalom, he became 
eldest son ; and when his father's strength 
was visibly declining, put forward his 
pretensions to the crown. Adonijah's 
cause was espoused by Abiathar and by 
Joab the famous commander of David's 
army. [Joab.] His name and influence 
secured a large number of followers 
among the captains of the royal army 
belonging to the tribe of Judah, comp. 
1 Kings 1:5; and these, together with 
all the princes except Solomon, were 
entertained by Adonijah at a great sac- 
rificial feast held " by the stone Zoheleth, 
which is by En-rogel." [En-rogel.] 
Apprised of these proceedings, David 
immediately caused Solomon to be pro- 
claimed king, 1 Kings 1 : 33, 34, at Gihon. 
[Gihon.] This decisive measure struck 
terror into the opposite party, and Ado- 
nijah fled to the sanctuary, but was par- 
doned by Solomon on condition that he 
should " show himself a worthy man." 
1 Kings 1 : 52. The death of David 
quickly followed on these events ; and 
Adonijah begged Bath-sheba to procure 
Solomon's consent to his marriage with 
Abishag, who had been the wife of Da- 
vid in his old age. 1 Kings 1 : 3. This 
was regarded as equivalent to a fresh 
attempt on the throne [Absalom; 
A.BNER] ; and therefore Solomon or- 
dered him to be put to death by Be- 
naiah. 1 Kings 2 : 23. 
20 



2. A Levite in the reign of Jehosha- 
phat. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. 

3. The same as Adonikam. Neh. 10 : 
16. [Adonikam.] 

Adoni'kam, or Adon'ikam. The 
I sons of Adonikam, 666 in number, were 
| among those who returned from Baby- 
lon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 13 ; Neh. 
7 : 18 ; 1 Esd. 5 : 14. (B.C. 506-410.) The 
name is given as Adonijah in Neh. 10 : 
16. 

Adoni'rara {lord of heights), 1 Kings 
t 4 : 6. By an unusual contraction Ado- 
bam, 2 Sam. 20 : 24 and 1 Kings 12 : 18 ; 
' also Hadoram, 2 Chron. 10 : 18, chief 
receiver of the tribute during the reigns 
of David, 2 Sam. 20: 24, Solomon, 1 
Kings 4 : 6, and Rehoboam. 1 Kings 12 : 
18. This last monarch sent him to col- 
lect the tribute from the rebellious Isra- 
elites, by whom he was stoned to death. 
(B.C. 1014-973.) 
Adonize / dek {lord of justice), the 
j Amorite king of Jerusalem who organ- 
ized a league with four other Amorite 
princes against Joshua. The confeder- 
ate kings having laid siege to Gibeon, 
Joshua marched to the relief of his new 
allies and put the besiegers to flight. 
The five kings took refuge in a cave at 
Makkedah, whence they were taken and 
slain, their bodies hung on trees, and 
then buried in the place of their con- 
cealment. Josh. 10 : 1-27. (B.C. 1450.) 

Adoption, an expression used by St. 
Paul in reference to the present and pros- 
pective privileges of Christians. Bom. 
8:15, 23; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5. He 
probably alludes to the Roman custom 
by which a person not having children 
j of his own might adopt as his son one 
j born of other parents. The relationship 
was to all intents and purposes the same 
j as existed between a natural father and 
I son. The term is used figuratively to 
i show the close relationship to God of the 
i Christian. Gal. 4:4, 5 ; Rom. 8 : 14-17. 
He is received into God's family from the 
world, and becomes a child and heir of 
God. 

A'dor, or Ado'ra. [Adoraim.] 
Adora'im {double mound), a fortified 
j city built by Rehoboam, 2 Chron. 11 : 9, 
in Judah. Adoraim is probably the same 
! place with Adora, 1 Mace. 13 : 20, unless 
i that be Dor, on the seacoast below Car- 
mel. Robinson identifies it with Dura, 
a "large village" on a rising ground 
west of Hebron. 
Ado'ranio [Adoniram ; Hadoram.] 



ADO 



ADU 



Adoration. The acts and postures 
by which the Hebrews expressed adora- 
tion bear a great similarity to those still 
in use among Oriental nations. To rise 
up and suddenly prostrate the body was 
the most simple method ; but, generally 
speaking, the prostration was conducted 
in a more formal manner, the person 
falling upon the knee and then gradually 
inclining the body until the forehead 
touched the ground. Such prostration 
was usual in the worship of Jehovah, 
Gen. 17:3; Ps. 95 : 6 ; it was the formal 
mode of receiving visitors, Gen. 18 : 2, of 
doing obeisance to one of superior station, 
2 Sam. 14 : 4, and of showing respect to 
equals. 1 Kings 2 : 19. It was accom- 
panied by such acts as a kiss, Ex. 18 : 7, 
laying hold of the knees or feet of the 
person to whom the adoration was paid, 
Matt. 28 : 9, and kissing the ground on 
which he stood. Ps. 72 : 9 ; Micah 7 : 17. 
Similar adoration was paid to idols, 1 
Kings 19 : 18 ; sometimes, however, the 
act consisted simply in kissing the hand 
to the object of reverence, Job 31 : 27, 
and in kissing the statue itself. Hos. 
13 : 2. 

Adram'melech (splendor of the king). 
1. The name of an idol introduced into 




Samaria by the colonists from Sephar- 
vaim. 2 Kings 17 : 31. He was wor- 
shipped with rites resembling those of 
Molech, children being burnt in his 
honor. Adrammelech was probably the 
male power of the sun, and ANAMME- 
LECH, who is mentioned with Adram- 



melech as a companion god, the female 
power of the sun. 

2. Son of the Assyrian king Senna- 
cherib, who, with his brother Sharezer, 
murdered their father in the temple of 
Nisroch at Nineveh, after the failure of 
the Assyrian attack on Jerusalem. The 
parricides escaped into Armenia. 2 Kings 
19 : 37 ; 2 Chron. 32 : 21 ; Isa. 37 : 38. 

Admmyt'tium, named from Adra- 
mys, brother of Croesus king of Lydia, 
a seaport in the province of Asia [Asia], 
situated on a bay of the iEgean Sea, 
about 70 miles north of Smyrna, in the 
district anciently called JEolis, and also 
Mysia. See Acts 16 : 7. [Mitylene.] 
Acts 27 : 2. The modern Adramyti is a 
poor village. 

A'dria, more properly A'drias, the 
Adriatic Sea. Acts 27 : 27. The word 
seems to have been derived from the 
town of Adria, near the Po. In Paul's 
time it included the whole sea between 
Greece and Italy, reaching south from 
Crete to Sicily. * j Melita.J 

A'dri-el {flock of God), son of Bar- 
zillai, to whom Saul gave his daughter 
Merab, although he had previously prom- 
ised her to David. 1 Sam. 18 : 19. (B.C. 
about 1062.) His five sons were amongst 
the seven descendants of Saul whom 
David surrendered to the Gibeonites. 2 
Sam. 21 : 8. 

Adul'lain {justice of the people), 
Apocr. Odollam, a city of Judah in the 
lowland of the Shefelah, Josh. 15:35; 
the seat of a Canaanite king, Josh. 12 : 
15, and evidently a place of great antiq- 
uity. Gen. 38:1, 12, 20. Fortified by 
P,ehoboam, 2 Chron. 11 : 7, it was one of 
the towns reoccupied by the Jcavs after 
their return from Babylon, Neh. 11 : 30, 
and still a city in the time of the Mac- 
cabees. 2 Mace. 12 : 38. Adullam was 
probably near Dcir Ditbban, five or six 
miles north of Eleutheropolis. The lime- 
stone cliffs of the whole of that locality 
are pierced with extensive excavations, 
some one of which is doubtless the "cave 
of Adullam," the refuge of David. 1 
Sam. 22 : 1 ; 2 Sam. 23 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 15. 

Adultery. Ex. 20 : 14. The parties 
to this crime, according to Jewish law, 
were a married woman and a man who 
was not her husband. The Mosaic pen- 
alty was that both the guilty parties 
should be stoned, and it applied as well 
to the betrothed as to the married woman, 
provided she were free. Dent. 22 : 22-24. 
A bondwoman so offending was to be 

21 



ADU 



AGE 



scourged, and the man was to make a 
trespass offering. Lev. 19 : 20-22. At a 
later time, and when, owing to Gentile 
example, the marriage tie became a 
looser bond of union, public feeling in 
regard to adultery changed, and the 
penalty of death was seldom or never 
inflicted. The famous trial by the waters 
of jealousy, Num. 5 : 11-29, was prob- 
ably an ancient custom, which Moses 
found deeply seated. (But this ordeal 
was wholly in favor of the innocent, 
and exactly opposite to most ordeals. 
For the water which the accused drank 
was perfectly harmless, and only by a 
miracle could it produce a bad effect; 
while in most ordeals the accused must 
suffer what naturally produces death, 
and be proved innocent only by a mir- 
acle. Symbolically adultery is used to 
express unfaithfulness to covenant vows 
to God, who is represented as the hus- 
band of his people.) 

Adura'mim {the going up to), a rising 
ground or pass "over against Gilgal," 
and " on the south side of the ' torrent/ " 
Josh. 15 : 7 ; 18 : 17, which is the position 
still occupied by the road leading up 
from Jericho and the Jordan valley to 
Jerusalem, on the south face of the gorge 
of the Wady Kelt. Luke 10 : 30-36. 

Advocate, or Paraclete, one that 
pleads the cause of another. 1 John 
2:1. Used by Christ, John 14 : 16 ; 15: 
26; 16 : 7, to describe the office and work 
of the Holy Spirit, and translated Com- 
forter, i. e. (see margin of Revised Ver- 
sion) Advocate, Helper, Intercessor. 
This use of the word is derived from 
the fact that the Jews, being largely 
ignorant of the Roman law and the 
Roman language, had to employ Roman 
advocates in their trials before Roman 
courts. Applied to Christ, 1 John 2:1. 

JE'gypt. [Egypt.] 

iEne'as {laudable), a paralytic at 
Lydda healed by St. Peter. Acts 9 : 33, 
34. 

i'l'non (springs^, a place "near to 
Salim," at which John baptized. John 
3 : 23. It was evidently west of the Jor- 
dan, comp. 3 : 22 with 26, and with 1 : 
28, and abounded in water. It is given 
in the Onomasticon as eight miles south 
of Scythopolis, " near Salem and the 
.Jordan." 

yF.ra. [Chronology.] 
/TCthio'pi-a. [Ethiopia.] 
Affinity. | M akriack.] 
Ag'abus (alocust), a( Ihristian prophet 



in the apostolic age, mentioned in Acts 
11 : 28 and 21 : 10. He predicted, Acts 
I 11 : 28, that a famine would take place in 
i the reign of Claudius. Josephus men- 
' tions a famine which prevailed in Judea 
| in the reign of Claudius, and swept away 
i many of the inhabitants. (In Acts 21 : 
| 10 we learn that Agabus and Paul met 
at Csesarea some time after this.) 

A'gag {flame), possibly the title of 
the kings of Amalek, like Pharaoh of 
Egypt. One king of this name is men- 
tioned in Num. 24 : 7, and another in 1 
Sam. 15 : 8, 9, 20, 32, The latter was the 
king of the Amalekites, whom Saul 
spared contrary to Jehovah's well-known 
will. Ex. 17 : 14 ; Deut. 25 : 17. For this 
act of disobedience Samuel was commis- 
sioned to declare to Saul his rejection, 
and he himself sent for Agag and cut 
him in pieces. (B.C. about 1070.) [Sam- 
uel.] Haman is called the Agagite in 
Esther 3 : 1, 10 ; 8:3, 5. The Jews con- 
sider him a descendant of Agag the 
Amalekite. 
A'gagite. [Agag.] 
A'gar. [Hagar.] 
Agate, a beautifully-veined semi- 
transparent precious stone, a variety of 
quartz. Its colors are delicately ar- 
ranged in stripes or bands or blended in 
clouds. It is mentioned four times in the 
text of the Authorized Version, viz., in 
Ex. 28:19; 39:12; Isa. 54:12; Ezek. 
27 : 16. In the two former passages, 
where it is represented by the Hebrew 
word shebo, it is spoken of as forming 
the second stone in the third row of the 
high priest's breastplate ; in each of the 
two latter places the original word is 
cadced, by which, no doubt, is intended 
a different stone. [Ruby.] Our English 
agate derives its name from the Achates, 
on the banks of which it was first 
found. 

Age, Old. The aged occupied a 
prominent place in the social and polit- 
ical system of the Jews. In private life 
they were looked up to as the deposita- 
ries of knowledge, Job 15 : 10 ; the young 
were ordered to rise up in their pres- 
ence, Lev. 19 : 32 ; they allowed them to 
give their opinion first, Job 32 : 4 ; they 
were taught to regard gray hairs as a 
" crown of glory," Prov. 16 : 31 ; 20 : 29. 
The attainment of old age was regarded 
as a special blessing. Job 5 : 26. In pub- 
lic affairs age formed under Moses the 
main qualification of those who acted as 
the representatives of the people in all 



AGE 



AGE 



matters of difficulty and deliberation. 
[Elders.] 

Ag'ee, or A'gee (fugitive), a Harar- 
ite, father of Shammah, one of David's 
three mightiest heroes. 2 Sam. 23 : 11. 
(B.C. 1050.) 

Agriculture. This was little cared 
for by the patriarchs. The pastoral life, 
however, was the means of keeping the 
sacred race, whilst yet a family, distinct 
from mixture and locally unattached, 
especially whilst in Egypt. When grown 
into a nation it supplied a similar check 
on the foreign intercourse, and became 
the basis of the Mosaic commonwealth. 
" The land is mine," Lev. 25 : 23, was a 
dictum which made agriculture likewise 
the basis of the theocratic relation. 
Thus every family felt its own life with 
intense keenness, and had its divine 
tenure which it was to guard from alien- 
ation. The prohibition of culture in the 
sabbatical year formed a kind of rent 
reserved by the divine Owner. Land- 
marks were deemed sacred, Deut. 19 : 14, 
and the inalienability of the heritage was 
insured by its reversion to the owner in 
the year of jubilee ; so that only so many 
vears of occupancy could be sold. Lev. 
25 : 8-16, 23-35. 

Rain. — Water was abundant in Pales- 
tine from natural sources. Deut. 8:7; 
11 : 8-12. Rain was commonly expected 
soon after the autumnal equinox. The 
period denoted by the common scriptural 
expressions of the " early " and the " lat- 
ter rain," Deut. 11 : 14; Jer. 5 : 24; Hos. 
6:3; Zech. 10 : 1 ; James 5 : 7, generally 
reaching from November to April, con- 
stituted the " rainy season," and the re- 
mainder of the year the " dry season." 

Crops. — The cereal crops of constant 
mention are wheat and barley, and more 
rarely rye and millet(?). Of the two 
former, together with the vine, olive and 
fig, the use of irrigation, the plough and 
the harrow, mention is made in the book 
of Job, 31 : 40 ; 15 : 33 ; 24 : 6 ; 29 : 19 ; 
39 : 10. Two kinds of cumin (the black 
variety called " fitches," Isa. 28 : 27), and 
such podded plants as beans and lentils, 
may be named among the staple pro- 
duce. 

Ploughing and Soloing. — The plough 
was probably very light, one yoke of 
oxen usually sufficing to draw it. Mount- 
ains and steep places were hoed. Isa. 7 : 
25. New ground and fallows, Jer. 4:3; 
Hos. 10 : 12, were cleared of stones and 
of thorns, Isa. 5 : 2, early in the year, 



sowing or gathering from " among 
thorns " being a proverb for slovenly 
husbandry. Job 5:5; Prov. 24:30, 31. 
Sowing also took place without previous 
ploughing, the seed being scattered broad 
cast and ploughed in afterwards. The 
soil was then brushed over with a light 
harrow, often of thorn bushes. In 
highly-irrigated spots the seed was tram- 
pled in by cattle. Isa. 32 : 20. Seventy 
days before the passover was the time 
prescribed for sowing. The oxen were 
urged on by a goad like a spear. Judges 
3 : 31. The proportion of harvest gath- 
ered to seed sown was often vast ; a hun- 




Threshing Instrument (side view). 




Threshing Instrument (upper view). 

dred fold is mentioned, but in such a 
way as to signify that it was a limit rarely 
attained. Gen. 26 : 12 ; Matt. 13 : 8. Sow- 
ing a field with divers seed was forbid- 
den. Deut. 22 : 9. 

Reaping and Threshing. — The wheat, 
etc., was reaped by the sickle or pulled 
up by the roots. It was bound in sheaves. 
The sheaves or heaps were carted, Amos 
2 : 13, to the floor — a circular spot of 
hard ground, probably, as now, from 50 
j to 80 or 100 feet in diameter. Gen. 1 : 
! 10, 11 ; 2 Sam. 24 : 16, 18. On these the 
j oxen, etc., forbidden to be muzzled, 
Deut. 25 : 4, trampled out the grain. At 

23 



AGE 



AHA 



a later time the Jews used a threshing 
sledge called morag, Isa. 41 : 15 ; 2 Sam. 
24 : 22 ; 1 Chron. 21 : 23, probably resem- 
bling the noreg, still employed in Egypt 
— a stage with three rollers ridged with 
iron, which, aided by the driver's weight, 
crushed out, often injuring, the grain, as 
well as cut or tore the straw, which thus 
became fit for fodder. Lighter grains 
were beaten out with a stick. Isa. 28 : 27. 
The use of animal manure was frequent. 
Ps. 83 : 10 ; 2 Kings 9 : 37 ; Jer. 8 : 2, etc. 




Threshing Floor (Eastern). 

Winnowing. — The shovel and fan, Isa. 
30 : 24, indicate the process of winnow- 
ing — a conspicuous part of ancient hus- 
bandry. Ps. 35:5; Job 21 : 18 ; Isa. 17 : 
13. Evening was the favorite time, Ruth 
3 : 2, when there was mostly a breeze. 
The fan, Matt. 3 : 12, was perhaps a 
broad shovel which threw the grain up 
against the wind. The last process was 
the shaking in a sieve to separate dirt 
and refuse. Amos 9 : 9. Fields and floors 
were not commonly enclosed ; vineyards 
mostly were, with a tower and other 
buildings. Num. 22 : 24 ; Ps. 80 : 13 ; Isa. 
5:5; Matt. 21 : 33 ; comp. Judges 6:11. 
The gardens also and orchards were en- 
closed, frequently by banks of mud from 
ditches. 

With regard to occupancy, a tenant 
might pay a fixed money rent, Cant. 8 : 
11, or a stipulated share of the fruits. 2 
Sam. 9 : 10 ; Matt. 21 : 34. A passer by 
might cat any quantity of corn or grapes, 
but not reap or carry off fruit. Dent. 23 : 
24, 25; Matt. 12:1. The rights of the 
corner to be left, and of gleaning [COR- 
NER; G LEAN [NG |, formed the poor man's 
21 



claim on the soil for support. For his 
benefit, too, a sheaf forgotten in carrying 
to the floor was to be left ; so also with 
regard to the vineyard and the olive 
grove. Lev. 19 : 9, 10 ; Deut. 24 : 19. 

Agrip'pa. [Herod.] 

A'gur (a gatherer, i. e. together of wise 
men), the son of Jakeh, an unknown 
Hebrew sage, who uttered or collected 
the sayings of wisdom recorded in Prov. 
30. 

A'hab (uncle). 1. Son of Omri, sev- 
enth king of Israel, reigned B.C. 919- 
896. He married Jezebel, daughter 
of Ethbaal king of Tyre; and in 
obedience to her wishes, caused a 
temple to be built to Baal in Samaria 
itself, and an oracular grove to be 
consecrated to Astarte. See 1 Kings 
18 : 19. One of Ahab's chief tastes 
was for splendid architecture, which 
he showed by building an ivory 
house and several cities. Desiring to 
add to his pleasure-grounds at Jez- 
reel the vineyard of his neighbor Na- 
both, he proposed to buy it or give 
land in exchange for it ; and when 
this was refused by Naboth in ac- 
cordance with the Levitical law, 
Lev. 25 : 23, a false accusation of 
blasphemy was brought against him, 
and he was murdered, and Ahab took 
possession of the coveted fields. 2 
Kings 9 : 26. Thereupon Elijah declared 
that the entire extirpation of Ahab's 
house was the penalty appointed for his 
long course of wickedness. [Elijah.] 
The execution, however, of the sentence 
was delayed in consequence of Ahab's 
deep repentance. 1 Kings 21. 

Ahab undertook three campaigns 
against Ben-hadad II. king of Damas- 
cus, two defensive and one offensive. In 
the first Ben-hadad laid siege to Samaria, 
but was repulsed with great loss. 1 Kings 
20 : 1-21. Next year Ben-hadad again 
invaded Israel by way of Aphek, on the 
east of Jordan ; yet Ahab's victory was 
so complete that Ben-hadad himself fell 
into his hands, but was released contrary 
to God's will, 1 Kings 20 : 22-34, on con- 
dition of restoring the cities of Israel, 
and admitting Hebrew commissioners 
into Damascus. After this great success 
Ahab enjoyed peace for three years, 
when he attacked Ramoth in Gilead, on 
the east of Jordan, in conjunction with 
Jehoshaphat king of Judah, which town 
he claimed as belonging to Israel. Being 
tol l by the prophet Micaiah that he 



AHA 



AHA 



would fall, he disguised himself, but was 
slain by " a certain man who drew a bow 
at a venture." When buried in Sama- 
ria, the dogs licked up his blood as a 
servant was washing his chariot ; a par- 
tial fulfillment of Elijah's prediction, 1 
Kings 21 : 19, which was more literally 
accomplished in the case of his son. 2 
Kings 9 : 26. 

2. A lying prophet, who deceived the 
captive Israelites in Babylon, and was 
burnt to death by Nebuchadnezzar. Jer. 
29 : 21. 

Ahar'ah {after the brother), third son 
of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 8:1. [Ahee; 
Ahiram.] 

Ahar'hel {behind the breastwork), a 
name occurring in an obscure fragment 
of the genealogies of Judah. 1 Chron. 
4:8. 

Ahas'a-i {whom Jehovah holds), a 
priest, ancestor of Maasiai, Neh. 11 : 13 ; 
called Jahzeeah in 1 Chron. 9 : 12. 

Ahas'ba-i {blooming), father of Eli- 
phelet, one of David's thirty-seven cap- 
tains. 2 Sam. 23 : 34. In the corrupt 
list in 1 Chron. 11 : 35, Eliphelet appears 
as " Eliphal the son of -Ur." (B.C. about 
1050.) 

Ahashve'rosh. Another (the He- 
brew) form of Ahasuerus. Ezra 4 : 6, 
in margin. 

Ahasuc'rus {lion-king), the name of 
one Median and two Persian kings men- 
tioned in the Old Testament. 

1. In Dan. 9 : 1 Ahasuerus is said to be 
the father of Darius the Mede. [Da- 
Rius.] This first Ahasuerus ij, Cyax- 
ares, the conqueror of Nineveh. (Began 
to reign B.C. 034.) 

2. The Ahasuerus king of Persia, re- 
ferred to in Ezra 4 : 6, must be Camby- 
ses, thought to be Cyrus' successor, and 
perhaps his son. (B.C. 529.) 

3. The third is the Ahasuerus of the 
book of Esther. This Ahasuerus is 
probably Xerxes of history, Esther 1 : 1 
(B.C. 485), and this conclusion is fortified 
by the resemblance of character and by 
certain chronological indications, the 
accounts of his life and character agree- 
ing with the book of Esther. In the 
third year of Ahasuerus was held a great 
feast and assembly in Shushan the pal- 
ace, Esther 1 : 3, following a council 
held to consider the invasion of Greece. 
He divorced his queen Vashti for refus- 
ing to appear in public at this banquet, 
and married, four years afterwards, the 
Jewess Esther, cousin and ward of Mor- 



decai. Five years after this, Haman, 
one of his counsellors, having been 
slighted by Mordecai, prevailed upon 
the king to order the destruction of all 
the Jews in the empire. But before the 
day appointed for the massacre, Esther 
and Mordecai induced the king to put 
Haman to death, and to give the Jew^s 
the right of self-defence. 

Aha'va {water), a place, Ezra 8 : 15, 
or a river, 8 : 21, on the banks of which 
Ezra collected the second expedition 
which returned with him from Babylon 
to Jerusalem. Perhaps it is the modern 
Hit, on the Euphrates due east of Da- 
mascus. 

A'liaz (jyossessor), eleventh king of 
Judah, son of Jotham, reigned 741-726, 
about sixteen years. At the time of his 
accession, Rezin king of Damascus and 
Pekah king of Israel had recently formed 
a league against Judah, and they pro- 
ceeded to lay siege to Jerusalem. Upon 
this Isaiah hastened to give advice and 
encouragement to Ahaz, and the allies 
failed in their attack on Jerusalem. Isa. 
7, 8, 9. But the allies inflicted a most 
severe injury on Judah by the capture 
of Elath, a flourishing port on the Red 
Sea, while the Philistines invaded the 
west and south. 2 Kings 16 ; 2 Chron. 
28. Ahaz, having forfeited God's favor 
by his wickedness, sought deliverance 
from these numerous troubles by appeal- 
ing to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, 
who freed him from his most formidable 
enemies. But Ahaz had to purchase this 
help at a costly price ; he became trib- 
utary to Tiglath-pileser. He was weak, 
a gross idolater, and sought safety in 
heathen ceremonies, making his son pass 
through the fire to Molech, consulting 
wizards and necromancers, Isa. 8 : 19, and 
other idolatrous practices. 2 Kings 23 : 
12. His only service of permanent value 
was the introduction of the sun-dial. 
He died at the age of 36, but was refused 
I a burial with the kings his ancestors. 2 
Chron. 28 : 27. 

2. Son of Micah. 1 Chron. 8 : 35, 36 ; 
9 :42. 

Ahazi'ah {sustained by the Lord). 
1. Son of Ahab and Jezebel, eighth 
king of Israel, reigned B.C. 896-895. 
After the battle of Ramoth in Gilead, in 
which Ahab perished [Ahab], the vas- 
sal king of Moab refused his yearly 
tribute; comp. Isa. 16:1. Before Aha- 
ziah conld take measures for enforcing 
j his claim, he was seriously injured by a 
1 25 



AHB 



AHI 



fall through a lattice in his palace at 
Samaria. Being an idolater, he sent to 
inquire of the oracle of Baalzebub in the 
Philistine city of Ekron whether he 
should recover his health. But Elijah, 
who now for the last time exercised the 
prophetic office, rebuked him for this 
impiety, and announced to him his ap- 
proaching death. The only other re- 
corded transaction of his reign, his en- 
deavor to join the king of Judah in 
trading to Ophir, is related under Je- 
HOSHAPHAT. 1 Kings 22 : 49-53 ; 2 Kings 
1 ; 2 Chron. 20 : 35-37. 

2. Fifth king of Judah, son of Jeho- 
ram and Athaliah (daughter of Ahab), 
and therefore nephew of the preceding 
Ahaziah, reigned one year, B.C. 884. He 
is called Azariah, 2 Chron. 22 : 6, prob- 
ably by a copyist's error, and Jehoahaz. 
2 Chron. 21 : 17. He was 22 years old at 
his accession. 2 Kings 8 : 26 (his age 42, 
in 2 Chron. 22 : 2, is a copyist's error). 
Ahaziah was an idolater, and he allied 
himself with his uncle Jehoram king of 
Israel against Hazael, the new king of 
Syria. The two kings were, however, 
defeated at Ramoth, where Jehoram was 
severely wounded. The revolution car- 
ried out in Israel by Jehu under the 
guidance of Elisha broke out while Aha- 
ziah was visiting his uncle at Jezreel. 
As Jehu approached the town, Jehoram 
and Ahaziah went out to meet him ; the 
former was shot through the heart by 
Jehu, and Ahaziah was pursued and mor- 
tally wounded. He died when he reached 
Megiddo. 

Ah/ban {brother of the wise; dis- 
creet), son of Abishur bv his wife Abi- 
hail. 1 Chron. 2:29. He was of the 
tribe of Judah. 

A'her {following), ancestor of Hushim, 
a Benjamite. The name occurs in the 
genealogy of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7 : 12. 
It is not improbable that Aher and Ahi- 
ram, Num. 26 : 38, are the same. 

A'hi {a brother). 1. A Gadite, chief 
of a family who lived in Gilead in Ba- 
shan, 1 Chron. 5 : 15, in the days of Jo- 
tham king of Judah. (B.C. 758.) 

2. A descendant of Shamer, of the 
tribe of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 34. 

Ahi'ah, or Ahi'jah { friend of Jeho- 
vah). 1. Son of Ahitub, grandson of 
Phinehas and great-grandson of Eli, suc- 
ceeded his father as high priest in the 
reign of Saul. 1 Sam. 14:3, 18. Ahiah 
is probably the same person as Ahim- 
elech the son of Ahitub. (B.C. 980.) 
26 



2. One of Solomon's princes. 1 Kings 
4 : 3. 

3. A prophet of Shiloh, 1 Kings 14 : 2, 
hence called the Shilonite, 11 : 29, of 
whom we have two remarkable proph- 
ecies extant, the one in 1 Kings 11 : 30- 

j 39, addressed to Jeroboam, announcing 
the rending of the ten tribes from 
Solomon ; the other in 1 Kings 14 : 6-16, 
in which he foretold the death of Abijah, 
the king's son, who was sick, and the 
destruction of Jeroboam's house on ac- 
count of the images which he had set 
up. 1 Kings 14 : 2, 3. (B.C. about 956.) 

4. Father of Baasha king of Israel. 1 
Kings 15 : 27, 33. 

5. Son of Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 25. 

6. Son of Bela. 1 Chron. 8 : 7. 

7. One of David's mighty men. 1 
Chron. 11 : 36. 

8. A Levite in David's reign. 1 Chron. 
26 : 20. 

9. One of the ."heads of the people" 
who joined in the covenant with Nehe- 
miah. Neh. 10 : 26. 

Ahi'am, son of Sharar the Hararite 
(or of Sacar, 1 Chron. 11:35), one of 
David's thirty mighty men. 2 Sam. 23 : 
33. (B.C. 1050.) 

Ahi'an, a Manassite of the family of 
Shemidah. 1 Chron. 7 : 19. 

Ahi-e'zer {brother of help\ 1. Son 
of Ammishaddai, hereditary chieftain of 
the tribe of Dan. Num. 1:12; 2 : 25 ; 7 : 
66. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. The Benjamite chief of a body of 
archers in the time of David. 1 Chron. 
12:3._ (B.C. 1050.) 

Ahi'hud {brother of renown). 1. The 
son of Shelomi and prince of the tribe 
of Asher. Num. 34 : 27. 

2. Chieftain of the tribe of Benjamin. 
1 Chron. 8 : 7. 

Ahi'jah. [Ahiah.] 

Ahi'kam {a brother who raises up), 
son of Shaphan the scribe, an influen- 
tial officer at the court of Josiah, was 
one of the delegates sent by H.lkiah to 
consult Huldah. 2 Kings 22 : 12-14. In 
the reign of Jehoiakim he successfully 
used his influence to protect the prophet 
Jeremiah. Jer. 26 : 24. He was the 
father of Gedaliah. [Gedaliah.J (b.c. 
641.) m 

Ahi'lud {a brother of one born, i.e. 
before him). 1. Father of Jehoshaphat, 
the recorder or chronicler of the king- 
dom in the reigns of David and Sol- 
omon. 2 Sam. 8:16; 20 : 24 ; 1 Kings 4 : 
3; 1 Chron. 18 : 15. (B.C. before 1015.) 



AHI 



AHL 



2. The father of Baana, one of Solo- 
mon's twelve commissariat officers. 1 
Kings 4 : 12. It is uncertain whether he 
is the same with the foregoing. 

Ahim'a-az {brother of anger). 1. Son 
of Zadok, the high priest in David's reign, 
and celebrated for his swiftness of foot. 
During Absalom's rebellion he carried to 
David the important intelligence that 
Ahithophel had counselled an immediate 
attack upon David and his followers. 2 
Sam. 15 : 24-37 ; 17 : 15-22. Shortly aft- 
erwards he was the first to bring to the 
king the good news of Absalom's defeat. 
2 Sam. 18 : 19-33. (B.C. 972-956.) 

2. Saul's wife's father. 1 Sam. 14 : 50. 
(B.C. before 1093.) 

3. Solomon's son-in-law. 1 Kings 4 : 
15. (B.C. after 1014.) 

Ahi'man {brother of the right hand). 
1. One of the three giant Anakim who in- 
habited Mount Hebron, Num. 13 : 22, 23, 
seen by Caleb and the spies. (B.C. 1490.) 
The whole race was cut olf by Joshua, 
Josh. 11 : 21, and the three brothers were 
slain by the tribe of Judah. Judges 1 : 
10. 

2. A Levite porter. 1 Chron. 9 : 17. 

Ahim'elech {brother of the king). 1. 
Son of Ahitub, 1 Sam. 22 : 11, 12, and 
high priest at Nob in the days of Saul. 
He gave David the shew-bread to eat, 
and the sword of Goliath; and for so 
doing was put to death, with his whole 
house, by Saul's order. Abiathar alone 
escaped/ rABiATHAR.] (B.C. 1085-1060.) 

2. A Hittite. 1 Sam. 26 : 6. 

Ahi'moth {brother of death), a Le- 
vite apparently in the time of David. 1 
Chron. 6 : 25.' In v. 35, for Ahimoth 
we find Mahath, as in Luke 3 : 26. 

Ahin'adab {brother the noble, i. e. a 
noble brother), son of Iddo, one of Solo- 
mon's twelve commissaries who supplied 
provisions for the royal household. 1 
Kings 4 : 14. (B.C. 1014-975.) 

Ahin'o-am {brother of grace, i.e. gra- 
cious). 1. The daughter of Ahimaaz 
and wife of Saul. 1 Sam. 14:50. (B.C. 
about 1090.) 

2. A native of Jezreel who was mar- 
ried to David during his wandering life. 
1 Sam. 25:43. (B.C. 1060.) She lived 
with him and his other wife Abigail at 
the court of Achish, 27 : 3 ; was taken 
prisoner with her by the Amalekites 
when they plundered Ziklaa:, 30 : 5, but 
was rescued by David. 30 : 18. 

Ahi'o {brotherly). 1. Son of Abin- 
adab, who accompanied the ark when it 



was brought out of his father's house. 2 
, Sam. 6 : 3, 4 ; 1 Chron. 13 : 7. (B.C. 1043. > 

2. A Benjamite, one of the sons of 
Beriah. 1 Chron. 8 : 14. 

3. A Benjamite, son of Jehiel. 1 Chron. 
8 : 31 ; 9 : 37. 

Ahi'ra {brother of evil, i.e. unlucky), 
chief of the tribe of Naphtali. Num. 1 : 
15 ; 2 : 29 ; 7:78, 83 ; 10 : 27. 

Ahi/ram {brother of height, lofty), 
J one of the sons of Benjamin, and ances- 
| tor of the Ahieamites. Num. 26 : 38. 
In Gen. 46 : 21 the name appears as 
" Ehi and Bosh." It is uncertain whether 
Ahiram is the same as Ahee, 1 Chron. 
7 : 12, or Aharah, 1 Chron. 8 : 1. 

Ahis'amach ( brother of help), a Dan- 
ite, father of Aholiab, one of the archi- 
tects of the tabernacle. Ex. 31:6; 35 : 
34; 38:23. (B.C. 1490.) 

Ahish'ahar {brother of the dawn), 
one of the sons of Bilhan, the grandson 
of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7 : 10. 

Ahi'shar, the controller of Solomon's 
household. 1 Kings 4 : 6. 

Ahith'ophel {brother of foolishness), 
a native of Giloh, was a privy councillor 
of David, whose wisdom was highly es- 
teemed, though his name had an exactly 
opposite signification. 2 Sam. 16 : 23. 
(B.C. 1055-1023.) He was the grand- 
father of Bath-sheba. Comp. 2 Sam. 11 : 
3 with" 23 : 34. Ahithophel joined the 
conspiracy of Absalom against David, 
and persuaded him to take possession of 
the royal harem, 2 Sam. 16 : 21, and rec- 
ommended an immediate pursuit of Da- 
vid. His advice was wise; but Hushai 
advised otherwise. When Ahithophel 
saw that Hushai's advice prevailed, he 
despaired of success, and returning to his 
own home "put his household in order 
and hanged himself." 2 Sam. 17 : 1-23. 

Ahi'tub {brother of goodness). 1. The 
son of Phinehas and grandson of Eli, 
and therefore of the family of Ithamar. 
1 Sam. 14:3; 22:9, 11. (b'.c. 1125.) He 
was succeeded by his son Ahijah (Ahim- 
elech). (B.C. i085.) 

2. Son of Amariah, and father of Za- 
dok the high priest, 1 Chron. 6:7,8; 2 
Sam. 8 : 17, of the house of Eleazar. (B.C. 
before 1045.) 

Ah'lab {fertile), a city of Asher frcm 
which the Canaanites were not driven 
out. Judges 1 : 31. 

Ahla'i, or Ah'la-i {ornamental), 
daughter of Sheshan, whom, having no 
issue, he gave in marriage to his Egyptian 
slave Jarha. 1 Chron. 2 : 31, 35. From 

27 



AHO 



AKK 



her were descended Zabad, one of David's 
mighty men, 1 Chron. 11 ; 41, and Aza- 
riah, one of the captains of hundreds in 
the reign of Joash. 2 Chron. 23 : 1. 

Aho'ah {brotherly), son of Bela, the 
son of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 8:4. In 1 
Chron. 8:7 he is called Ahiah. The 
patronymic, Ahohite, is found in 2 Sam. 
23 : 9, 28 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 12, 29 ; 27 : 4. 

Aho'hite. [Ahoah.J 

Aho'lah and Aho'libah (my taber- 
nacle), two symbolical names, are de- 
scribed as harlots, the former represent- 
ing Samaria and the latter Judah.Ezek. 
23. 

Aho r li-ab, a Danite of great skill as a 
weaver and embroiderer, whom Moses 
appointed with Bezaleel to erect the tab- 
ernacle. Ex. 35 : 30-35. (B.C. 1490.) 

Aholiba'mah, or Aholib'amah {my 
tabernacle is exalted), one of the three 
wives of Esau. (B.C. 1797.) She was the 
daughter of Anah. Gen. 36 : 2, 25. In 
the earlier narrative, Gen. 26:34 Aholi- 
bamah is called Judith, which may have 
been her original name. 

Ahuma'i (brother of water, i. e. cow- 
ardly), son of Jabath, a descendant of 
Judah, and head of one of the families 
of the Zorathites. 1 Chron. 4 : 2. 

Ahu'zam (possession), properly Ahuz- 
zam, son of Ashur, the father or founder 
of Tekoa, by his wife Naarah. 1 Chron. 
4:6. 

Ahuz'zath (possessions), one of the 
friends of the Philistine king Abimelech, 
who accompanied him at his interview 
with Isaac. Gen. 26 : 26. (B.C. about 
1877.) 

A'i (heap of ruiws). 1. A city lying 
east of Bethel and "beside Bethaven." 
Josh. 7 : 2 ; 8 : 9. It was the second city 
taken by Israel after the passage of the 
Jordan, and was "utterly destroyed." 
Josh. 7:3-5; 8 ; 9:3; 10 : 1, 2 ; 12 : 9. 

2. A city of the Ammonites, appar- 
ently attached to Heshbon. Jer. 49 : 3. 

A-i'ah (clamor). 1. Son of Zibeon, a 
descendant of Seir and ancestor of one 
of the wives of Esau, 1 Chron. 1 : 40, 
called in Gen. 36 : 24 Ajah. He prob- 
ably died before his father, as the succes- 
sion fell to his brother Anah. 

2. Father of Rizpah, the concubine of 
Said. 2 Sam. 3:7; 21 : 8, 10, 11. (B.C. 
before 1040.) 

A-i'ath (feminine of Ai), a place 
named by Isaiah, Isa. 10 : 28, in con- 
nection with Migron and Michmash, 
probably the same as Ai. 
28 



A-i'ja, like Aiath probably a variation 
of the name Ai, mentioned with Mich- 
mash and Bethel. Neh. 11 : 31. 

Aij'alon, or Aj'alon (place of ga- 
zelles). 1. A city of the Kohathites. 
Josh. 21 : 24; 1 Chron. 6 : 69. It was a 
Levitical city and a city of refuge. It 
was originally allotted to the tribe of 
Dan, Josh. 19 : 42 ; Authorized Version, 
Ajalon, which tribe, however, was un- 
able to dispossess the Amorites of the 
place. Judges 1 : 35. Aijalon was one of 
the towns fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chron. 
11 : 10, and the last we hear of it is as 
being in the hands of the Philistines. 2 
Chron. 28 : 18. Being on the very front- 
ier of the two kingdoms, we can under- 
stand how Aijalon should be spoken of 
sometimes, 1 Chron. 6 : 69, comp. with 
66, as in Ephraim, and sometimes, 2 
Chron. 11 : 10 ; 1 Sam. 14 : 31, as in 
Judah and Benjamin. It is represented 
by the modern Yalo, a little to the north 
of the Jaffa road, about 14 miles out of 
Jerusalem. 

2. A broad and beautiful valley near 
the city of Aijalon over which Joshua 
commanded the moon to stand still dur- 
ing the pursuit after the battle of Gibeon. 
Josh. 10:12. 

3. A place in Zebulon, mentioned as 
the burial-place of Elon, one of the 
Judges. Judges 12 : 12. 

Aij'eleth Sha'har (the hind of the 
morning da.wn), found once only in the 
Bible, in the title of Ps. 22. It probably 
describes to the musician the melody to 
which the psalm was to be played. 

A'in (spring, well). 1. One of the 
landmarks on the eastern boundary of 
Palestine. Num. 34:11. It is probably 
'Ain cl-'Azy, the main source of the 
Orontes. 

2. One of the southernmost cities of 
Judah, Josh. 15 : 32 ; afterwards allotted 
to Simeon, Josh. 19 : 7 ; 1 Chron. 4 : 32, 
and given to the priests. Josh. 21 : 16. 

A'jah = A-i'ah, 1. Gen. 36 : 24. 

Aj'alon. [Aijalon.] 

A'kan (sharp-sighted), son of Ezer, 
one of the "dukes" or chieftains of the 
Horites, and descendant of Seir. Gen. 
36 : 27. He is called Jakan in 1 Chron. 
1 :42. 

Akel'dama. Revised Version of Acts 
1 : 19 for Aceldama. 

Ak'kub (insidious). 1. A descendant 
of Zerubbabel and son of Elioenai. 1 
Chron. 3 : 24. 

2. One of the porters or doorkeepers 



AKR 



ALE 



at the east gate of the temple. (B.C. 536- 
440.) 

3. One of the Nethinim, whose family 
returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 45. 
(B.C. 536.) 

4. A Levite who assisted Ezra in ex- 
pounding the law to the people. Neh. 
8:7. : 

Akrab'Mm {the ascent of, or the going 
up to); also Maaleh-acrabbim {the 
scorpion pass), a pass between the south 
end of the Dead Sea and Zin, forming 
one of the landmarks on the south bound- 
ary at once of Judah, Josh. 15 : 3, and of 
the Holy Land. Num. 34 : 4. Also the 
boundary of the Amorites. Judges 1 : 
36. As to the name, scorpions abound in 
the whole of this district. 

Alabaster, from the Arabic al bas- 
traton, a whitish stone, or from Albastron, 




Alabaster Vases. 

Inscription on the centre vessel denotes the quantity it holds 



the place in Egypt where it is found. 
It occurs only in Matt. 26 : 7 ; Mark 14 : 
3 ; Luke 7 : 37. The ancients considered 
alabaster to be the best material in 
which to preserve their ointments. The 
Oriental alabaster (referred to in the Bi- 
ble) is a translucent carbonate of lime, 
formed on the floors of limestone caves 
by the percolation of water. It is of the 
same material as our marbles, but differ- 
ently formed. It is usually clouded or 
banded like agate, hence sometimes 
called onyx marble. 

Our common alabaster is different from 
this, bein<? a variety of gypsum or sul- 
phate of lime, used in its finer forms for 



vases, etc. ; in the coarser it is ground up 
for plaster of Paris. The noted sculp- 
tured slabs from Nineveh are made of 
this material. 

Al'ameth, properly Al'emeth {cov- 
ering), one of the sons of Becher, the son 
of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7 : 8. 

Alam'meflech {king's oak), a place 
within the limits of Asher, named between 
Achshaph and Amad. Josh. 19 : 26 only. 

Al'amoth {virgins). Ps. 46, title; 1 
Chron. 15 : 20. Some interpret it to 
mean a musical instrument, and others 
a melody. 

Al'emeth {covering), a Benjamite, son 
of Jehoadah or Jarah, 1 Chron. 8 : 36 ; 
9 : 42, and descended from Jonathan the 
son of Saul. (B.C. after 1077.) 

Alexander III. {helper of men — 
brave), king of Macedon, surnamed the 
Great, the son of Philip and Olym- 
pias, was born at Pella B.C. 356, and 
succeeded his father B.C. 336. Two 
years aftei-wards he crossed the Hel- 
lespont (B.C. 334) to carry out the 
plans of his father, and execute the 
mission of Greece to the civilized 
world. He subjugated Syria and 
Palestine B.C. 334-332. Egypt next 
submitted to him B.C. 332, and in 
this year he founded Alexandria. 
In the same year he finally defeated 
Darius at Gaugamela, who in B.C. 
330 was murdered. The next two 
years were occupied by Alexander 
in the consolidation of his Persian 
conquests and the reduction of Bac- 
tria. In B.C. 327 he crossed the In- 
dus; turning westward he reached 
Susa B.C. 325, and proceeded to 
Babylon B.C. 324, Avhich he chose 
as the capital of his empire. In the 
next year (B.C. 323) he died there of 
intemperance, at the early age of 32, 
in the midst of his gigantic plans ; and 
those who inherited his conquests left his 
designs unachieved and unattempted. cf. 
Dan. 7 : 6 ; 8 : 5 ; 11:3. Alexander is in- 
tended in Dan. 2 : 39 and also Dan. 7:6; 
8 : 5-7 ; 11 : 3, 4, the latter indicating the 
rapidity of his conquests and his power. 
He ruled with great dominion, and did 
according to his will, Dan. 11:3; " and 
there was none that could deliver .... 
out of his hand." Dan. 8 : 7. 

Alexan'der. 1. Son of Simon the 
Cyrenian, who was compelled to bear the 
cross for our Lord. Mark 15 : 21. 

2. One of the kindred of Annas the 
high priest. Acts 4 : 6. 

29 



ALE 



ALI 



3. A Jew at Ephesus whom his coun- 
trymen put forward during the tumult 
raised by Demetrius the silversmith, 
Acts 19 : 33, to plead their cause with the 
mob. 

4. An Ephesian Christian reprobated 
by St. Paul in 1 Tim. 1 : 20 as having, 
together with one Hymenseus, put from 
him faith and a good conscience, and so 
made shipwreck concerning the faith. 
This may be the same with 

5. Alexander the coppersmith, men- 
tioned by the same apostle, 2 Tim. 4 : 14, 
as having done him many mischiefs. 

Alexan'dri-a, or Alexandria (from 
Alexander), 3 Mace. 3:1; Acts 18:24; 
6 : 9, the Hellenic, Roman and Christian 
capital of Egypt. 

Situation. — (Alexandria was sit- 
uated on the Mediterranean Sea, 
directly opposite the island of 
Pharos, 12 miles west of the Ca- 
nopic branch of the Nile and 120 
miles from the present city of 
Cairo.) It was founded by Alex- 
ander the Great, B.C. 332, who him- 
self traced the ground plan of the 
city. The work thus begun was 
continued after the death of Alex- 
ander by the Ptolemies. 

Description. — Under the despot- 
ism of the later Ptolemies the 
trade of Alexandria declined, but 
its population and wealth were 
enormous. Its importance as one 
of the chief corn-ports of Pome 
secured for it the general favor of 
the first emperors. Its population 
was mixed from the first. Accord- 
ing to Josephus, Alexander him- 
self assigned to the Jews a place in 
his new city. Philo estimates the 
number of the Alexandrine Jews 
in his time at a little less than 1 ,000,000 ; 
and adds that two of the five districts of 
Alexandria were called "Jewish dis- 
tricts," and that many Jews lived scat- 
tered in the remaining three. " For a 
long period Alexandria was the greatest 
of known cities." After Pome became 
the chief city of the world, Alexandria 
ranked second to Rome in wealth and 
importance, and second to Athens only in 
literature and science. Its collection of 
books grew to be the greatest library of 
ancient times, and contained at one time 
700,000 rolls or volumes. Here was made 
the Septuagint translation of the Old 
Testament into Greek, begun about B.C. 
285. The commerce of Alexandria, es- 
30 



pecially in grain, was very great. Ac- 
cording to the common legend, St. Mark 
first " preached the gospel in Egypt, and 
founded the first church in Alexandria." 
At the beginning of the second century 
the number of Christians at Alexandria 
must have been very large, and the great 
leaders of Gnosticism who arose there 
(Basilicles, Valentinus) exhibit an exag- 
geration of the tendency of the Church. 

Present Condition. — The city is now 
called Scanderia. Its population in 1871 
was 219,000 {Encyc. Brit.), and is increas- 
ing. " Cleopatra's Needle," lately set 
up in New York, was taken from this 
city. 

Alexan'drians, the Jewish colonists 
of Alexandria, who were admitted to the 




The Almug. 

privileges of citizenship and had had a 
synagogue at Jerusalem. Acts 6 : 9. 

Algum or Almug Trees, the for- 
mer occurring in 2 Chron. 2:8; 9 : 10, 
11, the latter in 1 Kings 10 : 11, 12. These 
words are identical. From 1 Kings 10 : 
11, 12 ; 2 Chron. 9 : 10, 11, we learn that 
the almug was brought in great plenty 
from Ophir for Solomon's temple and 
house, and for the construction of musical 
instruments. It is probable that this 
tree is the red sandal wood, which is a 
native of India and Ceylon. The wood 
is very heavy, hard and fine grained, 
and of a beautiful garnet color. 

Ali'ah. [Alvah.] 

Ali'an. [Alvan.] 



ALL 



ALM 



Allegory, a figure of speech, which 
has been defined by Bishop Marsh, in 
accordance with its etymology, as " a 
representation of one thing which is in- 
tended to excite the representation of 
another thing." ("A figurative repre- 
sentation containing a meaning other 
than and in addition to the literal." 
"A fable or parable is a short allegory 
with one definite moral." — Encyc. Brit.) 
In every allegory there is a twofold 
sense — the immediate or historic, which 
is understood from the words, and the 
ultimate, which is concerned with the 
things signified by the words. The alle- 
gorical interpretation is not of the words, 
but of the things signified by them, and 
not only may, but actually does, coexist 
with the literal interpretation in every 
allegory, whether the narrative in which 
it. is conveyed be of things possible or 
real. An illustration of this may be 
seen in Gal. 4 : 24, where the apostle 
gives an allegorical interpretation to 
the historical narrative of Hagar and 
Sarah, not treating that narrative as an 
allegory in itself, as our Authorized 
Version would lead us to suppose, but 
drawing from it a deeper sense than is 
conveyed by the immediate represent- 
ation. (Addison's Vision of Mirza 
and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress are 
among the best allegories in all liter- 
ature.) 

Alleluia, so written in Eev. 19 : 6, 
foil., or more properly Hallelujah, 
praise ye Jehovah, as it is found in the 
margin of Ps. 104:35; 105:45; 106; 
111 : 1 ; 112 : 1 ; 113 : 1 ; comp. Ps. 113 : 9 ; 
115 : 18 ; 116 : 19 ; 117 : 2. The literal 
meaning of " hallelujah " sufficiently 
indicates the character of the Psalms in 
which it occurs as hymns of praise and 
thanksgiving. 

Alliances. On the first establish- 
ment of the Hebrews in Palestine no 
connections were formed between them 
and the surrounding nations. But with 
the extension of their power under the 
kings alliances became essential to the 
security of their commerce. Solomon 
concluded two important treaties exclu- 
sively for commercial purposes ; the first 
with Hiram king of Tyre, 1 Kings 5 : 
2-12 ; 9 : 27, the second with a Pharaoh, 
king of Egypt. 1 Kings 10 : 28, 29. 
When war broke out between Amaziah 
and Jeroboam II. a coalition was formed 
between Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah 
on the one side, and Ahaz and Tiglath- 



pileser, king of Assyria, on the other. 2 
j Kings 16 : 5-9. 

The formation of an alliance was at- 
tended with various religious rites. A 
victim was slain and divided into two 
parts, between which the contracting 
parties passed. Gen. 15 : 10. Generally 
speaking, the oath alone is mentioned in 
the contracting of alliances, either be- 
tween nations, Josh. 9 : 15, or individuals. 
Gen. 25 : 28 ; 31 : 53 ; 1 Sam. 20 : 17 ; 2 
Kings 11:4. The event was celebrated 
by a feast. Gen. I. c. ; Ex. 24 : 11 ; 2 Sam. 
3': 12, 20. Salt, as symbolical of fidelity, 
was used on these occasions. Occasion- 
ally a pillar or a heap of stones was set 
up as a memorial of the alliance. Gen. 
31 : 52. Presents were also sent by the 
parties soliciting the alliance. 1 Kings 
15 : 18 ; Isa. 30 : 6 ; 1 Mace. 15 : 18. The 
fidelity of the Jews to their engagements 
was conspicuous at all periods of their 
history, Josh. 9:18, and any breach of 
covenant was visited with very severe 
punishment, 2 Sam. 21 : 1 ; Ezek. 17 : 16. 

AFlon {an oak), a Simeonite, ancestor 
of Ziza, a prince of his tribe in the reign 
of Hezekiah. 1 Chron. 4 : 37. (B.C. 727.) 

All on, a large strong tree of some 
description, probably an oak. 

1. Allon, more accurately Elon, a 
place named among the cities of Naph- 
tali. Josh. 19 : 33. Probably the more 
correct construction is to take it with the 
following word, i. e., " the oak by Zaa- 
nannim." [Elon.] 

2. Allon-bachuth {oak of weeping), 
the tree under which Rebekah's nurse, 
Deborah, was buried. Gen. 35 : 8. 

Almo'dad {measure), the first in 
order of the descendants of Joktan. Gen. 
10 : 26 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 20. 

Al'mon {concealed), a city within the 
tribe of Benjamin, with " suburbs " 
given to the priests. Josh. 21 : 18. [Ale- 

METH.] 

Al'inon-diblatha'im {concealing the 
two cakes), one of the latest stations of 
the Israelites, between Dibon-gad and the 
mountains of Abarim. Num. 33:46, 47. 
It is probably identical with Beth-dibla- 
thaim. 

Almond Tree ; Almond. This word 
is found in Gen. 43 : 11 ; Ex. 25 : 33, 34 ; 
37 : 19, 20 ; Num. 17:8; Eccles. 12:5; 
Jer. 1 : 11, in the text f the Authorized 
Version. It is invariably represented by 
the same Hebrew word, shaked, meaning 
hasten. Jer. 1:11, 12. The almond tree 
is a native of Asia and North Africa, 

31 



ALM 



ALP 



but it is cultivated in the milder parts of 
Europe. " It resembles the peach tree in 
form, blossom and fruit. It is in fact 
only another species of the same genus." 
The height of the tree is about 12 or 14 
feet ; the flowers are pink, and arranged 
for the most part in pairs ; the leaves are 
long, ovate, with a serrated margin and 




Almond. 



an acute point. The covering of the 
fruit is downy and succulent, enclosing 
the hard shell which contains the kernel. 
It is this nut for which the tree is chiefly 
valued. It is curious to observe, in con- 
nection with the almond-bowls of the 
golden candlestick, that, in the language 
of lapidaries, almonds are pieces of rock 
crystal, even now used in adorning branch 
candlesticks. 

Alms. The duty of alms-giving, es- 
pecially in kind, consisting chiefly in 
portions to be left designedly from pro- 
duce of the field, the vineyard and the 
oliveyard, Lev. 19 : 9, 10 ; 23 : 22 ; Deut. 
15 : 11 ; 24 : 19 ; 26 : 2-13 ; Euth 2 : 2, h 
strictly enjoined by the law. Every 
third year also, Deut. 14 : 28, each pro- 
prietor was directed to share the tithe 
of his produce with "the Levite, the 
stranger, the fatherless and the widow." 
The theological estimate of alms-giving 
among the Jews is indicated in the fol- 
lowing passages : Job 31 : 17 ; Prov. 10 : 
2 ; 11 : 4; Esther 9 : 22 ; Ps. 112 : 9 ; Acts 
9 : 36, the case of Dorcas ; 10 : 2, of Cor- 
nelius ; to which may be added Tobit 4 : 
10, 11 ; 14 : 10, 11, and Ecclus. 3 : 30 ; 40 : 
24. The Pharisees were zealous in alms- 
giving, but too ostentatious in their mode 
32 



of performance, for which our Lord finds 
fault with them. Matt. 6 : 2. The duty 
of relieving the poor was not neglected 
by the Christians. Matt. 6 : 1-4 ; Luke 
14 : 13 ; Acts 20 : 35 ; Gal. 2 : 10. Reg- 
ular proportionate giving was expected. 
Acts 11 : 30; Rom. 15 : 25-27; 1 Cor. 
16 . 1-4. 

Almug Trees. [Algum Trees.] 
Aloes, liign Aloes (in Heb. Ahalim, 
Ahaloth), the name of a costly and sweet- 
smelling wood which is mentioned in 
Num. 24 : 6 ; Ps. 45 : 8 ; Prov. 7:17; 
Cant. 4 : 14 ; John 19 : 39. It is usually 




Lign Aloes. 



identified with the Aquilaria agallochum, 
an aromatic wood much valued in India. 
This tree sometimes grows to the height 
of 120 feet, being 12 feet in girth. 

A'loth, a place or district, forming 
with Asher the jurisdiction of the ninth 
of Solomon's commissariat officers. 1 
Kings 4 : 16. 

Alpha (A), the first letter of the Greek 
alphabet. With Omega (&), the last let- 
ter, it is used in the Old Testament and 
in the New to express the eternity of 
God, as including both the beginning and 
the end. Rev. 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13; 
Isa. 41 : 4 ; 44 : 6 ; hence these letters 
became a favorite symbol of the eternal 
divinity of our Lord, and were used for 
this purpose in connection with the 




cross, or the monogram of Christ ( i. e. 
the first two letters, ch and r, of Christ's 



ALP 



ALT 



name in Greek). Both Greeks and He- 
brews employed the letters of the alpha- 
bet as numerals. 

Alphabet. [Writing.] 

AJphae'us {changing), the father of 
the apostle James the Less, Matt. 10 : 3 ; 
Mark 3 : 18 ; Luke 6 : 15 ; Acts 1 : 13, and 
husband of Mary. John 19 : 25. [Mary.] 
In this latter place he is called Clopas 
(not, as in the Authorized Version, Cleo- 
phas). 

Altar. The first altar of which we 
have any account is that built by Noah 
when he left the ark. Gen. 8 : 20. In the 
early times altars were usually built in 
certain spots hallowed by religious asso- 
ciations, e. g., where God appeared. Gen. 
12:?; 13 : 18 ; 26 : 25 ; 35 : 1. Though 
generally erected for the offering of sacri- 
fice, in some instances they appear to have 
been only memorials. Gen. 12:7; Ex. 17 : 
15, 16. Altars were most probably origin- 
ally made of earth. The law of Moses 
allowed them to be made of either earth 
or unhewn stones. Ex. 20 : 24, 25. 

I. The Altar of Burnt Offering. It 
differed in construction at different times. 
(1) In the tabernacle, Ex. 27 : 1 ff.; 38 : 
1 ff., it was comparatively small and 
portable. In shape it was square. It 
was five cubits in length, the same in 
breadth, and three cubits high. It was 
made of planks of shittim (or acacia) 
wood overlaid with brass. The interior 
was hollow. Ex. 27 : 8. At the four cor- 
ners were four projections called horns, 
made, like the altar itself, of shittim 
wood overlaid with brass, Ex. 27 : 2, and 
to them the victim was bound when 
about to be sacrificed. Ps. 118 : 27. Pound 
the altar, midway between the top and 
bottom, ran a projecting ledge, on which 
perhaps the priest stood when officiating. 
To the outer edge of this, again, a grat- 
ing or network of brass was affixed, and 
reached to the bottom of the altar. At 
the four corners of the network were 
four brazen rings, into which were in- 
serted the staves by which the altar was 
carried. These staves were of the same 
materials as the altar itself. As the 
priests were forbidden to ascend the 
altar by steps, Ex. 20:26, it has been 
conjectured that a slope of earth led 
gradually up to the ledge from which 
they officiated. The place of the altar 
was at " the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation." Ex. 40:29. (2) In 
Solomon's temple the altar was consider- 
ably larger in its dimensions. It differed 
3 



too in the material of which it was made, 
being entirely of brass. 1 Kings 8 : 64 ; 2 
Chron. 7:7. It had no grating, and 
instead of a single gradual slope, the 
ascent to it was probably made by three 
successive platforms, to each of which it 
has been supposed that steps led. The 




Altar. 

altar erected by Herod in front of the 
temple was 15 cubits in height and 50 
cubits in length and breadth. Accord- 
ing to Lev. 6:12, 13, a perpetual fire 
was to be kept burning on the altar. 

II. The Altar of Incense, called also 
the golden altar to distinguish it from the 
altar of burnt offering, which was called 
the brazen altar. Ex. 38 : 30. (a) That 
in the tabernacle was made of acacia 
wood, overlaid with pure gold. In shape 
it was square, being a cubit in length 
and breadth and two cubits in height. 
Like the altar of burnt offering it had 
horns at the four corners, which were of 
one piece with the rest of the altar. This 
altar stood in the holy place, " before 
the vail that is by the ark of the testi- 
mony." Ex. 30 : 6 ; 40 : 5. (b) The altar 
of Solomon's temple was similar, 1 King.; 
7 : 48 ; 1 Chron. 28 : 18, but was made of 
cedar overlaid with gold. 

III. Other Altars. In Acts 17 : 23 
reference is made to an altar to an un- 
known god. There were several altars 
in Athens with this inscription, erected 
during the time of a plague, since they 
knew not what god was offended and re- 
quired to be propitiated. 

Al-taschith (destroy not), found in 
the introductory verse ito Psalms 57, 58, 
59, 75. It was probably the beginning 
of some song or poem to the tune of 
which those psalm j were to be chanted. 

33 



ALU 



AMA 



A'lush (a crowd of men), one of the I 
stations of the Israelites on their journey 
to Sinai, the last before Bephidim. Num. 
33 : 13, 14. 

Al'vah {evil), a duke of Edom, Gen. 
36 : 40 ; written Aliah in 1 Chron. 1 : 51. 

Al'van (tall), a Horite, son of Shobal, 
Gen. 36 : 23 ; written Alian in 1 Chron. 

1 :40. 

A'raad (enduring), an unknown place 
in Asher, between Alammelech and Mi- 
sheal. Josh. 19 : 26 only. 

Amad'atha, Esther 16 : 10, 17, and 
Amad'athus. Esther 12 : 6. (Ham- 
med atha.] 

A'mal (labor), an Asherite, son of 
Ilelem. 1 Chron. 7 : 35. 

Am'alek [dweller in a valley), a son 
of Eliphaz by his concubine Timnah, 
grandson of Esau, and chieftain (" duke," 
Authorized Version) of Edom. Gen. 36 : 
12, 16; 1 Chron. 1 : 36. (B.C. about 1700.) 

Am'alekites, a nomadic tribe of un- 
certain origin, which occupied the penin- 
sula of Sinai and the wilderness inter- 
vening between the southern hill-ranges 
of Palestine and the border of Egypt. 
Num. 13 : 29 ; 1 Sam. 15 : 7 ; 27 : 8. r i heir 
wealth consisted in flocks and herds. 
Mention is made of a " town," 1 Sam. 
15 : 5, but their towns could have been 
little more than stations or nomadic en- 
closures. The Amalekites first came in 
contact with the Israelites at Bephidim, 
but were signally defeated. Ex. 17 : 8-16. 
In union with the Canaanites they again 
attacked the Israelites on the borders of 
Palestine, and defeated them near Hor- 
mah. Num. 14 : 45. Saul undertook an ! 
expedition against them. 1 Sam. 14 : 48. 
Their power was thenceforth broken, and 
they degenerated into a horde of ban- 
ditti. Their destruction was completed 
by David. 1 Sam. 30 : 1-17. 

Am'alekites, Mount of, a mount- 
ain in Ephraim, Judges 12 : 15, probably 
so named because the Amalekites once 
held possession of it. 

A'inam (gathering place), a city in the 
south of Judah, named with Shema and 
Moladah in Josh. 15 : 26 only. 

A'man. THaman.] Esther 10:7; 
12:6; 13:3, 12; 14:17; 16:10, 17. 

Am'ana (a covenant), apparently a 
mountain in or near Lebanon. Cant. 4: 
8. It is commonly assumed that this is 
the mountain in which the river Abana, 

2 Kings 5 : 12, has its source. 
Amari'ah (the Lord says, i.e. prom- 
ises). 1. Father of Ahitub, according to 



1 Chron. 6 : 7, 52, and son of Meraioth, 
in the line of the high priests. 

2. The high priest in the reign of Je- 
hoshaphat. 2 Chron. 19 : 11. He was 
the son of Azariah. 

3. The head of a Levitical house of the 
Kohathites. 1 Chron. 23 : 19 ; 24 : 23. 

4. The head of one of the twenty-four 
courses of priests. 2 Chron. 31 : 15; Neh. 
10 : 3 ; 12 : 2, 13. 

5. One of the sons of Bani in the time 
of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 42. 

6. A priest who returned with Zerub- 
babel. Neh. 10 : 3 ; 12 : 2, 13. 

7. A descendant of Pharez. Neh. 11 : 

4. 

8. An ancestor of Zephaniah the 
prophet. Zeph. 1:1. 

Am'asa (a burden). 1. Son of Ithra 
or Jether, by Abigail, David's sister. 2 
Sam. 17 : 25. He joined in Absalom's 
rebellion, B.C. 1023, was appointed ccm- 
mander-in-chief, and suffered defeat by 
Joab. 2 Sam. 18 : 6. David, incensed 
against Joab for killing Absalom, forgave 
Amasa and appointed him Joab's suc- 
cessor. 2 Sam. 19 : 13. Joab afterwards, 
when they were both in pursuit of the 
rebel Sheba, pretending to salute Amasa, 
stabbed him with his sword. 2 Sam. 20 : 
10. 

2. A prince of Ephraim, son of Hadlai, 
in the reign of Ahaz. 2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

Amasa'i, or Amas'a-i (burdensome). 
1. A Kohathite, father of Mahath and 
ancestor of Samuel. 1 Chron. 6 : 25, 25. 

2. Chief of the captains of Judah and 
Benjamin, who deserted to David while 

! an outlaw at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 18. 
(B.C. 1060.) 

3. One of the priests who blew trump- 
ets before the ark. 1 Chron. 15 : 24. 

4. Another Kohathite, in the reign of 
Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 12. 

Amasha'i, or Amash'a-i (burden- 
some), son of Azareel, a priest in the 
time of Nehemiah, Neh. 11 :13; appar- 
ently the same as Maasiai. 1 Chron. 9 : 
12. "(b.c.^440.) 

Amasi'ah (whom Jehovah bears), son 
of Zichri and captain of 200,000 warriors 
of Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat. 2 
Chron. 17 : 16. (B.C. 910.) 
A'math. [Hamath.1 
Amazi'ah (the strength of the lord). 
1. Son of Joash, and eighth king of Ju- 
dah, reigned B.C. 837-809. He succeeded 
ti the throne at the age of 25, on the 
murder of his father, and punished the 
murderers. In order to restore his king- 



AMB 



AMM 



dom to the greatness of Jehoshaphat's 
days, he made war on the Edomites, 
defeated them in the Valley of Salt, I 
south of the Dead Sea, and took their 
capital, Selah or Petra, to which he gave 
the name of Jokteel, i. e. " God-subdued." 
Flushed with his success, he challenged 
Joash king of Israel to battle, but was 
completely defeated, and himself was 
taken prisoner and conveyed by Joash to 
Jerusalem, which opened its gates to the 
conqueror. Amaziah lived 15 years after 
the death of Joash; and in the 29th 
year of his reign was murdered by con- 
spirators at Lachish, whither he had re- 
tired from Jerusalem for safety. 2 Chron. 
25 : 27. 

2. A descendant of Simeon. 1 Chron. 
4:34. 

3. A Levite. 1 Chron. 6 : 45. 

4. Priest of the golden calf at Bethel, 
who endeavored to drive the prophet 
Amos from Israel into Judah. Amos 7 : 
10, 12, 14. 

Ambassador, a person of high rank 
employed by a government to represent 
it and transact its business at the seat of 
government of some other power. The 
earliest examples of ambassadors em- 
ployed occur in Num. 20 : 14 ; 21 : 21 ; 
Judges 11 : 7-19 ; afterwards in that of 
the fraudulent Gibeonites, Josh. 9 : 4, etc., 
and in the instances Of civic strife men- 
tioned Judges 11 : 12 and 20 : 12. Am- 
bassadors are found to have been em- 
ployed not only on occasions of hostile 
challenge or insolent menace, 1 Kings 
' 20 : 2, 6 ; 2 Kings 14 : 8, but of friendly 
compliment, of request for alliance or I 
other aid, of submissive deprecation 
and of curious inquiry. 2 Kings 14 : 
8; 16:7; 18:14; 2 Chron. 32:31. 
Ministers are called ambassadors of 
Christ. 

Ambassage, embassy, a message of 
a public nature brought by ambassadors. 
The word also sometimes includes the 
ambassadors themselves. Luke 14 : 32. 

Amber (Heb. chasmal) occurs only in 
Ezek.l:4, 27; 8:2. It is usually sup- 
posed that the Hebrew word chasmal 
denotes a metal, and not the fossil resin 
called amber. 

Amen, literally "true;" and, used as 
a substantive, "that which is true," 
" truth," Isa. 65 : 16 ; a word used in 
strong asseverations, fixing, as it were, 
the stamp of truth upon the assertion 
which it accompanied, and making it 
binding as an oath. Comp. Num. 5 : 22. 



In the synagogues and private houses it 
was customary for the people or members 
of the family who were present to say 
" amen " to the prayers which were 
offered. Matt, 6 : 13 ; 1 Cor. 14 : 16. And 
not only public prayers, but those offered 
in private, and doxologies, were appro- 
priated concluded with "amen." Pom. 
9:5; 11 : 36 ; 15 : 33 ; 16 : 27 ; 2 Cor. 13 : 
14, etc. 

Amethyst (Heb. achlamah), a sub- 
species of quartz of a bluish-violet color. 
Mention is made of this precious stone, 
which formed the third in the third row 
of the high priest's breastplate, in Ex. 
28 : 19 ; 39 : 12. It occurs also in Rev. 
21 : 20. 

A'mi (builder), one of Solomon's serv- 
ants, Ezra 2 : 57 ; called Amon in Neh. 
7:59. 

Amin'adab. Matt. 1:4; Luke 3 : 33. 
[Amminadab, 1.] 

Amit'ta-i (true), father of the prophet 
Jonah. 2 Kings 14 : 25 ; Jonah 1:1. 

A m 'mail (head), The hill of, a hill 
facing Giah by the way of the wilder- 
ness of Gibeon, named as the point to 
which Joab pursued Abner. 2 Sam. 2 : 
24. 

Am/mi, i. e., as explained in the mar- 
gin of the Authorized Version, my people. 
Hos. 2 : 1. 

Am'mi-el (people of God). 1. The 
spy from the tribe of Dan. Num. 13 : 12. 
(b'.c. 1490.) He perished by the plague 
for his evil report. 

2. Father of Machir of Lo-debar. 2 
Sam. 9:4, 5; 17:27. 

3. Father of Bath-sheba, 1 Chron. 3 : 5, 
called Eliam in 2 Sam. 11 : 3. 

4. The sixth son of Obed-edom, 1 
Chron. 26 : 5, and one of the doorkeep- 
ers of the temple. (B.C. 1014.) 

Am'mihud (people of praise). 1. 
An Ephraimite, father of Elishama, the 
chief of the tribe at the time of the Ex- 
odus. Num. 1 : 10 ; 2:18; 7 : '48, 53 ; 10 : 
22 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 26, and, through him, 
ancestor of Joshua. (B.C. 1491.) 

2. A Simeonite, father of Shemuel. 
Num. 34 : 20. 

3. The father of Pedahel, prince of 
the tribe of Naphtali. Num. 34 : 28. 

4. The father of Talmai king of Ge- 
shur. 2 Sam. 13 : 37. 

5. A descendant of Pharez, son of Ju- 
dah. 1 Chron. 9 : 4. 

Ammin'adab (one of the prince's 
people). 1. Son of Pam or Aram, and 
father of Nahshon, or Naasson (as it is 

35 



AMM 



AMM 



written Matt. 1:4; Luke 3 : 32) ; Num. 
1:7; 2:3; Ruth 4 : 19, 20 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 
10. One of the ancestors of Jesus 
Christ. 

2. The chief of the 112 sons of Uzziel, 
a junior Levitical house of the family 
of the Kohathites. Ex. 6:23; 1 Chron. 
15 : 10, 11. 

3. In 1 Chron. 6 : 22, Izhar, the son of 
Kohath, is called Amminadib ; probably 
a clerical error. 

Ammin'adiD. Probably another 
form of Amminaclab. He was noted 
for the swiftness of his chariots. Cant. 6 : 
12. It is uncertain whether we ought to 
read here Amminadib, with the Author- 
ized Version, or my willing people, as 
in the margin. 

Ammishad'da-i {people of the Al- 
mighty), the father of Ahiezer, prince 
of the tribe of Dan at the time of the 
Exodus. Num. 1 : 12 ; 2 : 25 ; 7 : 66, 71 ; 
10 : 25. (B.C. 1491.) 



Ammiz'abad {people of the Giver, i.e. 
God), the son of Benaiah, who com- 
manded the third division of David's 
army. 1 Chron. 27 : 6. (B.C. 1050.) 

Am'mon (sons of renown, mountain- 
eers), Am' monites, Children of Am- 
nion, a people descended from Ben-am- 
mi, the son of Lot by his younger 
daughter. Gen. 19 : 38 ; comp. Ps. 83 : 7, 
8. The Ammonites are frequently men- 
tioned with the Moabites (descendants 
of Ben-ammi's half-brother), and some- 
times under the same name. Comp. 
Judges 10 : 6 ; 2 Chron. 20 : 1 ; Zeph. 2 : 
8, etc. The precise position of the terri- 
tory of the Ammonites is not ascertain- 
able. In the earliest mention of them, 
Deut. 2 : 20, they are said to have dwelt 
in their place, Jabbok being their border. 
Num. 21 : 24 ; Deut. 2 : 37 ; 3 : 16. Land 
or country is, however, but rarely as- 
cribed to them. Their capital city was 
Babbath, called also Babbath Ammon, 




Rabbath Ammon, Capital of the Ammonites. {From a Photograph.) 

on the Jabbok. We find everywhere I 7 : 11, 12. Moab was the settled and 
traces of the fierce habits of marauders j civilized half of the nation of Lot, and 
in their incursions, 1 Sam. 11 : 2; Amos I Ammon formed its predatory and Bed- 
1 : 13, and a very high degree of crafty ouin section. On the west of Jordan 
cruelty to their foes. Jer. 41:6,7; Judges they never obtained a footing. The 
36 



AMM 



AMO 



hatred in which the Ammonites were 
held by Israel is stated to have arisen 
partly from their denial of assistance, 
Deut. 23 : 4, to the Israelites on their ap- 
proach to Canaan. But whatever its 
origin the animosity continued in force 
to the latest date. The tribe was gov- 
erned by a king, Judges 11 : 12, etc. ; 1 
Sam. 12 : 12 ; 2 Sam. 10 : 1 ; Jer. 40 : 14, 
and by " princes." 2 Sam. 10 : 3 ; 1 Chron. 
19 : 3. The divinity of the tribe was 
Molech [Molech], and they were gross 
idolaters. 

Ammoni'tess, a woman of Ammon- 
ite race. 1 Kings 14 : 21, 31 ; 2 Chron. 
12 : 13. 

Am 'm on -no. See No-amon. 

Am'non {faithful). 1. Eldest son of 
David. (B.C. 1052.) He dishonored his 
half-sister Tamar, and was in consequence 
murdered by her brother. 2 Sam. 13 : 
1—29 

2. Son of Shimon. 1 Chron. 4 : 20. 

A'mok, a priest who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Neh. 12 : 7, 20. (B.C. 536.) 

A'mon, or A'men {the mysterious), 
an Egyptian divinity, whose name oc- 




Amon. 



curs in that of No-amon. Nah. 3 : 8. 
Amen was one of the eight gods of the 



first order, and chief of the triad of 
Thebes. He was worshipped at that city 
as Amen-Ra, or " Amen the Sun." 

A'mon {builder). 1. One of Ahab's 
governors. 1 Kings 22 : 26 ; 2 Chron. 18 : 
25. 

2. King of Judah, son and successor 
of Manasseh, reigned two years, from B.C. 
642 to 640. Amon devoted himself wholly 
to the service of false gods, but was killed 
in a conspiracy, and was succeeded by his 
son Josiah. 

Am'orite, the Am/orites {dwellers 
on the summits, mountaineers), one of 
the chief nations who possessed the land 
of Canaan before its conquest by the Is- 
raelites. As dwelling on the elevated 
portions of the country, they are con- 
trasted with the Canaanites, who were 
the dwellers in the lowlands; and the 
two thus formed the main broad divisions 
of the Holy Land, Num. 13 : 29 ; and see 
Gen. 14 : 7 ; Deut. 1 : 7, 20, " mountain 
of the Amorites ;" 44 ; Josh. 5:1; 10 : 
6 ; 11 : 3. They first occupied the barren 
heights west of the Dead Sea, at the place 
called afterwards Engedi. From this 
point they stretched west to Hebron. 
At the date of the invasion of the coun- 
try, Sihon, their then king, had taken 
the rich pasture land south of the Jab- 
bok. This rich tract, bounded by the 
Jabbok on the north, the Arnon on the 
south, the Jordan on the west and " the 
wilderness " on the east, Judges 11 : 21, 22, 
was, perhaps, in the most special sense 
the " land of the Amorites," Num. 21 : 31 ; 
Josh. 12 : 2, 3 ; 13 : 10 ; Judges 11 : 21, 22 ; 
but their possessions are distinctly stated 
to have extended to the very foot of 
Hermon, Deut. 3:8; 4 : 48, embracing 
" Gilead and all Bashan," 3 : 10, with the 
Jordan valley on the east of the river. 
4 : 49. After the conquest of Canaan 
nothing of importance is heard of the 
Amorites in the Bible. 

A'mos {burden), native of Tekoa in 
Judah, about six miles south of Bethle- 
hem, originally a shepherd and dresser 
of sycamore trees, who was called by 
God's Spirit to be a prophet, although not 
trained in any of the regular prophetic 
schools. Amosl : 1; 7 : 14, 15. He travelled 
from Judah into the northern kingdom 
of Israel or Ephraim, and there exercised 
his ministry, apparently not for any long 
time. (His date cannot be later than 
B.C. 808, for he lived in the reigns of 
Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam 
king of Israel ; but his ministry probably 



AMO 



ANA 



took place at an earlier date, perhaps 
about the middle of Jeroboam's, reign. 
Nothing is known of the time or manner 
of his death. — Ed.) 

A'mos, Book of. The book of the 
prophecies of Amos seems to be divided 
into four principal portions closely con- 
nected together. ( 1 ) From 1:1 to 2:3 
he denounces the sins of the nations bor- 
dering on Israel and Judah. (2) From 
2 : 4 to 6 : 14 he describes the state of 
those two kingdoms, especially the for- 
mer. (3) From 7 : 1 to 9 : 10 he relates 
his visit to Bethel, and sketches the im- 
pending punishment of Israel. At last 
he promises blessings. The chief pecul- 
iarity of the style consists in the num- 
ber of allusions to natural objects and 
agricultural occupations, as might be ex- 
pected from the early life of the author. 

A'moz {strong), father of the prophet 
Isaiah, and, according to rabbinical tra- 
dition, brother of Amaziah king of Ju- 
dah. 2 Kings 19 : 2, 20 ; 20 : 1 ; Isa. 1 : 1. 
(B.C. before 756.) 

Amphip'oSis (a city surrounded by 
the sea), a city of Macedonia, through 



[ 




View of Amphipolis. 

which Paul and Silas passed on their 
way from Philippi to Thessalonica. Acts 
17 : 1. It was distant 33 Roman miles 
from Philippi, to the southwest, and 
about three miles from the sea. Its site 
is now occupied by a village called Ne- 
okhorio; in Turkish Jeni-Keni, or " New 
Town." 

Am'plias {large), a Christian at Rome. 
Rom. 16 : 8. (a.d. 55.) 

Amplia'tus (Revised Version, Rom. 
16 : 8) (the full name of which Amplias, 

38 



above, is the contraction. The name in 
this form is " common in the sepulchral 
inscriptions of persons connected with 
Caesar's household." (A.D. 55.) — Ed.) 

Am'ram {an exalted people). 1. A 
Levite of the family of the Kohathites, 
and father of Moses. Ex. 6 : 18, 20. (B.C. 
1571.) 

2. A son of Dishon and descendant of 
Seir, 1 Chron. 1 : 41 ; properly " Ham- 
ram " = Hemdan in Gen. 36 : 26. 

3. One of the sons of Bani in the time 
of Ezra, who had married a foreign wife. 
Ezra 10: 34. (B.C. 459.) 

Am'ramites. A branch of the great 
Kohathite family of the tribe of Levi, 
Num. 3 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 26 : 23 ; descended 
from Amram, the father of Moses. 

Am'raphel {keeper of the gods), per- 
haps a Hamite king of Shinar or Baby- 
lonia, who joined the victorious incursion 
of the Elamite Chedorlaomer against 
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and 
the cities of the plain. Gen. 14. (B.C. 
1898.) 

Amulets were ornaments, gems, 
scrolls, etc., worn as preservatives against 
the power of enchantments, and 
I generally inscribed with mystic 
forms or characters. The " ear- 
H ! rings " in Gen. 35 : 4 were obviously 
ji| j connected with idolatrous worship, 
! and were probably amulets taken 
igjjj from the bodies of the slain She- 
jjl chemites. They are subsequently 
■j mentioned among the spoils of Mid- 
B§ ian. Judges 8 : 24. In Hos. 2 : 13 
pi is another like reference. The 
" earrings " in Isa. 3 : 20 were also 
amulets. 

Am'zi {strong). 1. A Levite of 
the family of Merari. 1 Chron. 6 : 46. 
2. A priest. Neh. 11 : 12. 
A'nab {grape-town), a town in 
the mountains of Judah, Josh. 15 : 
50, named with Debir and Hebron 
as once belonging to the Anakim. 
Josh. 11 : 21. 
A'nah {one who answers), the son of 
Zibeon and father of Aholibamah, one 
of Esau's wives. Gen. 36 : 2, 14, 25. He 
is supposed to have discovered the " hot 
springs " (not " mules," as in the Author- 
ized Version) in the desert as he fed the 
asses of Zibeon his father. (B.C. 1797.) 

Anah'arath {gorge or pass), a place 
within the border of Issachar, named 
with Shihon and Rabbith. Josh. 19 : 19. 

Anai'ah {whom Jehovah answers). 1. 
Probably a priest. Neh. 8 : 4. 



ANA 



AND 



2. One of the "heads of the people" 
who signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 22. 

An'akim {long-necked), a race of 
giants, descendants of Arba, Josh. 15 : 
13 ; 21 : 11, dwelling in the southern part 
of Canaan, and particularly at Hebron, 
which from their progenitor received the 
name of "city of Arba." Anak was the 
name of the race rather than that of an in- 
dividual. Josh. 14 : 15. The race appears 
to have been divided into three tribes or 
families, bearing the names Sheshai, 
Ahiman and Talmai. Though the war- 
like appearance of the Anakim had 
struck the Israelites with terror in the 
time of Moses, Num. 13 : 28 ; Deut. 9 : 2, 
they were nevertheless dispossessed by 
Joshua, Josh. 11 : 21, 22, and their chief 
city, Hebron, became the possession of 
Caleb. Josh. 15 : 14 ; Judges 1 : 20. After 
this time they vanish from history. 

An'amim, a Mizraite people or tribe. 
Gen. 10 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 11. 

Anam'melech {image of the king), 
one of the idols worshipped by the col- 
onists introduced into Samaria from Se- 
pharvaim. 2 Kings 17 : 31. He was wor- 
shipped with rites resembling those of 
Molech, and is the companion-god to 
Adrammelech. 

A'nan {a cloud), one of the "heads 
of the people" who signed the covenant 
with Nehemiah. Neh. 10:26. (B.C. 410.) 

Ana'ni {protected by Jehovah), the 
seventh son of Elioenai, descended from 
the royal line of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 24. 

Anani'ah {protected by Jehovah), 
probably a priest, and ancestor of Aza- 
riah, who assisted in rebuilding the city 
wall in the days of Nehemiah. Neh. 3: 
23. (B.C. before 446.) 

Anani'ah, a place, named between 
Nob and Hazor, in which the Benja- 
mites lived after their return from cap- 
tivity. Neh. 11 : 32. 

Anani'as {whom Jehovah has gra- 
ciously given). 1. A high priest in Acts 
23 : 2-5 ; 24 : 1. He was the son of Neb- 
edaeus. He was nominated to the office 
by Herod king of Chalcis, in a.d. 48 ; 
was deposed shortly before Felix left 
the province, and assassinated by the 
Sicarii at the beginning of the last Jew- 
ish war. 

2. A disciple at Jerusalem, husband 
of Sapphira. Acts 5: 1-11. Having sold 
his goods for the benefit of the church, 
he kept back a part of the price, bring- 
ing to the apostles the remainder as if 



it was the whole, his wife being privy 
to the scheme. St. Peter denounced the 
fraud, and Ananias fell down and ex- 
j pired. 

3. A Jewish disciple at Damascus, 
| Acts 9 : 10-17, of high repute, Acts 22 : 
12, who sought out Saul during the pe- 
riod of blindness which followed his 
conversion, and announced to him his 
future commission as a preacher of the 
I gospel. Tradition makes him to have 
! been afterwards bishop of Damascus, 
j and to have died by martyrdom. 

A'nath {answer), father of Shamgar. 
! Judges 3:31; 5:6. 

Anathema, which literally means a 
thing suspended, is the equivalent of the 
Hebrew word signifying a thing or per- 
son devoted. Any object so devoted to 
Jehovah was irredeemable. If an in- 
animate object, it was to be given to the 
priests, Num. 18 : 14; if a living creature 
or even a man, it was to be slain. Lev. 
27 : 28, 29. The word anathema frequent- 
ly occurs in St. Paul's writings, and is 
generally translated accursed. An ex- 
amination of the passages in which it oc- 
curs shows that it had acquired a more 
general sense as expressive either of 
strong feeling, Rom. 9 : 3, or of dislike 
and condemnation. 1 Cor. 12 : 3; 16 : 22; 
Gal. 1 : 9. 

An'athoth {answers to prayer). 1. 
Son of Becher, a son of Benjamin. 1 
Chron. 7 : 8. 

2. One of the "heads of the people" 
who signed the covenant in the time of 
Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 19. (B.C. 410.) 

An'athoth, a priests' city belonging 
to the tribe of Benjamin, with "sub- 
urbs." Josh. 21:18; 1 Chron. 6:60. 
Anathoth lay about three miles from 
Jerusalem. Isa. 10 : 30. The cultivation 
of the priests survives in tilled fields of 
grain, with figs and olives. There are 
the remains of walls and strong found- 
ations, and the quarries still supply 
Jerusalem with building stones. 

Anchor. Acts 27 : 29. 

An 'drew {manly), one of the apos- 
tles of our Lord, John 1 : 40 ; Matt. 4 : 18, 
brother of Simon Peter. He was of 
Bethsaida, and had been a disciple of 
John the Baptist, leaving him to follow 
our Lord. By his means his brother 
Simon was brought to Jesus. John 1 : 41. 
His place among the apostles seems to 
have been fourth, next after the three 
Peter, James and John, and in company 
with Philip. Mark 3:18; Acts 1 : 13. 

39 



AND 



ANI 



The traditions about him are various. 
He is said to have preached in Scythia, 
in Greece, in Asia Minor and Thrace, 
and to have been crucified at Patrae in 
Achaia. 

Androni'cus {man-conqueror). 1. 
An officer left as viceroy, 2 Mace. 4 : 31, 
in Antioch by Antiochus Epiphanes 
during his absence. 2 Mace. 4 : 31-38. 
(B.C. 171.) 

2. Another officer of Antiochus Epiph- 
anes who was left by him on Garizem. 
2 Mace. 5 : 23. 

3. A Christian at Borne, saluted by 
St. Paul, Eom. 16 : 7, together with 
Junia. 

A'nem (two springs), a city of Issa- 
char, with " suburbs," belonging to the 
Gershonites. 1 Chron. 6 : 73. 

A'ner {boy), a city of Manasseh, west 
of Jordan, with " suburbs," given to the 
Kohathites. 1 Chron. 6 : 70. 

A'ner, one of the three Amorite chiefs 
of Hebron who aided Abraham in the 
pursuit after the four invading kings. 
Gen. 14 : 13, 24. 

Aneth'othite, 2 Sam. 23 : 27, Anet- 
othite, 1 Chron. 27 : 12, and An'toth- 
ite, 1 Chron. 11 : 28 ; 12 : 3, an inhabitant 
of Anathoth, of the tribe of Benjamin. 

Angel of the Lord. Gen. 16 : 7, etc. 
(The special form in which God mani- 
fested himself to man, and hence Christ's 
visible form before the incarnation. Com- 
pare Acts 7 : 30-38 with the correspond- 
ing Old-Testament history ; and Gen. 18 : 
1, 13, 14, 33 and 19:1.) 

Angels. By the word " angels " (i. e. 
" messengers" of God) we ordinarily un- 
derstand a race of spiritual beings of a 
nature exalted far above that of man, 
although infinitely removed from that 
of God — whose office is "to do him serv- 
ice in heaven, and by his appointment 
to succor and defend men on earth." I. 
Scriptural use of the word. — There are 
many passages in which the expression 
"angel of God" is certainly used for a 
manifestation of God himself. Gen. 22 : 
1 1 with 12, and Ex. 3:2 with 6 and 
14. It is to be observed, also, that side 
by side with these expressions we read 
of God's being manifested in the form 
of man — as to Abraham at Mamre, Gen. 
18 : 2, 22, comp. 19:1; to Jacob at Pen- 
uel, Gen. 32 : 24, 30 ; to Joshua at Gilgal, 
Josh. 5 : 13, 15, etc. Besides this, which 
is the highest application of the word 
angel, we find the phrase used of any 
messengers of God, such as the prophets, 
40 



Isa. 42:19; Hag. 1:13; Mai. 3:1, the 
priests, Mai. 2 : 7, and the rulers of the 
Christian churches. Bev. 1 : 20. 

II. Nature of angels. — Angels are 
termed "spirits," as in Heb. 1:14; but 
it is not asserted that the angelic nature 
is incorporeal. The contrary seems ex- 
pressly implied in Luke 20 : 36 ; Philip. 
3 : 21. The angels are revealed to us as 
beings such as man might be, and will 
be when the power of sin and death is 
removed, because always beholding his 
face, Matt. 18 : 10, and therefore being 
" made like him." 1 John 3 : 2. Their 
member must be verv large, 1 Kings 
22 : 19 ; Matt. 26 : 53 ; Heb. 12 : 22 ; their 
strength is great, Ps. 103 : 20 ; Bev. 5:2; 
18 : 21 ; their activity marvellous, Isa. 6 : 
2-6 ; Matt. 26 : 53 ; Bev. 8:13; their ap- 
pearance varied according to circum- 
stances, but was often brilliant and daz- 
zling. Matt. 28 : 2-7 ; Bev. 10 : 1, 2. Of 
the nature of " fallen angels," the cir- 
cumstances and nature of the tempta- 
tion by which they fell, we know ab- 
solutely nothing. All that is certain is 
that they " left their first estate," and 
that they are now " angels of the devil." 
Matt. 25:41; Bev. 12:7, 9. On the 
other hand, the title specially assigned 
to the angels of God — that of the " holy 
ones," see Dan. 4:13, 23; 8:13; Matt. 
25 : 31 — is precisely the one which is 
given to those men who are renewed in 
Christ's image. Comp. Heb. 2 : 10 ; 5:9; 
12 : 23. 

III. Office of the angels. — Of their 
office in heaven we have only vague 
prophetic glimpses, as in 1 Kings 22 : 19 ; 
Isa. 6:1-3; Dan. 7:9, 10; Bev. 6:11, 
etc., which show us nothing but a never- 
ceasing adoration. They are represented 
as being, in the widest sense, agents of 
God's providence, natural and super- 
natural, to the body and to the soul. 
In one word, they are Christ's ministers 
of grace now, as they shall be of judg- 
ment hereafter. Matt! 13 : 39, 41, 49 ; 16 : 
27 ; 24 : 31, etc. That there are degrees 
of the angelic nature, both fallen and 
unfallen, and special titles and agencies 
belonging to each, is clearly declared by 
St, Paul, Eph. 1:21; Bom. 8:38; but 
what their general nature is it is useless 
to speculate. 

A'niam {sighing of the people), a Ma- 
nassite, son of Shemidah. 1 Chron. 7 : 19. 

A'nim {fountains), a city in the 
mountains of Judah, named with Esh- 
temoh and Goshen. Josh. 15 : 50. 



ANI 



ANO 



Anise. This word occurs only in 
Matt. 23 : 23. It is by no means a 
matter of certainty whether the anise 
(Pimpinella anisum, Lin.) or the dill 
(Anethum graveolens) is here intended, 
though the probability is more in favor 
of the latter plant. " Anise is an annual 
plant growing to the height of one foot, 
carries a white flower, and blooms from 




Anise. 

June till August. The seeds are im- 
ported and used in large quantities on 
account of their aromatic and carmin- 
ative properties. It grows wild in 
Egypt, in Syria, Palestine and all parts 
of _ the Levant. Among the ancients 
anise seems to have been a common ! 
pot-herb in every garden. Although it j 
is less used in medicine by the moderns | 
than by the ancients, it still retains its j 
former reputation as an excellent stom- I 
achic, particularly for delicate women j 
and young children. The Romans j 
chewed it in order to keep up an agree- | 
able moisture in the mouth and to 
sweeten the breath, while some Orient- 
als still do the same." Dill, a some- 
what similar plant, is an annual, bear- 
ing small aromatic seeds, used also for 
cookery and medicine. 

Anklet. This word does not occur 
in the Authorized Version ; but anklets 
are referred to in Isa. 3 : 16, 18, 20. They \ 
were fastened to the ankle band of each ! 



leg; were as common as bracelets and 
armlets, and made of much the same 
materials. The pleasant jingling and 
tinkling which they made as they 
'■ knocked against each other was no 
I doubt one of the reasons why they were 
admired. They are still worn in the 
i East. 

An'na (grace), a "prophetess" in 
I Jerusalem at the time of our Lord's 
j presentation in the temple. Luke 2 : 36. 
i She was of the tribe of Asher. 

An'nas (humble), the son of one Seth, 
was appointed high priest A.D. 7 by Qui- 
rinus, the imperial governor of Syria, 
but was obliged by Valerius Gratus, pro- 
curator of Judea, to give way to Ismael, 
son of Phabi, at the beginning of the 
reign of Tiberius, a.d. 14. About A.D. 
25 Joseph Caiaphas, son-in-law of An- 
nas, became high priest, John 18 : 13 ; 
but in Luke 3 : 2 Annas and Caiaphas 
are both called high priests. Our Lord's 
first hearing, John 18 : 13, was before 
Annas, who then sent him bound to 
Caiaphas. Some maintain that the two, 
Annas and Caiaphas, were together at 
i the head of the Jewish people, — Cai- 
| aphas as actual high priest, Annas as 
! president of the Sanhedrin. Acts 4:6. 
Others again suppose that Annas held 
j the office of sagan, or substitute of the 
: high priest ; others still that Annas held 
the title and was really the ruling 
power. He lived to old age, having 
had five sons high priests. 

Anointing, in Holy Scripture, is 
either, I. Material — with oil — or II. 
Spiritual — with the Holy Ghost. I. 
Material. — 1. Ordinary. Anointing 
the body or head with oil was a com- 
mon practice with the Jews, as with 
other Oriental nations. Deut. 28 : 40 ; 
Ruth 3:3; Micah 6 : 15. Anointing the 
head with oil or ointment seems also to 
have been a mark of respect sometimes 
paid by a host to his guests. Luke 7 : 46 
and Ps. 23 : 5. 2. Official. It was a rite 
of inauguration into each of the three 
typical offices of the Jewish common- 
wealth, a. Prophets were occasionally 
anointed to their office, 1 Kings 19 : 16, 
and were called messiahs, or anointed. 
1 Chron. 16 : 22 ; Ps. 105 : 15. b. Priests, 
at the first institution of the Levitical 
priesthood, were all anointed to their 
offices, Ex. 40 : 15 ; Num. 3:3; but aft- 
erwards anointing seems to have been 
specially reserved for the high priest, 
Ex. 29:29; Lev. 16:32; so that "the 

41 



ANT 



ANT 



priest that is anointed," Lev. 4 : 3, is 
generally thought to mean the high 
priest, c. Kings. Anointing was the 
principal and divinely-appointed cere- 
mony in the inauguration of the Jewish 
kings. 1 Sam. 9:16; 10 : 1 ; 1 Kings 1 : 
34, 39. The rite was sometimes per- 
formed more than once. David was 
thrice anointed, d. Inanimate objects 
also were anointed with oil, in token of 
their being set apart for religious serv- 
ice. Thus Jacob anointed a pillar at 
Bethel. Gen. 31 : 13 ; Ex. 30 : 26-28. 3. 
Ecclesiastical. Anointing with oil is 
prescribed by St. James to be used for 
the recovery of the sick. James 5 : 14. 
Analogous to this is the anointing with 
oil practiced by the twelve. Mark 6 : 13. 
II. Spiritual.— 1. In the Old Testa- 
ment a Deliverer is promised under the 
title of Messiah, or Anointed, Ps. 2:2; 
Dan. 9 : 25, 26 ; and the nature of his 
anointing is described to be spiritual, 
with the Holy Ghost. Isa. 61:1; see 
Luke 4 : 18. In the New Testament 
Jesus of Nazareth is showsi to be the 
Messiah, or Christ, or Anointed, of the 
Old Testament, John 1 : 41 ; Acts 9 : 22 ; 
17:2, 3 ; 18 : 4, 28 ; and the historical 
fact of his being anointed with the Holy 
Ghost is asserted and recorded. John 
1:32, 33 ; Acts 4:27; 10:38. Christ 
was anointed as prophet, priest and 
king. 2. Spiritual anointing with the 
Holy Ghost is conferred also upon Chris- 
tians by God. 2 Cor. 1:21. "Anoint- 
ing" expresses the sanctifying influences 
of the Holy Spirit upon Christians, who 
are priests and kings unto God. 

Ant (Heb. nemdldh). This insect is 
mentioned twice in the Old Testament: 
in Prov. 6 : 6 ; 30 : 25. In the former of 
these passages the diligence of this in- 
sect is instanced by the wise man as an 
example Avorthy of imitation ; in the 
second passage the ant's wisdom is es- 
pecially alluded to ; for these insects, 
" though they be little on the earth, are 
exceeding wise." (For a long time Eu- 
ropean commentators and naturalists 
denied that ants stored up grain for 
future use, as was asserted in Proverbs ; 
but while this is. true of most of the 104 
European species, two of those species 
do lay up food, and are called harvest- 
ing ants. Like species have been found 
in Texas and South America, and are 
known to exist in Palestine. They show 
many other proofs of their skill. Some 
of them build wonderful houses; these 
42 



are often several stories high, sometimes 
five hundred times the height of the 
! builders, with rooms, corridors, and 
vaulted roofs supported by pillars. 
Some species keep a kind of cows; 
others have a regular army of soldiers; 
some keep slaves. " No closer imita- 
tion of the ways of man could be found 
in the entire animal economy." (See 
Encyc. Brit.) McCook's "The Honey 
Ants" gives many curious facts about 
the habits of this peculiar kind of ant, 
and of the harvesting ants of the Amer- 
ican plains. — Ed.) 

An'tichrist. This term is employed 
by the apostle John alone, and is defined 
by him in a manner which leaves no 
doubt as to its intrinsic meaning. With 
regard to its application there is less 
certainty. In the first passage — 1 John 
2 : 18 — in which it occurs, the apostle 
makes direct reference to the false 
Christs whose coming, it had been fore- 
told, should mark the last days. In v. 
22 we find r " he is antichrist, that de- 
nieth the Father and the Son ;" and still 
more positively, " every spirit that con- 
fesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in 
the flesh is of antichrist." Comp. 2 John 
7. From these emphatic and repeated 
definitions it has been supposed that the 
object of the apostle in his first epistle 
was to combat the errors of Cerinthus, 
the Docetse and the Gnostics on the sub- 
ject of the Incarnation. (They denied 
the union of the divine and human in 
Christ.) 

The coming of Antichrist was believed 
to be foretold in the "vile person" of 
Daniel's prophecy, Dan. 11 : 21, which 
received its first accomplishment in An- 
tiochus Epiphanes, but of which the 
complete fulfillment was reserved for 
the last times. He is identified with 
" the man of sin, the son of perdition." 
2 Thess. 2 : 3. This interpretation brings 
Antichrist into close connection with the 
gigantic power of evil, symbolized by the 
" beast," Rev. 13, who received his power 
from the dragon (i. e. the devil, the ser- 
pent of Genesis), continued for forty and 
two months, and was invested with the 
kingdom of the ten kings who destroyed 
the harlot Babylon, Rev. 17 : 12, 17, the 
city of seven hills. The destruction of 
Babylon is to be followed by the rule 
of Antichrist for a short period, Rev. 
17 : 10, to be in his turn overthrown in 
"the battle of that great day of God 
Almighty," Rev. 16 : 14, with' the false 



ANT 



ANT 



prophet and all his followers. Eev. 19. 
The personality of Antichrist is to be 
inferred as well from the personality of 
his historical precursor as from that of 
him to whom he stands opposed. Such 
an interpretation is to be preferred to 
that which regards Antichrist as the em- 
bodiment and personification of all pow- 
ers and agencies inimical to Christ, or of 
the Antichristian might of the world. 



An'tioch (from Antiochus). 1. In 
Syria. The capital of the Greek kings 
of Syria, and afterwards the residence 
of the Roman governors of the province 
which bore the same name. 

Situation. — This metropolis was situ- 
ated where the chain of Lebanon, run- 
ning northward, and the chain of Tau- 
rus, running eastward, are brought to 
an abrupt meeting. Here the Orontes 




Antioch in Syria. 



breaks through the mountains ; and An- 
tioch was placed at a bend of the river, 
16£ miles from the Mediterranean, partly 
on an island, partly on the levee which 
forms the left bank, and partly on the 
steep and craggy ascent of Mount 
Silpius, which rose abruptly on 
the south. It is about 300 miles 
north of Jerusalem. In the imme- 
diate neighborhood was Daphne, 
the celebrated sanctuary of Apollo, 
2 Mace. 4 : 33 ; whence the city was 
sometimes called Antioch by Daph- 
ne, to distinguish it from other 
cities of the same name. 

Description. — The city was found- 
ed in the year 300 B.C., by Seleucus 
Nicator. It grew under the succes- 
sive Seleucid kings till it became a city 
of great extent and of remarkable beauty. 
One feature, which seems to have been 
characteristic of the great Syrian cities, — 



a vast street with colonnades, intersecting 
the whole from end to end, — was added 
by Antiochus Epiphanes. By Pompey 
it was made a free city, and such it con- 
tinued till the time of Antoninus Pius. 




Tetradrachm of Antioch. 

The early emperors raised there some 
large and important structures, such as 
aqueducts, amphitheatres and baths. 
(Antioch, in Paul's time, was the third 

43 



ANT 



APH 



city of the Eoman empire, and contained 
over 200,000 inhabitants. Now it is a 
small, mean place of about 6000. — Ed.) 

Bible History. — No city, after Jeru- 
salem, is so intimately connected with 
the history of the apostolic church. 
Jews were settled there from the first in 
large numbers, were governed by their 
own ethnarch, and allowed to have the 



I 



Fortress of Antonia; called Pilate's House 

same political privileges with the Greeks. 
The chief interest of Antioch, however, 
is connected with the progress of Christi- 
anity among the heathen. Here the first 
Gentile church was founded, Acts 11 : 20, 
21 ; here the disciples of Jesus Christ 
were first called Christians. 11 : 26. It 
was from Antioch that St. Paul started 
on his three missionary journeys. 

2. In Pisidia, Acts 13 : 14; 14 : 19, 21 ; 
2 Tim. 3 : 11, on the borders of Phrygia, 
corresponds to Yalobutch, which is distant 
from Ak-sher six hours over the mount- 
ains. This city, like the Syrian Antioch, 
was founded by Seleucus Nicator. Un- 
der the Romans it became a colonia, and 
was also called Csesarea. 

Anti'ochus (an opponent), the name 
of a number of kings of Syria who lived 
during the interval between the Old and 
New Testaments, and had frequent con- 
nection with the Jews during that period. 
They are referred to in the Apocrypha, 
especially in the books of the Maccabees. 

An'tipas (like the father), martyr at 
Pergamos, Rev. 2 : 13, and according to 
tradition the bishop of that place. (A.D. 
before 100.) 

An'tipas. [Herod.] 
44 



Antipa'tris, or Antip'atris (for his 
father), a town to which the soldiers 
conveyed St. Paul by night on their 
march. Acts 23 : 31. Its ancient name 
was Capharsaba; and Herod, when he 
rebuilt the city, changed it to Antipatris, 
in honor of his father, Antipater. The 
village Kef r- Saba still retains the ancient 
name of Antipatris. 

Anto'nia (from Marc Antony) 
(a square stone fortress or castle 
adjoining the northwest corner of 
the temple area at Jerusalem. 
There was a tower at each corner. 
It was rebuilt by Herod the Great, 
and named by him from Marc An- 
tony. From the stairs of this castle 
Paul addressed the multitude who 
had assaulted him. Acts 21 : 31- 
40.— Ed.) 

Antothi'jah (answers of Jeho- 
vah), a Benjamite, one of the sons 
of Jeroham. 1 Chron. 8 : 24. 

An'tothite, a dweller at An- 
athoth. 1 Chron. 11 : 28; 12 : 3. 
[Anathoth.] 

A'nub (confederate), son of Coz 
and descendant of Judah, through 
Ashur the father of Tekoa. 1 
Chron. 4 : 8. 
Apel'les (called), a Christian 
saluted by St. Paul in Rom. 16 : 10. Tra- 
dition makes him bishop of Smyrna or 
Heraclea. (a.d. 55.) 

Apes (Heb. kophim) are mentioned 
in 1 Kings 10 : 22 and 2 Chron. 9 : 21. 
There can be little doubt that the apes 
were brought from the same country 
which supplied ivory and peacocks, both 
of which are common in Ceylon ; and 
Sir E. Tennent has drawn attention to 
the fact that the Tamil names for apes, 
ivory and peacocks are identical with 
the Hebrew. 

Aphar'sathchites, Aphar'sites, 
Aphar'sacites, the names of certain 
tribes, colonies from which had been 
planted in Samaria by the Assyrian 
leader Asnapper. Ezra 4:9; 5:6. The 
first and last are regarded as the same. . 
Whence these tribes came is entirely a 
matter of conjecture. 

A'phek (strength), the name of several 
places in Palestine. 1. A royal city of 
the Canaanites, the king of which was 
killed by Joshua, Josh. 12 : 18 ; probably 
the same as Aphekah in Josh. 15 : 53. 

2. A city, apparently in the extreme 
north of Asher, Josh. 19 : 30, from which 
the Canaanites were not ejected, Judges 



APH 



APO 



1 : 31 ; though here it is Aphik. This 
is probably the same place as Aphek, 
Josh. 13 : 4, on the extreme north " bor- 
der of the Amorites," identified with the 
Aphaca of classical times, the modern 
Afka. 

3. A place at which the Philistines en- 
camped while the Israelites pitched in 
Eben-ezer, before the fatal battle in 
which the sons of Eli were killed and 
the ark was taken. 1 Sam. 4:1. This 
would be somewhere to the northwest 
of and at no great distance from Jeru- 
salem. 

4. The scene of another encampment 
of the Philistines, before an encounter 
not less disastrous than that just named, 
— the defeat and death of Saul. 1 Sam. 
29 : 1. It is possible that it may be the 
same place as the preceding. 

5. A city on the military road from 
Syria to Israel. 1 Kings 20 : 26. It is 
now found in Fik, at the head of the 
Wady Fik, six miles east of the Sea of 
Galilee. 

Aphe'kah {strong place), a city of Ju- 
dah, in the mountains, Josh. 15 : 53 ; 
probably the same as Aphek, 1. 

Aphi ah {refreshed), one of the fore- 
fathers of King Saul. 1 Sam. 9:1. 

A'phik {strong), a city of Asher from 
which the Canaanites were not driven 
out. Judges 1 : 31. Probably the same 
place as Aphek, 2. 

Aph'rah {dust). The house of, a 
place mentioned in Micah 1 : 10. Its 
site is uncertain. 

Aph'ses {the dispersion), chief of the 
18th of the 24 courses in the service of 
the temple. 1 Chron. 24 : 15. 

Apoc'alypse. A Greek word mean- 
ing revelation, applied chiefly to the book 
of Revelation by John. [Revelation.] 

Apoc'rypha {concealed, hidden). 1. 
Old Testament Apocrypha. — The collec- 
tion of books to which this term is pop- 
ularly applied includes the following 
(the order given is that in which they 
stand in the English version) : I. 1 Es- 
dras; II. 2 Esdras; III. Tobit; IV. Ju- 
dith ; V. The rest of the chapters of the 
book of Esther, which are found neither 
in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee; VI. 
The Wisdom of Solomon; VII. The 
Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or 
Ecclesiasticus ; VIII. Baruch ; IX. The 
Song of the Three Holy Children ; X. 
The History of Susanna ; XI. The His- 
tory of the destruction of Bel and the 
Dragon ; XII. The Praver of Manasses 



king of Judah ; XIII. 1 Maccabees ; 
XIV. 2 Maccabees. The primary mean- 
ing of apocrypha, " hidden, secret," 
seems, toward the close of the second 
century, to have been associated with 
the signification " spurious," and ulti- 
mately to have settled down into the 
latter. The separate books of this col- 
lection are treated of in distinct articles. 
Their relation to the canonical books of 
the Old Testament is discussed under 
Canon. 

2. New Testament Apocrypha. — (A col- 
lection of legendary and spurious Gos- 
pels, Acts of the Apostles, and Epistles. 
They are so entirely inferior to the gen- 
uine books, so full of nonsensical and un- 
worthy stories of Christ and the apostles, 
that they have never been regarded as 
j divine, or bound up in our Bibles. It is 
! said that Mohammed obtained his ideas 
J of Christ entirely from these spurious 
j gospels. — Ed.) 

Apollo'nia {belonging to Apollo), a 
j city of Macedonia, through which Paul 
and Silas passed in their way from Phi- 
j lippi and Amphipolis to Thessalonica. 
j Acts 17 : 1. According to the Antonine 
Itinerary it was distant 30 Roman miles 
I from Amphipolis and 37 Roman miles 
■ from Thessalonica. 

Apol'los {given by Apollo), a Jew from 
i Alexandria, eloquent (which may also 
I mean learned,) and mighty in the Scrip- 
j tures ; one instructed in the way of the 
i Lord, according to the imperfect view of 
I the disciples of John the Baptist, Acts 
18 : 21, but on his coming to Ephesus 
j during a temporary absence of St. Paul, 
| A.D. 54, more perfectly taught by Aquila 
I and Priscilla. After this he became a 
J preacher of the gospel, first in Achaia 
| and then in Corinth. Acts 18 : 27 ; 19 : 1. 
J When the apostle wrote his First Epistle 
to the Corinthians, Apollos was with or 
I near him, 1 Cor. 16 : 12 ; probably at 
I Ephesus in A.D. 57. He is mentioned 
but once more in the New Testament, in 
i Titus 3 : 13. After this nothing is known 
| of him. Tradition makes him bishop of 
Csesarea. 

Apol'lyon, or, as it is literally in the 
margin of the Authorized Version of Rev. 
9 : 11, " a destroyer,^ is the rendering of 
the Hebrew word Abaddon, " the angel 
of the bottomless pit." From the occur- 
rence of the word in Ps. 88 : 11, the rab- 
bins have made Abaddon the nethermost 
of the two regions into which they divide 
the lower world ; but that in Rev. 9 : 11 

45 



APO 



APP 



Abaddon is the angel and not the abyss 
is perfectly evident in the Greek. 

Apostle {one sent forth), in the New 
Testament originally the official name 
of those twelve of the disciples whom 
Jesus chose to send forth first to preach 
the gospel and to be with him during the 
course of his ministry on earth. The 
word also appears to have been used in 
a non-official sense to designate a much 
wider circle of Christian messengers and 
teachers. See 2 Cor. 8 : 23 ; Philip. 2 : 25. 
It is only of those who were officially 
designated apostles that we treat in this 
article. Their names are given in Matt. 
10 : 2-4, and Christ's charge to them in 
the rest of the chapter. 

Their office. — (1) The original qualifi- 
cation of an apostle, as stated by St. Peter 
on the occasion of electing a successor to 
the traitor Judas, was that he should 
have been personally acquainted with 
the whole ministerial course of our Lord, 
from his baptism by John till the day 
when he was taken up into heaven. 

(2) They were chosen by Christ himself. 

(3) They had the power of working mir- 
acles. (4) They were inspired. John 
16 : 13. (5) Their work seems to have 
been pre-eminently that of founding the 
churches and upholding them by super- 
natural power specially bestowed for 
that purpose. (6) The office ceased, as a 
matter of course, with its first holders ; 
all continuation of it, from the very con- 
ditions of its existence (cf. 1 Cor. 9:1), 
being impossible. 

Early history and training. — The 
apostles were from the lower ranks of 
life, simple and uneducated ; some of 
them were related to Jesus according to 
the flesh ; some had previously been dis- 
ciples of John the Baptist. Our Lord 
chose them early in his public career. 
They seem to have been all on an equal- 
ity, both during and after the ministry 
of Christ on earth. Early in our Lord's 
ministry he sent them out two and two 
to preach repentance and to perform 
nr.racles in his name. Matt. 10; Luke 9. 
They accompanied him in his journeys, 
saw his wonderful works, heard his dis- 
courses addressed to the people, and 
made inquiries of him on religious mat- 
ters. They recognized him as the Christ 
of God, Matt. 16 : 16 ; Luke 9 : 20, and 
ascribed to him supernatural power, 
Luke 9 : 54 ; but in the recognition of the 
spiritual teaching and mission of Christ 
they made very slow progress, held back 
46 



as they were by weakness of apprehen- 
sion and by national prejudices. Even 
at the removal of our Lord from the 
earth they were vet weak in their knowl- 
edge, Luke 24 : 21 ; John 16 : 12, though 
he had for so long been carefully pre- 
paring and instructing them. On the 
feast of Pentecost, ten days after our 
Lord's ascension, the Holy Spirit came 
doAvn on the assembled church, Acts 2 ; 
and from that time the apostles became 
altogether different men, giving witness 
with power of the life and death and res- 
urrection of Jesus, as he had declared 
they should. Luke 24 : 48 ; Acts 1 : 8, 22 ; 
2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 13:31. 

Later labors and history. — First of all 
the mother-church at Jerusalem grew up 
under their hands, Acts 3-7, and their 
superior dignity and power were univer- 
sally acknowledged by the rulers and 
the people. Acts 5 : 12 ff. Their first 
mission out of Jerusalem was to Samaria, 
Acts 8 : 5-25, where the Lord himself 
had, during his ministry, sown the seed 
of the gospel. Here ends the first period 
of the apostles' agency, during which its 
centre is Jerusalem and the prominent 
figure is that of St. Peter. Ihe centre 
of the second period of the apostolic 
agency is Antioch, where a church soon 
was built up, consisting of Jews and 
Gentiles ; and the central figure of this 
and of the subsequent period is St. Paul. 
The third apostolic period is marked by 
the almost entire disappearance of the 
twelve from the sacred narrative, and 
the exclusive agency of St. Paul, the 
great apostle of the Gentiles. Of the 
missionary work of the rest of the twelve 
we know absolutely nothing from the 
sacred narrative. 

Appa'im, or Ap'paim {the nostrils), 
son of Nadab, and descended from Jerah- 
meel, the founder of an important family 
of the tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 30, 31. 

Appeal. The principle of appeal 
was recognized by the Mosaic law in the 
establishment of a central court under 
the presidency of the judge or ruler for 
the time being, before which all cases 
too difficult for the local courts were to 
be tried. Deut. 17 : 8, 9. According to 
the above regulation, the appeal lay in 
the time of the Judges to the judge, 
Judges 4 : 5, and under the monarchy to 
the king. Jehoshaphat delegated his 
judicial authority to a court permanently 
established for the purpose. 2 Chron. 19 : 
8. These courts were re-established by 



APP 



AKA 



Ezra. Ezra 7 : 25. After the institution 
of the Sanhedrin the final appeal lay to 
them. St. Paul, as a Roman citizen, ex- 
ercised a right of appeal from the juris- 
diction of the local court at Jerusalem 
to the emperor. Acts 25 : 11. 

Ap'phia ( fruitful) , a Christian woman 
addressed jointly with Philemon and 
Archippus in Phil. 2 ; apparently a 
member of Philemon's household, and 
not improbably his wife. (A.D. 57.) 

Ap'pii Fo'rura (market-place of Ap- j 
plus), a well-known station on the Ap- 
pian Way, the great road which led from 
Rome to the neighborhood of the Bay of 
Naples. Acts 28 : 15. There is no diffi- 
culty in identifying the site with some 
ruins near Treponti. [THREE Taverns.] 

Ap'pius, Market of. Revised Ver- 
sion for Appii Forum. Acts 28 : 15. 

Apple Tree, Apple (Heb. tappuach). 
Mention of the apple tree occurs in the 
Authorized Version in Cant. 2:3; 8:5, 
and Joel 1 : 12. The fruit of this tree is 
alluded to in Pro v. 25 : 11 and Cant. 2:5; 
7:8. It is a difficult matter to say what 
is the specific tree denoted by the Hebrew 
word tappuach. ("The apple proper is 
rare in Syria, and its fruit inferior.") 
Most modern writers maintain that it is 
either the quince or the citron ; (others 
speak of the apricot, which is abundant 
and deliciously perfumed.) The quince 
has some plausible arguments in its favor. 
Its fragrance was held in high esteem by 
the ancients. The quince was sacred to j 
Venus. On the other hand, Dr. Royle ! 
says, " The rich color, fragrant odor and 
handsome appearance of the citron, 
whether in flower or in fruit, are par- 
ticularly suited to the passages of Scrip- 
ture mentioned above." But neither the 
quince nor the citron nor the apple ap- 
pears fully to answer to all the scriptural 
allusions. The orange would answer all 
the demands of the scriptural passages, 
and orange trees are found in Palestine ; 
but there does not appear sufficient evi- 
dence that this tree was known in the 
earlier times to the inhabitants of Pal- 
estine. The question of identification, 
therefore, must still be left an open one. 

Aq'uila (an eagle), a Jew whom St. 
Paul found at Corinth on his arrival 
from Athens. Acts 18 : 2. (A.D. 52.) He 
was a native of Pontus, but had fled, 
with his wife Priscilla, from Rome, in 
consequence of an order of Claudius 
commanding all Jews to leave the city. 
He became acquainted with St. Paul, 



and they abode together, and wrought 
at their common trade of making the 
Cilician tent or hair-cloth. On the de- 
parture of the apostle from Corinth, a 
year and six months after, Priscilla and 
Aquila accompanied him to Ephesus. 
There they remained, and there they 
taught Apollos. At what time they be- 
came Christians is uncertain. 

Ar (a city), or Ar of Moab, one of 
the chief places of Moab. Num. 21 : 28 ; 
Isa. 15 : 1. In later times the place 
was known as Areopolis and Rabbath- 
Moab. The site is still called Rabba. 
It lies about halfway between Kerak 
and the Wady Mojeb, 10 or 11 miles 
from each, the Roman road passing 
through it. 

A'ra (lion), one of the sons of Jether, 
the head of a family of Asherites. 1 
Chron. 7 : 38. 

A'rab (ambush), a city of Judah in 
the mountainous district, probably in 
the neighborhood of Hebron ; mentioned 
only in Josh. 15 : 52. 

Ar'atoah (burnt up). Although this 
word appears in the Authorized Version 
in its original shape only in Josh. 18 : 18, 
yet in the Hebrew text it is of frequent 
occurrence. It indicates more particu- 
larly the deep-sunken valley or trench 
which forms the most striking among 
the many striking natural features of 
Palestine, and which extends with great 
uniformity of formation from the slopes 
of Hermon to the Elanitic Gulf ( Gulf of 
Akabah) of the Red Sea; the most re- 
markable depression known to exist on 
the surface of the globe. Through the 
northern portion of this extraordinary 
fissure the Jordan rushes through the 
lakes of Huleh and Gennesaret down its 
tortuous course to the deep chasm of the 
Dead Sea. This portion, about 150 miles 
in length, is known amongst the Arab? 
by the name of el-Ghor. The southern 
boundary of the Ghor is the wall of cliffs 
which crosses the valley about 10 miles 
south of the Dead Sea. From their sum- 
mits, southward to the Gulf of Akabah, 
the valley changes its name, or, it would 
be more accurate to say, retains its old 
name of Wady el-Arabah. 

Ara'bia (desert, barren), a country 
known in the Old Testament under two 
designations : — 1. The East Country, Gen. 
25 : 6, or perhaps the East, Gen. 10 : 30 ; 
Num. 23 : 7 ; Isa. 2:6; and Land of the 
Sons of the East, Gen. 29 : 1 ; Gentile 
name, Sons of the East. Judges 6 : 3 ; 7 : 12 ; 

47 



AKA 



AEA 



1 Kings 4 : 30 ; Job 1:3; Isa. 11 : 14 ; 
Jer. 49 : 28 ; Ezek. 25 : 4. From these 
passages it appears that Land of the East 
and Sons of the East indicate, primarily, 
the country east of Palestine, and the 
tribes descended from Ishmael and from 
Keturah ; and that this original signifi- 
cation may have become gradually ex- 
tended to Arabia and its inhabitants 
generally, though without any strict 
limitation. 2. 'Arab and 'Arab, whence 
Arabia. 2 Chron. 9 : 14 ; Isa. 21 : 13 ; Jer. 
25 : 24; Ezek. 27 : 21. (Arabia is a tri- 
angular peninsula, included between the 
Mediterranean and Red seas, the Indian 
Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Its ex- 
treme length, north and south, is about 
1300 miles, and its greatest breadth 1500 
miles. — Encyc. Brit.) 




Arab Chieftain. 

Divisions. — Arabia may be divided in- 
to Arabia Proper, containing the whole 
peninsula as far as the limits of the 
northern deserts ; Northern Arabia {Ara- 
bia Deserta), constituting the great desert 
of Arabia; and Western Arabia, the des- 
ert of Petra and the peninsula of Sinai, 
or the country that has been called Ara- 
bia Petrcea. I. Arabia Proper, or the 
Arabian peninsula, consists of high 
table-land, declining towards the north. 
Most of it is well peopled, watered by 
wells and streams, and enjoys periodical 
rains. The most fertile tracts are those 
on the southwest and south. II. North- 
ern Arabia, or the Arabian Desert, is a 
48 



high, undulating, parched plain, of which 
the Euphrates forms the natural bound- 
ary from the Persian Gulf to the frontier 
of Syria, whence it is bounded by the 
latter country and the desert of Petra on 
the northwest and west, the peninsula 
of Arabia forming its southern limit. It 
has few oases, the water of the wells is 
generally either brackish or unpotable, 
and it is visited by the sand-wind called 
Samoom. The inhabitants, principally 
descended from Ishmael and from Ke- 
turah, have always led a wandering and 
pastoral life. They conducted a consid- 
erable trade of merchandise of Arabia 
and India from the shores of the Persian 
Gulf. Ezek. 27 : 20-24. _ III. Western 
Arabia includes the peninsula of Sinai 
[Sinai] and the desert of Petra, corre- 
sponding generally with the limits of 
Arabia Petrsea. The latter name is 
probably derived from that of its chief 
city, not from its stony character. It 
was mostly peopled by descendants of 
Esau, and was generally known as the 
land of Edom or Idumaea [Edom], as 
well as by its older appellation, the des- 
ert of Seir or Mount Seir. [Seie.] 

Inhabitants. — (Arabia, which once 
ruled from India to the Atlantic, now 
has eight or nine millions of inhabitants, 
about one-fifth of whom are Bedouin or 
wandering tribes, and the other four- 
fifths settled Arabs. — Encyc. Brit.) 1. 
The descendants of Joktan occupied 
the principal portions of the south and 
southwest of the peninsula, with colonies 
in the interior. The principal Joktanite 
kingdom, and the chief state of ancient 
Arabia, was that of the Yemen. 2. Th2 
Ishmaelites appear to have entered 
the peninsula from the northwest. That 
they have spread over the whole of it 
(with the exception of one or two dis- 
tricts on the south coast), and that the 
modern nation is predominantly Ishma- 
elite, is asserted by the Arabs. 3. Of the 
descendants of Keturah the Arabs say 
little. They appear to have settled 
chiefly north of the peninsula in Desert 
Arabia, from Palestine to the Persian 
Gulf. 4. In northern and western Ara- 
bia are other peoples, which, from their 
geographical position and mode of life, 
I are sometimes classed with the Arabs. 
Of these are Amalek, the descendants 
! of Esau, etc. 

{Productions. — The productions are 
, varied. The most noted animal is the 
| horse. Camels, sheep, cattle, asses, mules 



AHA 



ARA 



and cats are common. Agricultural 
products are coffee, wheat, barley, millet, 
beans, pulse, dates and the common gar- 
den plants. In pasture lands Arabia is 
peculiarly fortunate. In mineral prod- 
ucts it is singularly poor, lead being 
most abundant. — Encyc. Brit.) 

Religion. — The most ancient idolatry 
of the Arabs we must conclude to have 
been fetishism. Magianism, an import- 
ation from Chaldaea and Persia, must be 
reckoned among the religions of the 
pagan Arabs; but it never had very 
numerous followers. Christianity was 
introduced into southern Arabia toward 
the close of the second century, and 
about a century later it had made great 
progress. It flourished chiefly in the 
Yemen, where many churches were built. 
Judaism was propagated in Arabia, prin- 
cipally by Karaites, at the captivity. 
They are now nominally Mohammedans. 

Language. — Arabic, the language of 
Arabia, is the most developed and the 
richest of Shemitic languages, and the 
only one of which we have an extensive 
literature ; it is, therefore, of great im- 
portance to the study of Hebrew. 

Government. — Arabia is now under the 
government of the Ottoman empire. 

Ara'bians, the nomadic tribes inhab- 
iting the country to the east and south 
of Palestine, who in the early times of 
Hebrew history were known as Ishmael- 
ites and descendants of Keturah. 

A'rad (a wild ass), a Benjamite, son 
of Beriah, who drove out the inhabitants 
of Gath. 1 Chron. 8 : 15. (B.C. 536.) 

A'rad, a royal city of the Canaanites, 
named with Hormah and Libnah. Josh. 
12 : 14. The wilderness of Judah was to 
" the south of Arad." Judges 1 : 1(3. It 
may be identified with a hill, Tel 1 Arad, 
an hour and a half northeast by east 
from Milk (Moladah), and eight hours 
from Hebron. 

A'rah (wayfaring). 1. An Asherite, 
of the sons of Ulla. 1 Chron. 7 : 39. 

2. The sons of Arah returned with 
Zerubbabel in number 775 according to 
Ezra 2 : 5, but 652 according to Neh. 7 : 10. 
(B.C. 536.) One of his descendants, She- 
chaniah, was the father-in-law of Tobiah 
the Ammonite. Neh. 6 : 18. 

A'ram (high). 1. The name by which 
the Hebrews designated, generally, the 
country lying to the northeast of Pales- 
tine ; the great mass of that high table- 
land which, rising with sudden abrupt- 
ness from the Jordan and the very margin 
4 



of the Lake of Gennesaret, stretches, at 
an elevation of no less than 2000 feet 
above the level of the sea, to the banks 
of the Euphrates itself. Throughout the 
Authorized Version the word is, with 
only a very few exceptions, rendered, as 
in the Vulgate and LXX., Syeia. Its 
earliest occurrence in the book of Genesis 
is in the form of Aram-naharaim, i. e. 
the " highland of or between the two 
rivers." Gen. 24 : 10, Authorized Version 
"Mesopotamia." In the later history 
we meet with a number of small nations 
or kingdoms forming parts of the gene- 
ral land of Aram ; but as Damascus in- 
creased in importance it gradually ab- 
sorbed the smaller powers, 1 Kings 20 : 1, 
and the name of Aram was at last ap- 
plied to it alone. Isa. 7:8; also 1 Kings 
11 :24, 25; 15 : 18, etc. 

2. Another Aram is named in Gen. 
22 : 21, as a son of Kemuel and descend- 
ant of Nahor. 

3. An Asherite, one of the sons of. 
Shamer. 1 Chron. 7 : 34. 

4. Son of Esrom or Hezron, and the 
Greek form of the Hebrew Ram. Matt. 
1 : 3, 4 ; Luke 3 : 33. 

A'ram -nahara'im {highlands of tiro 
rivers). Ps. 60, title. [Aram.] 

A'ram-zo'bah. Ps. 60, title. [Aram, 
1-] 

Arami'tess, a female inhabitant of 
Aram. 1 Chron. 7 : 14. 

A'ran (wild goat), a Horite, son of 
Dishan and brother of Uz. Gen. 36 : 28 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 42. 

Ar'arat (high or holy ground), a 
mountainous district of Asia mentioned 
in the Bible in connection with the fol- 
lowing events :— (1) As the resting-place 
of the ark after the deluge. Gen. 8 : 4. 
(2) As the asylum of the sons of Senna- 
cherib. 2 Kings 19 : 37 ; Isa. 37 : 38 ; 
Authorized Version has " the land of Ar- 
menia." (3) As the ally, and probably 
the neighbor, of Minni and Ashchenaz. 
Jer. 51 : 27. [Armenia.] The name 
Ararat was unknown to the geographers 
of Greece and Rome, as it still is to the 
Armenians of the present day; but it 
was an ancient name for a portion of 
Armenia. In its biblical sense it is de- 
scriptive generally of the Armenian 
highlands — the lofty plateau which over- 
looks the plain of the Araxes on the 
north and of Mesopotamia on the south. 
Various opinions have been put forth as 
to the spot where the ark rested, as de- 
scribed in Gen. 8:4; (but it is probable 

49 



AKA 



ARB 



that it rested on some of the lower por- 
tions of the range than on the lofty peak 
to which exclusively) Europeans have 
given the name Ararat, the mountain 
which is called Massis by the Armenians, 
Agri-Dagh, i. e. Steep Mountain, by the 
Turks, and Kuh-i-Nuh, i. e. JYoah's 
Mountain, by the Persians. It rises im- 
mediately out of the plain of the Araxes, 
and terminates in two conical peaks, 
named the Great and Less Ararat, about 
seven miles distant from each other ; the 



former of which attains an elevation of 
17,260 feet above the level of the sea and 
about 14,000 above the plain of the 
Araxes, while the latter is lower by 4000 
feet. The summit of the higher is cov- 
ered with eternal snow for about 3000 
feet. Arguri, the only village known to 
have been built on its slopes, was the 
spot where, according to tradition, Noah 
planted his vineyard. " The mountains 
of Ararat," as co-extensive with the Ar- 
menian plateau from the base of Ararat 




Mount Ararat. 



(From a Photograph.) 



in the north to the range of Kurdistan 
in the south, we notice the following 
characteristics of that region as illus- 
trating the Bible narrative: (1) Its ele- 
vation. It rises to a height of from 6000 
to 7000 feet above the level of the sea. 
(2) Its geographical position. Viewed 
with reference to the dispersion of the 
nations, Armenia is the true centre of 
the world ; and at the present day Ar- 
arat is the great boundary-stone between 
the empires of Russia, Turkey and Per- 
sia. (3) Its physical character. The 
plains as well as the mountains supply 
evidence of volcanic agency. (4) The 
climate. Winter lasts from October to 
May, and is succeeded by a brief spring 
and a summer of intense' heat. (5) The 
50 



vegetation. Grass grows luxuriantly on 
the plateau, and furnishes abundant pas- 
ture during the summer months to the 
flocks of the nomad Kurds. Wheat, 
barley and vines ripen at far higher 
altitudes than on the Alps and the Pyr- 
enees. 

Arau'nah (ark), a Jebusite who sold 
his threshing-floor on Mount Moriah to 
David as a site for an altar to Jehovah, 
together with his oxen. 2 Sam. 24 : 18-24 : 
1 Chron. 21 : 25. 

Ar'ba (city of the four), the progenitor 
of the Anakim, or sons of Anak, from 
whom their chief city, Hebron, received 
its name of Kirjath-Arba. Josh. 14 : 15 ; 
15:13; 21 : 11. 

Ar'bah. Hebron, or Kirjath-Arba, as 



ARB 



ARC 



" the city of Arbah" is always rendered 
elsewhere. Gen. 35 : 27. 

Ar'bathite, a native of the Arabah 
or Ghor. [Arabah.] Abi-albon the 
Arbathite was one of David's mighty 
men. 2 Sam. 23 : 31 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 32. 

Ar'bite, a native of Arab. Paarai 
the Arbite was one of David's guard. 
2 Sam. 23 : 35. 

Arch of Titus. A triumphal arch 
erected at Rome, and still remaining 




Archela'us (prince of the people), son 
of Herod the Great by a Samaritan 
woman, Malthake, and, with his brother 
Antipas, brought up at Rome. At the 
death of Herod (B.C. 4) his kingdom was 
divided between his three sons, Herod 
Antipas, Archelaus and Philip. Arche- 
laus never properly bore the title of king, 
Matt. 2 : 22, but only that of ethnarch. 
In the tenth year of his reign, or the 
ninth according to Dion Cassius, i.e. a.d. 

6, a complaint was preferred 
against him by his brothers and 
his subjects on the ground of 
his tyranny, in consequence of 
which he was banished to Vi- 
enne in Gaul, where he is gen- 
erally said to have died. 




Arch of Titus at Rome. 

there, to commemorate the conquest of 
Judea and the destruction of Jerusalem 
by the emperor Titus. It was erected 
after his death, a.d. 91, by the senate 
and people of Rome. It was a magnifi- 
cent structure, decorated with bas-reliefs 
and inscriptions, and is of especial in- 
terest because its historic bas-reliefs rep- 
resent the captors carrying in triumph to 
Rome the golden candlestick and sacred 
utensils from the Jewish temple at Jeru- 
salem. From these we obtain our best 
idea of their shape. — Ed. 



Coins of Archelaus. 

Archery. [Arms.] 
Ar'chevites, perhaps the 
inhabitants of Erech, some of 
whom had been placed as colo- 
nists in Samaria. Ezra 4 : 9. 

Ar'chi. Josh. 16 : 2. A place 
in the neighborhood of Bethel, 
on the boundary between Eph- 
raim and Benjamin. It desig- 
nates a clan perhaps originally 
from Erech in Babylonia, of 
which Hushai was one. [Ar- 

CHITE.] 

Archip'pus [master of the horse), a 
Christian teacher in Colossse, Col. 4 : 17, 
called by St. Paul his " fellow soldier," 
Phil. 2. He was probably a member of 
Philemon's family, (a.d. 62.) 

Ar'chite, The (as if from a place 
named Erech, on the frontiers of Eph- 
raim), the usual designation of David's 
friend Hushai. 2 Sam. 15 : 32 ; 17 : 5, 14; 
1 Chron. 27 : 33. 

Architecture. The book of Genesis, 
4 : 17, 20, 22, appears to divide mankind 
into two great characteristic sections, 

51 



AKC 



ART 



viz., the "dwellers in tents" and the 
" dwellers in cities." To the race of 
Shem is attributed, Gen. 10 : 11, 12, 22 ; 
11 : 2-9, the foundation of those cities in 
the plain of Shinar, Babylon, Nineveh 
and others. The Israelites were by oc- 
cupation shepherds, and by habit dwell- 
ers in tents. Gen. 47 : 3. They had 
therefore originally, speaking properly, 
no architecture. From the time of the 
occupation of Canaan they became dwell- 
ers in towns and in houses of stone. Lev. 
14 : 34, 45 ; 1 Kings 7 : 10. The peaceful 
reign and vast wealth of Solomon gave 
great impulse to architecture ; for be- 
sides the temple and his other great 
works, he built fortresses and cities in 
various places, among which Baalath and 
Tadmor are in all probability represent- 
ed by Baalbec and Palmyra. But the 
reigns of Herod and his successors were 
especially remarkable for their great ar- 
chitectural works. Not only was the 
temple restored, but the fortifications and 
other public buildings of Jerusalem were 
enlarged and embellished. Luke 21 : 5. 
The town of Csesarea was built on the 
site of Strato's Tower ; Samaria was en- 
larged, and received the name of Sebaste. 
Of the original splendor of these great 
works no doubt can be entertained ; but 
of their style and appearance we can 
only conjecture that they were formed 
on Greek and Roman models. The enor- 
mous stones employed in the Assyrian, 
Persepolitan and Egyptian buildings find 
a parallel in the substructions of Baalbec 
and in the huge blocks which still re- 
main at Jerusalem, relics of the build- 
ings either of Solomon or of Herod. 

Arctu'rus {bear-keeper). The He- 
brew words 'Ash and 'Aish, rendered 
"Arcturus" in the Authorized Version 
of Job 9:9; 38 : 32, in conformity with 
the Vulgate of the former passage, are 
now generally believed to be identical, 
and to represent the constellation Ursa 
Major, known commonly as the Great 
Bear or Charles' Wain. 

Ard (one that descends), the son of 
Bela and grandson of Benjamin. Gen. 
46 : 21 ; Num. 26 : 40. In 1 Chron. 
8 : 3 he is called Addar. 

Ard'ites, the descendants of Ard or 
Addar, the grandson of Benjamin. Num. 
26 : 40. 

Ar'don (fugitive), a son of Caleb, the 
son of Hezron, by his wife Azubah. 1 
Chron. 2 : 18. 

Are'li (heroic), a son of Gad. Gen. 

52 



46 : 16 ; Num. 26 : 17. His descendants 
are called Arelites. Num. 26 : 17. 

Areop'agite, a member of the court 
of Areopagus. Acts 17 : 34. [Mars' 
Hill.] 

Areop'agus. [Mars' Hill.] 
Are'tas, or Ar'etas (graver). 1. A 

contemporary of Antiochus Epiphanes, 

B.C. 170, and Jason. 2 Mace. 5 : 8. 
2. The Aretas alluded to by St. Paul, 

2 Cor. 11 : 32, was father-in-law of Herod 

Antipas. 

Ar/gob (stony), a tract of country on 
the east of the Jordan, in Bashan, the 
kingdom of Og, containing 60 great and 
fortified cities. In later times it was called 
Trachonitis, and it is now apparently 
identified with the Lejah, a very remark- 
able district south of Damascus and east 
of the Sea of Galilee. Deut. 3 : 4, 13, 14. 

Ar'gofo, perhaps a Gileadite officer 
who was governor of Argob. He was 
either an accomplice of Pekah in the 
murder of Pekahiah or was slain by Pe- 
kah. 2 Kings 15 : 25. 

Arid'a-i (the strong), ninth son of 
Hainan. Esther 9:9. 

Arid'atha, sixth son of Haman. Es- 
ther 9 : 8. 

Ari'eh (lion). Either one of the ac- 
complices of Pekah in his conspiracy 
against Pekahiah, or one of the princes 
of Pekahiah who was put to death with 
him. 2 Kings 15 : 25. (B.C. 757.) 

A'riel (lion of God). 1. One of the 
" chief men" who under Ezra directed 
the caravan which he led back from 
Babylon to Jerusalem. Ezra 8 : 16. (B.C. 
459.) The word occurs also in reference 
to two Moabites slain bv Benaiah. 2 Sam. 
23 : 20 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 22. Many regard 
the word as an epithet, " lion-like;" but 
it seems better to look upon it as a proper 
name, and translate " two [sons] of 
Ariel." 

2. A designation given by Isaiah to the 
city of Jerusalem. Isa. 29 : 1, 2, 7. We 
must understand by it either "lion of 
God," as the chief city, or "hearth of 
God," a synonym for the altar of burnt 
offering. On the whole it seems most 
probable that, as a name given to Jeru- 
salem, Ariel means " lion of God," whilst 
the word used by Ezekiel, Ezek. 43 : 15, 
16, means " hearth of God." 

Arimathae'a (heights). Matt. 27:57; 
Luke 23 : 51 ; John 19 : 38. St. Luke 
calls it " a city of Judea." It is identi- 
fied by many with the modern Ramleh. 

A'rioch (venerable). 1. The king of 



AKI 



ARK 



Ellasar, one of the allies of Chedorlaomer 
in his expedition against his rebellious 
tributaries. Gen. 14:1. (B.C. 1921-1912.) 

2. The captain of Nebuchadnezzar's 
body-guard. Dan. 2 : 14, etc. 

3. Properly Eirioch, or Erioch, men- 
tioned in Judith 1 : 6 as king of the Ely- 
mseans. 

Aris'a-i {lion-like), eighth son of Ha- 
inan. Esther 9 : 9. 

Aristar'chus {the best ruler), a Thes- 
salonian, Acts 20 : 4 ; 27 : 2, who accom- 
panied St. Paul on his third missionary 
journey. Acts 19 : 29. He was with the 
apostle on his return to Asia, Acts 20 : 4; 
a ad again, 27 : 2, on his voyage to Rome. 
We trace him afterwards as St. Paul's 
fellow prisoner in Col. 4 : 10 and Phil. 
24. Tradition makes him bishop of 
Apamea. 

Aristobu'lus {the best counsellor), a 
resident at Rome, some of whose house- 
hold are greeted in Rom. 16 : 10. Tradi- 
tion makes him one of the 70 disciples, 
and reports that he preached the gospel 
in Britain. 

Ark, Noah's. [Noah.] 




Ark of the Covenant. 

Ark of the Covenant. The first 
piece of the tabernacle's furniture, for 
which precise directions were delivered. 
Ex. 25. I. Description. — It appears to 
have been an oblong chest of shittim 
(acacia) wood, 2i cubits long by 1£ broad 
and deep. Within and without gold was 



overlaid on the wood, and on the upper 
side or lid, which was edged round about 
with gold, the mercy-seat was placed. 
The ark was fitted with rings, one at 
each of the four corners, and through 
these were passed staves of the same 
wood similarly overlaid, by which it was 
carried by the Kohathites. Num. 7:9; 
10 : 21. The ends of the staves were vis- 
ible without the veil in the holy place 
of the temple of Solomon. 1 Kings 8 : 8. 
The ark, when transported, was envel- 
oped in the " veil " of the dismantled 
tabernacle, in the curtain of badgers' 
skins, and in a blue cloth over all, and 
was therefore not seen. Num. 4 : 5, 20. 

II. Its purpose was to contain inviolate 
the divine autograph of the two tables, 
that " covenant " from which it derived 
its title. It was also probably a reliquary 
for the pot of manna and the rod of 
Aaron. 

III. History. — Before David's time its 
abode was frequently shifted. It so- 
journed among several, probably Leviti- 
cal, families, 1 Sam. 7 : 1 ; 2 Sam. 6 : 3, 11 ; 
1 Chron. 13 : 13 ; 15 : 24, 25, in the border 

villages of eastern Judah, 
and did not take its place 
in the tabernacle, but 
dwelt in curtains, i. e. in 
a separate tent pitched 
for it in Jerusalem by 
David. Subsequently the 
temple, when completed, 
received, in the installa- 
tion of the ark in its 
shrine, the signal of its in- 
auguration by the efful- 
gence of divine glory 
instantly manifested. It 
was probably taken cap- 
tive or destroyed by Ne- 
buchadnezzar, 2 Esdr. 10 : 
22, so that there was no 
ark in the second temple. 

Ark of Moses. A 
small boat or basket made 
of the papyrus, a reed 
which grows in the 
marshes of Egypt. It was 
covered with bitumen to 
make it water-tight. 
Ar'kite, The, from Arka, one of the 
families of the Canaanites, Gen. 10 : 17 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 15, and from the context 
evidently located in the north of Phoeni- 
cia. The site which now bears the name 
of 'Arka lies on the coast, 2 to 2h hours 
from the shore, about 12 miles north of 

53 



AKM 



AEM 



Tripoli and 5 south of the Na.hr el- 
Kebir. 

Armaged'don (the hill or city of 
Megiddo). Rev. 16 : 16. The scene of 
the struggle of good and evil is suggested 
by that battle-field, the plain of Esdrae- 
lon, which was famous for two great vic- 
tories, of Barak over the Canaanites and 
of Gideon over the Midianites ; and for 
two great disasters, the deaths of Saul and 
Josiah. Hence it signifies in Revela- 
tion a place of great slaughter, the 
scene of a terrible retribution upon 
the wicked. The Revised Version 
gives the name as Har-Magedon, 
i. e. the hill (as Ar is the city) of 
Megiddo. — Ed.) 

Arme'nia {land of Aram) is 
nowhere mentioned under that name 
in the original Hebrew, though it 
occurs in the English version, 2 
Kings 19 : 37, for Ararat. Descrip- 
tion. — Armenia is that lofty plateau 
whence the rivers Euphrates, Tigris, 
Araxes and Acampsis pour down 
their waters in different directions ; 
the first two to the Persian Gulf, the 
last two respectively to the Caspian 
and Euxine seas. It may be termed 
the nucleus of the mountain system 
of western Asia. From the centre 
of the plateau rise two lofty chains 
of mountains, which run from east 
to west. Divisions.— Three districts 
are mentioned in the Bible. (1) 
Ararat is mentioned as the place 
whither the sons of Sennacherib 
fled. Isa. 37 : 38. It was the central 
district, surrounding the mountain 
of that name. (2) MiNNl only oc- 
curs in Jer. 51 : 27. It is probably iden- 
tical with the district Minyas, in the 
upper valley of the Murad-su branch of 
the Euphrates. (3) Togarmah is noticed 
in two passages of Ezekiel, 27 : 14 ; 38 : 6, 
both of which are in favor of its identity 
with Armenia. Present condition. — The 
Armenians, numbering about two mill- 
ions, are nominally Christians. About 
half of them live in Armenia. Their fa- 
vorite pursuit is commerce. The country 
is divided, as to government, between 
Russia, Turkey and Persia. — Ed. 

Armlet, an ornament universal in the 
East, especially among women ; used by 
princes as one of the insignia of royalty, 
and by distinguished persons in general. 
The word is not used in the Authorized 
Version, as even in 2 Sam. 1 : 10 it is 
rendered by " the bracelet on his arm." 
54 



Armo'ni, son of Saul by Rizpah. 2 
Sam. 21 : 8. 

Arms, Armor. The subject natu- 
rally divides itself into — I. Offensive 
weapons : Arms. II. Defensive weapons : 
Armor. 

I. Offensive weapons. — 1. Apparently 
the earliest known and most widely used 
was the Chereb or Sword. Very little 
can be gathered as to its shape, size, ma- 




Soldier in full Armor. 

terial or mode of use. Perhaps if any- 
thing is to be inferred it is that the 
Chereb is both a lighter and a shorter 
weapon than the modern sword. It was 
carried in a sheath, 1 Sam. 17 : 51 ; 2 
Sam. 20 : 8 ; 1 Chron. 21 : 27, slung by a 
girdle, 1 Sam. 25 : 13, and resting upon 
the thigh, Ps. 45 : 3 ; Judges 3 : 16, or 
upon the hips. 2 Sam. 20 : 8. 2. Next we 
have the Spear ; and of this weapon we 
meet with at least three distinct kinds. 
a. The Chanith, a "spear," and that of 
the largest kind. It was the weapon of 
Goliath, 1 Sam. 17 : 7, 45 ; 2 Sam. 21 : 19 ; 

1 Chron. 20 : 5, and also of other giants, 

2 Sam. 23 : 21 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 23, and 
mightv warriors. 2 Sam. 2 : 23 ; 23 : 18 : 
1 Chron. 11 : 11, 20. b. Apparently 
lighter than the preceding was the Cidon 
or "javelin." When not in action the 



ARM 



ARM 



Cidon was carried on the back of the 
warrior, 1 Sam. 17 : 6, Authorized Version 
" target." c. Another kind of spear was 
the Komach. In the historical books it 
occurs in Num. 25 : 7 and 1 Kings 18 : 28, 
and frequently in the later books, as in 




Egyptian Archer. 



1 Chron. 12 : 8 ("buckler"); 2 Chron. 
11 : 12. (It varied much in length, weight 
and size.) d. The Skelach was probably 
a lighter missile or " dart." See 2 Chron. I 
23 : 10 ; 32 : 5 (" darts ") ; Neh. 4 : 17, 23 j 
(see margin) ; Job 33 : 18 ; 36 : 12 ; Joel 
2; # 8. e. Shebet, a rod or staff, is used \ 
once only to denote a weapon. 2 Sam. 




Egyptian Battle-axes. 

18 : 14. 3. Of missile weapons of offence 
the chief was undoubtedly the Bow, Ke- 
sheth. The Arrows were carried in a 
quiver. Gen. 27 : 3 ; Isa. 22 : 6 ; 49 : 2 ; 
Ps. 127 : 5. From an allusion in Job 
6 : 4 they would seem to have been some- 



times poisoned ; and Ps. 120 : 4 may point 
j to a practice of using arrows with some 
j burning material attached to them. 4. 
The Sling is first mentioned in Judges 
20 : 16. This simple weapon, with which 
David killed the giant Philistine, was 
the natural attendant of a shepherd. 
Later in the monarchy, slingers formed 
part of the regular army. 2 Kings 3 : 25. 
5. The Battle-axe, Jer. 51 : 20, a 
powerful weapon, of whose exact form 
we have no knowledge. 

II. Armor. — 1. The Breastplate, 
enumerated in the description of the 
arms of Goliath, a "coat of mail," liter- 
ally a " breastplate of scales." 1 Sam. 
17 : 5. This word has furnished one of 
the names of Mount Hermon. See Deut. 
3:9. 2. The HABERGEON is mentioned 
but twice — in reference to the gown of 
the high priest. Ex. 28 : 32 ; 39 : 23. It 
was probably a quilted shirt or doublet. 
3. The Helmet is referred to in 1 Sam. 




Assyrian Helmets. 



17 : 5; 2 Chron. 26 : 14; Ezek. 27 : 10. 

4. Greaves or defences for the feet, 
made of brass, are named in 1 Sam. 17:6 
only. 5. Two kinds of Shield are dis- 
tinguishable, a. The large shield, en- 
compassing, Ps. 5 : 12, the whole person. 
When not in actual conflict it was carried 
before the warrior. 1 Sam. 17 : 7, 41. 
b. Of smaller dimensions was the buckler 
or target, probably for use in hand-to- 
hand fight. 1 Kings 10 : 16 ; 2 Chron. 9 : 
15, 16. 

Army. I. Jewish Army. — Every 
man above 20 years of age was a soldier, 
Num. 1:3: each tribe formed a regiment, 
with its own banner and its own leader, 
Num. 2 : 2 ; 10 : 14 : their positions in the 
camp or on the march were accurately 
fixed, Num. 2 : the whole army started 
and stopped at a given signal, Num. 10 : 

5, 6 : thus they came up out of Egypt 
ready for the fight. Ex. 13 : 18. On the 



AKN 



AEO 



approach of an enemy a conscription was 
made from the general body, under the 
direction of a muster-master, Deut. 20 : 5 ; 
2 Kings 25 : 19, by whom also the officers 
were appointed. Deut. 20 : 9. The army 
was then divided into thousands and 
hundreds under their respective captains, 
Num. 31 : 14, and still further into fam- 
ilies. Num. 2 : 34 ; 2 Chron. 25 : 5 ; 26 : 12. 
With the kings arose the custom of main- 
taining a body-guard, which formed the 
nucleus of a standing army, and David's 
band of 600, 1 Sam. 23 : 13 ; 25 : 13, he re- 
tained after he became king, and added 
the Cherethites and Pelethites. 2 
Sam. 15 : 18 ; 20 : 7. David further or- 
ganized a national militia, divided into 
twelve regiments under their respective 
officers, each of which was called out for 
one month in the year. 1 Chron. 27. 
It does not appear that the system estab- 
lished by David was maintained by the 
kings of Judah ; but in Israel the prox- 
imity of the hostile kingdom of Syria 
necessitated the maintenance of a stand- 
ing army. The maintenance and equip- 
ment of the soldiers at the public expense 
dates from the establishment of a stand- 
ing army. It is doubtful whether the 
soldier ever received pay even under the 
kings. 

II. Roman Army.— The Roman army 




Roman Captain or Centurion. 

was divided into legions, the number of 
which varied considerably (from 3000 to 
6000), each under six tribuni ("chief 
56 



captains," Acts 21 : 31), who commanded 
j by turns. The legion was subdivided 
i into ten cohorts ("band/' Acts 10:1), 
| the cohort into three maniples, and the 
! maniple into two centuries, containing 
originally 100 men, as the name implies, 
j but subsequently from 50 to 100 men, 
| according to the strength of the legion. 
I There were thus 60 centuries in a legion, 
! each under the command of a centurion. 
Acts 10 : 1, 22 ; Matt. 8:5; 27 : 54. In 
addition to the legionary cohorts, inde- 
pendent cohorts of volunteers served un- 
der the Roman standards. One of these 
cohorts was named the Italian, Acts 10 : 
1, as consisting of volunteers from Italy. 
I The head-quarters of the Roman forces 
j in Judea were at Csesarea. 

Ar'nan. In the received Hebrew 
I text "the .sons of Arnan" are mentioned 
I in the genealogy of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 
! 3 : 21. 

Ar'ni. (Used in the Revised Version 
I for Aram in Luke 3 : 33, and is probably 
i another name or form of the name of 
| Aram. [Aram, 4.J) 

Ar'non {roaring), the river or torrent 
■ which formed the boundary between 
J Moab and the Amorites, on the north of 
! Moab, Num. 21 : 13, 14, 24, 26 ; Judges 
I 11 : 22, and afterwards - between Moab 
and Israel (Reuben). Deut, 2:24, 36; 
3:8, 12, 16; 4:48; Josh. 12:1, 2; 13:9, 
16 ; Judges 11 : 13, 26. There can be no 
doubt that the Wady el-Mojeb of the 
present day is the Arnon. Its principal 
source is near Katrane, on the Haj route. 

A'rod {a wild ass), a son of Gad, 
Num. 26 : 17, called Arodi in Gen. 46 : 
16. 

Ar'odi. [Arod.] 

Ar'odites. [Arod.1 

Ar'oer (ruins). 1. A city on the tor- 
rent Arnon, the southern point of the 
temtory of Sihon king of the Amorites, 
and afterwards of the tribe of Reuben, 
Deut. 2 : 36 ; 3:12; 4 : 48 ; Josh. 12:2; 
13 : 9, 16 ; Judges 11 : 26 ; 2 Kings 10 : 33 ; 

I Chron. 5 : 8, but later again in posses- 
sion of Moab. Jer. 48 : 19. It is the 
modern AroVir, upon the very edge of 
the precipitous north bank of the Wady 
Mojeb. 

2. Aroer, "that is 'facing' Rabbah" 
(Rabbah of Amnion), a town built by 
and belonging to Gad. Num. 32 : 34 ; 
Josh. 13 : 25 ; 2 Sam. 24 : 5. This is 
probably the place mentioned in Judges 

II : 33, which was shown in Jerome's 
time. 



ARO 



ASA 



3. Aroer, in Isa. 17 : 2, if a place at all, 
must be still farther north than either 
of the two already named. 

4. A town in Judah, named only in 1 
Sam. 30 : 28, perhaps Wady Ar'drah, on 
the road from Petra to Gaza. 

Aro'erite. Hothan the Aroerite was 
the father of two of David's captains. 1 
Chron. 11 : 44. 

Ar'pad, or Ar'phad (strong city) , Isa. 
36 : 19 ; 37 : 13, a city or district in Syria, 
apparently dependent on Damascus. Jer. 
49 : 23. No trace of its existence has yet 
been discovered. 2 Kings 18 : 34 ; 19 : 13 ; 
Isa. 10 : 9. 

1 Arphax'ad (stronghold of the Chal- 
dees). 1. The son of Shem and ancestor 
of Eber. Gen. 10 : 22, 24; 11 : 10. 

2. Arphaxad, a king " who reigned 
over the Medes in Ecbatana," Judith 1 : 
1-4 ; perhaps the same as Phraortes, who 
fell in a battle with the Assyrians, 633 B.C. 

Arrows. [Arms.] 

Artaxerx'es (the great warrior). 1. 
The first Artaxerxes is mentioned in 
Ezra 4 : 7, and appears identical with 
Smerdis, the Magian impostor and pre- 
tended brother of Camby ses, who usurped 
the throne B.C. 522, and reigned eight 
months. 

2. In Neh. 2 : 1 we have another Arta- 
xerxes. We may safely identify him 
with Artaxerxes Macrocheir or Longi- 
manus, the son of Xerxes, who reigned 
B.C. 464-425. 

Ar'temas (gift of Artemis), a com- 
panion of St. Paul. Titus 3 : 12. Ac- 
cording to tradition he was bishop of 
Lystra. 

Ar'uboth (windows), the third of Sol- 
omon's commissariat districts. 1 Kings 
4 : 10. It included Sochoh, and was 
therefore probably a name for the rich 
corn-growing lowland country. 

Aru'mah (height), a place apparently 
in the neighborhood of Shechem, at 
which Abimelech resided. Judges 9 : 41. 

Ar'vad (ivandering). Ezek. 27 : 8, 11. 
The island of Euad, which lies off Tor- 
tosa (Tartus), two or three miles from 
the Phoenician coast. In agreement with 
this is the mention of "the Arvadite," 
in Gen. 10 : 18 and 1 Chron. 1 : 16, as a 
son of* Canaan, with Zidon, Hamath and 
other northern localities. 

Ar'vadite. [Arvad.] 

Ar'za, prefect of the palace at Tirzah 
to Elah king of Israel, who was assas- 
sinated at a banquet in his house by 
Zimri. 1 Kings 16 : 9. 



A'sa (physician, or cure). 1. Son of 
Abijah and third king of Judah. (B.C. 
956-916.) (His long reign of 41 years 
was peaceful in its earlier portion, and 
he undertook the reformation of all 
abuses, especially of idolatry. He burnt 
the symbol of his grandmother Maa- 
chah's religion and deposed her from 
the dignity of " king's mother,") and re- 
newed the great altar which the idol- 
atrous priests apparently had desecrated. 
2 Chron. 15 : 8. Besides this he fortified 
cities on his frontiers, and raised an 
army, amounting, according to 2 Chron. 
14 : 8, to 580,000 men, a number probably 
exaggerated by an error of the copyist. 
During Asa's reign, Zerah, at the head 
of an enormous host, 2 Chron. 14 : 9, at- 
tacked Mareshah. There he was utterly 
defeated, and driven back with immense 
loss to Gerar. The peace which followed 
this victory was broken by the attempt 
of Baasha of Israel to fortify Raman. 
To stop this Asa purchased the help of 
Ben-hadad I. king of Damascus, by a 
large payment of treasure, forced Baasha 
to abandon his purpose, and destroyed 
the works which he had begun at Eamah. 
In his old age Asa suffered from gout. 
He died, greatly loved and honored, in 
the 41st year of his reign. 

2. Ancestor of Berechiah, a Levite 
who resided in one of the villages of the 
Netophathites after the return from Bab- 
ylon. 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 

As'ahel (made by God). 1. Nephew 
of David, being the youngest son of his 
sister Zeruiah. He was celebrated for 
his swiftness of foot. When fighting 
under his brother Joab at Gibeon, he 
pursued Abner, who was obliged to kill 
him in self-defence. 2 Sam. 2 : 18 If. 
[Abner.] (b.c. 1050.) 

2. One of the Levites in the reign of 
Jehoshaphat, who went throughout the 
cities of Judah to instruct the people in 
the knowledge of the law. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. 
(B.C. 910.) 

3. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah, 
who had charge of the tithes and ded- 
icated things in the temple. 2 Chron. 
31:13. (B.C. 927.) 

4. A priest, father of Jonathan, in the 
time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 15. He is called 
Azael in 1 Esd. 9 : 14. (B.C. before 459.) 

Asahi'ah (the Lord hath made), a 
servant of King Josiah, sent by him to 
seek information of Jehovah respecting 
the book of the law which Hilkiah found 
in the temple, 2 Kings 22 : 12, 14; also 

57 



ASA 



ASH 



called Asaiah. 2 Chron. 34 : 20. (B.C. 
641.) 

Asai'ah (the Lord hath made). 1. A 
prince of one of the families of the S.m- 
eonites in the reign of Hezekiah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 36. (B.C. 910.) 

2. A Levite in the reign of David, 
chief of the family of Merari. 1 Chron. 
6 : 30. With 120 of his brethren he took 
part in bringing the ark from the house 
of Obed-edorn to the city of David. 1 
Chron. 15 : 6, 11. 

3. The first-born of "the Shilonite," 
from Shiloni, 1 Chron. 9 : 5, who with his 
family dwelt in Jerusalem after the re- 
turn from Babylon. (B.C. 536.) In Neh. 
11 : 5 he is called Maaseiah. 

4. 2 Chron. 34 : 20. | ASAHIAH.] 
A'saph (collector of the people). 1. A 

Levite, son of Berechiah, one of the lead- 
ers of David's choir. 1 Chron. 6 : 39. 
Psalms 50 and 73-83 are attributed to 
him; and he was in after times cele- 
brated as a seer as well as a musical 
composer. 2 Chron. 29 : 30 ; Neh. 12 : 46. 
(B.C. 1050.) 

2. The father or ancestor of Joah, the 
chronicler to the kingdom of Judah in 
the reign of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18 : 18, 
37 ; Isa. 36 : 3, 22 ; probably the same as 
the preceding. 

3. The keeper of the royal forest or 
" paradise " of Artaxerxes, Neh. 2:8; a 
Jew, in high office at the court of Persia. 
(B.C. 536.) 

4. Ancestor of Mattaniah, the con- 
ductor of the temple-choir after the re- 
turn from Babylon. 1 Chron. 9 : 15 ; 
Neh. 11 : 17. Most probably the same 
as 1 and 2. 

A'saph, Sons of. (A school of poets 
and musical composers founded by 
Asaph.) 

Asar'e-el (whom God hath bound (by 
an oath)), a son of Jehaleleel, in the 
genealogies of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 16. 

Asare'lah (upright toward God), one 
of the sons of Asaph, a musician, 1 Chron. 
25 : 2 ; called Jeshaeelah in ver. 14. 

As'calon. [Ashkelon.] 

As'enath (ivorshijyper of Neith), 
daughter of Potipherah, priest, or pos- 
sibly prince, of On [Potipherah"|, wife 
of Joseph, Gen. 41 : 45, and mother of 
Manasseh and Ephraim. Gen. 41:50; 
46 : 20. (B.C. 1715.) 

A'ser. Luke 2 : 36 ; Eev. 7 : 6. [Asu- 
ER.1 

Ash (Heb. orcn), only in Isa. 44 : 14. 
As the true ash is not anative of Pales- 

58 



tine, some understand this to be a species 
of pine tree. Perhaps the larch (Laryx 
europcea) may be intended. 

A'shan (smoke), a city in the low 
country of Judah. Josh. 15 : 42. In 
Josh. 19 : 7 and 1 Chron. 4 : 32 it is men- 
tioned again as belonging to Simeon. It 
has not yet been identified. 

Ash/bea (/ adjure), a proper name, 
but whether of a person or place is un- 
certain. 1 Chron. 4 : 21. 

Ash'bel (reproof of God), second son 
of Benjamin and ancestor of the Ashbel- 
ites. Gen. 46 : 21 ; Num. 26 : 38 ; 1 Chron. 
8:1. 

Ash'chenaz. 1 Chron. 1:6; Jer. 
51 : 27. [ASHKENAZ.] 

Ash/dod, or Azo'tus (a stronghold), 
Acts 8 : 40 ; one of the five confederate 
cities of the Philistines, situated about 
30 miles from the southern frontier of 
Palestine, three from the Mediterranean 
Sea, and nearly midway between Gaza 
and Joppa. It was assigned to the tribe 
of Judah, Josh. 15 : 47, but was never 
subdued by the Israelites. Its chief im- 
portance arose from its position on the 
high road from Palestine to Egypt. It 
is now an insignificant village, with no 
memorials of its ancient importance, but 
is still called Esdud. 

Ash/dodites, the inhabitants of Ash- 
dod, Neh. 4:7; called Ashdothites in 
Josh. 13 : 3. 

Ash/doth-pis'gah, Deut. 3 : 17; 
Josh. 12:3; 13 : 20 ; and in Deut. 4 : 49, 
Authorized Version, translated springs 
of Pisgah, i. e. a valley or fountain near 
Mount Pisgah. 

Ash/er, Apocrypha and New Testa- 
ment, A'ser (blessed), the eighth son of 
Jacob, by Zilpah, Leah's handmaid 
Gen. 30 : 13. (B.C. 1753.) The general 
position of his tribe was on the seashore 
from Carmel northward, with Manasseh 
on the south, Zebulun and Issachar on 
the southeast, and Naphtali on the north 
east. Josh. 19:24-31; 17 :10, 11 and 
Judges 1 : 31, 32. They possessed the 
maritime portion of the rich plain of 
Esdraelon, probably for a distance of 
or 10 miles from the shore. This terr 
tory contained some of the richest soil in 
all Palestine. 

Ash'er, a place which formed one 
boundary of the tribe of Manasseh on 
the south. Josh. 17 : 7. Mr. Porter sug 
gests that Teyasir may be the Asher of 
Manasseh. Handbook,' p. 348. 

Ash'erah (straight), the name of 



ASH 



ASH 




Ashdod. 



Phoenician goddess, or rather of the idol 
itself (Authorized Version "grove"). 
Asherah is closely connected with Ash- 
toreth and her worship, Judges 3 : 7, 
comp. 2:3; Judges 6 : 25 ; 1 Kings 18 : 19 ; 
Ashtoreth being, perhaps, the proper 
name of the goddess, whilst Asherah is 
the name of her image or symbol, which 
was of wood. See Judges 6 : 25-30 ; 2 
Kings 23 : 14. 

Ash'erites, descendants of Asher, 
and members of his tribe. Judges 1 : 32. 

Ashes. The ashes on the altar of 
burnt oifering were gathered into a cav- 
ity in its surface. The ashes of a red 
heifer burnt entire, according to regula- 
tions prescribed in Num. 19, had the 
ceremonial efficacy of purifying the un- 
clean, Ileb. 9 : 13, but of polluting the 
clean. [Sacrifice.] Ashes about the 
person, especially on the head, were used 
a3 a sign of sorrow. [Mottrnixg.] 

Asti'ima, a god of the Hamathite 
colonists in Samaria. 2 Kings 17 : 30. It 
lias been regarded as identical with the 
Pan of the Greeks. 

Ash'kelon, As'kelon, Apocrypha 
As'calou (migration), one of the" five 
cities of the Philistines, Josh. 13 : 3 ; 1 
Sam. 6:17; a seaport on the Mediterra- 
nean, 10 miles north of Gaza. Samson 
went down from Timnath to Ashkelon. 
J udges 14 : 19. In the post-biblical times 



Ashkelon rose to considerable import- 
ance. Near the town were the temple 
and sacred lake of Derceto, the Syrian 
Venus. The soil around was remark- 
able for its fertility. Ashkelon played a 
memorable part in the struggles of the 
Crusades. 

Ash'kenaz (spreading fire), one of 
the three sons of Gomer, son of Japhet. 
Gen. 10 : 3. We may probably recognize 
the tribe of Ashkenaz on the northern 
shore of Asia Minor in the name of Lake 
Ascanius, and in Europe in the name 
Scand-ia,, ^comcZ-inavia. Knobel con- 
siders that Ashkenaz is to be identified 
with the German race. 

Asli'nah, the name of two cities, both 
in the lowlands of Judah : (1 ) named be- 
tween Zoreah and Zanoah, and therefore 
probably northwest of Jerusalem, Josh. 
15 : 33; and (2) between Jiptah and 
Nezib, and therefore to the southwest of 
Jerusalem. Josh. 15 : 43. Each, accord- 
ing to Robinson's map (1857), would be 
about 16 miles from Jerusalem. 

Ash'penaz (horse-nose), the master 
of the eunuchs of Nebuchadnezzar. Dan. 
1:3. 

Ash'riel, properlv As'riel (vow of 
God). 1 Chron. 7:14. 
Ash'taroth, and once As'taroth (a 

star), a city on the east of Jordan, in 
Bashan, in the kingdom of Oct, doubtless 

59 



ASH 



ASP 



so called from being a seat of the worship 
of the goddess of the same name. Deut. 
1:4; Josh. 9:10; 12:4; 13:12. 

Ashte'rathite, a native or inhabit- 
ant of Ashtaroth, 1 Chron. 11 : 44, be- 
yond Jordan. 

Ash'teroth Karna'im {Ashteroth of 
the ttoo horns or peaks), a place of very 
great antiquity, the abode of the Re- 
phaim. Gen. 14 : 5. The name reappears 
but once, as Carnaim or Carnion, 1 Mace. 
5 : 26, 43, 44 ; 2 Mace, 12 : 21, 26, in " the 
land of Galaad." It is probably the 
modern Es-Sanamein, on the Haj route, 
about 25 miles south of Damascus. 

Ash'toreth (a star), the principal fe- 
male divinity of the Phoenicians, called 
Ishtar by the Assyrians and Astarte by 
the Greeks and Romans. She was by 




Figure of Ashtoreth. 



some ancient writers identified with the 
moon. But on the other hand the As- 
syrian Ishtar was not the moon-goddess, 
but the planet Venus ; and Astarte was 
by many identified with the goddess 
Venus (or Aphrodite), as well as with 
the plant of that name. It is certain 
that the worship of Astarte became iden- 
tified with that of Venus, and that this 
worship was connected with the most im- j 
pure rites is apparent from the close con- 
nection of this goddess with AsilERAH. I 
1 Kings 11 : 5, 33 ; 2 Kings 23 : 13. 
60 



Ash'ur {black), the posthumous son 
of Hezron by his wife Abiah. 1 Chron. 
2 : 24; 4:5. He became " father" or 
founder of the town of Tekoa. (B.C. 

1658.) 

Ash'urites, The. Only in 2 Sam. 
2:9. By some of the old interpreters 
the name is taken as meaning the Ge- 
shurites; but if we follow the Targum 
of Jonathan, "the Asherites" will de- 
note the inhabitants of the whole of the 
country west of the Jordan above Jez- 
reel. 

Ash'vath, one of the sons of Japhlet, 
of the tribe of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 33. 

A'sia {orient). The passages in the 
New Testament where this word occurs 
are the following : Acts 2:9;6:9;16:6; 
19 : 10, 22, 26, 27 ; 20 : 4, 16, 18 ; 21 : 27 ; 
27 : 2 ; Rom. 16 : 5 ; 1 Cor. 16 : 19 ; 2 Cor. 
1 : 8 ; 2 Tim. 1 : 15 ; 1 Pet. 1:1; Rev. 
1 : 4, 11. In all these it may be confi- 
dently stated that the word is used for a 
Roman province which embraced the 
western part ot the peninsula of Asia 
Minor, and of which Ephesus was the 
capital. 

Asiar'chre {chief of Asia) (Author- 
ized Version ; Acts 19 : 31), officers chosen 
annually by the cities of that part of the 
province of Asia of which Ephesus was, 
under Roman government, the metropo- 
lis. They had charge of the public games 
and religious theatrical spectacles, the 
expenses of which they bore. 

A'siel {created by God). 1. A Sim- 
eonite whose descendant Jehu lived in 
the reign of Hezekiah. 1 Chron. 4 : 35. 

2. One of the five swift writers whom 
Esdras was commanded to take to write 
the law and the history of the world. 2 
Esd. 14 : 24. 

As'nah {thorn-bush). The children 
of Asnah were among the Nethinim who 
returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 50. 

Asnap'per {swift), mentioned in Ezra 
4 : 10 as the person who settled the Cu- 
thseans in the cities of Samaria. He was 
probably a general of Esarhaddon. (B.C. 
712.) 

Asp (Heb. pethen), translated adder 
in Ps. 58 : 4 ; 91 : 13. Probably the Egyp- 
tian cobra, a small and very poisonous 
serpent, a dweller in the holes of walls, 
Isa. 11 : 8, and a snake upon which the 
serpent-charmers practiced their art. 

Aspal'athus, the name of some sweet 
perfume mentioned in Ecclus. 24 : 15. 
The Lignum rhodianum is by some sup- 
posed to be the substance indicated by 



ASP 



ASS 



the aspalathus ; the plant which yields 1 
it is the Convolvulus scoparius of Lin- 
naeus. 

As'patha, third son of Haman. Esth. 
9:7. 

As'phar, the pool in the " wilderness j 
of Thecoe." 1 Mace. 9 : 33. Is it possi- | 
ble that the name is a corruption of lacus 



As'riel, the son of Gilead and great- 
grandson of Manasseh. Num. 26 : 31 ; 
Josh. 17 : 2. He was the founder of the 
family of the Asrielites. (B.C. 1444.) 




Eastern Ass. 

Ass. Five Hebrew names of the ge- 
nus Asinus occur in the Old Testament, j 

1. Chamor denotes the male domestic ass. j 

2. A than, the common domestic she-ass. j 

3. Air, the name of a wild ass, which ; 
occurs Gen. 32 : 15 ; 49 : 11. 4. Pere, a ! 
species of wild ass mentioned Gen. 12 : 16 . 
5. Arod occurs only in Job 39 : 5 ; but i 
in what respect it differs from the Pere | 
is uncertain. The ass in eastern coun- 
tries is a very different animal from ' 
what he is in western Europe. The 
most noble and honorable amongst the I 
Jews were wont to be mounted on asses. j 
(With us the ass is a symbol of stub- | 
bornness and stupidity, while in the 
East it is especially remarkable for its j 
patience, gentleness, intelligence, meek 
submission and great power of endur- 
ance."— L. Abbott. The color is usually 
a reddish brown, but there are white 
asses, which are much prized. The ass 
was the animal of peace, as the horse 
was the animal of war; hence the ap- 
propriateness of Christ in his triumphal 
entry riding on an ass. The wild ass is 
a beautiful animal. — Ed.) Mr. Layard 
remarks that in fleetness the wild' ass 
(Asinus hemippus) equals the gazelle, 
and to overtake it is a feat which only 



one or two of the most celebrated mares 
have been known to accomplish. 

As'shur, second son of Shem, Gen. 
10 : 22 ; also the Hebrew form for As- 
syria. [ASSYEIA.] 

Asshu'rim (steps), a tribe descended 
from Dedan, the grandson of Abraham. 
Gen. 25 : 3. Knobel considers them the 
same with the Asshur of Ezek. 27 : 23, 
and connected with southern Arabia. 

As'sir (captive). 1. Son of Korah. 
Ex. 6 : 24; 1 Chron. 6 : 22. 

2. Son of Ebiasaph, and a forefather 
of Samuel. 1 Chron. 6 : 23, 37. 

3. Son of Jeconiah, 1 Chron. 3 : 17, 
unless "Jeconiah the captive" be the 
true rendering. 

As'sos, or As'sus (approaching), a 
seaport of the Roman province of Asia, 
in the district anciently called Mysia, on 
the northern shore of the Gulf of" Adra- 
myttium, and about seven miles from 
Lesbos. Acts 20 : 13, 14. 

As'sur. Ezra 4:2; Ps. 83 : 8. 
[Asshur; Assyria.] 

Assyr'ia, As'shur, was a great and 
powerful country lying on the Tigris, 
Gen. 2 : 14, the capital of which was 
Nineveh. Gen. 10 : 11, etc. It derived 
its name apparently from Asshur, the 
son of Shem, Gen. 10 : 22, who in later 
times was worshipped by the Assyrians 
as their chief god. 

1. Extent. — The boundaries of Assyria 
differed greatly at different periods. 
Probably in the earliest times it was 
confined to a small tract of low country 
lying chiefly on the left bank of the 
Tigris. Gradually its limits were ex- 
tended, until it came to be regarded as 
conrprising the whole region between 
the Armenian mountains (lat. 37° 30') 
upon the north, and upon the south the 
country about Baghdad (lat. 33° 30'). 
Eastward its boundary was the high 
range of Zagros, or mountains of Kurd- 
istan ; westward it was, according to the 
views of some, bounded by the Mesopo- 
tamian desert, while according to others 
it reached the Euphrates. 

2. General character of the country. — 
On the north and east the high mountain- 
chains of Armenia and Kurdistan are 
succeeded by low ranges of limestone 
hills of a somewhat arid aspect. To 
these ridges there succeeds at first an 
undulating zone of country, well watered 
and fairly productive, which extends in 
length for 250 miles, and is interrupted 
only by a single limestone range. Above 

61 



AST 



ASY 



and below this barrier is an immense 
level tract, now for the most part a wil- 
derness, which bears marks of having 
been in early times well cultivated and 
thickly peopled throughout. 

3. Original peopling. — Scripture in- 
forms us that Assyria was peopled from 
Babylon, Gen. 10 : 11, and both classical 
tradition and the monuments of the 
country agree in this representation. 

4. Date of the foundation of the king- 
dom.— As a country, Assyria was evi- 
dently known to Moses. Gen. 2:14; 
25 : 1*8 ; Num. 24 : 22, 24. The founda- 
tion of the Assyrian empire was prob- 
ably not very greatly anterior to B.C. 
1228. 

5. History. — The Mesopotamian re- 
searches have rendered it apparent that 
the original seat of government was not 
at Nineveh, but at Kileh-Sherghat, on 
the right bank of the Tigris. The most 
remarkable monarch of the earlier kings 
was called Tiglath-pileser. He appears 
to have been king towards the close of 
the twelfth century, and thus to have 
been contemporary with Samuel. After- 
wards followed Pul, who invaded Israel 
in the reign of Menahem, 2 Kings 15 : 
29, about B.C. 770, and Shalmaneser, who 
besieged Samaria three years, and de- 
stroyed the kingdom of Israel B.C. 721, 
himself or by his successor Sargon, who 
usurped the throne at that time. Under 
Sargon the empire was as great as at any 
former era, and Nineveh became a most 
beautiful city. Sargon's son Sennacherib 
became the most famous of the Assyrian 
kings. He began to reign 704 B.C. He 
invaded the kingdom of Judea in the 
reign of Hezekiah. He was followed by 
Esarhaddon, and he by a noted warrior 
and builder, Sardanapalus. In Scrip- 
ture it is remarkable that we hear noth- 
ing of Assyria after the reign of Esar- 
haddon, and profane history is equally 
silent until the attacks began which 
brought about her downfall. The fall 
of Assyria, long previously prophesied 
by Isaiah, Isa. 10 : 5-19, was effected by 
the growing strength and boldness of the 
Medes, about G25 B.C. The prophecies 
of Nahum and Zephaniah (2 : 13-15) 
against Assyria were probably delivered 
shortly before the catastrophe. 

6. General character of the empire. — 
The Assyrian monarchs bore sway over 
a number of petty kings through the 
entire extent of their dominions. These 
native princes were feudatories of the 

62 



great monarch, of whom they held their 
crown by the double tenure of homage 
and tribute. It is not quite certain how 
far Assyria required a religious conform- 
ity from the subject people. Her religion 
was a gross and complex polytheism, 
comprising the worship of thirteen prin- 
cipal and numerous minor divinities, at 
the head of all of whom stood the chief 
god, Asshur, who seems to be the deified 
patriarch of the nation. Gen. 10 : 22. 

7. Civilization of the Assyrians. — The 
civilization of the Assyrians was derived 
originally from the Babylonians. They 
were a Shemitic race, originally resident 
in Babylonia (which at that time was 
Cushite), and thus acquainted with the 
Babylonian inventions and discoveries, 
who ascended the valley of the Tigris 
and established in the tract immediately 
below the Armenian mountains a sepa- 
rate and distinct nationality. Still, as 
their civilization developed it became in 
many respects peculiar. Their art is of 
home growth. But they were still in the 
most important points barbarians. Their 
government was rude and inartificial, 
their* religion coarse and sensual, and 
their conduct of war cruel. 

8. Modern discoveries in Assyria.— 
(Much interest has been excited in refer- 
ence to Assyria by the discoveries lately 
made there, which confirm and illustrate 
the Bible. The most important of them 
is the finding of the stone tablets or books 
which formed the great library at Nine- 
veh, founded by Shalmaneser B.C. 860, 
but embodying tablets written 2000 years 
B.C. This library was more than doubled 
by Sardanapalus. These tablets were 
broken into fragments, but many of them 
have been put together and deciphered 
by the late Mr. George Smith, of the 
British Museum. All these discoveries 
of things hidden for ages, but now come 
to light, confirm the Bible. — Ed.) 

As'taroth. Deut. 1 : 4. [Ashta- 
eoth.] 

Astar'te. [Ashtoreth.] 
Asup'pim, and House of, 1 Chron. 

26 : 15, 17, literally house of the gatherings. 
Some understand it as the proper name 
of chambers on the south of the temple ; 
others of certain store-rooms, or of the 
council chambers in the outer court of 
the temple in which the elders held their 
deliberations. 

Asyn'critus (incomparable), a Chris- 
tian at Ronie, saluted by St. Paul. Rom. 
16 : 14. 



ATA 



ATH 



A'tad {thorn), The threshing- 
floor of, called also Abel-mizraim, Gen. 
50 : 10, 11, afterwards called Beth-hogla, 
and known to have lain between the Jor- 
dan and Jericho, therefore on the west 
side of Jordan. 

At/arah {a crown), a wife of Jerah- 
meel, and mother of Onam. 1 Chron. 
2:26. 

At'aroth {crowns). 1. One of the 
towns in the " land of Jazer and land of 
Gilead," Num. 32 : 3, east of the Jordan, 
taken and built by the tribe of Gad. 
Num. 32 : 34. 

2. A place on the (south?) boundary 
of Ephraim and Manasseh. Josh. 16 : 2, 7. 
It is impossible to say whether Ataroth 
is Or is not the same place as 

3. Ataroth-adar, or -addar, on the 
west border of Benjamin, "near the 
' mountain' that is on the south side of 
the nether Beth-horon." Josh. 16 : 5; 
18:13. Perhaps the modern Atdra, six 
miles northeast of Bethel. 

4. " Ataroth, the house of Joab," 
a place(?) occurring in the list of the 
descendants of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 54. 

A'ter {shut up). 1. The children of 
Ater were among the porters or gate- 
keepers of the temple who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 42 ; Neh. 7 : 45. 

2. The children of Ater of Heze- 
KiAH to the number of 98 returned with 
Zerubbabel, Ezra 2 : 16 ; Neh. 7 : 21, and 
were among the heads of the people who 
signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 17. 

A'thach {lodging place). 1 Sam. 30 : 
30. As the name does not occur else- 
where, it has been suggested that it is an 
error of the transcriber for Ether, a town 
in the low country of Judah. Josh. 15 : 
42. 

Athai'ah {whom Jehovah made), a de- 
scendant of Pharez, the son of Judah, 
who dwelt at Jerusalem after the return 
from Babylon, Neh. 11:4; called IJTHAI 
in 1 Chron. 9 : 4. 

Athali'ah {afflicted of the Lord),. 
daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, married 
Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king 
of Judah, and introduced into that king- 
dom the worship of Baal. (B.C. 891.) 
After the great revolution by which Jehu 
seated himself on the throne of Samaria, 
she killed all the members of the royal 
family of Judah who had escaped his 
sword. 2 Kings 11 : 1. From the slaugh- 
ter one infant, named Joash, the young- 
est son of Ahaziah, was rescued by his 



aunt Jehosheba, wife of Jehoiada, 2 
Chron. 23 : 11, the high priest. 2 Chron. 
24 : 6. The child was brought up under 
Jehoiada's care, and concealed in the 
temple for six years, during which period 
Athaliah reigned over Judah. At length 
Jehoiada thought it time to produce the 
lawful king to the people, trusting to 
their zeal for the worship of God and 
their loyalty to the house of David. His 
plan was successful, and Athaliah was 
put to death. 

Athe'nians, natives of Athens. Acts 
17 : 21. 

Ath'ens {city of Athene), the capital 
of Attica, and the chief seat of Grecian 
learning and civilization during the 
golden period of the history of Greece. 

Description. — Athens is situated about 
three miles from the seacoast, in the cen- 
tral plain of Attica. In this plain rise 
several eminences. Of these the most 
prominent is a lofty insulated mountain, 
with a conical peaked summit, now called 
the Hill of St. George, and which bore 
in ancient times the name of Lycabettus. 
This mountain, which was not included 
within the ancient walls, lies to the 
northeast of Athens, and forms the most 
striking feature in the environs of the 
city. It is to Athens what Vesuvius is 
to Naples, or Arthur's Seat to Edinburgh. 
Southwest of Lycabettus there are four 
hills of moderate height, all of which 
formed part of the city. Of these the 
nearest to Lycabettus, and at the dis- 
tance of a mile from the latter, was the 
Acropolis, or citadel of Athens, a square 
craggy rock rising abruptly about 150 
feet, with a flat summit of about 1000 feet 
long from east to west, by 500 feet broad 
from north to south. Immediately west 
of the Acropolis is a second hill of ir- 
regular form, the Areopagus { Mars' Hill). 
To the southwest there rises a third hill, 
the Pnyx, on which the assemblies of the 
citizens were held. South of the city 
was seen the Saronic Gulf, with the har- 
bors of Athens. 

History. — Athens is said to have de- 
rived its name from the prominence given 
to the worship of the goddess Athena 
(Minerva) by its king, Erechtheus. The 
inhabitants were previously called Ce- 
cropidje, from Cecrops, who, accord i Tig 
to tradition, was the original founder of 
the city. This at first occupied only the 
hill or rock which afterwards became 
the Acropolis ; but gradually the build- 
ings spread over the ground at the south- 

63 



ATH 



ATH 



ern foot of this hill. It was not till the 
time of Pisistratus and his sons (B.C. 
560-514) that the city began to assume 
any degree of splendor. The most re- 
markable building of these despots was 
the gigantic temple of the Olympian 
Zeus or Jupiter. Under Themistocles 
the Acropolis began to form the centre of 
the city, round which the new walls de- 
scribed an irregular circle of about 60 
stadia or 7£ miles in circumference. The- 
mistocles transferred the naval station 
of the Athenians to the peninsula of Pi- 



raeus, which is distant about 4£ miles 
from Athens, and contains three natural 
harbors. It was not till the administra- 
tion of Pericles that the walls were built 
which connected Athens with her ports. 

Buildings. — Under the administration 
of Pericles, Athens was adorned with 
numerous public buildings, which existed 
in all their glory when St. Paul visited the 
city. The Acropolis was the centre of 
the architectural splendor of Athens. It 
was covered with the temples of gods 
and heroes; and thus its platform pre- 



Turki^h Tower. 




Modern City. 



Temple of Theseus. 

Athens. 



Southwestern part of Modern City. 



sented not only a sanctuary, but a mu- 
seum containing the finest productions 
of the architect and the sculptor, in which 
the whiteness of the marble was relieved 
by brilliant colors, and rendered still 
more dazzling by the transparent clear- 
ness of the Athenian atmosphere. The 
chief building was the Parthenon (i. e. 
House of the Virgin), the most perfect 
production of Grecian architecture. It 
derived its name from its being the tem- 
ple of Athena Parthenos, or Athena the 
Virgin, the invincible goddess of war. 
It stood on the highest part of the 
Acropolis, near its centre. It was entirely 
of Pentelic marble, on a rustic basement 
of ordinary limestone, and its architec- 
ture, which was of the Doric order, was 
of the purest kind. It was adorned with 
64 



the most exquisite sculptures, executed 
by various artists under the direction of 
Phidias. But the chief wonder of the 
Parthenon was the colossal statue of the 
virgin goddess executed by Phidias him- 
self. The Acropolis was adorned with 
another colossal figure of Athena, in 
bronze, also the work of Phidias. It 
stood in the open air, nearly opposite the 
Propylsea. With its pedestal it must 
have been about 70 feet high, and conse- 
quently towered above the roof of the 
Parthenon, so that the point of its spear 
and the crest of its helmet were visible 
off the promontory of Sunium to ships 
approaching Athens. The Areopagus, 
or Hill of Ares (Mars), is described else- 
where. [Mars' Hill.] The Pnyx, or 
place for holding the public assemblies 



ATH 



ATO 



of the Athenians, stood on the side of a 
low rocky hill, at the distance of about 
a quarter of a mile from the Areopagus. 
Between the Pnyx on the west, the Are- 
opagus on the north and the Acropolis 
on the east, and closely adjoining the 
base of these hills, stood the Agora or 
"Market," where St. Paul disputed 




Temple of Victory at Athens. 

daily. Through it ran the road to the 
gymnasium and gardens of the Academy, 
which were situated about a mile from 
the walls. The Academy was the place 
where Plato and his disciples taught. 
East of the city, and outside the walls, 
was the Lyceum, a gymnasium dedicated 
to Apollo Lyceus, and celebrated as the 
place in which Aristotle taught. 

Character. — The remark of the sacred 
historian respecting the inquisitive char- 
acter of the Athenians, Acts 17 : 21, is 
attested by the unanimous voice of an- 
tiquity. Their natural liveliness was 
partly owing to the purity and clearness 
of the atmosphere of Attica, which also 
allowed them to pass much of their time 
in the open air. The Athenian careful- 
ness in religion is confirmed by the an- 
cient writers. Of the Christian church, 
founded by St. Paul at Athens, according 
to ecclesiastical tradition, Dionysius the 
Areopagite was the first bishop. [Dio- 
nysius. | 

Present condition. — (The population of 
Athens in 1871 was 48,000. Its univer- 
sity has 52 professors and 1200 students. 

5 



] Educational institutions are very numer- 
ous. A railway connects the Piraeus or 
port with the city, and its terminus 
stands in the midst of what was once the 
Agora. — Ed.) 

Ath'la-i (whom Jehovah afflicts), one 
of the sons of Bebai, who put away his 
foreign wife at the exhortation of Ezra. 
Ezra 10 : 28. 

Atonement, The day of. I. The 
great day of national humiliation, and 
the only one commanded in the Mosaic 
law. [Fasts.] The mode of its observ- 
ance is described in Lev. 16, and the 
conduct of the people is emphatically 
enjoined in Lev. 23 : 26-32. 

II. Time. — It was kept on the tenth 
day of Tisri, that is, from the evening of 

j the ninth to the evening of the tenth of 
that month, five days before the feast of 
tabernacles. Tisri corresponds to our 
September-October, so that the 10th of 
Tisri would be about the first of October. 
[Festivals.] 

III. How observed. — It was kept by the 
people as a high solemn sabbath. On 
this occasion only the high priest was 
permitted to enter into the holy of holies. 
Having bathed his person and dressed 
himself entirely in the holy white linen 
garments, he brought forward a young 
bullock for a sin offering, purchased at 
his own cost, on account of himself and 
his family, and two young goats for a sin 
offering, with a ram for a burnt offering, 
which were paid for out of the public 
treasury, on account of the people. He 
then presented the two goats before the 
Lord at the door of the tabernacle and 
cast lots upon them. On one lot "For 
Jehovah " was inscribed, and on the other 
" For Azazel." A phrase of unusual dif- 
ficulty. The best modern scholars agree 
that it designates the personal being to 
whom the goat was sent, probably Satan. 
This goat was called the scapegoat. After 
various sacrifices and ceremonies the 
goat upon which the lot " For Jehovah " 
had fallen was slain and the high priest 
sprinkled its blood before the mercy-seat 
in the same manner as he had done that 
of the bullock. Going out from the holy 
of holies he purified the holy place, 
sprinkling some of the blood of both the 
victims on the altar of incense. At this 
time no one besides the high priest was 
suffered to be present in the holy place. 
The purification of the holy of holies 
and of the holy place being thus com- 
pleted, the high priest laid his hands 



ATR 



AVE 



upon the head of the goat on which the 
lot "For Azazel" had fallen, and con- 
fessed over it all the sins of the people. 
The goat was then led, by a man chosen 
for the purpose, into the wilderness, into 
" a land not inhabited," and was there 
let loose. The high priest after this re- 
turned into the holy place, bathed him- 
self again, put on his usual garments of 
office, and offered the two rams as burnt 
offerings, one for himself and one for the 
people. 

IV. Significance. — In considering the 
meaning of the particular rites of the 
day, three points appear to be of a very 
distinctive character. 1. The white gar- 
ments of the high priest. 2. His en- 
trance into the holy of holies. 3. The 
scapegoat. The writer of the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, Heb. 9 : 7-25, teaches us to 
apply the first two particulars. The 
high priest himself, with his person 
cleansed and dressed in white garments, 
was the best outward type which a living 
man could present in his own person of 
that pure and holy One who was to 
purify his people and to cleanse them 
from their sins. But respecting the mean- 
ing of the scapegoat we have no such 
light to guide us, and the subject is one 
of great doubt and difficulty. It has 
been generally considered that it was dis- 
missed to signify the carrying away of 
the sins of the people, as it were, out of 
the sight of Jehovah. If we keep in view 
that the two goats are spoken of as parts 
of one and the same sin offering, we shall 
not have much difficulty in seeing that 
they form together but one symbolical 
expression; the slain goat setting forth 
the act of sacrifice, in giving up its own 
life for others "to Jehovah;" and the 
goat which carried off its load of sin " for 
complete removal " signifying the cleans- 
ing influence of faith in that sacrifice. 

At'roth (crowns), a city of Gad. Num. 
32 : 35. 

At'ta-i (opportune) . 1. Grandson of 
Sheshan the Jerahmeelite through his 
daughter Ahlai, whom he gave in mar- 
riage to Jarha, his Egyptian slave. 1 
Chron. 2 : 35, 36. His grandson Zabad 
was one of David's mighty men. 1 Chron. 
11:41. 

2. One of the lion-faced warriors of 
Gad, captains of the host, who forded the 
Jordan at the time of its overflow, and 
joined David in the wilderness. 1 Chron. 
12:11. (B.C. 1060.) 

3. Second son of King Rehoboam by 



Maachah the daughter of Absalom. 2 
Chron. 11 : 20. (B.C. 975.) 

Attali'a (from Attains), a coast-town 
of Pamphylia, mentioned Acts 14 : 25. It 
was built by Attalus Philadelphus, king 
of Pergamos, and named after the mon- 
arch. All its remains are characteristic 
of the date of its foundation. Leake 
fixes Attalia at Adalia, on the south 
coast of Asia Minor, north of the Duden 
Su, the ancient Catarrhactes. 

Augus'tus (venerable) Cae'sar, the 
first Koman emperor. He was born a.U.C. 
691, B.C. 63. His father was Caius Oc- 
tavius; his mother Atia, daughter of 
Julia the sister of C. Julius Caesar. He 
was principally educated by his great- 
uncle Julius Csesar, and was made his 
heir. After his murder, the young Oc- 
tavius, then Caius Julius Caesar Octavi- 
anus, was taken into the triumvirate with 
Antony and Lepidus, and, after the re- 
moval of the latter, divided the empire 
with Antony. The struggle for the su- 
preme power was terminated in favor of 
Octavianus by the battle of Actium, B.C. 
31. On this victory he was saluted im- 
perator by the senate, who conferred on 
him the title Augustus, B.C. 27. The 
first link binding him to New Testament 
history is his treatment of Herod after 
the battle of Actium. That prince, who 
had espoused Antony's side, found him- 
self pardoned, taken into favor and con- 
firmed, nay even increased, in his power. 
After Herod's death, in A.D. 4, Augustus 
divided his dominions, almost exactly 
according to his dying directions, among 
his sons.- Augustus died in Nola in 
Campania, Aug. 19, A.u.C. 767, A.D. 14, 
in his 76th year; but long before his 
death he had associated Tiberius with 
him in the empire. 

Augus'tus' Band. Acts 27 : 1. 
[Army.] 

A'va (ruin), a place in the empire of 
Assyria, apparently the same as Ivan. 2 
Kings 17 : 24. 

A'ven (nothingness). 1. The " plain 
of Aven" is mentioned by Amos (1 : 5) 
in his denunciation of Syria and the 
country to the north of Palestine. This 
Aven is by some supposed to be the 
once magnificent Heliopolis, " city of 
the sun," now Baalbek (Bal'bek) of 
Coele-Syria, whose ruins are one of the 
wonders of the ages. It was situated in 
a plain near the foot of the Anti-Libanus 
range of mountains, 42 miles northwest 
of Damascus. It is famous for the colos- 



AVI 



AZA 



sal ruins of its temples, one of which, j 3. The sacred city of Heliopolis or On, 
with its courts and porticos, extended j in Egypt. Ezek. 30 : 17. 
over 1000 feet in length. The temples i A'vim (ruins), A'vims or A'vites. 
were built of marble or limestone and 1. A people among the early inhabitants 
granite. Some of the columns were 7 of Palestine, whom we meet with in the 
feet in diameter and 62 feet high, or, in- southwest corner of the seacoast, whither 
eluding capital and pedestal, 89 feet, they may have made their way north- 
Some of the building-stones were 64 feet ward from the desert, Deut. 2 : 23 ; prob- 
long and 12 feet thick. The temples are ably the same as the Hivites. 
of Roman origin. 2. The people of Avva, among the 

2. In Hos. io : 8 the word is clearly an colonists who were sent by the king of 
abbreviation of Bethaven, that is, Bethel. Assyria to reinhabit the depopulated 
Comp. 4 : 15, etc. cities of Israel. 2 Kings 17 : 31. 




Kuins of Baalbek (now called Aven). 



A'vith (ruins), the city of Hadad ben- 
Bedad, one of the kings of Edom before 
there were kings in Israel. Gen. 36 : 35 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 46. 

Awl, a tool of which we do not know 
the ancient form. The only notice of it 
is in connection with the custom of boring 
the ear of the slave. Ex. 21 : 6 ; Deut. 
15 : 17. 

A'zal, a name only occurring in Zech. 
14 : 5. It is mentioned as the limit to 
which the ravine of the Mount of Olives 
will extend when "Jehovah shall go 
forth to fight." 

Azali'ah (whom the Lord reserved), 
the father of Shaphan the scribe in the 



reign of Josiah. 2 Kings 22 : 3 ; 2 Chron. 
34 : 8. (B.C. before 641.) 

Azani'ah (whom the Lord hears), the 
father or immediate ancestor of Jeshua 
the Levite, in the time of Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 9. 

Azar'a-el, a Levite musician. Neh. 
12 : 36. 

Aza're-el, or Azar'e-el (whom the 
Lord helps). 1. A Korhite who joined 
David in his retreat at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 
12:6. (B.C. 1060.) 

2. A Levite musician of the family of 
Heman in the time of David, 1 Chron. 
25 : 18 ; called Uzziel in 25 : 4. (B.C. 



AZA 



AZA 



3. Son of Jeroham, and prince of the | 
tribe of Dan when David numbered the j 
people. 1 Chron. 27 : 22. 

4. One of the sons of Bani, who put | 
away his foreign wife on the remonstrance 
of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 41. (B.C. 459.) 

5. Father or ancestor of Maasiai, or 
Amashai, a priest who dwelt in Jerusa- 
lem after the return from Babylon. Neh. 
11 : 13 ; comp. 1 Chron. 9 : 12. (B.C. 
about 440.) 

Azari'ah (whom the Lord helps), a 
common name in Hebrew, and especially 
in the families of the priests of the line 
of Eleazar, whose name has precisely the 
same meaning as Azariah. It is nearly 
identical, and is often confounded, with 
Ezra as well as with Zerahiah and Sera- 
iah. The principal persons who bore 
this name were — 

1. Son of Ahimaaz. 1 Chron. 6 : 9. He 
appears from 1 Kings 4 : 2 to have suc- 
ceeded Zadok, his grandfather, in the 
high priesthood, in the reign of Solomon, 
Ahimaaz having died before Zadok. 
(b.c. about 1000.) [Ahimaaz.] 

2. A chief officer of Solomon's, the son 
of Nathan, perhaps David's grandson. 1 
Kings 4 : 5. 

3. Tenth king of Judah, more fre- 
quently called Uzziah. 2 Kings 14 : 21 ; 
15 : 1, 6, 7, 8, 17, 23, 27 ; 1 Chron. 3 : 12. 
(B.C. 810.) 

4. Son of Ethan, of the sons of Zerah, 
where, perhaps, Zerahiah is the more 
probable reading. 1 Chron. 2 : 8. 

5. Son of Jehu of the family of the 
Jerahmeelites, and descended from Jarha 
the Egyptian slave of Sheshan. 1 Chron. 
2 : 38, 39. He was probably one of the 
captains of hundreds in the time of Ath- 
aliah mentioned in 2 Chron. 23 : 1. (B.C. 
886.) 

6. The son of Johanan. 1 Chron. 6 : 10. 
He must have been high priest in the 
reigns of Abijah and Asa. (B.C. 939.) 

7. Another Azariah is inserted between 
Hilkiah, in Josiah's reign, and Seraiah, 
who was put to death by Nebuchadnez- 
zar, in 1 Chron. 6 : 13, 14. 

8. Son of Zephaniah, a Kohathite, and 
ancestor of Samuel the prophet. 1 Chron. 
6 : 36. Apparently the same as Uzziah 
in ver. 24. 

9. Azariah, the son of Oded, 2 Chron. 
15 : 1, called simply Oded in ver. 8, was 
a remarkable prophet in the days of 
King Asa, and a contemporary of Azari- 
ah the son of Johanan the high priest, 
and of Hanani the seer. (B.C. 939.) 

68 



10. Son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 
2 Chron. 21 : 2. (B.C. 910.) 

11. Another son of Jehoshaphat, and 
brother of the preceding. 2 Chron. 21 : 2. 

12. In 2 Chron. 22 : 6 Azariah is a cler- 
ical error for Ahaziah. 

13. Son of Jeroham, one of the cap- 
tains of Judah in the time of Athaliah. 
2 Chron. 23 : 1. 

14. The high priest in the reign of Uz- 
ziah king of Judah. The most memor- 
able event of his life is that which is re- 
corded in 2 Chron. 26 : 17-20. (B.C. 810.) 
Azariah was contemporary with Isaiah 
the prophet and with Amos and Joel. 

15. Son of Johanan, one of the cap- 
tains of Ephraim in the reign of Ahaz. 
2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

16. A Kohathite, father of Joel, in the 
reign of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 12. 
(B.C. 726.) 

17. A Merarite, son of Jehalelel, in 
the time of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 12. 

18. The high priest in the days of Hez- 
ekiah. 2 Chron. 31 : 10, 13. He appears 
to have co-operated zealously with the 
king in that thorough purification of the 
temple and restoration of the temple ser- 
vices which was so conspicuous a feature 
in his reign. He succeeded Urijah, who 
was high priest in the reign of Ahaz. 

19. Son of Maaseiah, who repaired part 
of the wall of Jerusalem in the time of 
Nehemiah. Neh. 3 : 23, 24. (B.C. 446- 
410.) 

20. One of the leaders of the children 
of the province who went up from Bab- 
ylon with Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 7. 

21. One of the Levites who assisted 
Ezra in instructing the people in the 
knowledge of the law. Neh. 8 : 7. 

22. One of the priests who sealed the 
covenant with Nehemiah, Neh. 10 : 2, 
and probably the same with the Azariah 
who assisted in the dedication of the city 
wall. Neh. 12 : 33. 

23. Jer. 43 : 2 (Jezaniah). 

24. The original name of Abed-nego. 
Dan. 1 : 6, 7, 11, 19. He appears to have 
been of the seed-roval of Judah. (B.C. 
603.) 

A'zaz {strong), a Reubenite, father of 
Bela. 1 Chron. 5 : 8. 

Azazi'ah (tvhom the Lord strengthens) . 
1. A Levite musician in the reign of Da- 
vid, appointed to play the harp in the 
service which attended the procession by 
which the ark was brought up from the 
house of Obed-edom. 1 Chron. 15 : 21. 
(B.C. 1043.) 



AZB 



AZZ 



2. The father of Hoshea, prince of the 
tribe of Ephraini when David numbered 
the people. 1 Chron. 27 : 20. 

3. One of the Levites in the reign of 
Hezekiah, who had charge of the tithes 
and dedicated things in the temple. 2 
Chron. 31 : 13. 

Az'buk (strong devastation), father or 
ancestor of Nehemiah, the prince of part 
of Bethzur. Neh. 3 : 16. 

Aze'kah {dug over), a town of Judah, 
with dependent villages, lying in the 
Shefelah or rich agricultural plain. It 
is most clearly defined as being near 
Shochoh, 1 Sam. 17 : 1 ; but its position 
has not yet been recognized. 

A'zel (noble), a descendant of Saul. 1 
Chron. 8:37, 38; 9:43, 44. 

A'zem .(bone), a city in the extreme 
south of Judah, Josh. 15 : 29, afterwards 
allotted to Simeon. Josh. 19 : 3. Else- 
where it is Ezem. 

Az'gad (strength of fortune). The 
children of Azgad, to the number of 
1222 (2322 according to Neh. 7 : 17), were 
among the laymen who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 12 ; 8 : 12. With the 
other heads of the people they joined in 
the covenant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 
15. (B.C. 536.) 

A'ziel (whom God comforts), a Levite. 
1 Chron. 15 : 20. The name is a short- 
ened form of Jaaziel in ver. 18. 

Azi'za (strong), a layman of the fam- 
ily of Zattu, who had married a foreign 
wife after the return from Babylon. 
Ezra 10 : 27. 

Az'maveth (strong unto death). 1. 
One of David's mighty men, a native of 
Bahurim, 2 Sam. 23 : 31 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 
33, and therefore probably a Benjamite. 
(B.C. 1060.) 

2. A descendant of Mephibosheth, or 
Merib-baal. 1 Chron. 8 : 36 ; 9 : 42. 

3. The father of Jeziel and Pelet, two of 
the skilled Benjamite slingers and arch- 
ers who joined David at Ziklag, 1 Chron. 
12 : 3 ; perhaps identical with No. 1. 

4. Overseer of the royal treasures in 
the reign of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 25. 

Az'maveth, a place to all appearance 
in Benjamin, being named with other 
towns belonging to that tribe. Ezra 2 : 24. 
The name elsewhere occurs as Beth- 

AZMAVETH. 

Az'mon (strong), a place named as 
being on the southern boundary of the 
Holy Land, apparentlv near the torrent 
of Egypt ( Wadi el-Arish). Num. 34 : 4, 5 ; 
J osh. 15 : 4. It has not yet been identified. 



Az'noth-ta'bor (the ears (i. e. pos- 
sibly the summits) of Tabor), one of the 
landmarks of the boundary of Naphtali. 
Josh. 19 : 34. The town, if town it be, 
has hitherto escaped recognition. 

A'zor (a helper), son of Eliakim, in 
the line of our Lord. Matt. 1 : 13, 14. 

Azo'tus. [Ashdod.J 

Az'riel (whom God hetys). 1. The 
head of a house of the half- tribe of Ma- 
nasseh beyond Jordan, a man of renown. 
1 Chron. 5 : 24. (B.C. 741.) 

2. A Naphtalite, ancestor of Jerimoth, 
the head of the tribe at the time of Da- 
vid's census. 1 Chron. 27 : 19. (B.C. 1015.) 

3. The father of Seraiah, an officer of 
Jehoiakim. Jer. 36 : 26. (B.C. 605.) 

Az'rikam (help against the enemy). 
1. A descendant of Zerubbabel, and son 
of Neariah of the royal line of Judah. 1 
Chron. 3 : 23. 

2. Eldest son of Azel, and descendant 
of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 38; 9 : 44. (B.C. 
after 1037.) 

3. A Levite, ancestor of Shemaiah, who 
lived in the time of Nehemiah. 1 Chron. 
9 : 14 ; Neh. 11 : 15. (B.C. before 536.) 

4. Governor of the house, or prefect 
of the palace, to King Ahaz, who was 
slain by Zichri, an Ephraimite hero, in 
the successful invasion of the southern 
kingdom by Pekah king of Israel. 2 
Chron. 28 : 7. (B.C. 738.) 

Azu'bah (forsaken). 1. Wife of Ca- 
leb, son of Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 18, 19. 

2. Mother of King Jehoshaphat. 1 
Kings 22 : 42; 2 Chron. 20 : 31. (B.C. 
950.) 

A'zur, properly Az'zur (he that as- 
sists). 1. A Benjamite of Gibeon, and 
father of Hananiah the false prophet. 
Jer. 28 : 1. 

2. Father of Jaazaniah, one of the 
princes of the people against whom 
Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy. 
Ezek. 11 : 1. 

Az'zah (the strong). The more accu- 
rate rendering of the name of the well- 
I known Philistine city Gaza. Deut. 2 : 23 ; 
1 Kings 4 : 24 ; Jer. 25 : 20. 

Az'zan (very strong), the father of 
Paltiel prince of the tribe of Issachar, 
who represented his tribe in the division 
of the promised land. Num. 34 : 26. 

Az'zur (one who helps), one of the 
heads of the people who signed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 17. 
(B.C. 410.) The name is probably that 
of a family, and in Hebrew is the same 
as is elsewhere represented by Azur. 

69 



BAA 



BAA 



B. 



Ba'al (lord). 1. A Eeubenite. 1 
Chron. 5:5. 

2. The son of Jehiel, and grandfather 
of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 30 ; 9 : 36. 

Ba'al, the supreme male divinity of 
the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, 
as Ashtoreth was their supreme female 
divinity. Some suppose Baal to cor- 
respond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the 
moon ; others that Baal was Jupiter and 
Ashtoreth Venus. There can be no doubt 
of the very high antiquity of the worship 
of Baal. It prevailed in the time of 
Moses among the Moabites and Midian- 
ites, Num. 22 : 41, and through them 
spread to the Israelites. Num. 25 : 3-18 ; 
Deut. 4:3. In the times of the kings it 
became the religion of the court and 
people of the ten tribes, 1 Kings 16 : 31- 
33 ; 18 : 19, 22, and appears never to have 
been permanently abolished among them. 
2 Kings 17 : 16. Temples were erected 
to Baal in Judah, 1 Kings 16 : 32, and he 
was worshipped with much ceremony. 
1 Kings 18 : 19, 26-28 ; 2 Kings 10 : 22. 
The attractiveness of this worship to 
the Jews undoubtedly grew out of its 
licentious character. We find this wor- 
ship also in Phoenician colonies. The 
religion of the ancient British islands 
much resembled this ancient worship of 
Baal, and may have been derived from 
it. Nor need we hesitate to regard the 
Babylonian Bel, Isa. 46 : 1, or Belus, as 
essentially identical with Baal, though 
perhaps under some modified form. The 
plural, Baalim, is found frequently, 
showing that he was probably worshipped 
under different compounds, among which 
appear — 

1. Baal-beeith (the covenant Baal), 
Judges 8 : 33 ; 9:4; the god who comes 
into covenant with the worshippers. 

2. Baal-zebub {lord of the fly), and 
worshipped at Ekron. 2 Kings 1 : 2, 3, 
16. 

3. Baal-hanan. a. The name of one 
of the early kings of Edom. Gen. 36 : 38, 
39 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 49, 50. b. The name of 
one of David's officers, avIio had the su- 
perintendence of his olive and sycamore 
plantations. 1 Chron. 27 : 28. 

4. Baal-PEOR {lord of the opening, 
i. e. for others to join in the worship). 
We have already referred to the worship 

70 



of this god. The narrative (Num. 25) 
seems clearly to show that this form of 
Baal-worship was connected with licen- 
tious rites. 

Ba'al, geographical. This word oc- 
curs as the prefix or suffix to the names 
of several places in Palestine, some of 
which are as follows : 

1. Baal, a town of Simeon, named 
only in 1 Chron. 4 : 33, which from the 
parallel list in Josh. 19 : 8 seems to have 
been identical with Baalath-beer. 

2. BAALAH (mistress). a. Another 
name for Kirjath-jearim, or Kir- 
jath-baal, the well-known town, now 
Kuriet el Enah. Josh. 15 : 9, 10 ; 1 Chron. 
13 : 6. b. A town in the south of Judah, 
Josh. 15 : 29, which in 19 : 3 is called 
Balah, and in the parallel list, 1 Chron. 
4 : 29, Bilhah. 

3. Baalath (mistress), a town of 
Dan named with Gibbethon, Gath-rim- 
mon and other Philistine places. Josh. 
19 :44. 

4. Baalath-beer (lord of the well). 
Baal 1, a town among those in the soulh 
part of Judah, given to Simeon, which 
also bore the name of Bamath-negeb, 
or " the height of the south." Josh. 19 : 
8. 

5. Baal-gad (lord of fortune), used 
to denote the most northern, Josh. 11 : 17 ; 
12 : 7, or perhaps northwestern, 13 : 5, 
point to which Joshua's victories ex- 
tended. It was in all probability a 
Phoenician or Canaanite sanctuary of 
Baal under the aspect of Gad or For- 
tune. 

6. Baal-HAMON (lord of a multitude), 
a place at which Solomon had a vine- 
yard, evidently of great extent. Cant. 8 : 
11. 

7. Baal-hazor (village of Baal), a 
place where Absalom appears to have 
had a sheep-farm, and where Anmon 
was murdered. 2 Sam. 13 : 23. 

8. Mount Baal-hermon (lord of 
Hermon), Judges 3 : 3, and simply Baal- 
hermon. 1 Chron. 5 : 23. This is usually 
considered as a distinct place from Mount 
Hermon ; but we know that this mount- 
ain had at least three names (Deut. 3 : 9), 
and Baal-hermon may have been a fourth 

J in use among the Phoenician worshippers 
of Baal. 



BAA 



BAB 



9. Baal-MEON {lord of the house), one 
of the towns which were built by the 
Reubenites. Num. 32 : 38. It also occurs 
in 1 Chron. 5 : 8, and on each occasion 
with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it 
was Moabite, one of the cities which 
were the "glory of the country." Ezek. 
25:9. 

10. BAAL-PERAZIM {lord of divisions), 
the scene of a victory of David over the 
Philistines, and of a great destruction of 
their images. 2 Sam. 5 : 20 ; 1 Chron. 14 : 
11. See Isa. 28 : 21, where it is callei 
Mount Perazim. 

11. BAAL-SHALISHA {lord of Shal- 
isha), a place named only in 2 Kings 4 : 
42; apparently not far from Gilgal; 
comp. 4 : 38. 

12. Baal-tamar {lord of the palm 
tree), a place named only in Judges 20 : 
33, as near Gibeah of Benjamin. The 
palm tree {tdmdr) of Deborah, Judges 
4 : 5, was situated somewhere in the lo- 
cality, and is possibly alluded to. 

13. Baal-zephon {lord of the north), 
a place in Egypt near where the Israel- 
ites crossed the Red Sea. Num. 33 : 7; 
Ezek. 14 : 2, 9. We place Baal-zephon on 
the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, a 
little below its head, which at that time 
was about 30 or 40 miles northward of 
the present head. 

Ba'alah. [Baal, No. 2.] 
Ba'alath. [Baal, Nos. 3, 4.] 
Ba'ale of Judah. [Baal, No. 2, a.] 
Ba'ali. Hos. 2 : 16. [Baal.] 
Ba'alim. [Baal] 
Ba'alis, king of the Ammonites at the 
time of the destruction of Jerusalem by 
Nebuchadnezzar. Jer. 40 : 14. (B.C. 588.) 

Ba'ana. 1. The son of Ahilud, Solo- 
mon's commissariat officer in Jezreel and 
the north of the Jordan valley. 1 Kings 
4:12. (B.C. 1000.) 

2. Father of Zadok, who assisted in 
rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem under 
Nehemiah. Neh. 3 : 4. (B.C. 446.) 

Ba'anah. 1. Son of Rimmon, a Ben- 
jamite, who with his brother Rechab 
murdered Ish-bosheth. For this they 
were killed by David, and their muti- 
lated bodies hung up over the pool at 
Hebron. 2 Sam. 4 : 2, 5, 6, 9. (b.c. 1046.) 

2. A Netophathite, father of Heleb or 
Heled, one of David's mighty men. 2 
Sam. 23 : 29 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 30. (B.C. be- 
fore 1066.) 

3. Accurately Baana, son of Hushai, 
Solomon's commissariat officer in Asher. 
1 Kings 4: 16. (B.C. 1012.) 



4. A man who accompanied Zerubbabel 
on his return from the captivity. Ezra 
2:2; Neh. 7 : 7. Possibly the same per- 
son is intended in Neh. 10 : 27. (B.C. 
536.) 

Ba'ara {brutish), one of the wives of 
Shaharaim, a descendant of Benjamin. 
1 Chron. 8 : 8. 

Ba-asei'ah, or Basse'iah {work of 
Jehovah), a Gershonite Levite, one of 
the forefathers of Asaph the singer. 1 
Chron. 6 : 40 [25]. (B.C. 1310.) 

Ba'asha {wicked), B.C. 953-931, third 
sovereign of the separate kingdom of Is- 
rael, and the founder of its second dy- 
nasty. He was son of Ahijah of the 
tribe of Issachar, and conspired against 
King Nadab, 1 Kings 15 : 27, and killed 
him with his whole family. He appears 
to have been of humble origin. 1 Kings 
16 : 2. It was probably in the 13th year 
of his reign that he made war on Asa, 
and began to fortify Ramah. He was 
defeated by the unexpected alliance of 
Asa with Ben-hadad I. of Damascus. 
Baasha died in the 24th year of his reign, 
and was buried in Tirzah, Cant. 6: 4, 
which he had made his capital. 1 Kings 
16 : 6 ; 2 Chron. 16 : 1-6. 

Ba'bel {confusion), Bab'ylon (Greek 
form of Babel), is properly the capital 
city of the country which is called in 
Genesis Shinar, and in the later books 
Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans. 
The first rise of the Chaldean power was 
in the region close upon the Persian 
Gulf; thence the nation spread north- 
ward up the course of the rivers, and the 
seat of government moved in the same 
direction, being finally fixed at Babylon, 
perhaps not earlier than B.C. 1700. 

I. Topography of Babylon — Ancient 
descriptions of the city. — All the ancient 
writers appear to agree in the fact of a 
district of vast size, more or less inhab- 
ited, having been enclosed within lofty 
walls, and included under the name of 
Babylon. With respect to the exact ex- 
tent of the circuit they differ. The esti- 
mate of Herodotus and of Pliny is 480 
stades (60 Roman miles, 53 of our miles), 
of Strabo 385, of Q. Curtius 368, of Cli- 
tarchus 365 and of Ctesias 360 stades (40 
miles). (George Smith, in his " Assyrian 
Discoveries," differs entirely from all 
these estimates, making the circuit of the 
city but eight miles.) Perhaps Herodotus 
spoke of the outer wall, which could be 
traced in his time. Taking the lowest 
estimate of the extent of the circuit, we 

71 



BAB 



BAB 



shall have for the space within the ram- 
part an area of above 100 square miles — 
nearly five times the size of London ! 
It is evident that this vast space cannot 
have been entirely covered with houses. 
The city was situated on both sides of the 
river Euphrates, and the two parts were 
connected together by a stone bridge five 
stades (above 1000 yards) long and 30 
feet broad. At either extremity of the 
bridge was a royal palace, that in the 
eastern city being the more magnificent 
of the two. The two palaces were joined 
not only by the bridge, but by a tunnel 
under the river. The houses, which 
were frequently three or four stories 
high, were laid out in straight streets 
crossing each other at right angles. 

II. Present state of the ruins. — A por- 
tion of the ruins is occupied by the mod- 
ern town of Hillah. About five miles 
above Hillah, on the opposite or left 
bank of the Euphrates, occurs a series 
of artificial mounds of enormous size. 
They consist chiefly of three great masses 
of building, — the high pile of unbaked 
brickwork which is known to the Arabs 
as Babil, 600 feet square and 140 feet 
high ; the building denominated the 
Kasr or palace, nearly 2000 feet square 
and 70 feet high ; and a lofty mound, 
upon which stands the modern tomb of 
Amrdm-ibn-'Alb. Scattered over the 
country on both sides of the Euphrates 
are a number of remarkable mounds, 
usually standing single, which are 
plainly of the same date with the great 
mass of ruins upon the river bank. Of 
these by far the most striking is the vast 
ruin called the Birs-Nimrud, which 
many regard as the tower of Babel, situ- 
ated about six miles to the southwest of 
Hillah. [Babel, Tower of.] 

III. Identification of sites. — The great 
mound of Babil is probably the ancient 
temple of Belus. The mound of the 
Kasr marks the site of the great palace 
of Nebuchadnezzar. The mound of Am- 
rdm is thought to represent the " hang- 
ing gardens" of Nebuchadnezzar; but 
most probably it represents the ancient 
palace, coeval with Babylon itself, of 
which Nebuchadnezzar speaks in his 
inscriptions as adjoining his own more 
magnificent residence. 

IV. History of Babylon. — Scripture 
represents the " beginning of the king- 
dom" as belonging to the time of Nim- 
rod. Gen. 10:6-10. The early annals 
of Babylon are filled by Berosus, the 

72 



native historian, with three dynasties: 
one of 49 Chaldean kings, who reigned 
458 years ; another of 9 Arab kings, who 
reigned 245 years ; and a third of 49 As- 
syrian monarchs, who held dominion for 
526 years. The line of Babylonian kings 
becomes exactly known to us from B.C. 
747. The " Canon of Ptolemy" gives us 
the succession of Babylonian monarchs 
from B.C. 747 to B.C. 331, when the last 
Persian king was dethroned by Alex- 
ander. On the fall of Nineveh, B.C. 625, 
Babylon became not only an independent 
kingdom, but an empire. The city was 
taken by surprise B.C. 539, as Jeremiah 
had prophesied, Jer. 51 : 31, by Cyru<<, 
under Darius, Dan. 5, as intimated 170 
years earlier by Isaiah, Isa. 21 : 1-9, and, 
as Jeremiah had also foreshown, Jer. 
51 : 39, during a festival. With the con- 
quest of Cyrus commenced the decay 
of Babylon, which has since been a 
quarry from which all the tribes in the 
vicinity have derived the bricks with 
which they have built their cities. The 
" great city " has thus emphatically " be- 
come heaps." Jer. 51 : 37. 




Birs-Nimrud. 



Ba'bel, Tower of. The "tower of 
Babel " is only mentioned once in Scrip 
Gen. 11 : 4, 5, and then as incom- 



ture, 



BAB 



B.4J 



plete. It was built of bricks, and the 
"slime" used for mortar was probably 
bitumen. Such authorities as we possess 
represent the building as destroyed soon 
after its erection. When the Jews, how- 
ever, were carried captive into Babylonia, 
they thought they recognized it in the | 
famous temple of Bel as, the modern 
Birs-Nimrud. But the Birs-Nimruo I, ! 
though it cannot be the tower of Babel 
itself, may well be taken to show the J 
probable shape and character of the ed- 
ifice. This building appears to have j 
been a sort of oblique pyramid built in 
seven receding stages, each successive 
one being nearer to the southwestern j 
end, which constituted the back of the j 
building. The first, second and third I 
stories were each 26 feet high, the re- ! 
maining four being 15 feet high. On j 
the seventh stage there was probably j 
placed the ark or tabernacle, which j 
seems to have been again 15 feet high, 
and must have nearly, if not entirely, 
covered the top of the seventh story. 
The entire original height, allowing 
three feet for the platform, would thus 
have been 156 feet, or, without the plat- ! 
form, 153 feet. 

Bab'ylon, in the Apocalypse, is the j 
symbolical name by which Rome is de- \ 
noted. Rev. 14 : 8; 17 : 18. The power 
of Rome was regarded by the later Jews | 
as was that of Babylon by their fore- j 
fathers. Comp. Jer.^51 : 7 with Rev. 14: ! 
8. The occurrence of this name in 1 
Pet. 5 : 13 has given rise to a variety of | 
conjectures, many giving it the same j 
meaning as in the Apocalypse ; others 
refer it to Babylon in Asia, and others ! 
still to Babylon in Egypt. The most j 
natural supposition of * all is that by | 
Babylon is intended the old Babylon of 
Assyria, which was largely inhabited by 
Jews at the time in question. 

Babylo'nians, the inhabitants of 
Babylon, a race of Shemitic origin, who 
were among the colonists planted in the 
cities of Samaria by the conquering As- 
syrians. Ezra 4:9. 

Babylonish garment, literally 
"robe of Shinar," Josh. 7 : 21 ; an ample 
robe, probably made of the skin or fur 
of an animal, comp. Gen. 25 : 25, and 
ornamented with embroidery, or perhaps 
a variegated garment with figures in- 
woven in the fashion for which the Baby- 
lonians were celebrated. 

Ba'ca {weeping), The Valley of, a 
valley in Palestine, through which the 



exiled Psalmist sees in vision the pil- 
grims passing in their march towards the 
sanctuary of Jehovah at Zion. Ps. 84 : 6. 
That it was a real locality is most prob- 
able from the use of the definite article 
before the name. The rendering of the 
Targum is Gehenna, i. e. the Ge-Hinnom 
or ravine below Mount Zion. This lo- 
cality agrees well with the mention of 
becaim (Authorized Version "mul- 
berry") trees in 2 Sam. 5 : 23. 

Bach'rites, The, the family of 
Bechee, son of Ephraim. Num. 26 : 35. 

Badger Skins. There is much ob- 
scurity as to the meaning of the word 
tachash, rendered "badger" in the Au- 
thorized Version, Ex. 25 : 5 ; 35 : 7, etc. 
The ancient versions seem nearly all 
agreed that it denotes not an animal bnt 
a color, either black or sky-blue. The 
badger is not found in the Bible lands. 
The Arabic duchash or tuchash denotes 
a dolphin, including seals and cetaceans. 
The skins referred to are probably those 
of these marine animals, some of which 
are found in the Red Sea. The skin of 
the Halicore, one of these, from its hard- 
ness would be well suited for making 
soles for shoes. Ezek. 16 : 10- 

Bag is the rendering of several words 
in the Old and New Testaments. 1 . Ch ar- 
Uim, the "bags" in which Naaman 
bound up the two talents of silver for 
Gehazi. 2 Kings 5 : 23. They were long 
cone-like bags of the size to hold a pre- 
cise amount of money, and tied or sealed 
for that amount, as we stamp the value 
on a coin. 2. Cis, a bag for carrying 
weights, Deut. 25 : 13; also used as a 
purse. Prov. 1 : 14. 3. Celt, in Gen. 42 : 
25, is the "sack" in which Jacob's sons 
carried the corn which they brought 
from Egypt. 4. The shepherd's "bag" 
used by David was for the purpose of 
carrying the lambs unable to walk. Zech. 
11 : 15, 16. 5. Tschar, properly a "bun- 
dle," Gen. 42 : 35, appears to have been 
used by travellers for carrying money 
during a long journey. Prov. 7:20. 6. 
The "bag" which Judas carried was 
probably a small box or chest. John 12 : 
6; 13:29. 

Baha'rumite, The. [BAHintiM.] 

Bahu'rim {low grounds), a village, 
2 Sam. 16 : 5, apparently on or close to 
the road leading up from the Jordan val- 
ley to Jerusalem, and near the south 
boundary of Benjamin. 

Ba'jith {the house), referring to the 
" temple " of the false gods of Moab, as 

73 



BAK 



BAL 



opposed to the "high places" in the | 
same sentence. Isa. 15 : 2, and comp. 
16 : 12. 

Bakbak'kar (admirable), a Levite, 
apparently a descendant of Asaph. 1 
Chron. 9 : 15. (B.C. 588.) 

Bak'buk {bottle). " Children of Eak- 
buk" were among the Nethinim who re- 
turned from captivity with Zerubbabel. 
Ezra 2 : 51 ; Neh. 7 : 53. (B.C. before 
536.) 

Bakbuki'ah (wasting of Jehovah), a 
Levite in the time of Nehemiah. Neh. 
11:17; 12:9. (B.C. after 536.) 

Bake. Reference to baking is found 
in Lev. 26 : 26 ; 1 Sam. 8 : 13 ; 2 Sam. 13 : 
8 ; Jer. 7:18; 37 : 21 ; Hos. 7 : 4-7. 

Ba'laam (B.C. 1451), the son of Beor, 
a man endowed with the gift of prophecy. 
Num. 22 : 5. He is mentioned in con- 
junction with the live kings of Midian, 
apparently as a person of the same rank. 
Num. 31:8; cf. 31 : 16. He seems to 
have lived at Pethor, Deut. 23 : 4 ; Num. 
22 : 5, on the river Euphrates, in Mesopo- 
tamia. Such was his reputation that 
when the Israelites were encamped in 
the plains of Moab, Balak, the king of 
Moab, sent for Balaam to curse them. 
Balaam at first was prohibited by God 
from going. He was again sent for by 
the king and again refused, but was at 
length allowed to go. He yielded to the 
temptations of riches and honor which 
Balak set before him; but God's anger 
was kindled at this manifestation of de- 
termined self-will, and the angel of the 
Lord stood in the way for an adversary 
against him. See 2 Pet. 2 : 16. Balaam 
j>redicted a magnificent career for the 
people whom he was called to curse, but 
he nevertheless suggested to the Moab- 
ites the expedient of seducing them to 
commit fornication. The effect of this is 
recorded in Num. 25. A battle was after- 
wards fought against the Midianites, in 
which Balaam sided with them, and was 
slain by the sword of the people whom 
he had endeavored to curse. Num. 31 : 8. 
Ba'lac. Bev. 2 : 14. [Balak.] 
Bal'adan. [Merodach-baladan.] 
Ba'lah. Josh. 19 : 3. [Baal, Geogr. 
No. 2, b.] 

Ba'lak (spoiler), son of Zippor, king 
of the Moabites, who hired Balaam to 
curse the Israelites ; but his designs were 
frustrated in the manner recorded in 
Num. 22 : 24. (B.C. 1451.) 

Balances. Reference to balances is 
found in Lev. 19 : 36. They were in 
74 



| common use, gold and silver being paid 
out and received by weight. Reference 




Egyptian Balancer weighing Rings of Gold. 



is also made in Micah 6:11; Hosea 12 : 7, 
to the dishonest practice of buying by 
heavier and selling by lighter weights. 
Bal'amo. [Baal, Geogr. No. 6.] 
Baldness. Natural baldness seems 
to have been uncommon, since it exposed 
people to public derision. Lev. 13 : 29 ; 2 
Kings 2 : 23 ; Isa. 3 : 24 ; 15 : 2 ; Jer. 47 : 5 ; 
Ezek. 7 : 18. Artificial baldness marked 
the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow, Num. 
6:9; Acts 18 : 18, and was a sign of 
mourning. 

Balm (from balsam, Heb. tzori, UzrV) 
occurs in Gen. 37 : 25 ; 43 : 11 ; Jer. 8 : 22 ; 




Balm of Gilead. 

46 : 11 ; 51 : 8 ; Ezek. 27 : 17. (It is an 
aromatic plant, or the resinous odorifer- 



BAM 



BAR 



ous sap or gum which exudes from such 
plants.) It is impossible to identify it 
with any certainty. It may represent 
the gum of the Pistacia lentiscus, or 
more probably that of the Balsamoden- 
dron opobalsamum, allied to the balm of 
Gilead, which abounded in Gilead east 
of the Jordan. The trees resembled tig 
trees (or grape vines), but were lower, 
being but 12 to 15 feet high. It is now 
called the balm of Gilead, or Mecca- 
balsam, the tree or shrub being indig- 
enous in the mountains around Mecca. 
[Incense ; Spices.] Hasselquist says 
that the exudation from the plant "is 
of a yellow color, and pellucid. It has 
a most fragrant smell, which is resinous, 
balsamic and very agreeable. It is very 
tenacious or glutinous, sticking to the 
fingers, and may be drawn into long 
threads." It was supposed to have 
healing as well as aromatic qualities. 

Ba'mah {high place). Found only in 
Ezek. 20 : 29, applied to places of idol- 
atrous worship. 

Ba'moth-ba'al {heights of Baal), a 
sanctuary of Baal in the country of Moab, 
Josh. 13 : 17,which is probably mentioned 
in Num. 21 : 19 under the shorter form 
of Bamoth, or Bamoth-in-the-ravine (20), 
and again in Isa. 15 : 2. 

Band. The "band of Roman sol- 
diers " referred to in Matt. 27 : 27 and 
elsewhere was the tenth part of a legion. 
It was called a " cohort," and numbered 
400 to 600 men. [See Army.] 

Ba'ni {built). 1. A Gadite, one of 
David's mighty men. 2 Sam. 23 : 36. 
(B.C. 1046.) 

2. A Levite of the line of Merari, and 
forefather to Ethan. 1 Chron. 6 : 46. 

3. A man of Judah of the line of Pha- 
rez. 1 Chron. 9 : 4. 

4. " Children of Bani " returned from 
captivity with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 10 ; 
10:29, 34; Neh. 10:14; 1 Esd. 5:12. 
[Binnui; Mani.] 

5. An Israelite "of the sons of Bani." 
Ezra 10 : 38. 

6. A Levite. Neh. 3 : 17. 

7. A Levite. Neh. 8 : 7 ; 9 : 4, 5 ; 10 : 13. 

8. Another Levite, of the sons of Asaph. 
Neh. 11 : 22. 

Banner. [See Ensign.] 

Banquets, among the Hebrews, were 
not only a means of social enjoyment, 
but were a part of the observance of re- 
ligious festivity. At the three solemn 
festivals the family also had its domestic 
feast. Deut. 16 : li. Sacrifices, both or- 



dinary and extraordinary, Ex. 34 : 15 ; 
Judges 16 : 23, included a banquet. 
Birthday banquets are only mentioned 
Gen. 40 : 20 ; Matt. 14 : 6. The usual 
time of the banquet was the evening, 
and to begin early was a mark of excess. 
Eccles. 10 : 16 ; Isa. 5 : 11. The most es- 
sential materials of thebanqueting-room, 
next to the viands and wine, which last 
was often drugged with spices, Prov. 9 : 2, 
were perfumed unguents, garlands or 
loose flowers, white or brilliant robes ; 
after these, exhibitions of music, singers 
and dancers, riddles, jesting and merri- 

I ment. Judges 14 : 12 ; 2 Sam. 19 : 35 ; 
Neh. 8 : 10 ; Eccles. 10 : 19 ; Isa. 5:12; 
25 : 6 ; 28 : 1 ; Matt. 22 : 11 ; Luke 15 : 25. 
The posture at table in early times was 
sitting, 1 Sam. 16 : 11 ; 20 : 5, 18, and the 
guests were ranged in order of dignity. 
Gen. 43 : 33 ; 1 Sam. 9 : 22. Words which 
imply the recumbent posture belong to 
the New Testament. 

Baptism. It is well known that ab- 
lution or bathing was common in most 
ancient nations as a preparation for 
prayers and sacrifice or as expiatory of 
sin. In warm countries this connection 
is probably even closer than in colder 
climates ; and hence the frequency of 
ablution in the religious rites through- 
out the East. Baptism in the name of 
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is the 
rite or ordinance by Avhich persons are 
admitted into the Church of Christ. It 
is the public profession of faith and clis- 
cipleship. Baptism signifies — 1. A con- 
fession of faith in Christ ; 2. A cleansing 
or washing of the soul from sin ; 3. A 
death to sin and a new life in righteous- 
ness. The mode and subjects of baptism 
being much-controverted subjects, each 
one can best study them in the works 
devoted to those questions. The com- 
mand to baptize was co-extensive with 
the command to preach the gospel. All 

l nations were to be evangelized ; and 
they were to be made disciples, admitted 
into the fellowship of Christ's religion, 
by baptism. Matt. 28 : 19. It appears to 
have been a kind of transition from the 
Jewish baptism to the Christian. The 
distinction between John's baptism and 
Christian baptism appears in the case of 
Apollos, Acts 18 : 26, 27, and of the dis- 
ciples at Ephesus mentioned Acts 19 : 1-6. 
We cannot but draw from this history 
the inference that in Christian baptism 
there was a deeper spiritual significance. 
Barab'bas {son of Abba), a robber, 
75 



BAR 



BAR 



John 18 : 40, who had committed murder 
iu an insurrection, Mark 15 : 7 ; Luke j 
23:18, in Jerusalem, and was lying in 
prison at the time of the trial of Jesus 
before Pilate. 

Bar'achel (God has blessed), father 
of Elihu. Job 32 : 2, 6. [Buz.] 

Barachi'as. Matt. 23 : 35. [Zacha- 

BIAS.J 

Ba'rak (lightning), son of Abinoam 
of Kedesh, a refuge city in Mount Naph- 
tali, was incited by Deborah, a prophet- 
ess of Ephraim, to deliver Israel from 
the yoke of Jabin. Judges 4. He utterly 
routed the Canaanites in the plain of 
Jezreel (Esdraelon). (B.C. 1291-1251.) 

Barbarian. " Every one not a Greek 
is a barbarian" is the common Greek 
definition, and in this strict sense the 
word is used in Rom. 1 : 14. It often re- 
tains this primitive meaning, as in 1 Cor. 
14:11; Acts 28:24. 

Barhu'mite, The. [Bahurtm.] 

Bari'ah (fugitive), a descendant of 
the royal family of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 
22. (B.C. before 410.) 

Bar-je'sus (son of Jesus). [Ely- 
mas.] 

Bar-jo'na (son of Jonah). [Peter.] 
Bar'kos (painted). "Children of 
Barkos" were among the Nethimm who 
returned from the captivity with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 53 ; Neh. 7 : 55. (B.C. 
536.) 

Barley is one of the most important 
of the cereal grains, and the most hardy 
cf them all. It was grown bv the He- 
brews, Lev. 27 : 16 ; Deut. 8:8; Ruth 2 : 
17, etc., who used it for baking into bread, 
chiefly among the poor, Judges 7 : 13 ; 2 
Kings 4 : 42 ; \lohn 6 : 9, 13, and as fodder 
for horses. 1 Kings 4 : 28. The barley 
harvest, Ruth 1 : 22; 2 : 23 ; 2 Sam. 21 : 
9, 10, takes place in Palestine in March 
and April, and in the hilly districts as 
late as May. It always precedes the 
wheat harvest, in some places by a week, 
in others by fully three weeks. In 
Egypt the barley is about a month earlier 
than the wheat ; whence its total destruc- 
tion by the hail storm. Ex. 9 : 31. 

Bar'nabas (son of consolation or 
comfort), a name given by the apostles, 
Acts 4 : 36, to Joseph (or Jose), a Levite 
of the island of Cyprus, who was early a 
disciple of Christ. In Acts 9 : 27 we find 
him introducing the newly-converted 
Said to the apostles at Jerusalem. Bar- 
nabas was sent to Jerusalem, Acts 11 : 
19-26, and went to Tarsus to seek Saul, as 



one specially raised up to preach to the 
Gentiles. Acts 26 : 17. He brought him 
to Antioch, and was sent with him to 
Jerusalem. Acts 11 : 30. On their return, 
they were ordained by the church for 
the missionary work, Acts 13 : 2, and sint 
forth (A.D. 45). From this time Barna- 
bas and Paul enjoy the title and dignity 
of apostles. Their first missionary jour- 
ney is related in Acts 13 : 14. Returning 
to Antioch (A.D. 47 or 48), they were sent 
(a.d. 50), with some others, to Jerusalem. 
Acts 15 : 1, 36. Afterwards they parted, 
and Barnabas took Mark and sailed to 
Cyprus, his native island. Here the 
Scripture notices of him cease. The 
epistle attributed to Barnabas is believed 
to have been written early in the second 
century. 

Bar'sabas (son of Sabas or rest). 
[Joseph Barsabas; Judas Barsa- 
bas.] 

Barsab'foas. Revised Version of Acts 
1 : 23 for Bar'sabas. 

Bartholomew (son of Tolmai), one 
of the twelve apostles of Christ. Matt. 
10 : 3 ; Mark 3:18; Luke 6 : 14 ; Acts 1 : 
13. It has been not improperly conjec- 
tured that he is identical with Natlian- 
ael. John 1 : 45 ff. He is said to have 
preached the gospel in India, that is, 
probably, Arabia Felix, and according 
to some in Armenia. 

Bartimse'us (son of Timeus), a blind 
beggar of Jericho who, Mark 10 : 46 ff., 
sat by the wayside begging as our Lord 
passed out of Jericho on his last journey 
to Jerusalem. 

Ba'ruch (blessed). 1. Son of Neriah, 
the friend, Jer. 32 : 12, amanuensis, Jer. 
26 : 4-32, and faithful attendant of Jere- 
miah. Jer. 36 : 10 ff. (B.C. 603.) He was 
of a noble family, comp. Jer. 51 : 59 ; Bar. 
1 : 1, and of distinguished acquirements. 
His enemies accused him of influencing 
Jeremiah in favor of the Chaldseans, Jer. 
43 : 3 ; cf. 27 : 13, and he was imprisoned 
until the capture of Jerusalem, B.C. 586. 
By the permission of Nebuchadnezzar he 
remained with Jeremiah at Mizpeh, Jos. 
Ant. x. 9, § 1, but was afterwards forced 
to go down to Egypt. Jer. 43 : 6. Noth- 
ing is known certainly of the close of his 
life. 

2. The son of Zabbai, who assisted Ne- 
hemiah in rebuilding the walls of Jeru- 
salem. Neh. 3 : 20. (B.C. 446.) 

3. A priest, or family of priests, who 
signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:6. (B.C. 410.) 



BAR 



BAS 



4. The son of Col-hozeh, a .descendant 
of Perez or Pharez, the son of Judah. 
Neh. 11:5. (B.C. 536.) 

Ba'ruch, Book of. One of the apoc- 
ryphal books of the Old Testament. The 
book was held in little esteem by the 
Jews, and both its date and authorship 
are very uncertain. 

Barzil'la-i {iron, i. e. strong). 1. A 
wealthy Gileadite who showed hospital- 
ity to David when he fled from Absalom. 
2 Sam. 17:27. (B.C. 1023.) He declined 
the king's offer of ending his days at 
court. 2 Sam. 19 : 32-39. 

2. A Meholathite, whose son Adriel 
married Michal, Saul's daughter. 2 Sam. 
21 : 8. (B.C. before 1062.) 

3. Son-in-law to Barzillai the Gilead- 
ite. Ezra 2 : 61 ; Neh. 7 : 63, 64. (B.C. 
before 536.) 




View of Bashan. 

Ba'shan {fruitful), a district on the 
east of Jordan. It is sometimes spoken 
of as the " land of Bashan," 1 
Chron. 5 : 11, and comp. Num. 
21 : 33 ; 32 : 33, and sometimes as 
"all Bashan." Deut. 3 : 10, 13; 
Josh. 12:5; 13 : 12, 30. It was 
taken by the children of Israel 
after their conquest of the land 
of Sihon from Arnon to Jabbok. 
The limits of Bashan are very 
strictly defined. It extended from the 
"border of Gilead" on the south to 
Mount Hermon on the north, Deut. 3 : 3, 
10, 14 ; Josh. 12:5; 1 Chron. 5 : 23, and 
from the Arabah or Jordan valley on the 



west to Salchah (Sulkhad) and the border 
of the Geshurites and the Maachathites 
on the east. Josh. 12 : 3-5 ; Deut. 3 : 10. 
This important district was bestowed on 
the half-tribe of Manasseh, Josh. 13 : 29- 
31, together with " half Gilead." This 
country is now full of interesting ruins, 
which have lately been explored and 
from which much light has been thrown 
upon Bible times. See Porter's " Giant 
Cities of Bashan." 

Ba'shan-ha'voth-ja'ir (Bashan of 
the villages of Jair), a name given to 
Argob after its conquest by Jair. Deut. 
3:14. 

Bash'emath (fragrant, pleasing), 
daughter of Ishmael, the last married 
of the three wives of Esau. Gen. 26 : 34 ; 
36 : 3, 4, 13. (B.C. after 1797.) In Gen. 
28 : 9 she is called Mahalath. 

Basin. Among the smaller vessels 
for the tabernacle or temple service, 
many must have been required to re- 
ceive from the sacrificial victims the 
blood to be sprinkled for purification. 
The "basin" from which our Lord 
washed the disciples' feet was probably 
deeper and larger than the hand-basin 
for sprinkling. 

Basket. The Hebrew terms used in 
the description of this article are as fol- 
lows : (1) Sal, so called from the twigs of 
which it was originally made, specially 
used for holding bread. Gen. 40 : 16 ff. ; 
Ex. 29 : 3, 23 ; Lev. 8 : 2, 26, 31 ; Num. 
6 : 15, 17, 19. (2) Salsilluth, a word of 
kindred origin, applied to the basket 
used in gathering grapes. Jer. 6 : 9. 

(3) Tene, in which the first-fruits of the 
harvest were presented. Deut. 26 : 2, 4. 

(4) Celub, so called from its similarity 
to a bird-cage.- (5) Dud, used for carry- 
ing fruit, Jer. 24 : 1, 2, as well as on a 
larger scale for carrying clay to the 
brick-yard, Ps. 81 : 6 '(pots, Authorized 
Version), or for holding bulky articles. 2 




Egyptian Baskets. 

Kings 10 : 7. In the New Testament 
baskets are described under three differ- 
ent terms. 

Bas'math (fragrant, pleasing), a 
daughter of Solomon married to Ahi- 

77 



BAS 



BEA 



raaaz, one of his commissariat officers. 1 
Kings 4 : 15. (B.C. after 1014.) 

Bastard. Among those who were 
excluded from entering the congregation, 
even to the tenth generation, was the 
bastard. Deut. 23 : 2. The term is not, 
however, applied to any illegitimate off- 
spring, born out of wedlock, but is re- 
stricted by the rabbins to the issue of any 
connection within the degrees prohibited 
by the law. 

Bat. Lev. 11 : 19 ; Deut. 14 : 18. Many 
travellers have noticed the immense 
numbers of bats that are found in caverns 
in the East, and Mr. Layard says that on 
the occasion of a visit to a cavern these 
noisome beasts compelled him to retreat. 

Bath, Bathing. This was a pre- 
scribed part of the Jewish ritual of puri- 
fication m cases of accident, or of leprous 
or ordinary uncleanness, Lev. 15 ; 16 : 28 ; 
22 : 6 ; Num. 19 : 7, 19 ; 2 Sam. 11 : 2, 4 ; 

2 Kings 5 : 10 ; as also after mourning, 
which always implied defilement. Ruth 

3 : 3 ; 2 Sam. 12 : 20. The eastern climate 
made bathing essential alike to health 
and pleasure, to which luxury added the 
use of perfumes. Esther 2:12; Judith 
10 : 3 ; Susan. 17. The " pools," such as 
that of Siloam and Hezekiah, 2 Kings 
20 : 20 ; Neh. 3 : 15, 16 ; Isa. 22 : 11 ; John 
9:7, often sheltered by porticos, John 
5 : 2, are the first indications we have of 
public bathing accommodation. 

Bath. [Measures.] 

Bath-rab'foim {daughter of many), 
The gate of, one of the gates of the 
ancient city of Heshbon. Cant. 7 : 4 (5). 

Bath'-shetoa, or Bath-she'ba 
{daughter of the oath), 2 Sam. 11 : 3, etc., 
also called Bath-shua in 1 Chron. 3 : 5, 
the daughter of Eliam, 2 .Sam. 11 : 3, or 
Ammiel, 1 Chron. 3 : 5, the son of Ahith- 
ophel, 2 Sam. 23 : 34, and wife of Uriah 
the Hittite. (B.C. 1035.) The child 
which was the fruit of her adulterous 
intercourse with David died; but after 
marriage she became the mother of four 
sons, Solomon, Matt. 1 : 6, Shimea, Sho- 
bab and Nathan. When Adonijah at- 
tempted to set aside the succession prom- 
ised to Solomon, Bath-sheba informed 
the king of the conspiracy. 1 Kings 1 : 11, 
15, 23. After the accession of Solomon, 
she, as queen-mother, requested permis- 
sion of her son for Adonijah to take in 
marriage Ablshag the Shunammite. 1 
Kings 2 : 21-25. 

Bath-shu'a. [Bath-sheba.] 

Battering-ram, Ezek. 4:2; 21 : 22, 
78 



i a large beam with a head of iron which 
was sometimes made to resemble the 
head of a ram. It was suspended by 
j ropes to a beam supported by posts, and 
j balanced so as to swing backward and 
forward, and was impelled by men 
I against the wall. In attacking the walls 
I of a fort or city, the first step appears to 
j have been to form an inclined plane or 
! bank of earth, comp. Ezek. 4:2," cast a 
| mount against it," by which the besiegers 
! could bring their battering-rams and 
other engines to the foot of the walls. 
" The battering-rams," says Mr. Layard, 
" were of several kinds. Some were 
joined to movable towers which held 
warriors and armed men. The whole 
j then formed one great temporary build- 
I ing, the top of which is represented in 
j sculptures as on a level with the walls, 
i and even turrets, of the besieged city, 
j In some bas-reliefs the battering-ram is 
without wheels: it was then perhaps 
constructed upon the spot and was not 
intended to be moved." 
Battle-axe. Jer. 51 : 20. [Maul.] 
Battlement. Among the Jews a bat- 
tlement was required by law to be built 
upon every house. It consisted of a low 
wall built around the roofs of the houses 
to prevent persons from falling off, and 
sometimes serving as a partition from 
another building. Deut. 22 : 8 ; Jer. 5 : 10. 

Bav'a-i, son of Henadad, ruler of the 
district of Keilah in the time of Nehe- 
miah. Neh. 3 : 18. (B.C. 446.) 

Bay tree. A species of laurel, 
Laurus nobilis. An evergreen, with 
leaves like our mountain laurel. Ps. 
37 : 35. 

Baz'lith (asking). "Children of 
Bazlith" were among the Nethinim who 
returned with Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 54. 
In Ezra 2 : 52 the name is given as Baz- 
LUTH. (B.C. 536.) 

Baz'luth. [Bazlith.] 

Bdellium (bedolach). Gen. 2:12; 
Num. 11:7. It is quite impossible to 
say whether bedolach denotes a mineral 
or an animal production or a vegetable 
exudation. Bdellium is an odoriferous 
exudation from a tree which is perhaps 
the Borassus flabelUformis, Lin., of 
Arabia Felix. 

Beacon. A signal or conspicuous 
mark erected on an eminence for direc- 
tion. Isa. 30 : 17. 

Beali'ah [Jehovah is lord), a Ben- 
jamite who went over to David at Zik- 
lag. 1 Chron. 12 : 5. (B.C. 1062.) 



BEA 



BED 



Be'aloth {ladies), a town in the ex- 
treme south of Judah. Josh. 15 : 24. 

Beans. 2 Sara. 17 : 28 ; Ezek. 4 : 9. 
Beans are cultivated in Palestine, which 
produces many of the leguminous order 
of plants, such as lentils, kidney-beans, 
vetches, etc. 

Bear. 1 Sam. 17:34; 2 Sam. 17:8. 
The Syrian bear, Ursus syriacus, which 
is without doubt the animal mentioned 
in the Bible, is still found on the higher 
mountains of Palestine. During the 




Syrian Bear. 

summer months these bears keep to the 
snowy parts of Lebanon, but descend in 
winter to the villages and gardens. It 
is probable also that at this period in 
former days they extended their visits to 
other parts of Palestine. 

Beard. Western Asiatics have always 
cherished the beard as the badge of the 
dignity of manhood, and attached to it 
the importance of a feature. The Egyp- 
tians, on the contrary, for the most part 
shaved the hair of the face and head, 
though we find some instances to the 
contrary. The beard is the object of an 
oath, and that on which blessing or shame 
is spoken of as resting. The custom was 
and is to shave or pluck it and the hair 
out in mourning, Ezra 9:3; Isa. 15:2; 
50 : 6 ; Jer. 41 : 5 ; 48 : 37 ; Bar. 6:31; to 
neglect it in seasons of permanent afflic- 
tion, 2 Sam. 19 : 24, and to regard any 
insult to it as the last outrage which en- 
mity can inflict. 2 Sam. 10 : 4. The 
beard was the object of salutation. 2 Sam. 



20 : 9. The dressing, trimming, anoint- 
ing, etc., of the beard was performed 
with much ceremony by persons of 
wealth and rank. Ps. 133 : 2. The re- 
moval of the beard was a part of the 
ceremonial treatment proper to a leper. 
Lev. 14 : 9. 

Beb'a-i (fatherly). 1. "Sons of 
Bebai," 623 (Neh. 628) in number, re- 
turned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, 
Ezra 2 : 11 ; Neh. 7 : 16 (B.C. 536), and at 
a later period twenty-eight more under 
Zechariah, son of Bebai, returned 
with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 11. Four of 
this family had taken foreign 
wives. Ezra 10 : 28. The name 
_ occurs also among those who sealed 
the covenant. Neh. 10 : 15. 

2. Father of Zechariah, Avho was 
the leader of the twenty-eight men 
of his tribe mentioned above. 

Be'cher (young or first-born). 
1. The second son of Benjamin, ac- 
cording to the list in both Gen. 46 : 
21 and 1 Chron. 7 : 6, but omitted 
in 1 Chron. 8 : 1. (B.C. about 1690.) 

2. Son of Ephraim, Num. 26 : 35, 
called Bered in 1 Chron. 7 : 20.' 
Same as the preceding. 

Becho'rath ( first-borii) , son of 
Aphiah or Abiah, and grandson 
of Becher according to 1 Sam. 9:1; 
1 Chron. 7 : 8. (B.C. before 1093.) 

Bed. The Jewish bed consisted 
of the mattress, a mere mat, or one 
or more quilts ; the covering, a finer 
or sometimes the outer garment 



quilt, 



j worn by day, 1 Sam. 19 : 13, which the law 
I provided should not be kept in pledge 
j after sunset, that the poor man might not 
lack his needful covering, Deut. 24 : 13 ; 
the pillow, 1 Sam. 19 : 13, probably formed 
of sheep's fleece or goat's skin, with a 
stuffing of cotton, etc. ; the bedstead, a 
divan or bench along the side or end of 
the room, sufficing as a support for the 
bedding. Besides we have bedsteads 
made of ivory, wood, etc., referred to in 
Deut. 3:11; Amos 6 : 4. The ornament- 
al portions were pillars and a canopy, 
Judith 13 : 9, ivory carvings, gold and 
silver, and probably mosaic work, purple 
and fine linen. Esth. 1:6; Cant. 3 : 9, 10. 
The ordinary furniture of a bed-chamber 
in private life is given in 2 Kings 4 : 10. 

Be'dad (solitary), the father of Ha- 
dad king of Edom. Gen. 36 : 35 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 46. (B.C. before 1093.) 

Be'dan (son of judgment). 1. Men- 
tioned in 1 Sam. 12 : 11 as a judge of 

79 



BED 



BEE 



Israel between Jerubbaal (Gideon) and 
Jephthah. The Chaldee Paraphrast reads 
Samson for Bedan; the LXX., Syriac 
and Arabic all have Barak. Ewald sug- 
gests that it may be a false reading for 
Abdon. (B.C. about 1150.) 

2. The son of Gilead. 1 Chron. 7 : 17. 

Bede-i'ah, one of the sons of Bani, in 
the time of Ezra, who had taken a foreign 
wife. Ezra 10 : 35. (B.C. 458.) 

Bee (debordh). Deut. 1:44; Judges 
14 : 8; Ps. 118 : 12; Isa. 7 : 18. Bees 
abounded in Palestine, honey being a 
common article of food, Ps. 81 : 16, and 
was often found in the clefts of rocks and 
in hollow trees. 1 Sam. 14 : 25, 27. Eng- 
lish naturalists know little of the species 
of bees that are found in Palestine, but 
are inclined to believe that the honey- 
bee of Palestine is distinct from the 
honey-bee (Apis mellifica) of this country. 
The passage in Isa. 7:18 refers " to the 
custom of the people in the East of call- 
ing attention to any one by a significant 
hiss or rather hist." 

We read, Judges 14 : 8, that " after a 
time," probably many days, Samson re- 
turned to the carcass of the lion he had 
slain, and saw bees and honey therein. 
"If any one here represents to himself 
a corrupt and putrid carcass, the occur- 
rence ceases to have any true similitude, 
for it is well known that in these coun- 
tries, at certain seasons of the year, the 
heat will in the course of twenty-four 
hours completely dry up the moisture 
of dead camels, and that, without their 
undergoing decomposition, their bodies 
long remain like mummies, unaltered 
and entirely free from offensive odor." — 
CEdmann. 

Be-eli'ada (the Lord knows), one of 
David's sons, born in Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 
14 : 7. In the lists in Samuel the name 
is Eliada. (B.C. after 1045.) 

Be-el'zebub. [See Beelzebttl.] 

Be-el'zebu! [lord of the house), the 
title of a heathen deity, to whom the 
Jews ascribed the sovereignty of the evil 
spirits ; Satan, the prince of the devils. 
Matt. 10 : 25 ; 12 : 24 ; Mark 3 : 22 ; Luke 
11 : 15 ff. The correct reading is with- 
out doubt Beelzebul, and not Beelzebub. 

Be'er {a well). 1. One of the latest 
halting-places of the Israelites, lying be- 
yond the Arnon. Num. 21 : 16-18. This 
is possibly the Beer-elim of Isa. 15 : 8. 

2. A place to which Jotham, the son 
of Gideon, fled for fear of his brother 
Abimelech. Judges 9 : 21. 
80 



Be-e'ra (a well), son of Zophah, of 
the tribe of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 37. (B.C. 
after 1450.) 

Be-e'rah, prince of the Reubenites, 
carried away by Tiglath-pileser. 1 Chron. 
5 : 6. (B.C. 738.) 

Be-er-e'lim (well of heroes), a spot 
named in Isa. 15 : 8 as on the " border of 
Moab." Num. 21 : 16 ; comp. 13. 

Be-e'ri. 1. The father of Judith, 
one of the wives of Esau. Gen. 26 : 34. 
[Anah.] (b.c. 1797.) 

2. Father of the prophet Hosea. Hos. 
1:1. (B.C. before 725.) 

Be-er-laha'i-roi (a well of the liv- 
ing), a living spring, Authorized Version, 
fountain, comp. Jer. 6 : 7, between Ka- 
desh and Bered, in the wilderness. Gen. 
24 : 62. 

Be-e'roth (wells), one of the four 
cities of the Hivites who deluded Joshua 
into a treaty of peace with them. Josh. 
9 : 17. It is now el-Bireh, which stands 
about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. 

Be-e'roth of the children of Jaa- 
kan, the wells of the tribe of Bene-Jaa- 
kan, which formed one of the halting- 
places of the Israelites in the desert. 
Deut. 10 : 6. In Num. 33 : 31 the name 
is given as Bene-jaakan only. 

Be-er'-sheba, or Be-er-she'ba 
(well of the oath), the name of one of the 
old places in Palestine which formed the 
southern limit of the country. There 
are two accounts of the origin of the 
name. According to the first, the well 
was dug by Abraham, and the name 
given, Gen. 21 : 31 ; the other narrative 
ascribes the origin of the name to Isaac 
instead of Abraham. Gen. 26 : 31-33. 
Beersheba was given to Judah, Josh. 15: 
28, and then to Simeon. Josh. 19 : 2 ; 1 
Chron. 4 : 28. In the often-quoted " from 
Dan even unto Beersheba," Judges 20 : 1, 
it represents the southern boundary of 
Canaan, as Dan the northern. In the 
time of Jerome it was still a considerable 
place, and still retains its ancient name 
— Bir es-Sebd. There are at present on 
the spot two principal wells and five 
smaller ones. The two principal wells 
are on or close to the northern bank of 
the Wady es-Sebd. The larger of the 
two, which lies to the east, is, according 
to Dr. Robinson, 12£ feet in diameter, 
and at the time of his visit (April 12) 
was 44i feet to the surface of the water. 
The masonry which encloses the well ex- 
tends downward 28£ feet. The other 
well is 5 feet in diameter, and was 42 feet 



BEE 



BEL 



to the water. The curb-stones around 
the mouth of both wells are worn into 
deep grooves by the action of the ropes 
of so many centuries. These wells are 
in constant use to-day. The five lesser 



wells are in a group in the bed of the 
wady. On some low hills north of the 
large wells are scattered the foundations 
and ruins of a town of moderate size. 
Be-esh'terah {house of Ashterah), 




Beersheba. {From an original Photograph.) 



one of the two cities allotted to the sons 
of Gershon out of the tribe of Manasseh 
beyond Jordan. Josh. 21 : 27. Probably 
identical with Ashtaroth. 1 Chron. 6:71. 

Beetle. [Locust.] 

Beeves. Same as cattle. Lev. 22 : 19. 
[See Bull.] 

Beggar, Begging. The poor among 
the Hebrews were much favored. They 
were allowed to glean in the fields, and 
to gather whatever the land produced 
in the year in which it was not tilled. 
Lev. 19 : 10 ; 25 : 5, 6 ; Deut. 24 : 19. They 
were also invited to feasts. Deut. 14 : 29 
and 26 : 12. The Israelite could not be 
an absolute pauper. His land was in- 
alienable, except for a certain term, when 
it reverted to him or his posterity. And 
if this resource were insufficient, he could 
pledge the services of himself and family 
for a valuable sum. Those who were 
indigent through bodily infirmities were 
usually taken care of by their kindred. 
A beggar was sometimes seen, however, 
and was regarded and abhorred as a vag- 
abond. Ps. 109 : 10. In later times beg- 
gars were accustomed, it would seem, to 
6 



have a fixed place at the corners of the 
streets, Mark 10 : 46, or at the gates of 
the temple, Acts 3 : 2, or of private houses. 
Luke 16 : 20. 

Be'hemoth (great beasts). There can 
be little or no doubt that by this word, 
Job 40 : 15-24, the hippopotamus is in- 
tended, since all the details descriptive 
of the behemoth accord entirely with the 
ascertained habits of that animal. The 
hippopotamus is an immense creature 
having a thick and square head, a large 
mouth often two feet broad, small eyes 
and ears, thick and heavy body, short 
legs terminated by four toes, a short tail, 
skin without hair except at the extremity 
of the tail. It inhabits nearly the whole 
of Africa, and has been found of the 
length of 17 feet. It delights in the 
water, but feeds on herbage on land. It 
is not found in Palestine, but may at one 
time have been a native of western Asia. 

Be'kah. [Weights and Meas- 
ures.] 

Bel. [Baal.] 

Be'la {destruction). 1. One of the 
five cities of the plain which was spared 

81 



BEL 



BEN 




Hippopotamus. 

at the intercession of Lot, and received 
the name of Zoar. Gen. 14 : 2 ; 19 : 22. 
[ZOAK.] 

2. Son of Beor, who reigned over Edom 
in the city of Dinhabah, eight genera- 
tions before Saul. Gen. 36 : 31-33; 1 
Chron. 1 : 43, 44. 

3. Eldest son of Benjamin, according 
to Gen. 46 : 21 (Authorized Version " Be- 
lah") ; Num. 26 : 38, 40 ; 1 Chron. 7:6; 
8 : 1, and head of the family of the Be- 
laites. 

4. Son of Ahaz, a Beubenite. 1 Chron. 
5 : 8. 

Be'lah. [Bela, 3.] 

Be'la-ites, The. Num. 26 : 38. 
[Bela, 3.] 

Be'lial. The meaning of this word 
as found in the Scriptures is worthless- 
ness, and hence recklessness, lawlessness. 
The expression son or man of Belial must 
be understood as meaning simply a worth- 
less, lawless fellow. The term as used 
in 2 Cor. 6 : 15 is generally understood 
as an appellative of Satan', as the per- 
sonification of all that was bad. 

Bellows. The word occurs only in 
Jer. 6 : 29, where it denotes an instrument 
to heat a smelting furnace. Wilkinson 
in " Ancient Egypt," iii. 338, says, " They 
consisted of a leather, secured and fitted 
into a frame, from which a long pipe 
extended for carrying the wind to the 
fire. They were worked by the feet, the 
operator standing upon them, with one 
82 



under each foot, and pressing 
them alternately, while he pulled 
up each exhausted skin with a 
string he held in his hand." 

Bells. In Ex. 28 : 33 the bells 
alluded to were the golden ones, 
72 in number, round the hem of 
the high priest's ephod. The ob- 
ject of them was " that his sound 
might be heard." Ex. 28 : 34 ; 
Ecclus. 45 : 9. To this day bells 
are frequently attached, for the 
sake of their pleasant sound, to 
the anklets of women. The little 
girls of Cairo wear strings of them 
around their feet. In Zech. 14 : 20 
"bells of the horses" were con- 
cave or flat pieces of brass, which 
were sometimes attached to horses 
for the sake of ornament. 

Belshaz'zar {prince of Bel), 
the last king of Babylon. In Dan. 
5 : 2 Nebuchadnezzar is called 
the father of Belshazzar. This, 
of course, need only mean grand- 
father or ancestor. According to the 
well-known narrative, Belshazzar gave a 
splendid feast in his palace during the 
siege of Babylon (B.C. 538), using the 
sacred vessels of the temple, which Nebu- 
chadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem. 
The miraculous appearance of the hand- 
writing on the wall, the calling in of 
Daniel to interpret its meaning, the 
prophecy of the overthrow of the king- 
1 dom, and Belshazzar's death, are re- 
corded in Dan. 5. 

Belteshaz'zar {favored by Bel). 
[Daniel.] 

Ben {son), a Levite, one of the porters 
appointed by David for the ark. 1 Chron. 
15 : 18. 

Bena'iah {made by the Lord). 1. 
The son of Jehoiada the chief priest, 
1 Chron. 27 : 5, of the tribe of Levi, 
though a native of Kabzeel, 2 Sam. 23 : 
20; set by David, 1 Chron. 11 : 25, over 
his bodv-guard. 2 Sam. 8:18; 20:23; 
1 Kings" 1 : 38 ; 1 Chron. 18 : 17. One of 
the mighty men. 2 Sam. 23:22,23; 1 
Chron. 11 : 25 ; 27 : 6. The exploits 
which gave him this rank are narrated 
in 2 Sam. 23 : 20, 21 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 22. He 
was captain of the host for the third 
month. 1 Chron. 27 : 5. Benaiah remained 
faithful to Solomon during Adonijah's 
attempt on the crown, 1 Kings 1 : 8, 10, 32, 
38, 44, and was raised into the place of 
Joab as commander-in-chief of the whole 
army. 1 Kings 2 : 35 ; 4:4. (B.C. 1005.) 



I 



BEN 



BEN 



2. Benaiah the Pirathonite, an Eph- 
raimite, one of David's thirty mighty 
men, 2 Sam. 23:30; 1 Chron. 11:31, 
and the captain of the eleventh monthly 
course. 1 Chron. 27 : 14. 

3. A Levite in the time of David, who 
" played with a psaltery on Alamoth." 

1 Chron. 15 : 18, 20; 16:5. 

4. A priest in the time of David, ap- 
pointed to blow the trumpet before the 
ark. 1 Chron. 15:24; 16 : 6. 

5. A Levite of the sons of Asaph. 2 
Chron. 20 : 14. 

6. A Levite in the time of Hezekiah. 

2 Chron. 31 : 13. 

7. One of the "princes" of the fami- 
lies of Simeon. 1 Chron. 4 : 36. 

8. Four laymen in the time of Ezra 
who had taken strange wives. Ezra 10 : 
25, 30, 35, 43. 

9. The father of Pelatiah. Ezek. 11 : 
1, 13. 

Ben-am'mi (son of my people), the 
son of the younger daughter of Lot, and 
progenitor of the Ammonites. Gen. 19 : 
38. (B.C. 1897.) 

Ben-eb'erak (son of lightning), one 
of the cities of the tribe of Dan, men- 
tioned only in Josh. 19 : 45. 

Bene-ja'akan (sons of Jaakan), a 
tribe who gave their name to certain 
wells in the desert which formed one of 
the halting-places of the Israelites on 
their journey to Canaan. [Beeeoth 
Bene-Jaakan.J Also given in Gen. 
36 : 27 as Akan. 

Bene-ke'dem (the children of the 
East), an appellation given to a people 
or to peoples dwelling to the east of Pal- 
estine. It occurs in Gen. 29 : 1 ; Judges 
6:3, 33; 7:12; 8: 10; Job 1 : 3. 

Ben-ha'dad (son of Hadad), the 
name of three kings of Damascus. Ben- 
hadad I., king of Damascus, which in 
his time was supreme in Syria. He 
made an alliance with Asa, and con- 
quered a great part of the north of Israel. 
1 Kings 15 : 18. His date is B.C. 950. 

Ben-hadad II., son of the preceding, 
and also king of Damascus. Long wars 
with Israel characterized his reign. 
Some time after the death of Ahab, Ben- 
hadad renewed the war with Israel, at- 
tacked Samaria a second time, and 
pressed the siege so closely that there 
was a terrible famine in the city. But 
the Syrians broke up in the night in con- 
sequence of a sudden panic. Soon after 
Ben-hadad fell sick, and sent Hazael to 
consult Elisha as to the issue of his 



malady. On the day after Hazael's re- 
turn Ben-hadad was murdered, probably 
by some of his own servants. 2 Kings 8 : 
7-15. Ben-hadad's death was about B.C. 
890, and he must have reigned some 30 
j years. 

| Ben-hadad III., son of Hazael, and 
j his successor on the throne of Syria, 
j When he succeeded to the throne, Je- 
| hoash recovered the cities which Jeho- 
i ahaz had lost to the Syrians, and beat 
' him in Aphek. 2 Kings 13 : 17, 25. The 
date of Ben-hadad III. is B.C. 840. 
Ben-ha'il (son of the host, strong), one 
j of the princes whom King Jehoshaphat 
| sent to teach in the cities of Judah. 2 
i Chron. 17 : 7. 

Ben-ha'nan (son of the gracious), 
1 son of Shimon, in the line of Judah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 20. 

Beni'nu (our son), a Levite; one of 
those who sealed the covenant with Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 10 : 13 (14). 

Ben'jamin (son of the right hand, 
fortunate). 1. The youngest of the chil- 
j dren of Jacob. His birth took place on 
the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, 
near the latter, B.C. 1729. His mother, 
Rachel, died in the act of giving him 
birth, naming him with her last breath 
Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). This was 
by Jacob changed into Benjamin. Gen. 
35 : 16, 18. Until the journeys of Jacob's 
sons and of Jacob himself into Egypt 
we hear nothing of Benjamin. Nothing 
personal is known of him. Hencefor- 
ward the history of Benjamin is the his- 
tory of the tribe. 

2. A man of the tribe of Benjamin, son 
of Bilhan, and the head of a family of 
warriors. 1 Chron. 7 : 10. 

3. One of the "sons of Harim," an 
Israelite in the time of Ezra who had 
married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 32. 

Ben'jamin, The tribe of. The 
contrast between the Avarlike character 
of the tribe and the peaceful image of its 
progenitor comes out in many scattered 
notices. Benjamin was the only tribe 
which seems to have pursued archery to 
any purpose, and their skill in the bow, 
1 Sam. 20 : 20, 36 ; 2 Sam. 1 : 22; 1 Chron. 
8:40; 12:2; 2 Chron. 17:17, and the 
sling, Judges 20 : 16, is celebrated. The 
dreadful deed recorded in Judges m 
was defended by Benjamin. Later the 
tribe seems, however, to assume another 
position, as Ramah, 1 Sam. 9 : 12, etc., 
Mizpeh, 1 Sam. 7 : 5, Bethel and Gibeon, 
1 Kings 3 : 4, were all in the land of 

83 



BEN 



BER 



Benjamin. After the struggles and con- 
tests which followed the death of Saul, 
the history of Benjamin becomes merged 
in that of the southern kingdom. 

Ben'jamin, The land of. The prox- 
imity of Benjamin to Ephraim during 
the march to the promised land was 
maintained in the territory allotted to 
each. That given to Benjamin formed 
almost a parallelogram, of about 2b' miles 
in length by 12 in breadth, lying be- 
tween Ephraim, the Jordan, Judah and 
Dan. The general level of this part of 
Palestine is not less than 2000 feet above 
the Mediterranean or than 3000 feet 
above the valley of the Jordan, the sur- 
rounding country including a large num- 
ber of eminences — almost every one of 
which has borne some part in the history 
of the tribe — and many torrent beds and 
deep ravines. 

Ben'jamin, High gate or gate 
of. Jer. 20 : 2 ; 37 : 13 ; 38 : 7 ; Zech. 14 : 
10. [Jerusalem.] 

Be'no (his son), a Levite of the sons 
of Merari. 1 Chron. 24 : 26, 27. 

Ben-o'ni (son of my sorrow). Gen. 
35 : 18. [Benjamin.] 

Ben-zo'heth (son of Zoheth), a de- 
scendant of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 20. 

Be'on. Num. 32 : 3. [Beth-baal- 
MEON.] Comp. ver. 38. 

Be'or (burning or torch). 1. The 
father of Bela, one of the early Edomite 
kings. Gen. 36 : 32 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 43. 

2. Father of Balaam. Num. 22 : 5 ; 24 : 
3, 15 ; 31 : 8 ; Deut, 23 : 4 ; Josh. 13 : 22.; 
24 : 9 ; Micah 6:5. He is called Bosor 
in the New Testament. (B.C. before 
1450.) 

Be'ra (son of evil), king of Sodom. 
Gen. 14 : 2 ; also 17, 21. 

Ber'achah (blessing), a Benjamite 
who attached himself to David at Ziklag. 
1 Chron. 12:3. (B.C. 1054.) 

Ber'achah, Valley of, a valley in 
which Jehoshaphat and his people as- 
sembled to "bless" Jehovah after the 
overthrow of the hosts of Moabites. 2 
Chron. 20 : 26. It is now called BereiMt, 
and lies between Tekua and the main 
road from Bethlehem to Hebron. 

Berachi'ah (blessed of Jehovah), a 
Gershonite Levite, father of Asaph. 1 
Chron. 6 : 39. [Berechiah.] 

Berai'ah (created by Jehovah), son 
of Shimhi, a chief man of Benjamin. 1 
Chron. 8 : 21. 

Be re 'a (well watered). 1. A city of 
Macedonia, mentioned in Acts 17 : 10, 13. 
84 



It is now called Verria or Kara-Verria, 
and is situated on the eastern slope of 
the Olympian mountain range, and has 
15,000 or 20,000 inhabitants. 

2. The modern Aleppo, mentioned in 2 
Mace. 13:4. 

3. A place in Judea, apparently not 
very far from Jerusalem. 1 Mace. 9 : 4. 

llerechi'ah (blessed of Jehovah). 1. 
A descendant of the royal family of Ju- 
dah. 1 Chron. 3 : 20. 

2. A man mentioned as the father of 
Meshullam, who assisted in rebuilding 
the walls of Jerusalem. Neh. 3:4, 30 ; 
6:18. 

3. A Levite. 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 

4. A doorkeeper for the ark. 1 Chron. 
15 : 23. 

5. One of the tribe of Ephraim in the 
time of Ahaz. 2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

6. Father of A saph the singer. 1 Chron. 
15 : 17. [Beraciiiah.1 

7. Father of Zechariah. Zech. 1 : 1, 7. 
Be'red (hail). 1. A place in the 

south of Palestine, near the well Lahai- 
roi. Gen. 16 : 14. 

2. A son or descendant of Ephraim, 
1 Chron. 7 : 20, possibly identical with 
Becher in Num. 26 : 35. 

Bereni'ce. [Bernice.] 

Be'ri (a well), son of Zophah, of the 
tribe of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 36. 

Beri'ah (in evil, or a gift). 1. A son 
of Asher. Gen. 46 : 17 ; Num. 26 : 44, 45. 

2. A son of Ephraim. 1 Chron. 7 : 20- 
23. 

3. A Benjamite. 1 Chron. 8 : 13, 16. 

4. A Levite. 1 Chron. 23 : 10, 11. 
Beri'ites. [Beriah, 1.] 
Be'rites, The, a tribe of people who 

are named with Abel and Beth-maachah, 
and who were therefore doubtless situ- 
ated in the north of Palestine. 2 Sam. 
20 : 14. 

Be'rith. Judges 9 : 46. [Baal- 

BERITH.] 

Berni'ce, or Bereni'ce (bringing 
victory), the eldest daughter of Herod 
Agrippa I. Acts 12 : 1, etc. She was first 
married to her uncle Herod, king of 
Chalcis, and after his death (a.d. 48) she 
lived under circumstances of great suspi- 
cion with her own brother, Agrippa II., in 
connection with whom she is mentioned, 
Acts 25 : 13, 23 ; 26 : 30, as having visited 
Festus on his appointment as procurator 
of Judea. 

Ber'odaeh-bal'adan. 2 Kings 20: 
12. [Merodach-baladan.] 
Bero'thah (toward the wells), Bero'- 



BER 



BET 



tha-i (my wells). The first of these two 
names is given by Ezekiel, 47 : 16, in 
connection with Hamath and Damascus 
as forming part of the northern bound- 
ary of the promised land. The second is 
mentioned, 2 Sam. 8 : 8, in the same con- 
nection. The well-known city Beirut 
(Berytus) naturally suggests itself as 
identical with one at least of the names ; 
but in each instance the circumstances 
of the case seem to require a position far- 
ther east. They were probably in the 
vicinity of the springs near the present 
Hasbeya. 

Befo'thite, The. 1 Chron. 11 : 39. 
[Beeroth.] 

Beryl (tarshish) occurs in Ex. 28 : 20. 
It is generally supposed that the tarshish 
derives its name from the place so called, 
in Spain. Beryl is a mineral of great 
hardness, and, when transparent, of much 
beauty. By tarshish the modern yellow 
topaz "is probably intended, while in Rev. 
21 : 20 a different stone is perhaps re- 
ferred to, probably the mineral now called 
beryl, which is identical with the emerald 
except in color, being a light green or 
bluish-green. 

Be'sa-i {sword ). " Children of Be- 
sai" were among the Nethinim who re- 
turned to Judea with Zerubbabel. Ezra 
2 : 49 ; Neh. 7 : 52. 

Besode'iah (in the secret of the Lord ), 
father of one of the repairei-s of the wall 
of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 6. 

Be'som, a brush or broom of twigs 
for sweeping. Isa. 14 : 23. 

Be'sor, The brook 'cool), a torrent- 
bed or wadv in the extreme south of 
Judah. 1 Sam. 30 : 9, 10, 21. 

Be'tah {confidence), a city belonging 
to Hadadezer king of Zobah, mentioned 
with Berothai. 2 Sam. 8:8. In the 
parallel account, 1 Chron. 18 : 8, the name 
is called Tib hath 

Be 'ten {height), one of the cities on 
the border of the tribe of Asher. Josh. 
19 : 25. 

Beth, the most general word for a 
house or habitation. It has the special 
meaning of a temple or house of worship. 
Beth is more frequently employed in 
compound names of places than any 
other word. 

Bethab'ara {house of the ford), a 
place beyond Jordan, in which, accord- 
ing to the Received Text of the New 
Testament, John was baptizing. John 1 : 
28. If this reading be correct, Bethabara 
may be identical with Beth-barah ( fords 



of Abdrah), the ancient ford of Jordan 
on the road to Gilead ; or, which seems 
more likely, with Beth-nimrah, on the 
east of the river, nearly opposite Jericho. 
The Revised Version reads Bethany, 
which see below. 

Beth'°anath (house of echo or reply), 
one of the " fenced cities " of Naphtali, 
named with Beth-shemesh, Josh. 19 : 38 ; 
from neither of them were the Canaanites 
expelled. Judges 1 : 33. 

Beth'-anoth (house of echo), a town 
in the mountainous district of Judah, 
named with Halhul, Beth-zur and others 
in Josh. 15 : 58 only. 

Beth'any (house of dates, or house of 
misery), a village which, scanty as are 
the notices of it contained in Scripture, is 
more intimately associated in our minds 
than perhaps any other place with the 
most familiar acts and scenes of the last 
days of the life of Christ. It was situated 
"at" the Mount of Olives, Mark 11:1; 
Luke 19 : 29, about fifteen stadia (fur- 
longs, i. e.li or 2 miles) from Jerusalem, 
John 11 : 18, on or near the usual road 
from Jericho to the city, Luke 19 : 29, 
comp. 1 ; Mark 11 : 1, comp. 10 : 40, and 
close by the west(?) of another village 
called Bethphage, the two being several 
I times mentioned together. Bethany was 
the home of Mary and Martha and Laz- 
| arus, and is now known by a name de- 
| rived from Lazarus — el- Azariyeh or 
i Lazarieh. It lies on the eastern slope of 
; the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond 
the summit, and not very far from the 
■ point at which the road to Jericho begins 
j its more sudden descent towards the Jor- 
I dan valley. El-' Azariyeh is a ruinous 
and wretched village, a wild mountain 
hamlet of some twenty families. Beth- 
any has been commonly explained 
" house of dates," but it more probably 
signifies "house of misery." H. Dixon, 
" Holy Land," ii. 214, foil. 

Beth/any. In the Revised Version 
for Bethabara, John 1 : 28, where Jesus 
was baptized by John. It was probably 
an obscure village near Bethabara, and 
in time its name faded out and was re- 
placed by the larger and more important 
Bethabara. 

Beth-ar'abah (house of the desert), 
one of the six cities of Judah which were 
situated down in the Arabah, the sunk 
valley of the Jordan and Dead Sea, Josh. 
15 : 61, on the north border of the tribe. 
It is also included in the list of the towns 
of Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 22. 

85 



BET 



BET 




Bethany. (F)'om an original Photograph.) 



Beth'-aram (house of the height), ac- 
curately Beth-haram, one of the toAvns 
of Gad on the east of Jordan, described 
as in " the valley," Josh. 13 : 27, and no 
doubt the same place as that named 
Beth-haran in Num. 32 : 36. 

Beth-ar'bel (house of God's court), 
named only in Hosea 10 : 14, as the scene 
of a sack and massacre by Shalman. 

Beth-a'ven (house of nothingness, 
i. e. of idols), a place on the mountains 
of Benjamin, east of Bethel, Josh. 7:2; 
18 : 12, and lying between that place and 
Michmash. 1 Sam. 13 : 5 ; 14 : 23. In 
Hosea 4 : 15 ; 5:8; 10 : 5, the name is 
transferred to the neighboring Bethel, — 
once the " house of God," but then the 
house of idols, of " naught." 

Beth-az'maveth (house of Azma- 
veth). Under this name is mentioned, in 
Neh. 7 : 28 only, the town of Benjamin 
which is elsewhere called Azmaveth 
and Beth-samos. 

Beth-baal-me'on (house of Baal- 
meon), a place in the possessions of Reu- 
ben, on the downs (Authorized Version 
"plain") east of Jordan. Josh. 13 : 17. 
At the Israelites' first approach its name 
was Baal-meon, Num. 32 : 38, or, in its 
contracted form, Beon, 32 : 3, to which 
the Beth was possibly a Hebrew addition. 
Later it would seem to have come into 
possession of Moab, and to be known 



either as Beth-meon, Jer. 48 : 23, or Baal- 
meon. Ezek. 25 : 9. The name is still at- 
tached to a ruined place of considerable 
size a short distance to the southwest of 
Hesbdn, and bearing the name of "the 
fortress of Mi'un," or Maein. 

Beth-ba'rah (house of the ford), 
named only in Judges 7 : 24. It derives 
its chief interest from the possibility that 
its more modern representative may have 
been Beth-abara, where John baptized. It 
was probably the chief ford of the district. 

Beth-bir'e-i (house of my creation), a 
town of Simeon, 1 Chron. 4 : 31, which by 
comparison with the parallel list in Josh. 
19 : 6 appears to have had also the name 
of Beth-lebaoth. It lay to the ex- 
treme south. 

Beth'-car (house of the lamb), a place 
named as the point to which the Israelites 
pursued the Philistines, 1 Sam. 7 : 11, and 
therefore west of Mizpeh. 

Beth-da/gon (house of Dagon). 1. 
A city in the low country of Judah, Josh. 
15 : 41, and therefore not far from the 
Philistine territory. 

2. A town apparently near the coast, 
named as one of the landmarks of the 
boundary of Asher. Josh. 19 : 27. 

Beth-diblatha'im (house of fig- 
cakes), a town of Moab, Jer. 48 : 22, ap- 
parently the place elsewhere called Al- 

MON-DIBLATHAIM. 



BET 



BET 



Beth'el (the house of God). 1. A 
well-known city and holy place of cen- 
tral Palestine, about 12 miles north of 
Jerusalem. If we are to accept the pre- 
cise definition of Gen. 12 : 8, the name of 
Bethel would appear to have existed at 
this spot even before the arrival of Abram 
in Canaan. Gen. 12 : 8 ; 13 : 3, 4. Bethel 
was the scene of Jacob's vision. Gen. 28 : 
11-19 ; 31 : 13. Jacob lived there. 
Gen. 35 : 1-8. The original name 
was Luz. Judges 1 : 22, 23. After 
the conquest Bethel is frequently 
heard* of. In the troubled times 
when there was no king in Israel, it 
was to Bethel that the people went 
up in their distress to ask counsel 
of God. Judges 20 : 18, 26, 31 ; 21 : 
2; Authorized Version, "house of 
God." Here was the ark of the cove- 
nant. Judges 20 : 26-28 ; 21 : 4. Later 
it is named as one of the holy cities 
to which Samuel went in circuit. 1 
Sam. 7 : 16. Here Jeroboam placed 
one of the two calves of gold. 
Toward the end of Jeroboam's life 
Bethel fell into the hands of Judah. 
2 Chron. 13 : 19. Elijah visited 
Bethel, and we hear of " sons of the 
prophets " as resident there. 2 Kings 
2 : 2, 3. But after the destruction of the 
Baal worship by Jehu, Bethel comes once 
more into view. 2 Kings 10 : 29. After 
the desolation of the northern kingdom 
by the king of Assyria, Bethel still re- 
mained an abode of priests. 2 Kings 17 : 
27, 28. In later times Bethel is named 
only once under the scarcely-altered name 
of Beittn. Its ruins still lie on the right- 
hand side of the road from Jerusalem to 
Nablus. 

2. A town in the south part of Judah, 
named in Josh. 12 : 16 and 1 Sam. 30 : 27. 
In Josh. 15 : 30 ; 19 : 4 ; 1 Chron. 4 : 29, 30, 
the place appears under the names of 
Chesil, Bethul and Bethuel. Hiel 
the Bethelite is recorded as the rebuilder 
of Jericho. 1 Kings 16 : 34. 

3. In Josh. 16 : 1 and 1 Sam. 13 : 2 
Mount Bethel, a hilly section near Beth- 
el, is referred to. 

Beth-e'mek (house of the valley), a 
place on or near the border of Asher, on 
the north side of which was the ravine 
of Jiphthah-el. Josh. 19 : 27. 

Be'ther (depth), The mountains 
of. Cant. 2 : 17. There is no clue to 
guide us as to what mountains are in- 
tended here. 

Bethes'da (house of mercy, or theflow- 



I ing water), the Hebrew name of a reser- 
j voir or tank, with five " porches," close 
upon the sheep-gate or "market" in 
! Jerusalem. John 5 : 2. The largest res- 
I ervoir — Birket Israil — 360 feet long, 120 
feet wide and 80 feet deep, within the 
walls of the city, close by St. Stephen's 
Gate, and under the northeast wall of the 
I Haram area, is generally considered to 




Traditional Fool of Bethesda, 

be the modern representative of Bethesda. 
Robinson, however, suggests that the 
ancient Bethesda is identical with what 
is now called the Pool of the Virgin, an 
intermittent pool, south of Birket Israil 
and north of the pool of Siloam. 

Bethe'zel (neighbor's house), a place 
named only in Micah 1 : 11. From the 
context it was doubtless situated in the 
plain of Philistia. 

Beth-ga'der (house of the wall), 
doubtless a place, though it occurs in the 
genealogies of Judah as if a person. 1 
Chron. 2 : 51. 

Beth-ga'mul (camel-house), a town 
of Moab, in the downs east of Jordan. 
Jer. 48 : 23; comp. 21. 

Beth-gil'gal. Same as Gilgal. Neh. 
12 : 29. 

Beth-hac'cerem (house of the vine). 
Neh. 3 : 14 ; Jer. 6:1. A beacon station 
near Tekoa, supposed to be the Frank 
Mountain, a few miles southeast of Beth- 
lehem. 

Beth-ha'ran. Num. 32 : 36. It is no 

doubt the same place as Beth-aram. 
Josh. 13 : 27. 

Beth-hog'la (partridge-house), and 
Hog'lah, a place on the border of Judah, 
Josh. 15:6, and of Benjamin. Josh. 18: 

87 



BET 



BET 



19, 21. A magnificent spring and a ruin 
between Jericho and the Jordan still bear 
the names of Ainhajala. 

Beth-ho'ron {house of caverns), the 
name of two towns or villages, an " up- 
per" and a ''nether," Josh. 16:3, 5; 1 
Chron. 7 : 24, on the road from Gibeon to 
Azekah, Josh. 10 : 10, 11, and the Philis- 
tine plain. 1 Mace. 3 : 24. Beth-horon 
lay on the boundary line between Ben- 
jamin and Ephraim, Josh. 16 : 3, 5, and, 
Josh. 18 : 13, 14, was counted to Ephraim, 
Josh. 21 : 22 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 24, and given 



to the Kohathites. Josh. 21 : 22 ; 1 Chron. 
6 : 68 (53). The two Beth-horons still 
survive in the modern villages oiBeit-ur, 
et-tahta and el-foka. 

Beth-jesh'imoth (house of deserts), 
or Jes'imcth, a town or place east of 
Jordan, on the lower level at the south end 
of the Jordan valley, Num. 33 : 49, and 
named with Ashdod-pisgah and Beth- 
peor. It was one of the limits of the en- 
campment of Israel before crossing the 
Jordan. Later it was allotted to Reuben, 
Josh. 12:3; 13 : 20, but came at last into 










■ - "... > : : ;■" 













Bethlehem from the Chapel of the Nativity. 



the hands of Moab, and formed one of 
the cities Avhich were " the glory of the 
country." Ezek. 25 : 9. 

Beth-leb'aoth [house of lionesses), a 
town in the lot of Simeon, Josh. 19 : 6, in 
the extreme south of Judah. [Josh. 15 : 
32, Lebaoth.] In 1 Chron. 4 : 31 the 
name is given Beth-birei. 

Beth'lehem (house of bread). 1. 
One of the oldest towns in Palestine, al- 
ready in existence at the time of Jacob's 
return to the country. Its earliest name 
was Ephrath or Ephratah. See Gen. 
35:16, 19; 48:7. After the conquest 
Bethlehem appears under its own name, 
Bethlehem-judah. Judges 17 : 7 ; 1 
Sam. 17 : 12; Ruth 1 : 1, 2. The book 
of Ruth is a page from the domestic his- 
tory of Bethlehem. It was the home of 
88 



Ruth, Ruth 1 : 19, and of David. 1 Sam. 
17 : 12. It was fortified by Rehoboam. 
2 Chron. 11 : 6. It was here that our 
Lord was born, Matt. 2 : 1, and here that 
he was visited by the shepherds, Luke 2 : 
15-17, and the Magi. Matt. 2. The 
modern town of Beit-lahm lies to the east 
of the main road from Jerusalem to He- 
bron, six miles from the former. It 
covers the east and northeast parts of the 
ridge of a long gray hill of Jura lime- 
stone, which stands nearly due east and 
west, and is about a mile in length . The 
hill has a deep valley on the north and 
another on the south. On the top lies 
the village in a kind of irregular triangle. 
The population is about 3000 souls, en- 
tirely Christians. The Church of the 
Nativity, built by the empress Helena 



BET 



BET 



A.D. 330, is the oldest Christian church 
in existence. It is built over the grotto 
where Christ is supposed to have been 
born. 

2. A town in the portion of Zebulun, 
named nowhere but in Josh. 19 : 15. 
Now known as Beit-lahm. 

Bethlo'mon. 1 Esd. 5 : 17. [Beth- 
lehem, 1.] 

Beth-ma'achah (house of oppres- 
sion), a place named only in 2 Sam. 20 : 
14, 15. In the absence of* more informa- 
tion we can only conclude that it is iden- 



tical with Maachah or Aram-maachah, 
! one of the petty Syrian kingdoms in the 
1 north of Palestine. Comp.2 Kings 15: 

\ 29. 

Beth-mar'caboth (house of the 
chariots), one of the towns of Simeon, 
! situated to the extreme south of Ju- 
| dah. Josh. 19:5; 1 Chron. 4:31. In 
j the parallel list, Josh. 15 : 31, Madman- 
NAH occurs in place of Beth-marca- 
both. 

Beth-me'on. Jer. 48 : 23. A con- 
tracted form of Beth-baal-meon. 




Chapel of the Nativity, Bethlehem. 



Beth-nim'rah (house of leopards), 
one of the fenced cities on the east of 
Jordan, taken and built by the tribe of 
Gad, Num. 32 : 36, and described as lying 
in the valley beside Beth-haran. Josh. 
13': 27. In Num. 32 : 3 it is called sim- 
ply Nimrah. The name still survives 
in the modern Nahr Nimrim, above Jer- 
icho on the Jordan. 

Beth-pa'let (house of flight), a town 
among those in the extreme south of 
Judah, named in Josh. 15 : 27. 

Beth-paz'zez (house of the disper- 
sion), a town of Issachar named with 
En-haddah, Josh. 19 : 21, and of which 
nothing is known. 

Beth-pe'or (house of Peor), a place 



on the east of Jordan, opposite Jericho, 
and six miles above Libias or Beth-haran. 
Josh. 13 : 20 ; Deut. 3 : 29 ; 4 : 46. 

Beth'-pha-ge (g hard) (house of figs), 
the name of a place on the Mount of 
Olives, on the road between Jericho and 
Jerusalem. It was apparently close to 
Bethany. Matt. 21 : 1 ; Mark 11:1; Luke 
19 : 29. 

Beth-phe'Iet. Neh. 11 : 26. [Beth- 

PALET.] 

Beth'-rapha, a name which occurs 
in the genealogy of Judah as the son of 
Eshton. 1 Chron. 4 : 12. 

Beth-re'hob (house of Rehoh), a 
place mentioned as having near it the 
valley in which lay the town of Laish or 



BET 



BEU 



Dan. Judges 18 : 28. It was one of the 
little kingdoms of Aram or Syria. 2 Sam. 
10 : 6. Robinson conjectures that this 
ancient place is represented by the 
modern Hunin. 

Bethsa'ida {house of fish) of Gali- 
lee, John 12 : 21, a city which was the 
native place of Andrew, Peter and Philip, 
John 1 :44; 12 : 21, in the land of Gen- 
nesareth, Mark 6 : 45, comp. 53, and 
therefore on the west side of the lake. 
By comparing the narratives in Mark 6 : 
31-53 and Luke 9 : 10-17 it appears cer- 
tain that the Bethsaida at which the five 
thousand were fed must have been a 
second place of the same name on the 




Site of Bethsaida. (From an original Photograph^ 



east of the lake. (But in reality " there 
is but one Bethsaida, that known on our 
maps as Bethsaida Julias." — L. Abbot in 
Biblical and OrientalJournal. The fact is 
that Bethsaida was a village on both sides 
of the Jordan as it enters the Sea of Gali- 
lee on the north, so that the western part 
of the village was in Galilee and the 
eastern portion in Gaulonitis, part of the 
tetrarchy of Philip. This eastern portion 
was built up into a beautiful city by 
Herod Philip, and named by him Beth- 
saida Julias, after Julia the daughter of 
the Roman emperor Tiberius Csesar. On 
the plain of Butaiha, a mile or two to the 
east, the five thousand were fed. The 
western part of the town remained a 
small village. — Ed.) 

Beth-she'an (house of rest), or in 
Samuel, Bethshan, a city which be- 
longed to Manasseh, 1 Chron. 7 : 29, 
though within the limits of Issachar, 
Josh. 17 : 11, and therefore on the west 
90 



of Jordan. Comp. 1 Mace. 5 : 52. In 
later times it was called Scythopolis. 2 
Mace. 12 : 29. The place is still known 
as Beisdn. It lies in the Ghor or Jordan 
valley, about twelve miles south of the 
Sea of Galilee and four miles west of the 
Jordan. 

Beth-she'mesh (house of the sun). 
1. One of the towns which marked the 
north boundary of Judah. Josh. 15 : 10. 
It is now 'Ainshems, about two miles 
from the great Philistine plain, and seven 
from Ekron. 

2. A city on the border of Issachar. 
Josh. 19 : 22. 

3. One of the "fenced cities" of Naph- 

tali. Josh. 19 : 38 ; Judges 1 : 33. 

4. An idolatrous temple or place 
in Egypt. Jer. 43 : 13. In the middle 
ages Heliopolis was still called by 
the Arabs Ain Shems. 

Beth-shit/tah (home of the aca- 
cia), one of the spots to which the 
flight of the host of the Midianites 
extended after their discomfiture 
by Gideon. Judges 7 : 22. 

Beth-tap'puah (home of 
apples), one of the towns of Judah, 
in the mountainous district, and 
near Hebron. Josh. 15 : 53 ; comp. 
1 Chron. 2 : 43. Here it has actu- 
ally been discovered by Robinson 
under the modern name of Teffuh, 
five miles west of Hebron, on a 
ridge of high table-land. 

Be'thuel (dweller in God), the 
son of Nahor by Milcah ; nephew 
of Abraham, and father of Rebekah, Gen. 
22 : 22, 23 ; 24 : 15, 24, 47 ; 28 : 2. In Gen. 
25 : 20 and 28 : 5 he is called "Bethuel 
the Syrian." 

Be'thul (dweller in God), a town of 
Simeon in the south, named with Elto- 
lad and Hormah, Josh. 19:4; called also 
Chesil and Bethuel. Josh. 15 : 30 ; 1 Chron. 
4 : 30. 

Beth'-zur (house of rock), a town in 
the mountains of Judah, built by Jero- 
boam, Josh. 15 : 58 ; 2 Chron. 11 : 7, now 
Beit-zur. It commands the road from 
Beersheba and Hebron, which has always 
been the main approach to Jerusalem 
from the south. 

Bet'onim, a town of Gad, appar- 
ently on the northern boundary. Josh. 
13 : 26. 

Betrothing. [Marriage.] 
Beu'lah (married), the name which 
the land of Israel is to bear when " the 
land shall be married." Isa. 62 : 4. » 



BEZ 



BIB 



Be'za-i (Be'za) {conqueror). " Chil- 
dren of Bezai," to the number of 323, re- 
: turned from captivity with Zerubbabel. 
Ezra 2 ; 17 ; Neh. 7 : 23 ; 10 : 18. 

Bezal'e-el {in the shadow of God). 
1. The son of Uri, the son of Hur, of ; 
the tribe of Judah, and one of the archi- 
tects of the tabernacle. Ex. 31 : 1-6. His 
; charge was chiefly in all works of metal, 
wood and stone. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. One of the sons of Pahath-moab who 
had taken a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 30. 
, (B.C. 458.) 

Be'zek {lightning). 1. The residence 
of Adonibezek, Judges 1 : 5, in the lot 
of Judah. ver. 3. 

2. Where Saul numbered the forces of 
Israel and Judah before going to the re- 
lief of Jabesh-gilead. 1 Sam. 11 : 8. This 
was doubtless somewhere in the centre of 
the country, near the Jordan valley. No 
identification of either place has been 
made in modern times. 

Be'zer {gold ore), son of Zophah, one 
of the heads of the houses of Asher. 1 
Chron. 7 : 37. 

Be'zer in the wilderness, a city 
of refuge in the downs on the east of the 
Jordan. Deut. 4 : 43; Josh. 20 : 8; 21 : 
36 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 78. 

Bi'ble. The Bible is the name given 
to the revelation of God to man con- 
tained in sixty-six books or pamphlets, 
bound together and forming one book 
and only one, for it has in reality one 
author and one purpose and plan, and 
is the development of one scheme of the 
redemption of man. 

I. Its Names.— (1) The Bible, i. e. 
The Book, from the Greek "ta biblia," 
the books. The word is derived from a 
root designating the inner bark of the 
linden tree, on which the ancients wrote 
their books. It is the book, as being su- 
perior to all other books. But the appli- 
cation of the word Bible to the collected 
books of the Old and New Testaments is 
not to be traced farther back than the 
fifth century of our era. (2) The Scrip- 
tures, i. e. the writings, as recording what 
was spoken by God. (3) The Oracles, i. e. 
the things spoken, because the Bible is 
what God spoke to man, and hence also 
called (4) The Word. (5) The Testaments 
or Covenants, because it is the testimony 
of God to man, the truths to which God 
bears witness; and is also the covenant 
or agreement of God with man for his 
salvation. (6) The Law, to express that 
it contains God's commands to men. 



II. Composition.— The Bible consists 
of two great parts, called the Old and 
New Testaments, separated by an inter- 
val of nearly four hundred years. These 
Testaments are further divided into sixty- 
six books, thirty-nine in the Old Testa- 
ment and twenty-seven in the New. 
These books are a library in themselves, 
being written in every known form of 
literature. Twenty -two of them are his- 
torical, five are poetical, eighteen are 
prophetical, twenty-one are epistolary. 
They contain logical arguments, poetry, 
songs and hymns, history, biography, 
stories, parables, fables, eloquence, law, 
letters and philosophy. 

There are at least thirty-six different 
authors, who wrote in three continents, 
in many countries, in three languages, 
and from every possible human stand- 
point. Among these authors were kings, 
farmers, mechanics, scientific men, law- 
yers, generals, fishermen, ministers and 
priests, a tax-collector, a doctor, some 
rich, some poor, some city bred, some 
country born — thus touching all the ex- 
periences of men — extending over 1500 
years. 

III. Unity.— And yet the Bible is but 
one book, because God was its real author, 
and therefore, though he added new rev- 
elations as men could receive them, he 
never had to change what was once re- 
vealed. The Bible is a unit, because (1) 
It has but one purpose, the salvation of 
men. (2) The character of God is the 
same. (3) The moral law is the same. 
(4) It contains the development of one 
great scheme of salvation. 

IV. Original Languages. — The 
Old Testament was written in Hebrew, 
a Shemitic language, except that parts 
of the books of Ezra (5:8; 6 : 12 ; 7 : 
12-26) and of Daniel (2 : 4-7 : 28), and 
one verse in Jeremiah (Jer. 10 : 11), were 
written in the Chaldee language. The 
New Testament is written wholly in 
Greek. 

V. Ancient Manuscripts of the 
Original. — There are no ancient He- 
brew manuscripts older than the tenth 
century, but we know that these are in 
the main correct, because we have a 
translation of the Hebrew into Greek, 

j called the Septuagint, made nearly three 
hundred years before Christ. Our He- 
brew Bibles are a reprint from what 
is called the Masoretic text. The an- 
cient Hebrew had only the consonants 
j printed, and the vowels were vocalized 



BIG 



BIG 



in pronunciation, but were not written. 
Some Jewish scholars living at Tiberias, 
and at Sora by the Euphrates, from 
the sixth to the twelfth century, punc- 
tuated the Hebrew text, and wrote in 
the vowel points and other tone-marks 
to aid in the reading of the Hebrew; 
and these, together with notes of vari- 
ous kinds, they called Ma sora (tradition), 
hence the name Masoretic text. 

Of the Greek of the New Testament 
there are a number of ancient manu- 
scripts. They are divided into two kinds, 
the Uncials, written wholly in capitals, 
and the Cursives, written in a running 
hand. The chief of these are — (1) the Al- 
exandrian {codex Alexandrinus, marked 
A), so named because it was found in 
Alexandria in Egypt, in 1628. It dates 
back to a.d. 350, and is now in the Brit- 
ish Museum. (2) The Vatican {codex 
Vaticanus, B), named from the Vatican 
library at Rome, where it is kept. Its 
date is a.d. 300 to 325. (3) The Sinaitic 
{codex Sinaiticus), so called from the 
convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, 
where it was discovered by Dr. Tischen- 
dorf in 1844. It is now at St. Petersburg, 
Russia. This is one of the earliest and 
best of all the manuscripts. 

VI. Translations.— The Old Testa- 
ment was translated into Greek by a 
company of learned Jews at Alexandria, 
who began their labor about the year 
B.C. 286. It is called the Septuagint, 
i. e. the Seventy, from the tradition that 
it was translated by seventy (more ex- 
actly seventy-two) translators. The Vul- 
gate, or translation of the Bible into 
Latin by Jerome, A.D. 385 405, is the 
authorized version of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church. The first English trans- 
Lition of the whole Bible was by John 
de Wickliffe (1324-1384). Then followed 
that of William Tyndale (1525) and sev- 
eral others. 

As the sum and fruit of all these ap- 
peared our present Authorized Version, 
or King James Version, in 1611. It was 
made by forty-seven learned men, in two 
years and nine months, with a second 
revision which took nine months longer. 
These forty-seven formed themselves into 
six companies, two of whom met at West- 
minster, two at Oxford and two at Cam- 
bridge. The present English edition is 
an improvement, in typographical and 
grammatical correctness, upon this re- 
vision, and in these respects is nearly 
perfect, [See Versions.] 
92 



A Revised Version of this author 
ized edition has been in process of prep^ 
aration by eighty American and English 
scholars, of various denominations, the 
English committee having been appoint 
ed in 1870 and the American in 1871. 
This revision was necessary because of 
the changes in the English language 
during the last 270 years, and because 
much light has been thrown upon th 
original Scriptures, and upon all matter 
pertaining to biblical studies. The Re- 
vised New Testament was published si 
multaneously in this country and ii 
England in May, 1881, and in less thai 
six months more than four million copiei 
had been issued. 

VII. Divisions into Chapters ani 
Verses. — The present division of th( 
whole Bible into chapters was made b) 
Cardinal Hugo de St. Cher about 1250. 

i The present division into verses was in- 
troduced by Robert Stephens in his Greek 
Testament, published in 1551, in his edi- 
tion of the Vulgate, in 1555. The first 
English Bible printed with these chap- 
ters and verses was the Geneva Bible, in 
1560. 

VIII. Circulation of the Bible.— 

J The first book ever printed was the Bible ; 
and more Bibles have been printed than 
! any other book. It has been translated 
into 226 different languages. The British 
j and Foreign Bible Society (founded in 
I 1804) has issued (1881) 91,014,448 Bibles 
and portions of the Bible ; and the Amer- 
ican Bible Society (founded in 1816) has 
j issued (1881) 38,882,814 copies. In all, 
j so far as known, there have been issued 
j by all the Bible societies since 1804 one 
hundred and sixty-five million copies; 
| but it is said that probably as many more 
i copies have been issued by private pub- 
lishers.— Ed. 

Bich'ri {first-born), 2 Sam. 20 : 1, an 
ancestor of Sheba, 

JBid/kar {son of stabbing, i. e. one who 
stabs), Jehu's " captain," originally his 
fellow officer, 2 Kings 9 : 25, who com- 
pleted the sentence on Jehoram, son of 
Ahab. 
Bier. [Burial.] 

Big'tha {gift of God), one of the 
seven chamberlains or eunuchs of the 
harem of King Ahasuerus. Esther 1 : 10. 
(B.C. 483.) 

Big'than, or Big'thana (#(/* of God), 
a eunuch (chamberlain, Authorized Ver- 
sion) in the court of Ahasuerus, one of 
those " who kept the door," and con- 



I! 



BIG 



BIS 



spired with Teresh against the king's 
life. Esther 2 : 21. (B.C. 479.) 

Big'va-i {happy). 1. " Children of 
Bigvai," 2056 (Nen. 2067) in number, re- 
turned from the captivity with Zerub- 
babel, Ezra 2 : 14; Neh. 7 : 19, and 72 of 
them at a later date with Ezra. Ezra 
8:14. (B.C. 536.) 

2. Apparently one of the chiefs of Ze- 
rubbabel's expedition, Ezra 2:2; Neh. 
7 : 7, whose family afterwards signed the 
covenant. Neh. 10 : 16. (B.C. 410.) 

Bil'dad {son of contention), the sec- 
ond of Job's three friends. He is called 
" the Shuhite," which implies both his 
family and nation. Job 2 : 11. (B.C. 
about 2000.) 

Bil'eam {foreigners), a town in the 
western half of the tribe of Manasseh, 
named only in 1 Chron. 6 : 70 ; same as 
Ibleam and Gath-rimmon. Josh. 17 : 11 
and 21 : 24. 

Bil'gah {first-born). 1. A priest in 
the time of David ; the head of the fif- 
teenth course for the temple service. 1 
Chron. 24:14. (B.C. 1015.) 

2. A priest or priestly family who re- 
turned from Babylon with Zerubbabel 
and Jeshua. Neh. 12 : 5, 18. (B.C. 536.) 

Bil ga-i. Neh. 10 : 8. [Bilgah, 2.] 
• Bil'hah {timid, bashful), handmaid ! 
of Rachel, Gen. 29 : 29, and concubine 
of Jacob, to whom she bore Dan and 
Naphtali. Gen. 30 : 3-8 ; 35 : 25 ; 46 : 25 ; 
1 Chron. 7 :13. (B.C. 1753.) 

Bii'han {modest). 1. A Horite chief 
dwelling in Mount Seir. Gen. 36 : 27 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 42. 

2. A Benjamite, son of Jediael. 1 
Chron. 7 : 10. 

Bil'shan {eloquent), one of Zerubba- 
bel's companions on his expedition from 
Babylon. Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7 : 7. (B.C. 
536.) 

Bim'hal {circumcised), one of the sons 
of Japhlet in the line of Asher. 1 Chron. 
7:33. 

Bin'ea {fountain), one of the descend- 
ants of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 37 ; 9 : 43. 
(B.C. 850.) 

Bin'nu-i {familyship). 1. ALevite, 
father of Noadiah. Ezra 8 : 33. 

2. One who had taken a foreign wife. 
Ezra 10 : 30. 

3. Another Israelite who had also taken 
a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 38. 

4. Altered from Bani in the corre- [ 
sponding list in Ezra. Neh. 7 : 15. 

5. A Levite, son of Henadad, who as- ' 
sisted at the reparation of the wall of j 



Jerusalem, under Nehemiah. Neh. 3 : 24 ; 
10:9. 

Birds. [Sparrow.] 
Bir'sha {son of godlessness), a king of 
Gomorrah. Gen. 14 : 2. 

Birthdays. The custom of observing 
birthdays is very ancient, Gen. 40 : 20 ; 
Jer. 20 : 15 ; and in Job 1 : 4, etc., we 
read that Job's sons " feasted every one 
his day." In Persia birthdays were cele- 
brated with peculiar honors and ban- 
quets, and in Egypt Uiose of the king 
were kept with great pomp. It is very 
probable that in Matt. 14 : 6 the feast to 
commemorate Herod's accession is in- 
tended, for we know that such feasts were 
common, and were called " the day of 
the king." Hos. 7 : 5. 

Birthright, the advantages accruing 
to the eldest son. These were not defi- 
nitely fixed in patriarchal times. Great 
respect was paid to him in the household, 
and, as the family widened into a tribe, 
this grew into a sustained authority, un- 
defined save by custom, in all matters of 
common interest. Thus the "princes" 
of the congregation had probably rights 
of primogeniture. Num. 7:2; 21 : 18 ; 
25 : 14. Gradually the rights of the eld- 
est son came to be more definite: (1) 
The functions of the priesthood in the 
family, with the paternal blessing. (,2) A 
"double portion" of the paternal proper- 
ty was allotted by the Mosaic law. Deut. 
21 : 15-17. (3) The eldest son succeed- 
ed to the official authority of the father. 
The first-born of the king was his suc- 
cessor by law. 2 Chron. 21 : 3. In all 
these Jesus was the first-born of the 
Father. 

Bir'zavith, a name occurring in the 
genealogies of Asher. 1 Chron. 7-: 31. 

Bishop. The word originally signi- 
fied an "overseer" or spiritual superin- 
tendent. The titles bishop and elder, or 
presbyter, were essentially equivalent. 
Bishop is from the Greek, and denotes 
one who exercises the f unction of over- 
seeing. Presbyter was derived from the 
office in the synagogue. Of the order in 
which the first elders or bishops were ap- 
pointed, as of the occasion which led to 
the institution of the office, we have no 
record. The duties of the bishop-elders 
appear to have been as follows: 1. Gen- 
eral superintendence over the spiritual 
well-being of the flock. 1 Pet. 5:2. 2. 
! The work of teaching, both publicly and 
! privately. 1 Thess. 5 : 12; Titus 1 : 9; 1 
I Tim. 5 : 17. 3. The work of visiting the 

93 



BIS 



BOA 



sick. James 5 : 14. 4. Among other acts 
of charity, that of receiving strangers oc- 
cupied a conspicuous place. 1 Tim. 3:2; 
Titus 1 : 8. Peter calls Christ "the 
shepherd and bishop of your souls." 1 
Pet. 2 : 25. 

Bishopric, the district over which 
the jurisdiction of a bishop extended. 
Acts 1 : 20 ; 1 Tim. 3 : 1. 

Bithi'ah {daughter of the Lord), 
daughter of a Pharaoh, and wife of Me- 
red. 1 Chron. 4 : 18. (B.C. about 1491.) 

Bith'ron, more accurately the Bith- 
ron (a craggy gorge or ravine), a place, 
doubtless a district, in the Jordan valley 
on the east side of the river. 2 Sam. 2 : 
29. 

Bithyn'ia, a Roman province of Asia 
Minor. Mentioned only in Acts 16 : 7 
and in 1 Pet. 1:1. The chief town of 
Bithynia was Nicsea, celebrated for the 
general Council of the Church held there 
in a.d. 325 against the Arian heresy. 

Bitter herbs. The Israelites were 
commanded to eat the paschal lamb " with 
unleavened bread and with bitter herbs." 
Ex. 12:8. These "bitter herbs" con- 
sisted of such plants as chiccory, bitter 
cresses, hawk weeds, sow-thistles and wild 
lettuces, which grow abundantly in the 
peninsula of Sinai, in Palestine and in 
Egypt. The purpose of this observance 
was to recall to the minds of the Israel- 
ites their deliverance from the bitter 
bondage of the Egyptians. 

Bittern. The word occurs in Isa. 14 : 
23; 34 : 11 ; Zeph. 2 : 14, and we are in- 
clined to believe that the Authorized 
Version is correct. The bittern (Botau- 
rus stellar is) belongs to the Ardeidce, the 
heron family of birds, and is famous for 
the peculiar nocturnal booming sound 
which it emits. 

Bizjoth'jah (contempt of Jehovah), a 
town in the south of Judah. Josh. 15 : 
28. 

Biz'tha (eunuch), the second of the 
seven eunuchs of King Ahasuerus' harem. 
Esther 1 : 10. (B.C. 483.) 

B hi ins, violent ulcerous inflamma- 
tions, the sixth plague of Egypt, Ex. 9 : 
9, 10, and hence called in Deut. 28 : 27, 
35 "the botch of Egypt." It seems to 
have been the black leprosy, a fearful 
kind of elephantiasis. 

Blasphemy, in its technical English 
sense, signifies the speaking evil of God, 
and in this sense it is found Ps. 74 : 18 ; 
Isa. 52 : 5 ; Rom. 2 : 24, etc. But accord- 
ing to its derivation it may mean any 
94 



I species of calumny and abuse : see 1 
! Kings 21 : 10 ; Acts 18:6; Jude 9, etc. 
' Blasphemy was punished by stoning, 
which was inflicted on the son of Sheio- 
mith. Lev. 24 : 11. On this charge both 
our Lord and St. Stephen were condemned 
to death by the Jews. 

The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, 
Matt. 12 : 32 ; Mark 3 : 28, consisted in- 
attributing to the power of Satan those 
unquestionable miracles which Jesus per- 
formed by "the finger of God" and the 
power of the Holy Spirit. It is plainly 
such a state of willful, determined oppo- 
sition to God and the Holy Spirit that 
no efforts will avail to lead to repent- 
ance. Among the Jews it was a sin 
against God answering to treason in our 
times. 

Blas'tus (sprout), the chamberlain of 
Herod Agrippa I. Acts 12 : 20. 

Blindness is extremely common in 
the East from many causes. Blind beg- 
gars figure repeatedly in the New Testa- 
ment (Matt. 12:22), and "opening the 
eyes of the blind" is mentioned in 
prophecy as a peculiar attribute of the 
Messiah. Isa. 29 : 18 ; 42 : 7, etc. The 
Jews were specially charged to treat the 
blind with compassion and care. Lev. 
19 : 14; Deut. 27 : 18. Blindness will- 
fully inflicted for political or other pur- 
poses is alluded to in Scripture. 1 Sam. 
11:2; Jer. 39 : 7. 

Blood. To blood is ascribed in Scrip- 
ture the mysterious sacredness which 
belongs to life, and God reserves it to 
himself when allowing man the do- 
minion over and the use of the lower 
animals for food. Thus reserved, it ac- 
quires a double power: (1) that of sac- 
rificial atonement; and (2) that of be- 
coming a curse when wantonly shed, 
unless duly expiated. Gen. 9:4; Lev. 7 : 
26; 17:11-13. 

Blood, Revenger of. He who 
avenged the blood of one who had been 
killed. The nearest relative of the de- 
ceased became the authorized avenger of 
blood. Num. 35 : 19. The law of retalia- 
tion was not to extend beyond the imme- 
diate offender. Deut. 24 : 16 ; 2 Kings 14 : 
6 ; 2 Chron. 25 : 4 ; Jer. 31 : 29, 30 ; Ezek. 
18 : 20. 

Boaner'ges, a name signifying sons 
of thunder, given by our Lord to the two 
| sons of Zebedee, James and John, prob- 
ably on account of their fiery earnest- 
I ness. Mark 3 : 17. See Luke 9 : 54 ; Mark 
| 9 : 38 ; comp. Matt. 20 : 20, etc. 



BOA 



EOT 



Boar. [Swine.] 

Bo'az (fleetness). 1. A wealthy JBeth- 
lehemite, kinsman to Elimelech the hus- 
band of Naomi. He married Ruth, and 
redeemed the estates of her deceased hus- 
band Mahlon. Ruth 4 : 1 fF. Boaz is 
mentioned in the genealogy of Christ, 
Matt. 1 : 5. (B.C. 1250, but there is great 
difficulty in assigning his date.) 

2. The name of one of Solomon's bra- 
zen pillars erected in the temple porch. 
[Jachin.] It stood on the left, and was 
eighteen cubits high. 1 Kings 7 : 15, 21 ; 
2 Chron. 3 : 15 ; Jer. 52 : 21. 

Boch'eru (youth), son of Azel, ac- 
cording to the present Hebrew text of 1 
Chron. 8 : 38. 

Bo'chim (the weepers), a place on the 
west of Jordan, above Gilgal ; so named 
from the weeping of Israel. Judg. 2 : 1, 5. 

Bo'han (thumb), a Reubenite. Josh. 
15:6; 18:17. 

Bo'han, Stone of, a stone erected 
in honor of Bohan, on the boundaiy be- 
tween Judah and Benjamin, in the val- 
ley of Achor, along the eastern side of 
the present Wady Dahr, running into the 
Dead Sea. 

Boil. [Medicine.] 

Bondage. [Slave.] 

Book. [Writing.] 

Booths. [Succoth ; Tabernacles, 
Feast of.] 

Booty consisted of captives of both 
sexes, cattle, and whatever a captured 
city might contain, especially metallic 
treasures. Within the limits of Canaan 
no captives were to be made, Deut. 
20: 14, 16; beyond these limits, in 
case of warlike resistance, all the 
women and children were to be made 
captives, and the men put to death. 
The law of booty is given in Num. 
31 : 26-47. As regarded the army, 
David added a regulation that the 
baggage guard should share equally 
with the troops engaged. 1 Sam. 30 : 
24, 25. 

Bo'oz. Matt. 1:5; Luke 3 : 32. 
[Boaz.] 

Bos'cath. 2 Kings 22:1. [Boz- 

KATH.] 

Bo'sor, same as Beor. 2 Pet. 2 : 
15. 

Bottle. The Arabs keep their 
water, milk and other liquids in 
leathern bottles. These are made 
of goatskins. When the animal is 
killed they cut off its feet and its 
head, and draw it in this manner out 



of the skin without opening its belly. 
The great leathern bottles are made of 
the skin of a he-goat, and the small ones, 
that serve instead of a bottle of water on 




Arab Water-carrier. 




Eastern Tear-botties 



95 



BOW 



BRA 



the road, are made of a kid's skin. The 
effect of external heat upon a skin bottle 
is indicated in Ps. 119 : 83, " a bottle in 
the smoke," and of expansion produced 
by fermentation in Matt. 9 : 17, " new 
wine in old bottles." Vessels of metal, 
earthen or glassware for liquids were in 
use among the Greeks, Egyptians, Etrus- 
cans and Assyrians, and also no doubt 
among the Jews, especially in later times. 
Thus Jer. 19 : 1, " a potter's earthen bot- 
tle." (Bottles were made by the ancient 
Egyptians of alabaster, gold, ivory an:l 



stone. They were of most exquisite work- 
manship and elegant forms. Tear-bottles 
were small urns of glass or pottery, 
made to contain the tears of mourners at 
funerals, and placed in the sepulchres at 
Rome and in Palestine. In some ancient 
tombs they are found in great numbers. 
Ps. 50 : 8 refers to this custom. — Ed.) 

Bow. Gen. 37 : 10. The eastern mode 
of salutation, by kneeling upon one knee 
and bending the head forward till it 
touched the ground. 

Box tree. Isa. 41 : 19 ; 60 : 13. A beau- 




Ruins of Bozrah. (From an original Photograph.) 



tiful evergreen growing in many parts of 
Europe and Asia. Its hard wood is much 
prized by engravers. The reference in 
Isa. 60 : 13 is supposed by some to mean 
a species of cedar. 

Bo'zez (the height), one of the two 
sharp rocks between the passages by 
which Jonathan entered the Philistine 
garrison. It seems to have been that on 
the north. 1 Sam. 14 : 4, 5. 

Boz'kath (rocky height), a city of 
Judah in the lowlands. Josh. 15 : 39 ; 2 
Kings 22 : 1. 

Boz'rah (fortress). 1. In Edom, the 
city of Jobab the son of Zerah, one of the 
early kings of that nation. Gen. 36 : 33 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 44. Mentioned by Isaiah, 
34:6; 63:1, in connection with Edom, 
and by Jeremiah, 49 : 13, 22 ; Amos, 1 : 
96 



12, and Micah, 2 : 12. Its modern rep- 
resentative is el-Busaireh, which lies on 
the mountain district to the southeast of 
the Dead Sea. 

2. In his catalogue of the cities of the 
land of Moab, Jeremiah, 48 : 24, mentions 
a Bozrah as in " the plain country" (ver. 
21), i.e. the high level downs on the east 
of the Dead Sea. 

Bracelet. [See Armlet.] Brace- 
lets of fine twisted Venetian gold are still 
common in Egypt. In Gen. 38 : 18, 25 
the word rendered ''bracelet" means 
probably a string by which a seal-ring 
was suspended. Men as well as women 
wore bracelets, as we see from Cant. 5 : 
14. Layard says of the Assyrian kings, 
" The arms were encircled by armlets, 
and the wrists by bracelets." 



BRA 



BRI 




Bracelets. 

1. Gold Egyptian Bracelets. 2. Silver Bracelet. 3. 
Bronze, with Bell attached, from Mummy of a Girl. 4. 
Iron, with Cornelian Setting. 5. Bracelet of Cowries. 

Bramble. [Thorns.] 

Brass. The word nechdsheth is im- 
properly translated by " brass." In most 
places of the Old Testament the correct 
translation would be copper, although it 
may sometimes possibly mean bronze, a 
compound of copper and tin. Indeed a 
simple metal was obviously intended, as 
we see from Deut. 8:9; 33 : 25 ; Job 28 : 
2. Copper was known at a very early 
period. Gen. 4 : 22. 

Brazen serpent. [Serpent.] 




also) in a small wooden bowl or " knead- 
ing-trough " until it became dough. Ex. 

12 : 34, 39; 2 Sam. 13 : 3; Jer. 7 : 18. 
When the kneading was completed, 
leaven was generally added [Leaven] ; 
but when the time for preparation was 
short, it was omitted, and unleavened 
cakes, hastily baked, were eaten, as is still 
the prevalent custom among the Bedouins. 
Gen. 18 : 6 ; 19 : 3 ; Ex. 12 : 39 ; Judges 6 : 
19 ; 1 Sam. 28 : 24. The leavened mass 
was allowed to stand for some time, Matt. 

13 : 33 ; Luke 13 : 21 ; the dough was 
then divided into round cakes, Ex. 29 : 
23 ; Judges 7:13; 8:5; 1 Sam. 10 : 3; 
Prov. 6 : 26, not unlike flat stones in 
shape and appearance, Matt. 7 : 9, comp. 
4 : 3, about a span in diameter and a 
finger's breadth in thickness. In the 
towns where professional bakers resided, 
there were no doubt fixed ovens, in shape 
and size resembling those in use among 
ourselves ; but more usually each house- 
hold possessed a portable oven, consisting 
of a stone or metal jar, about three feet 
high, which was heated inwardly with 
wood, 1 Kings 17 : 12 ; Isa. 44 : 15 ; Jer. 
7 : 18, or dried grass and flower-stalks. 
Matt. 6 : 30. 

Breastplate. [Arms.] 
Brethren of Jesus. [James.] 

Brick. Gen. 11:3. The bricks 
in use among the Jews were much 
larger than with us, being usually 
from 12 to 13 inches square and 
3i inches thick ; they thus possess 
more of the character of tiles. 
Ezek. 4:1. The Israelites, in com- 
mon with other captives, were 
employed by the Egyptian mon- 
archs in making bricks and in 




Egyptian Loaves and Seed Bread. 

Bread. The preparation of bread as 
an article of food dates from a very early 
period. Gen. 18 : 6. The corn or grain 
employed was of various sorts. The best 
bread was made of wheat, but " barley" 
and spelt were also used. John 6 : 9, 13 ; 
Isa. 28 : 25. The process of making bread 
was as follows : the flour was first mixed 
Avith water or milk ; it was then kneaded 
with the hands (in Egypt with the feet 
7 



Assyrian Brick from Nimroud, inscribed with 
Shahuaneser's Name and Title. 

building. Ex. 1 : 14; 5 : 7. Egyptian 
bricks were not generally dried in kilns, 
but in the sun. That brick-kilns were 

97 



ERI 



BUR 




Jews and Captives making Bricks in Egypt. 



known is evident from 2 Sam. 12 : 31 ; 
Jer. 43 : 9. When made of the Nile mud 
they required straw to prevent cracking, j 
[See Straw.] 

Bride, Bridegroom. [Marriage.] ! 

Brigandine. Jer. 46 : 4; elsewhere 
" habergeon," or " coat of mail." 

Brimstone. Brimstone, or sulphur, \ 
is found in considerable quantities on 
the shores of the Dead Sea. Gen. 19 : 24. j 
It is a well-known simple mineral sub- 
stance, crystalline, easily melted, very 
inflammable, and when burning emits a 
peculiar suffocating odor. It is found 
in great abundance near volcanoes. The 
soil around Sodom and Gomorrah abound- 
ed in sulphur and bitumen. 

Brother. The Hebrew word is used ! 
in various senses in the Old Testament, j 
as, 1. Any kinsman, and not a mere j 
brother ; e. g. nephew, Gen. 13 : 8 ; 14 : i 
16 ; husband, Cant. 4:9. 2. One of the i 
same tribe. 2 Sam. 19 : 13. 3. Of the j 
same people, Ex. 2 : 11, or even of a cog- i 
nate people. Num. 20 : 14. 4. An ally, j 
Amos 1:9. 5. Any friend. Job 5 : 15. j 

6. One of the same office. 1 Kings 9 : 13. 

7. A fellow man. Lev. 19 : 17. 8. Meta- I 
phorically of any similarity, as in Job ! 
30 : 19. The word dSeA<£6s has a similar ! 
range of meanings in the New Testament. | 

Buk'ki (wasting). 1. Son of Abishua I 
and father of Uzzi, fifth from Aaron in ' 
the line of the high priests in 1 Chron. 
6:5 (6:5, 51, Authorized Version), and 
in the genealogy of Ezra. Ezra 7 : 4. 

2. Son of Jogli, prince of the tribe of 
Dan, one of the ten men chosen to appor- 
tion the land of Canaan between the 
tribes. Num. 34 : 22. 

Bukki'ah (wasting from Jehovah), a 
Kohathite Levite, of the sons of Heman, 
98 



one of the musicians in the 
temple. 1 Chron. 25 : 4, 13. 
Bui (rain). [Month.] 
Bull, Bullock, terms used 
synonymously with ox, oxen, 
and properly a generic name 
for horned cattle when of full 
age and fit for the plough. It is 
variously rendered "bullock," 
Isa. 65 : 25, " cow," Ezek.4 : 15, 
" oxen," Gen. 12 : 16. Kine is 
used in the Bible as the plural 
of cow. In Isaiah 51 : 20, the 
"wild bull" ("wild ox" in 
Deut. 14 : 5) was possibly one of 
the larger species of antelope, 
and took its name from its 
swiftness. Dr. Robinson men- 
tions large herds of black and almost 
hairless buffaloes as still existing in Pales- 
tine, and these may be the animal indi- 
cated. 

Bulrush (or papyrus), a reed growing 
in the shallow water on the banks of the 
Nile. It grows to the 
height of 12 or 15 
feet, with a stalk two 
or three inches in 
diameter. The stalks 
are very pliable and 
can be very closely 
interwoven, as is 
evident from their 
having been used in 
the construction of 
arks. Ex. 2 : 3, 5. 
Paper was made 
from this plant, from 
which it derives its 
name. 

Bu'nah (under- 
standing), a son of 
Jerahmeel, of the 
family of Pharez in 
Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 
25. 

Bun'ni (my un- 
derstanding). 1. One 
of the Levites in the 
time of Nehemiah. 
Neh. 9 : 4. 

2. Another Levite, 
but of earlier date 
than the preceding. 
Neh. 11 : 15. 

Burial, Sepul- 
chres. [Tombs.] On this subject we have 
to notice — 1. The place of burial, its site 
and shape ; 2. The mode of burial ; 3. The 
prevalent notions regarding this duty. 




BUE 



BUZ 



1 . A natural cave enlarged and adapt- 
ed by excavation, or an artificial imita- 
tion of one, was the standard type of 
sepulchre. Sepulchres, when the owner's 
means permitted it, were commonly pre- 
pared beforehand, and stood often in 
gardens, by roadsides, or even adjoining 
houses. Kings and prophets alone were 
probably buried within towns. 1 Kings 
2 : 10 ; 10 : 6, 28. Cities soon became pop- 
ulous and demanded cemeteries, Ezek. 
39 : 15, which were placed without the 
walls. Sepulchres were marked some- 
times by pillars or by pyramids. Such 
as were not otherwise noticeable were 
scrupulously " whited," Matt. 23 : 27, 
once a year, after the rains before the 
passover, to warn passers-by of defile- 
ment. 

2. "The manner of the Jews "included 
the use of spices, where they could com- 
mand the means. 2 Chron. 16 : 10. A 
portion of these was burnt in honor of 
the deceased, and to this use was prob- 
ably destined part of the one hundred 
pounds weight of " myrrh and aloes" in 
our Lord's case. In no instance, save 
that of Saul and his sons, were the bodies 
burned ; and even then the bones were 
interred, and re-exhumed for solemn en- 
tombment. It was the office of the next 
of kin to perform and preside over the 
whole funeral office ; though public 
buriers were not unknown in Hew Testa- 
ment times. Acts 5:6, 10. The body 
was borne by the nearest relatives. The 
grave-clothes were probably of the fash- 
ion worn in life, but swathed and fastened 
with bandages, and the head covered 
separately. 

3. The precedent of Jacob's and Jo- 
seph's remains being returned to the land 
of Canaan was followed, in wish at least, 
by every pious Jew. 

Burnt offering. The word is ap- 
plied to the offering which was wholly 



consumed by fire on the altar, and the 
whole of which, except the refuse ashes, 
" ascended " in the smoke to God. The 
meaning of the whole burnt offering was 
i that which is the original idea of all 
I sacrifice, the offering by the sacrificer of 
j himself, soul and body, to God — the sub- 
I mission of his will to the will of the 
i Lord. The ceremonies of the burnt of- 
fering are given in detail in the book of 
Leviticus. [Sacrifice.] 

Bush. The Hebrew word sSneh oc- 
curs only in those passages which refer 
to Jehovah's appearance to Moses "in 
; the flame of fire in the bush." Ex. 3 : 2, 
; 3, 4 ; Deut. 33 : 16. It is quite impossible 
to say what kind of thorn bush is in- 
tended ; but it was probably the acacia, 
| a small variety of the shittim tree found 
in the Sinai region. 

j Bushel. [Weights and Measures.] 
Butler. One of the officers of the 

king's household, Neh. 1 : 11, who had 
: charge of the wine and poured it out for 
I the king. The chief butler, as the title 
! signifies, was in charge of the butlers. 

Gen. 40 : 1-13. 
Butter. Curdled milk. Gen. 18 : 8; 

Deut. 32 : 14 ; Judges 5 : 25 ; Job 20 : 17. 

Milk is generally offered to travellers in 
j Palestine in a curdled or sour state, leb- 
| ben, thick, almost like butter. Hassel- 
j quist describes the method of making 
i butter employed by the Arab women : 
j " they made butter in a leather bag, 
I hung on three poles erected for the pur- 
! pose, in the form of a cone, and drawn to 

and fro by two women." 

Buz {contempt). 1. The second son 
! of Milcah and Nahor. Gen. 22 : 21. El- 
| ihu "the Buzite" was probably a de- 
j scendant of Buz. 

2. A name occurring in the genealogies 

of the tribe of Gad. 1 Chron. 5 : 14. 

Bu'zi {contempt), father of Ezekiel the 
I prophet. Ezek. 1 : 3. 



CAB 



CAL 



C. 



Cab. [Measures.] 

Cab'bon, a town in the low country 
of Judah. Josh. 15 : 40. 

Ca'bul. 1. One of the landmarks on 
the boundary of Asher, Josh. 19 : 27 ; now 
Kabul, 9 or 10 miles east of Accho. 

2. Name of the land given to Hiram 
by Solomon. 1 Kings 9 : 10-13. 

Cse'sar, always in the New Testament 
the Eoman emperor, the sovereign of 
Judea. John 19 : 12, 15 ; Acts 17 : 7. 

Caesare'a (Acts 8 : 40 ; 9 : 30 ; 10 : 1, 
24 ; 11:11; 12 : 19 ; 18 : 22 ; 21 : 8, 16 ; 
23 : 23, 33 ; 25 : 1, 4, 6, 13) was situated 
on the coast of Palestine, on the line of 
the great road from Tyre to Egypt, and 
about halfway between Joppa and Dora. 
The distance from Jerusalem was about 
70 miles; Josephus states it in round 
numbers as 600 stadia. In Strabo's time 



ably identified with Baal-gad. It was 
visited by Christ shortly before his trans- 
figuration, Matt. 16 : 13-28, and was the 
northern limit of his journeys. Mark 
8:27. 

Cage. The term so rendered in Jer. 
5 : 27 is more properly a trap, in which 
decoy birds were placed. In Rev. 18 : 2 
the Greek term means a prison. 

Ca'iaphas, or Ca-i'aphas {depres- 
sion), in full Joseph Caiaphas, high 
priest of the Jews under Tiberius. Matt. 
26 : 3, 57 ; John 11 : 49; 18 : 13, 14, 24, 
28 ; Acts 4 : 6. The procurator Valerius 
Gratus appointed him to the dignity. He 
was son-in-law of Annas. [Annas.] 

Cain (possession). Gen. 4. He was 
the eldest son of Adam and Eve ; he fol- 
lowed the business of agriculture. In a 
fit of jealousy, roused by the rejection of 



there was on this point of the coast merely i his own sacrifice and the acceptance of 
a town called "Strato's Tower," with a j Abel's, he committed the crime of mur- 
landing-place, whereas in the time of I der, for which he was expelled from 
Tacitus Csesarea is spoken of as being ! Eden, and led the life of an exile. He 
the head of Judea. It was in this in- j settled in the land of Nod, and built a 
terval that the city was built by Herod j city, which he named after his son 
the Great. It was the official residence i Enoch. His descendants are enumer- 
of the Herodian kings, and of Festus, ! ated, together with the inventions for 
Felix and the other Roman procurators | which they were remarkable. (B.C. 4000.) 
of Judea. Here also lived Philip the ! Cain, one of the cities in the low 
deacon and his four prophesying daugh- country of Judah, named with Zanoah 
ters. Csesarea continued to be a city of and Gibeah. Josh. 15 : 57. 
some importance even in the time of the Cain'an (possessor). 1. Son of Enos, 
Crusades, and the name still lingers on i aged 70 years when he begat Mahalaleel 



the site (Kaisariyeh), which is a com- 
plete desolation, many of the building- 
stones having been carried to other towns. 
Csesare'a Philip'pi is mentioned 



his son. He lived 840 years afterwards, 
and died aged 910. Gen. 5 : 9-14. 

2. Son of Arphaxad, and father of Sala 
according to Luke 3 : 36, 37, and usually 



only in the first two Gospels, Matt. 16 : 13 ; called the second Cainan. He is nowhere 
Mark 8 : 27, and in accounts of the same ! named in the Hebrew MSS. It seems 



transactions. It was at the easternmost 
and most important of the two recognized 
sources of the Jordan, the other being at 
Tel-el- Kadi. The spring rises from and 
the city was built on a limestone terrace 
in a valley at the base of Mount Hermon, 
20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It 
was enlarged by Herod Philip, and named 
after Csesar, with his own name added to 
distinguish it from Csesarea. Its present 
name is Banias, a village of some 50 
houses, with many interesting ruins. 
Csesarea Philippi has no Old Testament 
history, though it has been not unreason- 
100 



certain that his name was introduced 
into the genealogies of the Greek Old 
Testament in order to bring them intc 
harmony with the genealogy of Chrisl 
in St. Luke's Gospel. 

Ca'lah (completion, old age), one of 
the most ancient cities of Assyria. Gen 
10 : 11. The site of Calah is probablj 
marked by the Nimrud ruins. If thi) 
be regarded as ascertained, Calah mus 
be considered to have been at one timi 
(about B.C. 930-720) the capital of thi 
empire. 

Calamus. [Reed.] 




View of the Valley of Ceesarea Philippi. 



101 



CAL 



CAM 



Cal'col (sustenance), a man of Judah, 
son or descendant of Zerah. 1 Chron. 2 : 
6. Probably identical with Chalcol. 

Caldron, a vessel for boiling flesh, 
for either ceremonial or domestic use. 
1 Sam. 2 : 14 ; 2 Chron. 35 : 13 ; Job 41 : 
20; Micah3:3. 

Ca'leb (capable). 1. According to 1 
Chron. 2 : 9, 18, 19, 42, 50, the son of 
Hezron the son of Pharez the son of 
Judah, and the father of Hur, and con- 
sequently grandfather of Caleb the spy. 
(B.C. about 1600.) 

2. Son of Jephunneh, one of the twelve 
spies sent by Moses to Canaan. Num. 
13 : 6. (B.C. 1490.) He and 
Oshea or Joshua the son of 
Nun were the only two of 
the whole number who en- 
couraged the people to enter 
in boldly to the land and 
ta ke possession of it. Forty- 
five years afterwards Caleb 
came to Joshua and claimed 
possession of the land of the 
Anakim, Kirjath-arba or 
Hebron, and the neighbor- 
ing hill country. Josh. 
14. This was immediately 
granted to him, and the fol- 
lowing chapter relates how 
he took possession of He- 
bron, driving out the three 
sons of Anak ; and how he I 
offered Achsah his daugh- 
ter in marriage to whoever 
would take Kirjath-sepher, i. e. Debir; 
and how when Othniel, his younger 
brother, had performed the feat, he not 
only gave him his daughter to wife, but 
with her the upper and nether springs 
of water which she asked for. It is prob- 
able that Caleb was a foreigner by birth, 
—a proselyte, incorporated into the tribe 
of Judah. 

Calf. The calf was held in high 
esteem by the Jews as food. 1 Sam. 28 : 
24 ; Luke 15 : 23. The molten calf pre- 
pared by Aaron for the people to wor- 
ship, Ex. 32 : 4, was probably a wooden 
figure laminated with gold, a process 
which is known to have existed in Egypt. 
[Aaron.] 

Cal'neh, or Cal'no (fortress of Ann), 
appears in Gen. 10 : 10 among the cities 
of Nimrod. Probably the site is the 
modern Niffer. In the eighth century 
B.C. Calneh was taken by one of the As- 
syrian kings, and never recovered its 
prosperity. Isa. 10 : 9 ; Amos 6 : 2. 
102 



Cal'vary. [See Golgatha.] 
Camel. The species of camel which 
was in common use among the Jews and 
the heathen nations of Palestine was the 
Arabian or one-humped camel, Camelus 
arabicus. The dromedary is a swifter 
animal than the baggage-camel, and is 
used chiefly for riding purposes; it is 
merely a finer breed than the other. The 
Arabs call it the heirie. The speed of 
the dromedary has been greatly exagger- 
ated, the Arabs asserting that it is swifter 
than the horse. Eight or nine miles an 
hour is the utmost it is able to perform ; 
this pace, however, it is able to keep up 




Camels. 

for hours together. The Arabian camel 
carries about 500 pounds. " The hump 
on the camel's back is chiefly a store of 
fat, from which the animal draws as the 
wants of his system require; and the 
Arab is careful to see that the hump is 
in good condition before a long journey. 
Another interesting adaptation is the 
thick sole which protects the foot of the 
camel from the burning sand. The nos- 
trils may be closed by valves against 
blasts of sand. Most interesting is the 
provision for drought made by providing 
the second stomach with great cells in 
which water is long retained. Sight and 
smell is exceedingly acute in the camel." 
— Johnson's Encyc. It is clear from Gen. 
12 : 16 that camels were early known to 
the Egyptians. The importance of the 
camel is shown by Gen. 24 : 64 ; 37 : 25 ; 
Judges 7 : 12; 1 Sam. 27 : 9; 1 Kings 10: 
2; 2 Chron. 14 : 15; Job 1:3; Jer. 49 : 
29, 32, and many other texts. John the 
Baptist wore a garment made of camel's 



CAM 



CAN 



hair, Matt. 3:4; Mark 1 : 6, the coarser 
hairs of the camel ; and some have sup- 
posed that Elijah was clad in a dress of 
the same stuff. 

Ca'mon (full of grain), the place in 
which Jair the judge was buried. Judges 
10:5. 

Camp. [Encampment.] 
Camphire. There can be no doubt 
that " camphire " is the Lawsonia alba 




Camphire. 

of botanists, the henna of Arabian natu- 
ralists. The henna plant grows in Egypt, 
Syria, Arabia and northern India. The 
flowers are white and grow in clusters, 
and are very fragrant. The whole shrub 
is from four to six feet high. S. of Sol. 
4:13. 

Ca'na {place of reeds) of Galilee, 
once Cana in Galilee, a village or 
town not far from Capernaum, memor- 
able as the scene of Christ's first miracle, 
John 2:1, 11 ; 4 : 46, as well as of a sub- 
sequent one, John 4 : 46, 54, and also as 
the native place of the apostle Nathanael. 
John 21 : 2. The traditional site is at 
Kefr-Kenna, a small village about 4i 
miles northwest of Nazareth. The rival 
site is a village situated farther north, 
about five miles north of Seffurieh (Sep- 
phoris) and nine north of Nazareth. 

Ca'naan (Ca'nan) (low, flat). 1. The 
fourth son of Ham, Gen. 10 : 6 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 8, the progenitor of the Phoenicians 
[ZiDONl, and of the various nations who 
before the Israelite conquest peopfed the 



seacoast of Palestine, and generally the 
whole of the country westward of the 
Jordan. Gen. 10 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 13. 
(B.C. 2347.) 

2. The name "Canaan" is sometimes 
employed for the country itself. 

Ca'naan, The land of (lit. low- 
land), a name denoting the country west 
of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and 
between those waters and the Mediterra- 
nean; given by God to Abraham's 
posterity, the children of Israel. Ex. 
6:4; Lev. 25 : 38. [Palestine.] 

Cananse'an. Matt. 10 : 4* Used 
in the Revised Version in place of 
" Canaanite." [See Canaanite.] 

Ca'naanite, The, the designa- 
tion of the apostle Simon, otherwise 
known as " Simon Zelotes." It occurs 
in Matt. 10 : 4; Mark 3 : 18, and is de- 
rived from a Chaldee or Syriac word 
by which the Jewish sect or faction of 
the "Zealots" was designated — a tur- 
bulent and seditious sect, especially 
conspicuous at the siege of Jerusalem. 
They taught that all foreign rule over 
Jews was unscriptural, and opposed 
that rule in every way. 

Ca'naanites, The, a word used 
in two senses: 1. A tribe which in- 
habited a particular locality of the 
land west of the Jordan before the 
conquest ; and 2. The people who 
inhabited generally the whole of that 
country. 1. In Gen. 10 : 18-20 the 
seats of the Canaanite tribe are given 
as on the seashore and in the Jordan 
valley; comp. Josh. 11 : 3. 2. Applied 
as a general name to the non-Israelite 
inhabitants of the land, as we have al- 
ready seen was the case with " Canaan." 
Instances of this are, Gen. 12:6; Num. 
21:3. The Canaanites were descendants 
of Canaan. Their language was very 
similar to the Hebrew. The Canaanites 
were probably given to commerce ; and 
thus the name became probably in later 
times an occasional synonym for a mer- 
chant. 

Canda'ce, or Can'da-ce (prince of 
servants), a queen of Ethiopia (Meroe), 
mentioned Acts 8 : 27. (A.D. 38.) The 
name was not a proper name of an indi- 
vidual, but that of a dynasty of Ethi- 
opian queens. 

Candlestick, which Moses was com- 
manded to make for the tabernacle, is 
described Ex. 25 : 31-37 ; 37 : 17-24. It 
was not strictly a "candlestick," as it 
held seven richly-adorned lamps. With 
103 



KelY-Kenna — Cana in Galilee. 

its various appurtenances it required a 
talent of " pure gold ;" and it was not 
moulded, but " of beaten work," and has 
104 



{From an original Photograph.) 

been estimated to have been worth in 
our money over $25,000. From the Arch 
of Titus, where are sculptured the spoils 



CAN 



CAN 



taken from Jerusalem, we learn that it J 
consisted of a central stem, with six 
branches, three on each side. It was J 
about five feet high. [See Arch of ; 
Titus.] The candlestick was placed on 
the south side of the first apartment of 
the tabernacle, opposite the table of shew- 
bread, Ex. 25 : 37, and was lighted every | 
evening and dressed every morning. Ex. 




Gulden Candlestick. {From the Arch of Titus.) 

27 : 20, 21 ; 30 : 8 ; comp. 1 Sam. 3 : 2. 
Each lamp was supplied with cotton and 
about two wineglasses of the purest olive j 
oil, which was sufficient to keep it burn- j 
ing during a long night. In Solomon's j 
temple, instead of or in addition to this j 
candlestick there were ten golden candle- ! 
sticks similarly embossed, five on the j 
right and five on the left. 1 Kings 7 : 49 ; 
2 Chron. 4:7. They were taken to Bab- i 
ylon. Jer. 52 : 19. In the temple of j 
Zerubbabel there was again a single 
candlestick. 1 Mace. 1:21; 4:49. 

Candlestick, in Matt. 5:15; Mark 
4 : 21, is merely a lamp-stand, made in 
various forms, to hold up the simple 
Oriental hand-lamps. 

Cane. [Reed.] 

Cankerworm. [Locust.] 

Can'neh. Ezek. 27 : 23. [See Cal- 

NEH.] 

Canon of Scripture, The, may be 

generally described as the " collection of 
books which form the original and au- 
thoritative written rule of the faith and 
practice of the Christian Church," i. e. 
the Old and New Testaments. The word 



canon, in classical Greek, is properly a 
straight rod, "a rule" in the widest 
sense, and especially in the phrases "the 
rule of the Church," " the rule of faith," 
" the rule of truth." The first direct ap- 
plication of the term canon to the Scrip- 
tures seems to be in the verses of Am- 
philochius (cir. 380 A.D.), where the word 
indicates the rule by which the contents 
of the Bible must be determined, and 
thus secondarily an index of the con- 
stituent books. The uncanonical books 
were described simply as " those without" 
or "those uncanonized." The canonical 
books were also called "books of the tes- 
tament," and Jerome styled the whole 
collection by the striking name of " the 
holy library," which happily expresses 
the unity and variety of the Bible. After 
the Maccabean persecution the history 
of the formation of the Canon is merged 
in the history of its contents. The Old 
Testament appears from that time as a 
whole. The complete Canon of the New 
Testament, as commonly received at pres- 
ent, was ratified at the third Council of 
Carthage (a.d. 397), and from that time 
was accepted throughout the Latin 
Church. Respecting the books of which 
the Canon is composed, see the article 
Bible. (The books of Scripture were 
not made canonical by act of any coun- 
cil, but the council gave its sanction to 
the results of long and careful investi- 
gations as to what books were really of 
divine authority and expressed the uni- 
versally-accepted decisions of the church. 
The Old Testament Canon is ratified by 
the fact that the present Old Testament 
books were those accepted in the time of 
Christ and endorsed by him, and that of 
the 275 quotations of the Old Testament 
in the New, no book out of the Canon 
is quoted from except perhaps the words 
of Enoch in Jude. — Ed.) 

Canopy. Judith 10 : 21 ; 13 : 9 ; 16 : 19. 
The canopy of Holofernes is the only one 
mentioned. 

Canticles {Song of Songs), entitled in 
the Authorized Version The Song of 
Solomon. It was probably written by 
Solomon about B.C. 1012. It may be 
called a drama, as it contains the dra- 
matic evolution of a simple love-story. 
Meaning. — The schools of interpretation 
may be divided into three : the mystical 
or typical, the allegorical, and the literal. 
1. The mystical interpretation owes its 
origin to the desire to find a literal basis 
of fact for the allegorical. This basis is 
105 



CAP 



CAP 



either the marriage of Solomon with 
Pharaoh's daughter or his marriage with 
an Israelitish woman, the Shulamite. 

2. The allegorical. According to the 
Talmud the beloved is taken to be God ; 
the loved one, or bride, is the congregation 
of Israel. In the Christian Church the 
Talmudical interpretation, imported by 
Origen, was all but universally received. 

3. The literal interpretation. According 
to the most generally-received interpreta- 
tion of the modern literalists, the Song is 
intended to display the victory of humble 
and constant love over the temptations of 



wealth and royalty. Canonicity. — The 
book has been rejected from the Canon 
by some critics ; but in no case has its 
rejection been defended on external 
grounds. It is found in the LXX. and 
in the translations of Aquila, Symmachus 
and Theodotion. It is contained in the 
catalogue given in the Talmud, and in 
the catalogue of Melito ; and in short we 
have the same evidence for its canonicity 
as that which is commonly adduced for 
the canonicity of any book of the Old 
Testament. 
Caper'naum {village of Nahiim) was 






Site of Tell Hfim (Capernaum). 



on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. 
Matt. 4 : 13 ; comp. John 6 : 24. It was in 
the " land of Gennesaret," Matt. 14 : 34 ; 
comp. John 6 : 17, 21, 24. It was of suf- 
ficient size to be always called a " city," 
Matt. 9:1; Mark 1 : 33 ; had its own 
svnagogue, in which our Lord frequently 
taught, Mark 1:21; Luke 4 : 33, 38 ; 
John 6 : 59 ; and there was also a customs 
station, where the dues were gathered 
both bv stationary and by itinei-ant offi- ' 
cers. Matt. 9:9; 17 : 24; Mark 2 : 14; j 
Luke 5 : 27. The only interest attaching ; 
to Capernaum is as the residence of our j 
Lord and his apostles, the scene of so | 
many miracles and " gracious words." I 
It was when he returned thither that he 
is said to have been " in the house." Mark 
2:1. The spots which lay claim to its' 
106 



site are, 1. Khan Minyeh, a mound of 
ruins which takes its name from an old 
khan hard by. This mound is situated 
close upon the seashore at the north- 
western extremity of the plain (now El 
Ghuweir). 2. Three miles north of Khan 
Minyeh is the other claimant, Tell Hum, 
— ruins of walls and foundations covering 
a space of half a mile long by a quarter 
wide, on a point of the shore projecting 
into the lake and backed by a very 
gently-rising ground. It is impossible 
to locate it with certainty, but the prob- 
ability is in favor of Tell Hvm. 

Caphar, one of the numerous words 
employed in the Bible to denote a village 
or collection of dwellings smaller than a 
city (Ir). Mr. Stanley proposes to render 
it by " hamlet." In names of places it 



CAP 



CAE 



occurs in Chephar-ha-Ammonai, Che- 
phirah, Caphar-salama. To us its chief 
interest arises from its forming a part of 
the name of Capernaum, i. e. Caphar- 
nahum. 

Caph'tor, Caph'torim (a crown), 
thrice mentioned as the primitive seat 
of the Philistines, Deut. 2 : 23 ; Jer. 47 : 4 ; 
Amos 9 : 7, who are once called Caph- 
torim. Deut. 2 : 23. Supposed to be in 
Egypt, or near to it in Africa. 

Cappado'cia, Cappado'cians 
(province of good horses), Acts 2:9; 1 
Pet. 1:1, the largest province in ancient 
Asia Minor. Cappadocia is an elevated 
table-land intersected by mountain 
chains. It seems always to have been 
deficient in wood; but it was a good 
grain country, and particularly famous 
for grazing. Its Roman metropolis was 
Csesarea. The native Cappadocians seem 
to have originally belonged to the Syrian 
stock. 

Captain. 1. As a purely military 
title, " captain " answers to sar in the 
Hebrew army and tribune in the Roman. 
The "captain of the guard" in Acts 28 : 
16 was probably the prcefectus prcetorio. 
2. Kdtsin, occasionally rendered captain, 
applies sometimes to a military, Josh. 
10 : 24; Judges 11 : 6, 11 ; Isa. 22 : 3; 
Dan. 11 : 18, sometimes to a civil com- 
mand, e. g. Isa. 1 : 10 ; 3 : 6. 3. The 
" captain of the temple," mentioned 
Luke 22 : 4 ; Acts 4:1; 5 : 24, superin- 
tended the guard of priests and Levites 
who kept watch by night in the temple. 

Captive. A prisoner of war. Such 
were usually treated with great cruelty 
by the heathen nations. They were kept 
for slaves, and often sold ; but this was a 
modification of the ancient cruelty, and 
a substitute for putting them to death. 
Although the treatment of captives by 
the Jews seems sometimes to be cruel, it 
was very much milder than that of the 
heathen, and was mitigated, as far as 
possible in the circumstances, by their 
civil code. 

Captivities of the Jews. The 
present article is confined to the forcible 
deportation of the Jews from their native 
land, and their forcible detention, under 
the Assyrian or Babylonian kings. 

Captivities of Israel. — The kingdom 
of Israel was invaded by three or four 
successive kings of Assyria. Pul or Sar- 
danapalus, according to Rawlinson, im- 
posed a tribute (B.C. 771 or 762, Rawl.) 
upon Menahem. 2 Kings 15 : 19 and 1 



Chron. 5 : 26. Tiglath-pileser carried 
! away (B.C. 740) the trans-Jordanic tribes, 

1 Chron. 5 : 26, and the inhabitants of 
Galilee, 2 Kings 15 : 29, comp. Isa. 9:1, 

! to Assyria. Shalmaneser twice invaded, 
! 2 Kings 17 : 3, 5, the kingdom which re- 
mained to Hoshea, took Samaria (B.C. 
; 721) after a siege of three years, and car- 
| ried Israel away into Assyria. This was 
the end of the kingdom of the ten tribes 
of Israel. 

Captivities of Judah. — Sennacherib 
(B.C. 713) is stated to have carried into 
| Assyria 200,000 captives from the Jewish 
cities which he took. 2 Kings 18 : 13. 
! Nebuchadnezzar, in the first half of his 
j reign (B.C. 606-562), repeatedly invaded 
Judea, besieged Jerusalem, carried away 
the inhabitants to Babylon, and destroyed 
the temple. The 70 years of captivity 
predicted by Jeremiah, Jer. 25 : 12, are 
dated by Prideaux from B.C. 606. The 
I captivity of Ezekiel dates from B.C. 598, 
i when that prophet, like Mordecai the 
! uncle of Esther, Esther 2 : 6, accompanied 
Jehoiachin. The captives were treated 
! not as slaves but as colonists. The Baby- 
| Ionian captivity was brought to a close 
by the decree, Ezra 1 : 2, of Cyrus (B.C. 
536), and the return of a portion of the 
nation under Sheshbazzar or Zerubbabel 
(B.C. 535), Ezra (B.C. 458) and Nehemiah 
(B.C. 445). Those who were left in As- 
syria, Esther 8 : 9, 11, and kept up their 
national distinctions, were known as 
The Dispersion. John 7 : 35 ; 1 Pet. 1:1; 
James 1:1. 

The lost tribes. — Many attempts have 
been made to discover the ten tribes ex- 
isting as a distinct community ; but 
though history bears no witness of their 
present distinct existence, it enables us 
to track the footsteps of the departing 
race in four directions after the time of the 
Captivity. 1. Some returned and mixed 
with the Jews. Luke 2 : 36 ; Philip. 3 : 5, 
etc. 2. Some were left in Samaria, 
mingled with the Samaritans, Ezra 6 : 
21 ; John 4 : 12, and became bitter ene- 
mies of the Jews. 3. Many remained in 
Assyria, and were recognized as an in- 
tegral part of the Dispersion ; see Acts 

2 : 9 ; 26 : 7. 4. Most, probably, aposta- 
tized in Assyria, adopted the usages and 
idolatry of the nations among whom they 
were planted, and became wholly swal- 
lowed up in them. 

Carbuncle. This word represents 
two Hebrew words. The first may be a 
general term to denote any bright, spark- 
*107 



CAR 



CAS 



ling gem, Isa. 54 : 12 ; the second, Ex. 28 : 
17 ; 39 : 10 ; Ezek. 28 : 13, is supposed to 
be the smaragdus or emerald. 

Car'cas {severe), the seventh of the 
seven " chamberlains," i. e. eunuchs, of 
King Ahasuerus. Esther 1 : 10. (B.C. 
483.) 

Car'chemish {fortress of Chemosh) 
occupied nearly the site of the later Ma- 
bug or Hierapolis. It seems to have 
commanded the ordinary passage of the 
Euphrates at Bir or Birekjik. Carche- 
mish appears to have been taken by Pha- 
raoh Necho shortly after the battle of 
Megiddo (cir. B.C. 608), and retaken by 
Nebuchadnezzar after a battle three years 
later, B.C. 605. Jer. 46 : 2. 

Care'ah {bald head), father of Johan- 
an, 2 Kings 25 : 23 ; elsewhere spelt Ka- 

BEAH. 

Ca'ria, the southern part of the re- 
gion which in the New Testament is 
called Asia, and the southwestern part 
of the peninsula of Asia Minor. Acts 20 : 
15; 27 : 7. 




Mount Carmel and Haifa. {From a Photograph.) 



Car'mel {fruitful place or park). 1. 
A mountain which forms one of the most 
striking and characteristic features of the 
country of Palestine. It is a noble ridge, 
the only headland of lower and central 
Palestine, and forms its southern bound- 
ary, running out with a bold bluff prom- 
ontory, nearly 600 feet high, almost into 
the very waves of the Mediterranean, 
then extending southeast for a little more 
than twelve miles, when it terminates 
suddenly in a bluff somewhat correspond- 
ing to its western end. In form Carmel 
108 



is a tolerably continuous ridge, its highest 
point, about four miles from the eastern 
end, being 1740 feet above the sea. That 
which has made the name of Carmel 
most familiar to the modern world is its 
intimate connection with the history of 
the two great prophets of Israel, Elijah 
and Elisha. 2 Kings 2:25; 4:25; 1. 
Kings 18 : 20-42. It is now commonly 
called Mar Ely as ; Kurmel being occa- 
sionally, but only seldom, heard. 

2. A town in the mountainous country 
of Judah, Josh. 15 : 55, familiar to us as 
the residence of Nabal. 1 Sam. 25 : 2, 5, 
7, 40. 

Car'mi {vine dresser). 1. The fourth 
son of Reuben, the progenitor of the 
family of the Carmites. Gen. 46 : 9 ; Ex. 
6 : 14 ; Num. 26 : 6 ; 1 Chron. 5 : 3. 

2. A man of the tribe of Judah, father 
of Achan, the " troubler of Israel." Josh. 
7:1,18; 1 Chron. 2:7; 4:1. 

Carpenter. [Handicbaft.] 

Car'jms, a Christian at Troas. 2 Tim. 
4:13. 

Carriage. This word signifies 
| what we now call " baggage." In 
| the margin of 1 Sam. 17 : 20 and 
=^r 26 : 5-7, and there only, " carriage " 
'1^ J is employed in the sense of a wagon 
or cart. 

jg]E Carshe'na {illustrious), one 
jjggfj of the seven princes of Persia 
jjpS: and Media. Esther 1 : 14. 

Cart, Gen. 45:19, 27; Num. 
llHg§ 7:3, 7, 8, a vehicle drawn by 
cattle, 2 Sam. 6:6; to be dis- 
tinguished from the chariot drawn 
by horses. Carts and wagons were 
either open or covered, Num. 7 : 
3, and were used for conveyance 
of persons, Gen. 45 : 19, burdens, 
1 Sam. 6 : 7, 8, or produce. Amos 
2:13. The only cart used in 
western Asia has two wheels of 
solid wood. 

Carving. The arts of carving 
and engraving were much in request in 
the construction of both the tabernacle 
and the temple, Ex. 31 : 5 ; 35 : 33 ; 1 Kings 
6 : 18, 35 ; Ps. 74 : 6, as well as in the or- 
namentation of the priestly dresses. Ex. 
28 : 9-36 ; 2 Chron. 2:7,14; Zech. 3 : 9. 

Casiph'ia {silvery, tvhite), a place of 
uncertain site on the road between Baby- 
lon and Jerusalem. Ezra 8 : 17. 

Cas'luhim {fortified), a Mizraite 
people or tribe. Gen. 10 : 14 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 12. 

Cassia. Ex. 30 : 24 ; Ezek. 27 : 19. 



CAS 



CEN 



The cassia bark of commerce is yielded 
by various kinds of Cinnamomum, which 
grow in different parts of India. The 
Hebrew word in Ps. 45 : 8 is generally 
supposed to be another term for cassia. 

Castle. [Fenced cities.] 

Cas'tor and Pol'lux, Acts 28 : 11, 
the twin sons of Jupiter and Leda, were 
regarded as the tutelary divinities of sail- 
ors ; hence their image was often used as 
a figure-head for ships. They appeared 
in heaven as the constellation Gemini. 
In art they were sometimes represented 
simply as stars hovering over a ship. 

Caterpillar. The representative in 
the Authorized Version of the Hebrew 
word chdsil and yelek. 1. Chdsll occurs 
in 1 Kings 8 : 37 ; 2 Chron. 6 : 28 ; Ps. 
78 : 46 ; Isa. 33 : 4 ; Joel 1 : 4, and seems 
to be applied to a locust, perhaps in its 
larva state. 2. Yelek. [LOCUST.] 

Cattle. [Bull.] 

Cau'da. Acts 27 : 16. The form given 
in the Revised Version to Clauda, an 
island south of Crete. It bears a closer 
relation to the modern name Gaudonesi 
of the Greek, the Gauda of P. Mela. 
(Clauda. — Ed.) 

Caul, a sort of ornamental head-dress, 
Isa. 3 : 18, with a net for its base. The 
name is derived from the caul, the mem- 
branous bag which encloses the heart — 
the pericardium.— Ed. 

Cave. The most remarkable caves 
noticed in Scripture are, that in which 
Lot dwelt after the destruction of Sodom, 
Gen. 19 : 30 ; the cave of Machpelah, 
Gen. 23 : 17 ; cave of Makkedah, Josh. 
10 : 10 ; cave of Adullam, 1 Sam. 22 : 1 ; 
cave of Engedi, 1 Sam. 24 : 3 ; Obadiah's 
cave, 1 Kings 18 : 4; Elijah's cave in 
Horeb, 1 Kings 19 : 9 ; the rock sepul- 
chres of Lazarus and of our Lord. Matt. 
27 : 60 ; John 11 : 38. Caves were used 
for temporary dwelling-places and for 
tombs. 

Cedar. The Hebrew word erez, in- 
variably rendered " cedar" by the Au- 
thorized Version, stands for tliat tree in 
most of the passages where the word oc- 
curs. While the word is sometimes used 
in a wider sense, Lev. 14 : 6, for ever- 
green cone-bearing trees, generally the 
cedar of Lebanon [Cedrus libani) is in- 
tended. 1 Kings 7:2; 10 : 27 ; Ps. 92 : 
12 ; S. Sol. 5: 15 ; Isa. 2 : 13; Ezek. 31 : 
3-6. The wood is of a reddish color, of 
bitter taste and aromatic odor, offensive 
to insects, and very durable. The cedar 
is a type of the Christian, being ever- 



green, beautiful, aromatic, wide spread- 
ing, slow growing, long lived, and having 
many uses. As far as is at present known, 
the cedar of Lebanon is confined in Syria 
to one valley of the 'Lebanon range, viz., 
that of the Kedisha river, which flows 




The Cedar. 

from near the highest point of the range 
westward to the Mediterranean, and en- 
ters the sea at the port of Tripoli. The 
grove is at the very upper part of the 
valley, about 15 miles from the sea, 6500 
feet above that level, and its position is 
moreover above that of all other arbor- 
eous vegetation. ("Of the celebrated 
cedars on Mount Lebanon, eleven groves 
still remain. The famous B'Sherreh 
grove is three-quarters of a mile in cir- 
cumference, and contains about 400 trees, 
young and old. Perhaps a dozen of these 
are very old ; the largest, 63 feet in girth 
and 70 feet high, is thought by some to 
have attained the age of 2000 years." — 
Johnson's Encyc.) 

Ce'dron. John 18:1. [See Kidron.] 
Ceiling. The descriptions of Scrip- 
ture, 1 Kings 6 : 9, 15 ; 7:3; 2 Chron. 3 : 
5, 9 ; Jer. 22:14; Hag. 1 : 4, and of Jo- 
sephus, show that the ceilings of the tem- 
ple and the palaces of the Jewish kings 
were formed of cedar planks applied to 
the beams or joists crossing from wall to 
wall. " Oriental houses seem to have 
been the reverse of ours, the ceiling be- 
ing of wood, richly ornamented, and the 
floor of plaster or tiles." 

Celosyria. [Ccelesyeia.] 
Cen'chrea, or Cenchre'a (accu- 
rately Cenchre're) (millet), the eastern 
109 



CEN 



CHA 



harbor of Corinth (i. e. its harbor on the 
Saronic Gulf) and the emporium of its 
trade with the Asiatic shores of the Med- 
iterranean, as Lechseum on the Corinth- 
ian Gulf connected it with Italy and 
the west. St. Paul sailed from Cen- 
chreae, Acts 18 : 18, on his return to 
Syria from his second missionary jour- 
ney. An organized church seems to have 
been formed here. Rom. 16 : 1. 




Egyptian Censers. 



Censer, a small portable vessel of 
metal fitted to receive burning coals from 
the altar, and on which the incense for 
burning was sprinkled. 2 Chron. 26 : 19 ; 
110 



I Luke 1 : 9. The only distinct precepts 
| regarding the use of the censer are found 
j in Lev. 16 : 12 and in Num. 4 : 14. Sol- 
! omon prepared " censers of pure gold " 
as part of the temple furniture. 1 Kings 
7 : 50 ; 2 Chron. 4 : 22. The word ren- 
dered "censer" in Heb. 9 :4 probably 
means the " altar of incense." 

Census. [T AXIN G-] 

Centurion. [Army.] 

Ce'phas. [Peter.] 

Chafl", the husk of corn or wheat 
which was separated from the grain by 
being thrown into the air, the wind blow- 
ing away the chaff, while the grain was 
saved. The carrying away of chaff by 
the wind is an ordinary scriptural image 
of the destruction of the wicked and of 
their powerlessness to resist God's judg- 
ments. Ps. 1 : 4 ; Isa. 17 : 13 ; Hos. 13:3; 
Zeph. 2 : 2. 

Chain. Chains were used, 1. As badges 
of office ; 2. For ornament ; 3. For confin- 
ing prisoners. 1. The gold chain placed 
about Joseph's neck, Gen. 41 : 42, and 
that promised to Daniel, Dan. 5 : 7, are 
instances of the first use. In Ezek. 16 : 
11 the chain is mentioned as the symbol 
of sovereignty. 2. Chains for ornamental 
purposes were worn by men as well as 
women. Prov. 1:9; Judith 10:4. The 
Midianites adorned the necks of their 
camels with chains. Judges 8 : 21, 26. 
Step-chains were attached to the ankle- 
rings. Isa. 3 : 16, 18. 3. The means 
adopted for confining prisoners among 
the Jews were fetters similar to our 
handcuffs. Judges 16 : 21 ; 2 Sam. 3 : 34 ; 
2 Kings 25 : 7 ; Jer. 39 : 7. Among the 
Romans the prisoner was handcuffed to 
his guard, and occasionally to two guards. 
Acts 12 : 6, 7 ; 21 : 33. 

Chalcedony, only in Rev. 21 : 19. 
The name is applied in modern miner- 
alogy to one of the varieties of agate. 
It is generally translucent and exhibits 
a great variety of colors. So named be- 
cause it was found near the ancient Chal- 
cedon, near Constantinople. 

Chal'col. 1 Kings 4 : 31. TCalcol.] 

Chalde'a, more correctly Chaldse'a, 
the ancient name of a country of Asia 
bordering on the Persian Gulf. Chaldea 
proper was the southern part of Baby- 
lonia, and is used in Scripture to signify- 
that vast alluvial plain which has been 
formed by the deposits of the Euphrates 
and the Tigris. This extraordinary flat, 
unbroken except by the works of man, 
extends a distance of 400 miles along the 



CHA 



CHA 



course of the rivers, and is on an average 
about 100 miles in width. In addition 
to natural advantages these plains were 
nourished by a complicated system of 
canals, and vegetation flourished bounti- 
fully. It is said to be the only country 
in the world where wheat grows wild. 



Herodotus declared (i. 193) that grain 
commonly returned two hundred fold to 
the sower, and occasionally three hun- 
dred fold. 

Cities.— Babylonia has long been cel- 
ebrated for the number and antiquity 
of its cities. The most important of 



EE=EE3 [^BajgjBl jlll| ~- - \ 




Ruins of Mugheir (probable site of Ur of the Cbaldees). 



those which have been identified are 
Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud), Sippara or 
Sepharvaim (Mosaib), Cutha (Ibrahim), 
Calneh (Niffer), Erech ( Warka), Ur 
{3fugheir), Chilmad (Kahvadha), Lar- 
ancha (Senkereh), Is (Hit), Duraba (Ak- 
kerkuf ) ; but besides these there were a 
multitude of others, the sites of which 
have not been determined. 

Present condition. — This land, once 
so rich, in corn and wine, is to-day but 
a mass of mounds, " an arid waste ; the 
dense population of former times is van- 
ished, and no man dwells there." The 
Hebrew prophets applied the term " land 
of the Chaldeans" to all Babylonia and 
"Chaldeans" to all the subjects of the 
Babylonian empire. 

Chalde'ans, or Chaldees'. It ap- 
pears that the Chaldeans (Kaldai or 
Kaldi) were in the earliest times merely 
one out of the many Cushite tribes in- 
habiting the great alluvial plain known 
afterwards as Chaldea or Babylonia. 
Their special seat was probably that 
southern portion of the country which is 
found to have so late retained the name 



of Chaldea. In process of time, as the 
Kaldi grew in power, their name grad- 
ually prevailed over those of the other 
tribes inhabiting the country; and by 
the era of the Jewish captivity it had 
begun to be used generally for all the 
inhabitants of Babylonia. It appears 
that while, both in Assyria and in later 
Babylonia, the Shemitic type of speech 
prevailed for civil purposes, the ancient 
Cushite dialect was retained, as a learned 
language for scientific and religious lit- 
erature. This is no doubt the " learning " 
and the " tongue " to which reference is 
made in the book of Daniel, 1 : 4. The 
Chaldeans were really the learned class ; 
they were priests, magicians or astron- 
omers, and in the last of the three ca- 
pacities they probably effected discoveries 
of great importance. In later times they 
seem to have degenerated into mere for- 
tune-tellers. 

Chaldees', or Chal'dees. [Chal- 

DEANS.l 

Chalk stones. [Lime.] 
Chamber. Gen. 43 : 30 ; 2 Sam. 18 : 33 ; 
Ps. 19:5; Dan. 6 : 10. The word chamber 
111 



CHA 



CHA 



in these passages has much the same sig- 
nificance as with us, meaning the private 
rooms of the house — the guest chamber, 
as with us, meaning a room set apart for 
the accommodation of the visiting friend. 
Mark 14 : 14, 15 ; Luke 22 : 12. The up- 
per chamber was used more particularly 
for the lodgment of strangers. Acts 9 : 37. 

Chamberlain, an officer attached to 
the court of a king, who formerly had 
charge of the private apartments or cham- 
bers of the palace. He kept the accounts 
of the public revenues. The office held by 
Blastus, "the king's chamberlain," was 
entirely different from this. Acts 12 : 20. 
It was a post of honor which involved 
great intimacy and influence with the 
king. For chamberlain as used in the 
Old Testament, see Eunuch. 

Chameleon, a species of lizard. 
The reference in Lev. 11 : 30 is to some 
kind of an unclean animal, supposed to 
be the lizard, known by the name of the 
" monitor of the Nile," a large, strong 





Chameleon. 

reptile common in Egypt and other parts 
of Africa. 

Chamois (pronounced often sham'g), 
the translation of the Hebrew zemer in 
Deut. 14 : 5. But the translation is in- 
correct; for there is no evidence that 
the chamois has ever been seen in Pales- 
tine or the Lebanon. It is probable that 
some mountain sheep is intended. 

Cha'naan. [Canaan. 1 

Chapiter, the capital of a pillar; 
i. e. the upper part, as the term is used 
in modern architecture. 

Chapman {i.e. cheap man\ merchant. 

Char'ashim, The valley of '{ravine 
of craftsmen), a place near Lydda, a few 
miles east of Joppa. 1 Chron. 4 : 14. 

Char'chemish. 2 Chron. 35 : 20. 
[Carchemish.1 

Charger, a shallow vessel for receiv- 
ing water or blood, also for presenting 
offerings of fine flour with oil. Num. 7 : 
79. Tbe daughter of Herodias brought 
the head of St. John the Baptist in a 
charger, Matt. 14 : 8 ; probably a trencher 
or platter. [Basin.] 
112 



The Charger. 

Chariot, a vehicle used 
either for warlike or peaceful 
purposes, but most commonly 
the former. The Jewish char- 
iots were patterned after the 
Egyptian, and consisted of a 
s!ngle pair of wheels on an 
* axle, upon which was a car 
with high front and sides, but 
open at the back. The earliest 
mention of chariots in Scripture is in 
Egypt, where Joseph, as a mark of 
distinction, was placed in Pharaoh's 
second chariot. Gen. 41 : 43. Later 
on we find mention of Egyptian char- 




Egyptian Chariot. 

iots for a warlike purpose. Ex. 14:7. 
In this point of view chariots among 
some nations of antiquity, as elephants 



CHA 



CHE 



among others, may be regarded as filling 
the place of heavy artillery in modern 
times, so that the military power of a 
nation might be estimated by the number 
of its chariots. Thus Pharaoh in pur- 
suing Israel took with him 600 chariots. 
The Philistines in Saul's time had 30,000. 
1 Sam. 13 : 5. David took from Hadad- 
ezer, king of Zobah, 1000 chariots, 2 Sam. 

8 : 4, and from the Syrians a little later 
700, 2 Sam. 10 : 18, who, in order to re- 
cover their ground, collected 32,000 char- 
iots. 1 Chron. 19 : 7. Up to this time the 
Israelites possessed few or no chariots. 
They were first introduced by David, 2 
Sam. 8 : 4, who raised and maintained a 
force of 1400 chariots, 1 Kings 10 : 25, by 
taxation on certain cities agreeably to 
eastern custom in such matters. 1 Kings 

9 : 19 ; 10 : 25. From this time chariots 
were regarded as among the most im- 
portant arms of war. 1 Kings 22 : 34 ; 2 
Kings 9 : 16, 21 ; 13 : 7, 14 ; 18 : 24 ; 23 : 30 ; 
Isa. 31 : 1. Most commonly two persons, 
and sometimes three, rode in the chariot, 
of whom the third was employed to carry 
the state umbrella. 1 Kings 22 : 34 ; 2 
Kings 9 : 20, 24 ; Acts 8 : 38. The prophets 
allude frequently to chariots as typical 
of power. Ps. 20 : 7 ; 104 : 3 ; Jer. 51:21; 
Zech. 6:1. 

Char'ran. Acts 7 : 2, 4. [Haran.] 

Chase. [Hunting.] 

Che'bar (length), a river in the " land 
of the Chaldeans." Ezek. 1:3; 3 : 15, 23, 
etc. It is commonly regarded as identi- 
cal with the Habor, 2 Kings 17 : 6, and 
perhaps the Royal Canal of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, — the greatest of all the cuttings 
in Mesopotamia. 

Che'bel (cord), one of the singular 
topographical terms in which the ancient 
Hebrew language abounded. We find it 
always attached to the region of Argob. 
Deut. 3 : 4, 13, 14 ; 1 Kings 4 : 13. 

Chedorlao'mer, or Chedorla'omer 
(handful of sheaves), a king of Elam, in 
the time of Abraham, who with three 
other chiefs made war upon the kings of 
Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and 
Zoar, and reduced them to servitude. 
Gen. 14 : 17. 

Cheese is mentioned only three times 
in the Bible, and on each occasion under 
a different name in the Hebrew. 1 Sam. 
17 : 18 ; 2 Sam. 17 : 29 ; Job 10 : 10. It is 
difficult to decide how far these terms 
correspond with our notion of cheese, for 
they simply express various degrees of 
coagulation. Cheese is not at the pres- 
8 



ent day common among the Bedouin 
Arabs, butter being decidedly preferred ; 
but there is a substance closely corre- 
sponding to those mentioned in 1 Sam. 
17, 2 Sam. 17, consisting of coagulated 
buttermilk, which is dried until it be- 
comes quite hard, and is then ground; 
the Arabs eat it mixed with butter. 

Che'lal (perfection), Ezra 10 : 30, one 
who had^i strange wife. 

Chel'luh (completed), Ezra 10 : 35, 
another like the above. 

Che'lub. 1. A man among the de- 
| scendants of Judah. 

2. Ezri the son of Chelub, one of Da- 
vid's officers. 1 Chron. 27 : 26. 

Chelu'bai (capable), the son of Hez- 
rcn. Same as Caleb. 1 Chron. 2 : 9, 18, 
! 42. 

Chem'arim, The (those who go 
about in black, i. e. ascetics). In the 
! Hebrew applied to the priests of the 
! worship of false gods. 2 Kings 23 : 5 ; 
i Hos. 10 : 5, in margin ; Zeph. 1 : 4. 

Che'mosh (subduer), the national 
deity of the Moabites. Num. 21 : 29 ; 
| Jer. 48 : 7, 13, 46. In Judges 11 : 24 he 
; also appears as the god of the Ammon- 
ites. Solomon introduced, and Josiah 
j abolished, the worship of Chemosh at 
Jerusalem. 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23 : 
13. Also identifiedVith Baal-peor, Baal- 
zebub, Mars and Saturn. 

Chena'anah (merchant). 1. Son of 
Bilhan, son of Jediael, son of Benjamin, 
head of a Benjamite house, 1 Chron. 7 : 
10, probably of the family of the Bela- 
ites. [Bela.] 

2. Father or ancestor of Zedekiah the 
false prophet. 1 Kings 22:11, 24; 2 
Chron. 18 : 10, 23. 

Chen'ani (a contraction of Chenani- 
ah), one of the Levites who assisted at 
the solemn purification of the people 
Under Ezra. Neh. 9 : 4. 

Chenani'ah (established by the Lord), 
chief of the Levites when David carried 
the ark to Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 15 : 22 ; 
26 : 29. 

Che'phar - Haam'monai (hamlet 
of the Ammonites), a place mentioned 
among the towns of Benjamin. Josh. 
18 : 24. 

Chephi'rah (the hamlet), one of the 
four cities of the Gibeonites, Josh. 9 : 17, 
named afterwards among the towns of 
Benjamin. Ezra 2 : 25 ; Neh. 7 : 29. 

Che'ran (lyre), one of the sons of 
Dishon the Horite "duke." Gen. 36 : 26; 
1 Chron. 1 : 41. 

113 



CHE 



CHI 



Cher'ethim (axe-men), Ezek. 25 : 16, 
same as Cherethites. 

Cher'ethites (executioners) and 
Pel'ethites (couriers), the life-guards i 
of King David. 2 Sam. 8:18; 15 : 18 ; 
20 : 7, 23 ; 1 Kings 1 : 38, 44 ; 1 Chron. 
18 : 17. It is plain that these royal 
guards were employed as executioners, 
2 Kings 11 : 4, and as couriers, 1 Kings 
14 : 27. But it has been conjectured that 
they may have been foreign mercenaries, 
and therefore probably Philistines, of 
which name Pelethites may be only an- 
other form. 

Che'rith, The brook (cutting, ra- 
vine), the torrent-bed or wady in which 
Elijah hid himself during the early part 
of the three-years drought. 1 Kings 17 : 
3, 5. The position of the Cherith has 
been much disputed. The argument 
from probability is in favor of the Che- 
rith being on the east of Jordan, and the 
name may possibly be discovered there. 

Cher'ub, apparently a place in Bab- 
ylonia from which some persons of doubt- 
ful extraction returned to Judea with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 59 ; Neh. 7 : 61. 

Cherub, Cherubim, The symbol- 
ical figure so called was a composite 
creature-form which finds a parallel in 
the religious insignia of Assyria, Egypt 
and Persia, e. g. the sphinx, the winged 
bulls and lions of Nineveh, etc. A cher- 
ub guarded paradise. Gen. 3 : 24. Fig- 
ures of cherubim were placed on the 
mercy-seat of the ark. Ex. 25 : 18. A 
pair of colossal size overshadowed it in 
Solomon's temple with the canopy of 
their contiguously extended wings. 1 
Kings 6 : 27. Those on the ark were to 
be placed with wings stretched forth, 
one at each end of the mercy-seat, and 
to be made " of the mercy-seat." Their 
wings were to be stretched upwards, and 
their faces " towards each other and to- 
wards the mercy-seat." It is remarkable 
that with such precise directions as to 
their position, attitude and material, 
nothing, save that they were winged, is 
said concerning their shape. On the 
whole it seems likely that the word 
" cherub" meant not only the composite 
creature-form, of which the man, lion, 
ox and eagle were the elements, but, fur- 
ther, some peculiar and mystical form. 
(Some suppose that the cherubim repre- 
sented God's providence among men, the 
four faces expressing the characters of 
that providence : its wisdom and intelli- 
gence (man), its strength (ox), its kingly 
114 



authority (lion), its swiftness, far-sighted 
(eagle). Others, combining all the other 
references with the description of the 
living creatures in Revelation, make the 
cherubim to represent God's redeemed 
people. The qualities of the four faces 
are those which belong to God's people. 
Their facing four ways, towards all quar- 
ters of the globe, represents their duty of 
extending the truth. The wings show 
swiftness of obedience; and only the 
redeemed can sing the song put in their 
mouths in Bev. 5 : 8-14. — Ed.) 

Ches'alon (hopes), a place named as 
one of the landmarks on the west part 
of the north boundary of Judah, Josh. 
15 : 10, probably Kesla, about six miles 
to the northeast of Ainshems, on the 
western mountains of Judah. 

Che'sed (increase), fourth son of Na- 
hor. Gen. 22 : 22. 

Che'sil (idolatrous), a town in the 
extreme south of Palestine, Josh. 15 : 30, 
15 miles southwest of Beersheba. In 
Josh. 19 : 4 the name is Bethul. 

Chest. By this word are translated 
in the Authorized Version two distinct 
Hebrew terms: 1. Aron ; this is invari- 
ably used for the ark of the covenant, 
and, with two exceptions, for that only. 
The two exceptions alluded to are (a) the 
"coffin" in which the bones of Joseph 
were carried from Egypt, Gen. 50 : 26, and 
(b) the "chest" in which Jehoiada the 
priest collected the alms for the repairs 
of the temple. 2 Kings 12 : 9, 10 ; 2 Chron. 
24:8-11. 2. Genazim, "chests." Ezek. 
27 : 24 only. 

Chestnut tree (Heb. 'armdn. Gen. 
30 : 37; Ezek. 31 : 8). Probably the 
" palm tree " (Platanus orientalis) is in- 
tended. This tree thrives best in low 
and rather moist situations in the north 
of Palestine, and resembles our sycamore 
or buttonwood (Platanus occidental is). 

Chesul'loth (the loins), one of the 
towns of Issachar. Josh. 19 : 18. From 
its position in the lists it appears to be 
between Jezreel and Shunem (Salam). 

Che'zib (lying), a name whieh occurs 
but once, Gen. 38 : 5 ; probably the same 
as Achzib. 

Chi'don (a javelin), the name which 
in 1 Chron. 13 : 9 is given to the thresh- 
ing-floor at which the accident to the ark 
took place. In the parallel account in 
2 Sam. 6 the name is given as Nachon. 

Children. The blessing of offspring, 
but especially of the male sex, is highly 
valued among all eastern nations, while 



CHI 



CHE 



the absence is regarded as one of the 
severest punishments. Gen. 16 : 2 ; Deut. 
7 : 14 ; 1 Sam. 1 : 6 ; 2 Sam. 6 : 23 ; 2 Kings 
4 : 14; Isa. 47 : 9 ; Jer. 20 : 15 ; Ps. 127 : 3, 
5. As soon as the child was born it was 
washed in a bath, rubbed with salt and 
wrapped in swaddling clothes. Ezek. 16 : 
4 ; Job 38 : 9 ; Luke^ 2 : 7. On the 8th 
day the rite of circumcision, in the case 
of a boy, was performed and a name 
given. At the end of a certain time 
(forty days if a son and twice as long if 
a daughter) the mother offered sacrifice 
for her cleansing. Lev. 12 : 1-8 ; Luke 2 : 
22. The period of nursing appears to 
have been sometimes prolonged to three 
years. Isa. 49 : 15 ; 2 Mace. 7 : 27. The 
time of weaning was an occasion of re- 
joicing. Gen. 21 : 8. Both boys and girls 
in their early years were under the care 
of the women. Pro v. 31 : 1. Afterwards 
the boys were taken by the father under 
his charge. Daughters usually remained 
in the women's apartments till marriage. 
Lev. 21 : 9 ; Num. 12 : 14; 1 Sam. 9 : 11. 
The authority of parents, especially of 
the father, over children was very great, 
as was also the reverence enjoined by the 
law to be paid to parents. The inher- 
itance was divided equally between all 
the sons except the eldest, who received 
a double portion. Gen. 25 : 31 ; 49 : 3 ; 
Deut. 21 : 17 ; Judges 11 : 2, 7 ; 1 Chron. 5 : 
1, 2. Daughters had by right no portion 
in the inheritance ; but if a man had no 
son, his inheritance passed to his daugh- 
ters, who were forbidden to marry out of 
the father's tribe. Num. 27 : 1, 8 ; 36 : 2, 8. 

Chil'eab (like his father), a son of 
David by Abigail. [Abigail.] 

Chil'ion (pining, sickly), the son of 
Naomi and husband of Ruth. Ruth 1 : 
2-5; 4:9. (B.C. 1250.) 

Chil'mad (enclosure), a place or 
country mentioned in conjunction with 
Sheba and Asshur. Ezek. 27 : 23. 

Chim'ham (longing), a follower, and 
probably a son, of Barzillai the Gilead- 
ite, who returned from beyond Jordan 
with David. 2 Sam. 19 : 37, 38, 40. (B.C. 
1023.) David appears to have bestowed 
on him a possession at Bethlehem, on 
which, in later times, an inn or khan 
was standing. Jer. 41 : 17. 

Chim'han. [Chimham.] 

Chin'nereth (circuit), accurately 
Cinnareth, a fortified city in the tribe of 
Naphtali, Josh. 19 : 35 only, of which no 
trace is found in later writers, and no re- 
mains by travellers. 



Chin'nereth, Sea of. Num. 34 : 11 ; 
Josh. 13 : 27, the inland sea, which is 
most familiarly known to us as the " Lake 
of Gennesareth " or " Sea of Galilee." 

Chin'neroth. [Chinneeeth.] 

Chi'os (snowy), an island of the 
JEgean Sea, 12 miles from Smyrna. It 
is separated from the mainland by a strait 
of only 5 miles. Its length is about 32 
miles, and in breadth it varies from 8 to 
18. Paul passed it on his return voyage 
from Troas to Csesarea. Acts 20 : 15. It 
is now called Scio. 

Chis'leu. [Month.] 

Chis'lon (confidence), father of Eli- 
dad, the prince of the tribe of Benjamin, 
chosen to assist in the division of the land 
of Canaan among the tribes. Num. 34 : 
21. (B.C. 1450.) 

Chis'loth-ta'bor (loins of Tabor), 
a place to the border of which reached 
the border of Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 12. It 
may be the village Iksdl, which is now 
standing about 2£ miles to the west of 
; Mount Tabor. 

Chit'tim, Kit'tim (bruisers), a fam- 
; ily or race descended from Javan. Gen. 

10 : 4 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 7. Authorized Version 
! KiTTlM. Chittim is frequently noticed 

in Scripture. Num. 24 : 24 ; Isa. 23 : 1, 12 ; 
Jer. 2 : 10 ; Ezek. 27 : 6 ; Dan. 11 : 30. 
In the above passages, the " isles of Chit- 
tim," the " ships of Chittim, the " coasts 
of Chittim," are supposed to refer to the 
island of Cyprus. Josephus considered 
Cyprus the original seat of the Chittim. 
The name Chittim, which in the first 
instance had applied to Phoenicians only, 
passed over to the islands which they 
had occupied, and thence to the people 
who succeeded the Phoenicians in the 
occupation of them. 

Chi'iin (a statue, perhaps of Saturn), 
an idol made by the Israelites in the 
wilderness. [Remphan.] 

Chlo'e (green herb), a woman men- 
tioned in 1 Cor. 1 : 11. 

Chora'shan. 1 Sam. 30 : 30. It may, 
perhaps, be identified with Ashan of 
Simeon. 

Chora'zin, one of the cities in which 
our Lord's mighty works were done, but 
named only in his denunciation. Matt. 

11 : 21 ; Luke 10 : 13. St. Jerome de- 
scribes it as on the shore of the lake, two 
miles from Capernaum, but its modern 
site is uncertain. 

Choze'ba. 1 Chron. 4 : 22. Perhaps 
the same as Achzib. 
Christ. [Jesus.] 

115 



CHR 



CHR 



Chris'tian. The disciples, we are 
told, Acts 11 : 26, were first called Chris- j 
tians at Antioch on the Orontes, some- ! 
where about A.d. 43. They were known 
to each other as, and were among them- ! 
selves called, brethren, Acts 15 : 1, 23 ; 1 
Cor. 7:12; disciples, Acts 9:26; 11 : 29 ; 
believers, Acts 5 : 14 ; saints, Rom. 8 : 27 ; i 



15 : 25. The name " Christian," which, 
in the only other cases where it appears 
in the New Testament, Acts 26 : 28, 1 
Pet. 4 : 16, is used contemptuously, could 
not have been applied by the early dis- 
ciples to themselves, but was imposed 
upon them by the Gentile world. There 
is no reason' to suppose that the name 





Ruina of Kerazeh (Chorazin). 



"Christian" of itself was intended as a 
term of scurrility or abuse, though it 
would naturally be used with contempt. 

Chronicles, First and Second 
Books of, the name originally given 
to the record made by the appointed his- 
toriographers in the kingdoms of Israel 
and Judah. In the LXX. these books 
are called Paralipomena (i. e. things 
omitted), which is understood as mean- 
ing that they are supplementary to the 
books of Kings. The constant tradition 
of the Jews is that these books were for 
the most part compiled by Ezra. One 
of the greatest difficulties connected with 
the captivity and return must have been 
the maintenance of that genealogical dis- 
tribution of the lands which yet was a 
vital point of the Jewish economy. To 
supply this want and that each tribe 
might secure the inheritance of its fathers 
on its return was one object of the author 
of these books. Another difficulty inti- 
mately connected with the former was 
116 



the maintenance of the temple services 
at Jerusalem. Zerubbabel, and after him 
Ezra and Nehemiah, labored most earn- 
estly to restore the worship of God 
among the people, and to reinfuse some- 
thing of national life and spirit into their 
hearts. Nothing could more effectually 
aid these designs than setting before the 
people a compendious history of the 
kingdom of David, its prosperity under 
God ; the sins that led to its overthrow ; 
the captivity and return. These con- 
siderations explain the plan and scope 
of that historical work which consists of 
the two books of Chronicles. The first 
book contains the sacred history by gene- 
alogies from the Creation to David, in- 
cluding an account of David's reign. In 
the second book he continues the story, 
giving the history of the kings of Judah, 
without those of Israel, down to the re- 
turn from the captivity. As regards the 
materials used by Ezra, they are not dif- 
ficult to discover. The genealogies are 



CHR 



CHU 



obviously transcribed from some register, 
in which were preserved the genealogies 
of the tribes and families drawn up at 
different times ; while the history is 
mainly drawn from the same documents 
as those used in the books of Kings. 
[Kings, Books of.j 

Chronology. By this term we un- | 
derstand the technical and historical 
chronology of the Jews and their ances- 
tors from the earliest time to the close of 
the New Testament Canon. 1. Tech- 
nical Cheonology. — The technical 
part of Hebrew chronology presents great 
difficulties. 2. Historical Cheonol- | 
OGY. — The historical part of Hebrew 
chronology is not less difficult than the 
technical. The information in the Bible 
is indeed direct rather than inferential, 
although there is very important evi- j 
dence of the latter kind, but the present ' 
state of the numbers makes absolute cer- \ 
tainty in many cases impossible. Three j 
principal systems of biblical chronol- 
ogy have been founded, which may be ! 
termed the Long System, the Short, and 
the Rabbinical. There is a fourth, which, j 
although an offshoot in part of the last, 
can scarcely be termed biblical, inasmuch j 
as it depends for the most part upon theo- j 
ries, not only independent of but repug- j 
nant to the Bible : this last is at present j 
peculiar to Baron Bunsen. The princi- 
pal advocates of the Long chronology j 
are Jackson, Hales and Des-Vignoles. ] 
Of the Short chronology Ussher may be j 
considered as the most able advocate, j 
The Rabbinical chronology accepts the ! 
biblical numbers, but makes the most j 
arbitrary corrections. For the date of ; 
the Exodus it has been virtually accepted 
by Bunsen, Lepsius and Lord A. Hervey. j 



Flood 

Abram leaves ) 

Haran . . . . J 

Exodus 

Found'n of Solo- ? 

mon's Temple $ 
Destr'n of Solo- > 

mon's Temple $ 





;son. 


SI 


3 
3 


Bunsen. 




g 


1 






as 






6. 




B.C. 


B.C. 


B.C. 


B.C. 


B.C. 


5411 5426 


4004 398:! 


(Adam) cir. 20 000 


3155 3170 


2348 2327 


(Noah) cir. 10,000 


2078 


2023 


1921 1961 




11648 


1593 


1491 


1531 


1320 


1027 


1014 


1012 


1012 


1004 


586 


586 


588 


589 


586 



The numbers given by the LXX. for the 
antediluvian patriarchs would place the 
creation of Adam 2262 years before the 
end of the flood, or B.C. cir. 5361 or 5421. 



Chrysolite, one of the precious stones 
in the foundation of the heavenly Jeru- 
salem. Rev. 21 : 20. It has been already 
stated [Beeyl] that the chrysolite of the 
ancients is identical with the modern 
Oriental topaz, the tarskish of the He- 
brew Bible. 

Chrysoprase occurs only in Rev. 21 : 
20. The true chrysoprase is sometimes 
found in antique Egyptian jewelry set 
alternately with bits of lapis-lazuli. It 
is probable, therefore, that this is the 
stone named as the tenth in the walls of 
the heavenly Jerusalem. 

Chrysoprasus, Latin form of 
Cheysopease. 

Chub, the name of a people in alli- 
ance with Egypt in the time of Nebu- 
chadnezzar, Ezek. 30 : 5, and probably of 
northern Africa. 

Chun, 1 Chron. 18 : 8, called Berothai 
in 2 Sam. 8 : 8. 

Church. 1. The derivation of the 
word is generally said to be from the 
Greek kuriakon (kvpmlkov), "belonging to 
the Lord." But the derivation has been 
too hastily assumed. It is probably con- 
nected with kirk, the Latin circus, circu- 
lus, the Greek kuklos (kvk\os), because the 
congregations were gathered in circles. 
2. Ecclesia (eKKK-qa-ia), the Greek word for 
church, originally meant an assembly 
called out by the magistrate, or by legiti- 
mate authority. It was in this last sense 
that the word was adopted and applied 
by the writers of the New Testament to the 
Christian congregation. In the one Gos- 
pel of St. Matthew the church is spoken 
of no less than thirty-six times as " the 
kingdom." Other descriptions or titles 
are hardly found in the evangelists. It 
is Christ's household, Matt. 10 : 25 ; the 
salt and light of the world, Matt. 5 : 13, 
15 ; Christ's flock, Matt. 26 : 31 ; John 
10 : 1 ; its members are the branches 
growing on Christ the Vine, John 15; 
but the general description of it, not 
metaphorical but direct, is that it is a 
kingdom. Matt. 16 : 19. From the Gos- 
pel then we learn that Christ was about 
to establish his heavenly kingdom on 
earth, which was to be the substitute for 
the Jewish Church and kingdom, now 
doomed to destruction. Matt. 21 : 43. 

The day of Pentecost is the birthday 
of the Christian Church. Before they 
had been individual followers of Jesus ; 
now they became his mystical body, ani- 
mated by his spirit. On the evening of 
the dav of Pentecost, the 3140 members 
117 



CHU 



CIT 



of which the Church consisted were — (1) 
Apostles; (2) previous Disciples; (3) Con- 
verts. In Acts 2 : 41 we have indirectly 
exhibited the essential conditions of 
church communion. They are (1) Bap- 
tism, baptism implying on the part of the 
recipient repentance and faith ; (2) Apos- 
tolic Doctrine; (3) Fellowship with the 
Apostles ; (4) the Lord's Supper ; (5) 
Public Worship. The real Church con- 
sists of all who belong to the Lord Jesus 
Christ as his disciples, and are one in 
love, in character, in hope, in Christ as 
the head of all, though as the body of 
Christ it consists of many parts. 

Chu'shan-rishatha'im {chief of two 
governments), the king of Mesopotamia 
who oppressed Israel during eight years 
in the generation immediately following 
Joshua. Judges 3:8. (B.C. after 1420.) 
His yoke was broken from the neck of 
the people of Israel by Othniel, Caleb's 
nephew. Judges 3 : 10. 

Chu'za, properly Chu'zas {the seer), 
the house-steward of Herod Antipas. 
Luke 8 : 3. 

Cic'car. [Jordan.] 

Cilic'ia {the land of Celix), a mari- 
time province in the southeast of Asia 
Minor, bordering on Pamphylia in the 
west, Lycaonia and Cappadocia in the 
north, and Syria in the east. Acts 6:9. 
Cilicia was from its geographical position 
the high road between Syria and the 
west; it was also the native country of 
St. Paul, hence it was visited by him, 
firstly, soon after his conversion, Acts 9 : 
30; Gal. 1 : 21, and again in his second 
apostolical journey. Acts 15 : 41. 

Cinnamon, a well-known aromatic 
substance, the rind of the Laurus cinna- 
momum, called Korunda-gauhah in Cey- 
lon. It is mentioned in Ex. 30 : 23 as 
one of the component parts of the holy 
anointing oil. In Rev. 18 : 13 it is enu- 
merated among the merchandise of the 
great Babylon. 

Cin'neroth. 1 Kings 15 : 20. This 
was possibly the small enclosed district 
north of Tiberias, and by the side of the 
lake, afterwards known as " the plain of 
Gennesareth." 

Circumcision was peculiarly, though 
not exclusively, a Jewish rite. It was 
enjoined upon Abraham, the father of 
the nation, by God, at the institution and 
as the token of the covenant, which as- 
sured to him and his descendants the 
promise of the Messiah. Gen. 17. It 
was thus made a necessary condition of 
118 



Jewish nationality. Every male child 
was to be circumcised when eight days 
old, Lev. 12 : 3, on pain of death. The 
i biblical notice of the rite describes it as 
j distinctively Jewish ; so that in the New 
I Testament " the circumcision " and " the 
I uncircumcision " are frequently used as 
synonyms for the Jews and the Gentiles. 
The rite has been found to prevail ex- 
tensively in both ancient and modern 
times. Though Mohammed did not en- 
join circumcision in the Koran, he was 
circumcised himself, according to the 
custom of his country ; and circumcision 
is now as common among the Moham- 
medans as among the Jews. The process 
of restoring a circumcised person to his 
natural condition by a surgical operation 
was sometimes undergone. Some of the 
Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiph- 
anes, wi.shing to assimilate themselves to 
the heathen around them, " made them- 
selves uncircumcised." Against having 
recourse to this practice, from an excess- 
ive anti-Judaistic tendency, St. Paul 
cautions the Corinthians. 1 Chron. 7 : 18. 

Cis, the father of Saul, Acts 13 : 21, 
usually called Kish. 

Cistern, a receptacle for water, either 
conducted from an external spring or 
proceeding from rain-fall. The dryness 
of the summer months and the scarcity 
of springs in Judea made cisterns a ne- 
cessity, and they are frequent throughout 
the whole of Syria and Palestine. On 
the long-forgotten way from Jericho to 
Bethel, "broken cisterns" of high an- 
tiquity are found at regular intervals. 
Jerusalem depends mainly for water 
upon its cisterns, of which almost every 
private house possesses one or more, ex- 
cavated in the rock on which the city is 
built. The cisterns have usually a round 
opening at the top, sometimes built up 
with stonework above and furnished with 
a curb and a wheel for the bucket. Eccles. 
12 : 6. Empty cisterns were sometimes 
j used as prisons and places of confine- 
' ment. Joseph was cast into a " pit," 
, Gen. 37 : 22, as was Jeremiah. Jer. 38 : 6. 

Cities. The earliest notice in Scrip- 
! ture of city-building is of Enoch by Cain, 
I in the land of his exile. Gen. 4 : 17. After 
the confusion of tongues the descendants 
i of Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Accad 
i and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, and 
I Asshur, a branch from the same stock, 
j built Nineveh, Rehoboth-by-the-river, 
I Calah and Resen, the last being " a great 
j city." The earliest description of a city, 



CIT 



CLE 



properly so called, is that of Sodom. 
Gen. 19 : 1-22. Even before the time of 
Abraham there were cities in Egypt, 
Gen. 12 : 14, 15 ; Num. 13 : 22, and the 
Israelites, during their sojourn there, 
were employed in building or fortifying 
the "treasure cities" of Pithom and 
Raamses. Ex. 1 : 11. 

Fenced cities, fortified with high walls, 
Deut. 3 : 5, were occupied and perhaps 
partly rebuilt after the conquest, by the 
settled inhabitants of Syria on both sides 
of the Jordan. 

Cities of refuge, six Levitical cities 
specially chosen for refuge to the involun- 
tary homicide until released from banish- 
ment bv the death of the high priest. 
Num. 35 : 6, 13, 15 ; Josh. 20 : 2, 7, 9. 
There were three on each side of Jordan. 
L Kedesh, in Naphtali. 1 Chron. 6 : 76. 

2. Shechem, in Mount Ephraim. Josh. 
21 : 21 ; 1 Chron. 6:67; 2 Chron. 10 : 1. j 

3. Hebron, in Judah. Josh. 21 : 13 ; 2 
Sam. 5 : 5 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 55 ; 29 : 27 ; 2 
Chron. 11 : 10. 4. On the east side of 
Jordan — Bezer, in the tribe of Reuben, 
in the plains of Moab. Deut. 4 : 43 ; Josh. 
20 : 8 ; 21 : 36 ; 1 Mace. 5 : 26. .5. Ramoth- 
g-ilead, in the tribe of Gad. Deut. 4 : 43 ; j 
Josh. 21 : 38 ; 1 Kings 22 : 3. 6. Golan, 
in Bashan, in the half-tribe of Manasseh. 
Deut. 4 : 43 ; Josh. 21 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 71. 

Cit'ims. 1 Mace. 8 : 5. [CHITTIM.]' 

Citizenship. The use of this term 
in Scripture has exclusive reference to 
the usages of the Roman empire. The 
privilege of Roman citizenship was orig- j 
inally acquired in various ways, as by 
purchase, Acts 22 : 28, by military serv- ' 
ices, by favor or by manumission. The 
right once obtained descended to a man's 
children. Acts 22 : 28. Among the priv- | 
ileges attached to citizenship we may j 
note that a man could not be bound or 
imprisoned without a formal trial, Acts • 
22 : 29, still less be scourged. Acts 16 : 37 ; j 
Cic. in Verr. v. 63, 66. Another privilege ' 
attaching to citizenship was the appeal 
from a provincial tribunal to the emperor 
at Rome. Acts 25 : 11. 

Citron. [Apple tree.] 

Clan 'da (lame), Acts 27 : 16, a small 
island nearly due west of Cape Matala 
on the south coast of Crete, and nearly 
due south of Phcenice ; now Gozzo. 

Clau'dia (lame), a Christian woman 
mentioned in 2 Tim. 4 : 21, as saluting j 
Timotheus. 

Clau'dius (lame), fourth Roman em- j 
peror, reigned from 41 to 54 a.d. He was i 



nominated to the supreme power mainly 
through the influence of Herod Agrippa 
the First. In the reign of Claudius there 
were several famines, arising from un- 
favorable harvests, and one such occurred 
in Palestine and Syria. Acts 11 : 28-30. 
Claudius was induced by a tumult of the 




Coin of Claudius. 



Jews in Rome to expel them from the 
city. cf. Acts 18 : 2. The date of this 
event is uncertain. After a weak and 
foolish reign he was poisoned by his 
fourth wife, Agrippina, the mother of 
Nero, October 13, a.d. 54. 
Clau'dius Lys'ias. [Lysias.] 
Clay. As the sediment of water re- 
maining in pits or in streets, the word is 
used frequently in the Old Testament, 
Ps. 18 : 42 ; Isa. 57 : 20 ; Jer. 38 : 6, and 
in the New Testament, John 9 : 6, a mix- 
ture of sand or dust with spittle. It is 
also found in the sense of potter's clay. 
Isa. 41 : 25. The great seat of the pottery 
of the present day in Palestine is Gaza, 
where are made the vessels in dark-blue 
clay so frequently met with. Another 
use of clay was for sealing. Job 38 : 14. 
Our Lord's tomb may have been thus 
sealed, Matt. 27 : 66, as also the earthen 
vessel containing the evidences of Jere- 
miah's purchase. Jer. 32 : 14. The seal 
used for public documents was rolled on 
the moist clay, and the tablet was then 
placed in the fire and baked. 

Clem'ent (mild, merciful), Philip. 4 : 
3, a fellow laborer of St. Paul when he was 
at Philippi. (a.d. 57.) It was generally 
believed in the ancient Church that this 
Clement was identical with the bishop 
of Rome who afterwards became so cele- 
brated. 

Cle'opas (of a renowned father), one 
of the two disciples who were going to 
Emmaus on the day of the resurrection. 
Luke 24 : 18. Some think the same as 
Cleophas in John 19 : 25. But they are 
probably two different persons. Cleopas 
is a Greek name, contracted from Cleo- 
pater, while Cleophas, or Clopas as in 
119 



CLE 



COL 



the Revised Version, is an Aramaic ence to lands bordering on the sea than 
name, the same as Alphseus. to any other bordering lands. 

Cle'ophas, Revised Version Clo'- j Coat. [Dress.] 
pas, the husband of Mary the sister of j Cock. Matt. 26 : 34; Mark 13 : 35; 
the Virgin Mary. John 19 : 25. He was 14 : 30, etc. The domestic cock and hen 
probably dead before Jesus' ministry be- were early known to the ancient Greeks 
gan, for his wife and children constantly j and Romans, and as no mention is made 
appear with Joseph's family in the time j in the Old Testament of these birds, and 
of our Lord's ministry. — Englishman's no figures of them occur on the Egyptian 
Cyc. [Cleopas ; Alphseus.] monuments, they probably came into 

Clothing. [Dress.] j Judea with the Romans, who, as is well 

Cloud. The shelter given, and re- \ known, prized these birds both as articles 
freshment of rain promised, by clouds ! of food and for cock-fighting, 
give them their peculiar prominence in j Cockatrice. [Adder.] 
Oriental imagery. When a cloud ap- Cockle probably signifies bad weeds 
pears rain is ordinarily apprehended, or fruit. Job 31 : 40. 
and thus the "cloud without rain" be- j Ccele-Syr'ia (sel'e) (hollow Syria), 
comes a proverb for the man of promise the remarkable valley or hollow which 
without performance. Prov. 16 : 15 ; Isa. i intervenes between Libanus and Anti- 
18:4; 25 : 5 ; Jude 12 ; comp. Prov. 25 : 14. j Libanus, stretching a distance of nearly 
The cloud is a figure of transitoriness, ' a hundred miles. The only mention of 
Job 30 : 15 ; Hos. 6 : 4, and of whatever j the region as a separate tract of country 
intercepts divine favor or human suppli- i which the Jewish Scriptures contain is 
cation. Lam. 2 : 1 ; 3 : 44. A bright cloud | probably that in Amos 1 : 5, where " the 
at times visited and rested on the mercy- inhabitants of the plain of Aven" are 
seat. Ex. 29 : 42, 43; 1 Kings 8 : 10, 11 ; ; threatened in conjunction with those of 
2 Chron. 5 : 14 ; Ezek. 43 : 4, and was by I Damascus. The word is given in the 
later writers named Shechinah. j Authorized Version as Celo-SYRIA. 

Cloud, Pillar of. The pillar of j Coffer (argaz), a movable box hang- 
cloud by day and of fire by night that | ing from the side of a cart. 1 Sam. 6 : 8, 
God caused to pass before the camp of the j 11, 15. The word is found nowhere else, 
children of Israel when in the wilderness, j Coffin. [Burial.] 
The cloud, which became a pillar when j Col-ho'zeh {all-seeing), a man of 
the host moved, seems to have rested at i the tribe of Judah in the time of Nehe- 
other times on the tabernacle, whence j miah. Neh. 3 : 15 ; 11 : 5. (B.C. 536.) 
God is said to have " come down in the : Collar. For the proper sense of this 
pillar." Num. 12 : 5 ; so Ex. 33 : 9, 10. ' term, as it occurs in Judges 8 : 26, see 
It preceded the host, apparently rest- j Earrings. 

ing on the ark which led the way. ! College, The. In 2 Kings 22 : 14, it 
Ex. 13 : 21 ; 40 : 36, etc. ; Num. 9 : 15-23 ; i is probable that the word translated 
10 : 34. j " college" represents here not an institu- 

Clouted, patched. Josh. 9:5. j tion of learning, but that part of Jerusa- 

Cni'dus (nidus), a city of great con- lem known as the "lower city "or suburb, 
sequence, situated at the extreme south- j built on the hill Akra, including the 
west of the peninsula of Asia Minor, on | Bezetha or new city, 
a promontory now called Cape Crio, : Colony, a designation of Philippi, in 
which projects between the islands of j Acts 16 : 12. After the battle of Actium, 
Cos and Rhodes. See Acts 21 : 1. It is Augustus assigned to his veterans those 
now in ruins. j parts of Italy which had espoused the 

Coal. The first and most frequent j cause of Antony, and transported many 
use of the word rendered coal is alive; of the expelled inhabitants to Philippi, 
ember, burning fuel. Prov. 26 : 21. In ! Dyrrhachium and other cities. In this 
2 Sam. 22 : 9, 13, " coals of fire" are put j Avay Philippi was made a Roman colony 
metaphorically for the lightnings pro- j with the "Jus Italicum." At first the 
deeding from God. Ps. 18:8, 12, 13; 140: colonists were all Roman citizens, and 
10. In Prov. 26 : 21, fuel not yet lighted entitled to vote at Rome, 
is clearly signified. The fuel meant in Colors. The terms relative to color, 
the above passage is probably charcoal, occurring in the Bible, may be arranged 
and not coal in our sense of the word. j in two classes, the first including those 

Coast, border, with no more refer- applied to the description of natural 
120 



COL 



COM 



objects, the second those artificial mix- 
tures which were employed in dyeing or 
painting. The purple and the blue were 
derived from a small shellfish found in 
the Mediterranean, and were very costly, 
and hence they were the royal colors. 
Red, both scarlet and crimson, was de- 
rived from an insect resembling the cochi- 
neal. The natural colors noticed in the 
Bible are white, black, red, yellow and 
green. The only fundamental color of 



which the Hebrews appear to have had 
a clear conception was red; and even 
this is not very often noticed. 

Colos'se, more properly Colos'sae, 
was a city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, in 
the upper part of the basin of the Mse- 
ander, on the Lycus. Hierapolis and 
Laodicea were in its immediate neigh- 
borhood. Col. 1 : 2 ; 4 : 13, 15, 16 ; see 
Rev. 1 : 11 ; 3 : 14. St. Paul is supposed 
by some to have visited Colosse and 




Colosse. 



founded or confirmed the Colossi an 
church on his third missionary journey. 
Acts 18:23; 19:1. 

Colos'sians, The Epistle to the, 

was written by the apostle St. Paul 
during his first captivity at Eome. Acts 
28 : 16. (A.D. 62.) ; The epistle was ad- 
dressed to the Christians of the city of 
Colosse, and was delivered to them by 
Tychicus, whom the apostle had sent 
both to them, Col. 4 : 7, 8, and to the 
church of Ephesus, Eph. 6 : 21, to inquire 
into their state and to administer exhort- 
ation and comfort. The main object of 
the epistle is to warn the Colossians 
against a spirit of semi-Judaistic and 
semi-Oriental philosophy which was cor- 
rupting the simplicity of their belief, and 
was noticeably tending to obscure the 
eternal glory and dignity of Christ. The 
similarity between this epistle and that 



' to the Ephesians is striking. The latter 
was probably written at a later date. 

Comforter. John 14: 16. The name 
given by Christ to the Holy Spirit. The 
original word is Paraclete, and means 
: first Advocate, a defender, helper, 
j strengthened as well as comforter. 

Commerce. From the time that 
men began to live in cities, trade, in some 
shape, must have been carried on to sup- 
ply the town-dwellers with necessaries 
from foreign as well as native sources, for 
we find that Abraham was rich, not only 
in cattle, but in silver, gold and gold and 
silver plate and ornaments. Gen. 13 : 2 ; 
24 : 22, 53. Among trading nations men- 
tioned in Scripture, Egypt holds in very 
early times a prominent position. The 
internal trade of the Jews, as well as the 
external, was much promoted by the fes- 
tivals, which brought large numbers of 
121 



CON 



COO 



persons to Jerusalem. 1 Kings 8 : 63. The 
places of public market were chiefly the 
open spaces near the gates, to which 
goods were brought for sale by those 
who came from the outside. Neh. 13 : 15, 
16 ; Zeph. 1 : 10. The traders in later 
times were allowed to intrude into the 
temple, in the outer courts of which vic- 
tims were publicly sold for the sacrifice. 
Zech. 14 : 21 ; Matt. 21 : 12 ; John 2 : 14. 

Conani'ah {made by Jehovah), one 
of the chiefs of the Levites in the time 
of Josiah. 2 Chron. 35 : 9. (B.C. 628.) 

Concubine. The difference between 
wife and concubine was less marked 
among the Hebrews than among us, 
owing to the absence of moral stigma. 
The difference probably lay in the ab- 
sence of the right of the bill of divorce, 
without which the wife could not be re- 
pudiated. With regard to the children of 
wife and of concubine, there was no such 
difference as our illegitimacy implies. 
The latter were a supplementary family 
to the former ; their names occur in the 
patriarchal genealogies, Gen. 22 : 24 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 22, and their position and pro- 
vision would depend on the father's will. I 
Gen. 25 : 6. The state of concubinage is ! 
assumed and provided for by the law of j 
Moses. A concubine would generally be j 
either (1) a Hebrew girl bought of her 
father; (2) a Gentile captive taken in' 
war; (3) a foreign slave bought; or (4, j 
a Canaanitish woman, bond or free. The 
rights of the first two were protected by 
the law, Ex. 21:7; Deut. 21 : 10-14 ; but 
the third was unrecognized and the fourth 
prohibited. Free Hebrew women also 
might become concubines. To seize on 
royal concubines for his use was often a 
usurper's first act. Such was probably j 
the intent of Abner's act, 2 Sam. 3:7, 
and similarly the request on behalf of i 
Adonijah was construed. 1 Kings 2: 
21-24.' 

Conduit, meaning an aqueduct or 
trench through which water was carried. 
Tradition, both oral and as represented j 
by Talmudical writers, ascribes to Sol- 
omon the formation of the original aque- I 
duct by which water was brought to 
Jerusalem. 

Coney (shaphdn), a gregarious ani- 
mal of the class Pachydermata, which : 
is found in Palestine, living in the caves 
and clefts of the rocks, and has been er- 
roneously identified with the rabbit or 
coney. Its scientific name is Hyrax syr- j 
iacus. The hyrax satisfies exactlv the 
122 



expressions in Ps. 104 : 18 ; Prov. 30 : 26. 
Its color is gray or brown on the back, 
white on the belly ; it is like the alpine 
marmot, scarcely of the size of the do- 




The Coney. 



mestic cat, having long hair, a very short 
tail and round ears. It is found on Leb- 
anon and in the Jordan and Dead Sea 
valleys. 

Congregation. This describes the 
Hebrew people in its collective capacity 
under its peculiar aspect as a holy com- 
munity, held together by religious rather 
than political bonds. Sometimes it is 
used in a broad sense as inclusive of for- 
eign settlers, Ex. 12 : 19, but more prop- 
erly as exclusively appropriate to the 
Hebrew element of the population. Num. 
15 : 15. The congregation was governed 
by the father or head of each family and 
tribe. The number of these representa- 
tives being inconveniently large for or- 
dinary business, a further selection was 
made by Moses of 70, who formed a 
species of standing committee. Num. 11 : 
16. Occasionally indeed the whole body 
of the people was assembled at the door 
of the tabernacle, hence usually called 
the tabernacle of the congregation. Num. 
10 : 3. The people were strictly bound 
by the acts of their representatives, even 
in cases where they disapproved of them. 
Josh. 9 : 18. 

Coni'ah. [Jeconiah.] 

Cononi'ah (appointed by the Lord), 
a Levite, ruler of the offerings and tithes 
in the time of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 31 : 
12, 13. (B.C. 726.) 

Consecration. [Priest.] 

Convocation. This term (with one 
exception — Isa. 1 : 13) is applied invari- 
ably to meetings of a religious character, 
in contradistinction to congregation. 

Cooking. As meat did not form an 
article of ordinary diet among the Jews, 
the art of cooking was not carried to any 
perfection. Few animals were slaugh- 



coo 



COR 



tered except for purposes of hospitality j 
or festivity. The proceedings on such 
occasions appear to have been as fol- I 
lows : — On the arrival of a guest, the 
animal, either a kid, lamb or calf, was 
killed, Gen. 18 : 7 ; Luke 15 : 23, its throat ; 
being cut so that the blood might be 
poured out, Lev. 7 : 26 ; it was then 
flayed, and was ready for either roasting \ 
or boiling. In the former case the ani- 
mal was preserved entire, Ex. 12 : 46, 
and roasted either over a fire, Ex. 12 : 8, 
of wood, Isa. 44 : 16, or perhaps in an 
oven, consisting simply of a hole dug in 
the earth, well heated, and covered up. 
Boiling, however, was the more usual 
method of cooking. 

Co'os. Acts 21 : 1. [Cos.] 

Copper, Heb. nBchusheth, in the 
Authorized Version always rendered 
" brass," except in Ezra 8 : 27 and Jer. 
15 : 12. It was almost exclusively used 
by the ancients for common purposes, 
and for every kind of instrument, as 
chains, pillars, lavers and the other tem- 
ple vessels. We read also of copper mir- 
rors, Ex. 38 : 8, and even of copper arms, 
as helmets, spears, etc. 1 Sam. 17 : 5, 6, 
38 ; 2 Sam. 21 : 16. 

Coral. Ezek. 27 : 16. A production 
of the sea, formed by minute animals 
called zoophites. It is their shell or 
house. It takes various forms, as of 
trees, shrubs, hemispheres. The princi- 
pal colors are red and white. It was 
used for beads and ornaments. With 
regard to the estimation in which coral 
was held by the Jews and other Orient- 
als, it must be remembered that coral 
varies in price with us. Pliny says that 
the Indians valued coral as the Romans 
valued pearls. Job 28 : 18. 

Corban, an offering to God of any 
sort, bloody or bloodless, but partic- 
ularly in fulfillment of a vow. The 
law laid down rules for vows, (1) affirm- 
ative; (2) negative. Lev. 27 ; Num.30. 
Upon these rules the traditionists en- 
larged, and laid down that a man might 
interdict himself by vow, not only from 
using for himself, but from giving to an- 
other or receiving from him, some par- 
ticular object, whether of food or any 
other kind whatsoever. The thing thus 
interdicted was considered as corban. A 
person might thus exempt himself from 
any inconvenient obligation under plea of 
corban. It was practices of this sort that 
our Lord reprehended, Matt. 15 : 5 ; Mark 
7 : 11, as annulling the spirit of the law. 



Cord. The materials of which cord 
was made varied according to the 
strength required; the strongest rope 
was probably made of strips of camel 
hide, as still used by the Bedouins. The 
finer sorts were made of flax, Isa. 19 : 9, 
and probably of reeds and rushes. In 
the New Testament the term is applied 
to the whip which our Saviour made, 
John 2 : 15, and to the ropes of a ship. 
Acts 27 : 32. 

Co're. Jude 11. [Koeah, 1.] 




The Coriander. 



Coriander. The plant called Cori- 
andrum sativum is found in Egypt, Per- 
sia and India, and has a round tall stalk ; 
it bears umbelliferous white or reddish 
flowers, from which arise globular, gray- 
ish, spicy seed-corns, marked with fine 
striae. It is mentioned twice in the Bi- 
ble. Ex. 16:31; Num. 11:7. 

Cor'inth, an ancient and celebrated 
city of Greece, on the Isthmus of Cor- 
inth, and about 40 miles west of Athens. 
In consequence of its geographical posi- 
tion it formed the most direct communi- 
cation between the Ionian and ^Egean 
seas. A remarkable feature was the A cro- 
corinthus, a vast citadel of rock, which 
rises abruptly to the height of 2000 feet 
above the level of the sea, and the sum- 
mit of which is so extensive that it once 
contained a whole town. The situation 
of Corinth, and the possession of its east- 
123 



COB, 



COK 



ern and western harbors, Cenchrese and 
Lechseum, are the secrets of its history. 
Corinth was a place of great mental ac- 
tivity, as well as of commercial and 





Acrocorinthus, Corinth. 

manufacturing enterprise. Its wealth j 
was so celebrated as to be proverbial; 
so were the vice and profligacy of its in- 
habitants. The worship of Venus here 
was attended with shameful licentious 
ness. Corinth is still an episcopal see 




Coin of Corinth 



The city has now shrunk to a wretched 
village, on the old site and bearing the 
old name, which, however, is corrupted 
into Gortho. St. Paul preached here, 
Acts 18 : 11, and founded a church, to 
which his Epistles to the Corinthians 
are addressed. [Epistles to the Co- 

KINTHIANS.l 

Corinth'ians, First Epistle to the, 

was written by the apostle St. Paul to- 
ward the close of his nearly three-years 
stay at Ephesus, Acts 19 : 10 ; 20 : 31, 
which, we learn from 1 Cor. 16 : 8, prob- 
ably terminated with the Pentecost of 
A.D. 57 or 58. The bearers were prob- 
ably (according to the common subscrip- 
tion) Stephanas, Fortunatus and Acha- 
124 



icus. It appears to have been called 
forth by the information the apostles had 
received of dissension in the Corinthian 
church, which may be thus explained : 
— The Corinthian church was 
ssig planted by the apostle himself, 1 
Cor. 3 : 6, in his second missionary 
j journey. Acts 18 : 1, seq. He abode 
aajj l in the city a year and a half. Acts 
jjjji 18 : 11. A short time after the 
Bpl apostle had left the city the elo- 
j jjp quent Jew of Alexandria, Apollos, 
jj|§ went to Corinth, Acts 19:1, and 
gained many followers, dividing 
the church into two parties, the 
followers of Paul and the followers 
of Apollos. Later on Judaizing 
teachers from Jerusalem preached 
the gospel in a spirit of direct an- 
tagonism to St. Paul personally. 
To this third party we may perhaps 
add a fourth, that, under the name 
of" the followers of Christ," 1 Cor. 
2 : 12, sought at first to separate 
themselves from the factious ad- 
herence to particular teachers, but event- 
ually were driven by antagonism into 
positions equally sectarian and inimical 
to the unity of the church. At this mo- 
mentous period, before parties had be- 
come consolidated and had distinctly 
withdrawn from communion with one an- 
other, the apostle writes ; and in the out- 
set of the epistle, 1 Cor. 1-4 : 21, we have 
his noble and impassioned protest against 
this fourfold rending of the robe of Christ. 

Corinth'ians, Second Epistle to 
the, was written a few months subse- 
quent to the first, in the same year — 
about the autumn of a.d. 57 or 58 — at 
Macedonia. The epistle was occasioned 
by the information which the apostle 
had received from Titus, and also, as it 
would certainly seem probable, from 
Timothy, of the reception of the first 
epistle. This information, as it would 
seem from our present epistle, was main- 
ly favorable; the better part of the 
church were returning to their spirit- 
ual allegiance to their founder, 2 Cor. 
1 : 13, 14 ; 7:9, 15, 16 ; but there was still 
a faction who strenuously denied Paul's 
claim to apostleship. The contents of 
this epistle comprise, (1) the apostle's 
account of the character of his spiritual 
labors, chs. 1-7; (2) directions about the 
collections, chs. 8, 9; (3) defence of his 
own apostolical character, chs. 10-13 : 
10. The words in 1 Cor. 5 : 9 seem to 
point to further epistles to this church 



COE 



COU 



by Paul, but we have no positive evi- 
dence of any. 

Cormorant, the representative in the 
Authorized Version of the Hebrew words 
kdath and shdldc. As to the former, see 
Pelican. Shdldc occurs only as the 
name of an unclean bird in Lev. 11 : 17 ; 
Deut. 14 : 17. The word has been vari- 




The Cormorant. 

ously rendered. The etymology points 
to some plunging bird. The common 
cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), which 
some writers have identified with the 
shdldc, is unknown in the eastern Medi- 
terranean ; another species is found south 
of the Red Sea, but none on the wojt 
coast of Palestine. 

Corn. The most common kinds were 
wheat, barley, spelt, Authorized Version, 
Ex. 9 : 32 and Isa. 28 : 25, " rye Ezek. 
4:9" fitches " and millet ; oats are men- 
tioned only by rabbinical writers. Our 
Indian corn was unknown in Bible times. 
Corn-crops are still reckoned at twenty- 
fold what was sown, and were anciently 
much more. Gen. 41 : 22. The Jewish 
law permitted any one in passing through 
a field of standing corn to pluck and 
eat. Deut. 23 : 25; see also Matt. 12 : 1. 
From Solomon's time, 2 Chron. 2 : 10, 15, 
as agriculture became developed under 
a settled government, Palestine was a 
corn-exporting country, and her grain 
was largely taken by her commercial 
neighbor Tyre. Ezek. 27 : 17 ; comp. Amos 
8:5. 

126 



Corne'lius (of a horn), a Roman cen- 
turion of the Italian cohort stationed in 
Csesarea, Acts 10 : 1, etc., a man full of 
good works and alms-deeds. With his 
household he was baptized by St. Peter, 
and thus Cornelius became the first- 
fruits of the Gentile world to Christ. 

Corner. The "corner" of the field 
was not allowed, Lev. 19 : 9, to be wholly 
reaped. It formed a right of the, poor to 
carry off what was so left, and this was 
a part of the maintenance from the soil 
to which that class were entitled. Under 
the scribes, minute legislation fixed one- 
sixtieth as the portion of a field which 
was to be left for the legal " corner." 
The proportion being thus fixed, all the 
grain might be reaped, and enough to 
satisfy the regulation subsequently sepa- 
rated from the whole crop. This " cor- 
ner" was, like the gleaning, tithe-free. 

Corner-stone, a quoin or corner- 
stone, of great importance in binding 
together the sides of a building. The 
phrase " corner-stone " is sometimes used 
to denote any principal person, as the 
princes of Egypt, Isa. 19 : 13, and is thus 
applied to our Lord. Isa. 28 : 16 ; Matt. 
21 : 42 ; 1 Pet, 2 : 6, 7. 

Cornet (Heb. shophdr), aloud-sound- 
ing instrument, made of the horn of a 
ram or of a chamois (sometimes of an 
ox), and used by the ancient Hebrews 
for signals, Lev. 25 : 9, and much used bf 
the priests. 1 Chron. 15 : 28. 

Cos, or Co'os (now Stanchio or Stan- 
ko). This small island of the Grecian 
Archipelago has several interesting 
points of connection with the Jews. 
Herod the Great conferred many favors 
on the island. St. Paul, on the return 
from his third missionary journey, passed 
the night here, after sailing from Mile- 
tus. Probably referred to in Acts 21 : 1. 

Co'sam (a diviner), son of Elmodam, 
in the line of Joseph the husband of 
Mary. Luke 3 : 28. 

Cotton. Cotton is now both grown 
and manufactured in various parts of 
Syria and Palestine; but there is no 
proof that, till they came in contact with 
Persia, the Hebrews generally knew of it 
as a distinct fabric from linen. [Linen.] 

Couch. [Bed.] 

Council. 1. The great council of the 
Sanhedrin, which sat at Jerusalem. 

rSANHEDMN.] 

2. The lesser courts, Matt. 10 : 17; 
Mark 13 : 9, of which there were two at 
Jerusalem and one in each town of Pal- 



cou 



CEE 



estine. The constitution of these courts 
is a doubtful point. The existence of lo- 
cal courts, however constituted, is clearly 
implied in the passages quoted from the 
New Testament ; and perhaps the "judg- 
ment," Matt. 5 : 21, applies to them. 

3. A kind of jury or privy council, 
Acts 25 : 12, consisting of a certain num- 
ber of assessors, who assisted Roman gov- 
ernors in the administration of justice 
and in other public matters. 

Court (Heb. chdtstr), an open en- 
closure surrounded by buildings, ap- 
plied in the Authorized Version most 
commonly to the enclosures of the tab- 
ernacle and the temple. Ex. 27 : 9 ; 40 : 
33 ; Lev. 6:16; 1 Kings 6 : 36 ; 7 : 8 ; 2 
Kings 23 : 12 ; 2 Chron. 33 : 5, etc. 

Covenant. The Heb. bSrith means 
primarily "a cutting," with reference 
to the custom of cutting or dividing 
animals in two and passing between 
the parts in ratifying a covenant. Gen. 
15 ; Jer. 34 : 18, 19. In the New Testa- 
ment the corresponding word is dia- 
thece (Sia^KTj), which is frequently 
translated testament in the Authorized 
Version. In its biblical meaning of a 
compact or agreement between two 
parties the word is used — 1. Of a cove- 
nant between God and man ; e. g. God 
covenanted with Noah, after the flood, 
that a like judgment should not be re- 
peated. It is not precisely like a cov- 
enant between men, but was a promise 
or agreement by God. The principal 
covenants are the covenant of works — 
God promising to save and bless men 
on condition of perfect obedience— and 
the covenant of grace, or God's promise to 
save men on condition of their believing 
in Christ and receiving him as their 
Master and Saviour. The first is called 
the Old Covenant, from which we name 
the first part of the Bible the Old Testa- 
ment, the Latin rendering of the word 
covenant. The second is called the New 
Covenant, or New Testament. 2. Cov- 
enant between man and man, i. e. a 
solemn compact or agreement, either 
between tribes or nations, Josh. 9 :6, 15 ; 
1 Sam. 11 : 1, or between individuals, 
Gen. 31 : 44, by which each party bound 
himself to fulfill certain conditions and 
was assured of receiving certain advant- 
ages. In making such a covenant God 
was solemnly invoked as witness, Gen. 
31 : 50, and an oath was sworn. Gen. 21 : 
31. A sign or witness of the covenant 
was sometimes framed, such as a gift, 



Gen. 21 : 30, or a pillar or heap of stones 
erected. Gen. 31 : 52. 
Cow. [Bull.J 

Coz {thorn), a man among the de- 
scendants of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 8. 

Coz'bi {deceitful), daughter of Zur, a 
chief of the Midianites. Num. 25 : 15, 18. 

Crane. The crane {Grus cinerea) is 
a native of Europe and Asia. It stands 
about four feet high. Its color is ashen 




The Crane. 

gray, with face and neck nearly black. 
It feeds on seeds, roots, insects and small 
quadrupeds. It retires in winter to the 
warmer climates. Jer. 8 : 7. 

Create. To create is to cause some- 
thing to exist which did not exist before, 
as distinguished from make, to re-form 
something already in existence. 

Creation. (The creation of all things 
is ascribed in the Bible to God, and is the 
only reasonable account of the origin of 
the world. The method of creation is not 
stated in Genesis, and as far as the ac- 
count there is concerned, each part of it 
may be, after the first acts of creation, 
by evolution, or by direct act of God's 
will. The word create (bara) is used but 
three times in the first chapter of Genesis 
— (1) as to the origin of matter; (2) as to 
the origin of life ; (3) as to the origin of 
man's soul ; and science has always failed 
to do any of these acts thus ascribed to 
127 



CEE 



ORO 



God. All other things are said to be 
made. The order of creation as given in 
Genesis is in close harmony with the 
order as revealed by geology, and the 
account there given, so long before the 
records of the rocks were read or the 
truth discoverable by man, is one of the 
strongest proofs that the Bible was in- 
spired by God. — Ed.) 



Creditor. [Loan.] 

Cres'cens (growing), 2 Tim. 4 : 10, an 
assistant of St. Paul, said to have been 
one of the seventy disciples. 

Crete, the modern Candia. This 
large island, which closes in the Greek 
Archipelago on the south, extends 
through a distance of 140 miles between 
its extreme points. Though exceedingly 




View of Crete. Mount Ida in the distance. 



bold and mountainous, this island has 
very fruitful valleys, and in early times 
it was celebrated for its hundred cities. 
It seems likely that a very early ac- 
quaintance existed between the Cretans 
and the Jews. Cretans, Acts 2 : 11, were 
among those who were at Jerusalem at 
the great Pentecost. In Acts 27 : 7-12 




Coin of Crete. 

we have an account of Paul's shipwreck 
near this island ; and it is evident from 
Titus 1 : 5 that the apostle himself was 
here at no long interval of time before 
he wrote the letter. The Cretans were 
proverbial liars. Titus 1 : 12. 
128 



Cretes. Acts 2 : 11. Cretans, inhabit- 
ants of Crete. 

Crisping pins. Isa. 3 : 22. The orig- 
inal word means some kind of female 
ornament, probably a reticule or richly- 
ornamented purse, often made of silk in- 
wrought with gold or silver. 

Cris'pus (curled,), ruler of the Jewish 
synagogue at Corinth, Acts 18 : 8 ; bap- 
tized with his family by St. Paul. 1 Cor. 
1 : 14. (a.d. 50.) 

Cross. As the emblem of a slave's 
death and a murderer's punishment, the 
cross was naturally looked upon with 
the profoundest horror. But after the 
celebrated vision of Constant! ne, he or- 
dered his friends to make a cross of gold 
and gems, such as he had seen, and " the 
towering eagles resigned the flags unto 
the cross," and " the tree of cursing and 
shame " " sat upon the sceptres and was 
engraved and signed on the foreheads of 
kings." ( Jer. Taylor, " Life of Christ," 
iii., xv. 1.) The new standards were 
called by the name Labarum, and may 
be seen on the coins of Constantine the 



CRO 



CRU 



Great and his nearer successors. The 
Latin cross, on which our Lord suffered, 
was in the form of the letter T, and had 
an upright above the cross-bar, on which 
the "title" was placed. There was a 
projection from the central stem, on 
which the body of the sufferer rested. 




Three Forms of the Cross. 



This was to prevent the weight of the 
body from tearing away the hands. 
Whether there was also a support to the 
feet (as we see in pictures) is doubtful. 
An inscription was generally placed 
above the criminal's head, briefly ex- 
pressing his guilt, and generally was 
carried before him. It was covered 
with white gypsum, and the letters were 
black. 

Crown. This ornament, which is 
both ancient and universal, probably 




Crowns. 

1. Crown of Upper Egypt. 2. Crown of Upper and 
Lower Egypt united. 3. Assyrian Crown, from Nineveh 
Marbles. 4. Laurel Crown. 5. Crown of Herod the Great. 
6. Crown of Aretas. King of Arabia. 

originated from the fillets used to pre- 
vent the hair from being dishevelled by 
the wind. Such fillets are still common ; 



I they gradually developed into turbans, 
j which by the addition of ornamental or 
| precious materials assumed the dignity 
of mitres or crowns. Both the ordinary 
priests and the high priest wore them. 
The crown was a symbol of royalty, and 
was worn by kings, 2 Chron. 23 : 11, and 
also by queens. Esther 2 : 17. The head- 
dress of bridegrooms, Ezek. 24 : 17 ; Isa. 
61 : 10 ; Bar. 5 : 2, and of women, Isa. 3 : 
20 ; a head-dress of great splendor, Isa. 
28 : 5 ; a wreath of flowers, Prov. 1:9; 
4 : 9, denote crowns. In general we must 
attach to it the notion of a costly turban 
irradiated with pearls and gems of price- 
less value, which often form aigrettes for 
feathers, as in the crowns of modern Asi- 
atic sovereigns. Such was probably the 
crown which weighed (or rather u was 
worth") a talent, mentioned in 2 Sam. 
12 : 30, taken by David from the king of 
Ammon at Rabbah, and used as the state 
j crown of Judah. 2 Sam. 12 : 30. In Rev. 
12 : 3 ; 19 : 12, allusion is made to " many 
crowns" worn in token of extended do- 
j minion. The laurel, pine or parsley 
j crowns given to victors in the great 
games of Greece are finelv alluded to by 
St. Paul. 1 Cor. 9 : 25 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 5, etc. 

Crown of thorns, Matt. 27 : 29. Our 
Lord was crowned with thorns in mock- 
j ery by the Roman soldiers. Obviously 
some small flexile thorny shrub is meant ; 
perhaps Capparis spinosa. " Hassel- 
quist, a Swedish naturalist, supposes a 
very common plant, naba or nubka of 
the Arabs, with many small and sharp 
spines ; soft, round and pliant branches ; 
leaves much resembling ivy, of a very 
deep green, as if in designed mockery of 
a victor's wreath."— Alford. 

Crucifixion was in use among the 
Egyptians, Gen. 40 : 19, the Carthagin- 
ians, the Persians, Esther 7 : 10, the As- 
syrians, Scythians, Indians, Germans, 
and from the earliest times among the 
Greeks and Romans. Whether this mode 
of execution was known to the ancient 
Jews is a matter of dispute. Probably 
the Jews borrowed it from the Romans. 
It was unanimously considered the most 
horrible form of death. Among the Ro- 
mans the degradation was also a part of 
the infliction, and the punishment if 
j applied to freemen was only used in the 
case of the vilest criminals. The one to 
j be crucified was stripped naked of all his 
clothes, and then followed the most awful 
i moment of all. He was laid down upon 
I the implement of torture. His arms were 

129 



CRU 



cue 



stretched along the cross-beams, and at 
the centre of the open palms the point 
of a huge iron nail was placed, which, 
by the blow of a mallet, was driven home 
into the wood. Then through either 
foot separately, or possibly through both 
together, as they were placed one over 
the other, another huge nail tore its way 
through the quivering flesh. Whether 
the sufferer was also bound to the cross 
we do not know; but, to prevent the 
hands and feet being torn away by the 
weight of the body, which could not " rest 
upon nothing but four great wounds," 
there was, about the centre of the cross, 
a wooden projection strong enough to 
support, at least in part, a human body, 
which soon became a weight of agony. 
Then the "accursed tree" with its liv- 
ing human burden was slowly heaved up 
and the end fixed firmly in a hole in the 
ground. The feet were but a little raised 
above the earth. The victim was in full 
reach of every hand that might choose to 
strike. A death by crucifixion seems to 
include all that pain and death can have 
of the horrible and ghastly, — dizziness, 
cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, 
traumatic fever, tetanus, publicity of 
shame, long continuance of torment, hor- 
ror of anticipation, mortification of un- 
tended wounds, all intensified just up to 
the point at which they can be endured at 
all, but all stopping just short of the point 
which would give to the sufferer the re- 
lief of unconsciousness. The unnatural 
position made every movement painful ; 
the lacerated veins and crushed tendons 
throbbed with incessant anguish ; the 
wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually 
gangrened ; the arteries, especially of 
the head and stomach, became swollen 
and oppressed with surcharged blood ; 
and, while each variety of misery went 
on gradually increasing, there was added 
to them the intolerable pang of a burning 
and raging thirst. Such was the death 
to which Christ was doomed. — Farntr's 
"Life of Christ." The crucified was 
watched, according to custom, by a party 
of four soldiers, John 19 : 23, with their 
centurion, Matt. 27 : 66, whose express 
office was to prevent the stealing of the 
body. This was necessary from the lin- 
gering character of the death, which 
sometimes did not supervene even for 
three days, and was at last the result of 
gradual benumbing and starvation. But 
for this guard, the persons might have 
been taken down and recovered, as was 
130 



actually done in the case of a friend of 
Joseph us. Fracture of the legs was es- 
pecially adopted by the Jews to hasten 
death. John 19 : 31. In most cases the 
body was suffered to rot on the cross by 
the action of sun and rain, or to be de- 
voured by birds and beasts. Sepulture 
was generally therefore forbidden ; but 
in consequence of Deut. 21:22, 23, an 
express national exception was made in 
favor of the Jews. Matt. 27 : 58. This 
accursed and awful mode of punishment 
was happily abolished by Constantine. 

Cruse, a small vessel for holding 
water, such as was carried by Saul when 
on his night expedition after David, 1 
Sam. 26 : 11, 12, 16, and by Elijah. 1 
Kings 19: 6. 

Crystal, the representative in the 
Authorized Version of two Hebrew 
words. 1. ZecucUh occurs only in Job 
28:17, where "glass" probably is in- 
tended. 2. Kerach occurs in numerous 
passages in the Old Testament to denote 
" ice," " frost," etc. ; but once only,Ezt;k. 
1 : 22, as is generally understood, to sig- 
nify " crystal." The ancients supposed 
rock-crystal to be merely ice congealed 
by intense cold. The similarity of ap- 
pearance between ice and crystal caused 
no doubt the identity of the terms to ex- 
press these substances. The Greek word 
occurs in Rev. 4 : 6 ; 21 : 1. It may mean 
either " ice " or " crystal." 

Cubit. [Weights and Measures.] 

Cuckoo, Lev. 11 : 16 ; Deut. 14:15, 
the name of some unclean bird, and 
probably of some of the larger petrels 
which abound in the east of the Med- 
iterranean. 

Cucumbers 'Hob. kishshuim). This 
word occurs in Num. 11 : 5 as one of the 
good things of Egypt for which the Is- 
raelites longed. Egypt produces excel- 
lent cucumbers, melons, etc., the Cucu- 
mis chate being the best of its tribe yet 
known. Besides the Oucumis chate, the 
common cucumber ( C. sativus), of which 
the Arabs distinguish a number of vari- 
eties, is common in Egypt. " Both Ca- 
cumis chate and C. sativus" says Mr. 
Tristram, " are now grown in great quan- 
tities in Palestine. On visiting the Arab 
school in Jerusalem (1858) I observed 
that the dinner which the children 
brought with them to school consisted, 
without exception, of a piece of barley- 
cake and a raw cucumber, which they 
ate rind and all." The " lodge in a gar- 
den of cucumbers," Isa. 1 : 8, is a rude 



CUM 



CYP 



temporary shelter erected in the open 
grounds where vines, cucumbers, gourds, 
etc., are grown, in which some lonely 
man or boy is set to watch, either to 
guard the plants from robbers or to scare 
away the foxes and jackals from the 
vines. 

Cummin, one of the cultivated plants 
of Palestine. Isa. 28 : 25, 27 ; Matt. 23 : 
23. It is an umbelliferous plant some- 
thing like fennel. The seeds have a 
bitterish warm taste and an aromatic 
flavor. The Maltese are said to grow it 
at the present day, and to thresh it in 
the manner described by Isaiah. 

Cup. The cups of the Jews, whether 
of metal or earthenware, were possibly 
borrowed, in point of shape and design, 
from Egypt and from the Phoenicians, 
who were celebrated in that branch of 
workmanship. Egyptian cups were of 
various shapes, either with handles or 
without them. In Solomon's time all 
his drinking vessels were of gold, none 
of silver. 1 Kings 10 : 21. Babylon is 
compared to a golden cup. Jer. 51 : 7. 
The great laver, or " sea," was made 
with -a rim like the rim of a cup (cos), 
" with flowers of lilies," 1 Kings 7 : 26, a 
form which the Persepolitan cups re- 
semble. The cups of the New Testament 
were often no doubt formed on Greek 
and Roman models. They were some- 
times of gold. Rev. 17 : 4. 

Cupbearer, an officer of high rank 
with Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian as 
well as Jewish monarchs. 1 Kings 10 : 5. 
It was his duty to fill the king's cup and 
present it to him personally. Neh. 1:11. 
The chief cupbearer, or butler, to the 
king of Egypt was the means of raising 
Joseph to his high position. Gen. 40 : 1, 
21 ; 41 : 9. 

Cush (black), a Benjamite mentioned 
only in the title to Ps. 7. He was prob- 
ably a follower of Saul, the head of his 
tribe. (B.C. 1061.) 

Cush, the name of a son of Ham, ap- 
parently the eldest, and of a territory or 
territories occupied by his descendants. 
The Cushites appear to have spread 
along tracts extending from the higher 
Nile to the Euphrates and Tigris. His- 
tory affords many traces of this relation 
of Babylonia, Arabia and Ethiopia. 

Cu'shan (blackness), Hab. 3 : 7, pos- 
sibly the same as Cushan-rishathaim 
(Authorized Version Chushan-) king of 
Mesopotamia. Judges 3 : 8, 10. 

Cu'shi. Properly "the Cushite," "the 



Ethiopian," a man apparently attached 
to Joab's person. 2 Sam. 18 : 21-25, 31, 
32. 

Cuth, or Cu'thah, one of the coun- 
tries whence Shalmaneser introduced 
colonists into Samaria. 2 Kings 17 : 24, 
30. Its position is undecided. 

Cuttings [in the flesh]. Cuttings 
in the flesh, or the laceration of one's 
body for the " propitiation of their gods," 
1 Kings 18 : 28, constituted a prominent 
feature of idolatrous worship, especially 
among the Syrians. The Israelites were 
prohibited from indulging in such prac- 
tices. Lev. 19:28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1; 
Jer. 16 : 6. 

Cymbal, Cymbals, a percussive mu- 
sical instrument. Two kinds of cymbals 
are mentioned in Ps. 150 : 5, " loud cym- 
bals" or castagnettes, and "high-sound- 
ing cymbals." The former consisted of 
four small plates of brass or of some 
other hard metal ; two plates were at- 
tached to each hand of the performer, 
and were struck together to produce a 
great noise. The latter consisted of two 
larger plates, one held in each hand and 
struck together as an accompaniment to 
other instruments. Cymbals were used 
not only in the temple but for military 
purposes, and also by Hebrew women as 
a musical accompaniment to their na- 
tional dances. Both kinds of cymbals 
are still common in the East. 

Cypress (Heb. tirzdh). The Hebrew 
word is found only in Isa. 44 : 14. We 
are quite unable to assign any definite 
rendering to it. The true cypress is a 
native of the Taurus. The Hebrew word 
points to some tree with a hard grain, 
and this is all that can be positively said 
of it. 

Cy'prus, an island of Asia in the 
Mediterranean. It is about 140 miles 
long and 50 miles wide at the widest 
part. Its two chief cities were Salamis, 
at the east end of the island, and Paphos, 
at the west end. " Cyprus occupies a 
distinguished place in both sacred and 
profane history. It early belonged to 
the Phoenicians of the neighboring coast; 
was afterwards colonized by Greeks; 
passed successively under the power of 
the Pharaohs, Persians, Ptolemies and 
Romans, excepting a short period of in- 
dependence in the fourth century B.C. 
It was one of the chief seats of the 
worship of Venus, hence called Cypria. 
Recently the discoveries in Cyprus by 
Cesnola have excited new interest. — Ap- 
131 



CYR 



CYR 



i - if 




Cyprus. 



pleton's Am. Encyc. It was the native 
place of Barnabas, Acts 4 : 36, and was 
visited by Paul. Acts 13 : 4-13 ; 15 : 39 ; 
21 : 3. See also Acts 27 : 4. 

Cyre'ne, the principal city of that 
part of northern Africa which was an- 
ciently called Cyrenaica, lying between 
Carthage and Egypt, and corresponding 
with the modern Tripoli. Though on 
the African coast, it was a Greek city, 
and the Jews were settled there in large 
numbers. The Greek colonization of this 




Coin of Cyrene. 



part of Africa under Battus began as 
early as B.C. 631. After the death of 
Alexander the Great it became a de- 
132 



| pendency of Egypt, and a Roman prov- 
I ince B.C. 75. Simon, who bore our Sav- 
iour's cross, Matt. 27 : 32, was a native 
of Cyrene. Jewish dwellers in Cyren- 
aica were in Jerusalem at Pentecost, 
Acts 2 : 10, and gave their name to one 
of the synagogues in Jerusalem. Acts 6 : 
9. Christian converts from Cyrene were 
among those who contributed actively to 
the formation of the first Gentile church 
at Antioch. Acts 11 : 20. 

Cyre'nius {warrior), the Greek form 
of the Roman name of Quirinus. The 
full name is Publius Sulpicius Quirinus. 
He was consul B.C. 12, and was made 
governor of Syria after the banishment 
of Archelaus in a.d. 6. He probably 
was twice governor of Syria; his first 
governorship extended from B.C. 4 (the 
year of Christ's birth) to B.C. 1. It was 
during this time that he was sent to make 
the enrollment which caused Joseph and 
Mary to visit Bethlehem. Luke 2 : 2. The 
second enrollment is mentioned in Acts 
5:37. 

Cy'rus (the sun), the founder of the 
Persian empire — see 2 Chron. 36 : 22, 23 ; 
Dan. 6 : 28 ; 10 : 1, 13— was, according 
to the common legend, the son of Cam- 
byses, a Persian of the royal family of 
the Achsemenidse. When he grew up to 
manhood his courage and genius placed 
him at the head of the Persians. His 
! conquests were numerous and brilliant. 
I He defeated and captured the Median 
j king B.C. 559. In B.C. 546(?) he defeated 
I Croesus, and the kingdom of Lydia was 
| the prize of his success. Babylon fell 
before his army, and the ancient domin- 
ions of Assyria were added to his empire 
B.C. 538. The prophet Daniel's home for 
a time was at his court. Dan. 6 : 28. The 
j edict of Cvrus for the rebuilding of the 
; temple, 2 Chron. 36 : 22, 23 ; Ezra 1:1-4; 
3:7; 4:3; 5 : 13, 17 ; 6 : 3, was in fact 
the beginning of Judaism ; and the great 
changes by which the nation was trans- 
formed into a church are clearly marked. 
His tomb is still shown at Pasargadse, the 
scene of his first decisive victory. 



DAB 



DAM 



Dab'areh {pasture), Josh. 21 : 28, or | 
Dabeeath, a town on the boundary of | 
Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 12. Under the name 
of Debarieh it still lies at the western j 
foot of Tabor. 

Dab'basheth (a hill-place), a town j 
on the boundary of Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 
11. 

Dab'erath. [See Dabareh.] 
Da'gon (a fish), apparently the mas- 
culine, 1 Sam. 5 : 3, 4, correlative of | 
Atargatis, was the national god of the \ 
Philistines. The most famous temples j 
of Dagon were at Gaza, Judges 16 : 21- j 
30, and Ashdod. 1 Sam. 5 : 5, 6; 1 Chron. [ 
10 : 10. The latter temple was destroyed j 
by Jonathan in the Maccabsean wars. 
Traces of the worship of Dagon likewise 
appear in the names Caphar-dagon (near 
Jamnia) and Beth-dagon in Judah, Josh. 




The Fish-God. (From a bas-relief from 
Khurmbad.) 

15 : 41, and Asher. Josh. 19 : 27. Dagon 
was represented with the face and hands I 
of a man and the tail of a fish. 1 Sam. 
5 : 5. The fish-like form was a natural 
emblem of fruitfulness, and as such was i 
likely to be adopted by seafaring tribes ! 
in the representation of their gods. 

Dala-i'ah {freed by Jehovah), a de- ; 
scendant of the royal family of Judah. ! 
1 Chron. 3 : 24. 

Dalmaiiu'tha, a town on the west 
side of the Sea of Galilee, near Magdala. 
Matt. 15 : 39 and Mark 8 : 10. [Magda- j 
la.] Dalmanutha . probably stood at 
the place called 'Ain-el-Bdrideh, "the 
cold fountain." 

Dalma'tia, a mountainous district on 
the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. 
St, Paul sent Titus there. 2 Tim. 4 : 10. 



Dal'phon {swift), the second of the 
ten sons of Haman. Esther 9 : 7. (B.C. 
510.) 

Dam'aris (a heifer), an Athenian 
woman converted to Christianity by St. 
Paul's preaching. Acts 17 : 34. (a.d. 
48.) Chrysostom and others held her to 
have been the wife of Dionysius the 
Areopagite. 

Damas'cus, one of the most ancient 
and most important of the cities of Syria. 
It is situated 130 miles northeast of Je- 
rusalem, in a plain of vast size and of 
extreme fertility, which lies east of the 
great chain of Anti-Libanus, on the 




The East Gate of Damascus. 



edge of the desert. This fertile plain, 
which is nearly circular and about 30 
miles in diameter, is due to the river 
Barada, which is probably the " Abana " 
of Scripture. Two other streams, the 
Wady Helbon upon the north and the 
Awaj, which flows direct from Hermon, 
upon the south, increase the fertility of 
the Damascene plain, and contend for 
the honor of representing the " Phar- 
par " of Scripture. According to Jose- 
phus, Damascus was founded by Uz, 
grandson of Shem. It is first mentioned 
. 133 



DAN 



DAN 



in Scripture in connection with Abra- 
ham, Gen. 14 : 15, whose steward was a 
native of the place. Gen. 15 : 2. At one 



i 




The Great Mosque at Damascus. 



time David became complete master of 
the whole territory, which he garrisoned 
with Israelites. 2 Sam. 8 : 5, 6. It was 
in league with Baasha, king of Israel, 
against Asa, 1 Kings 15 : 19 ; 2 Chron. 
16 : 3, and afterwards in league with 
Asa against Baasha. 1 Kings 15 : 20. 
Under Ahaz it was taken by Tiglath- 
pileser, 2 Kings 16 : 7, 8, 9, the king- 
dom of Damascus brought to an end, 
and the city itself destroyed, the in- 
habitants being carried captive into 
Assyria. 2 Kings 16 : 9 ; comp. Isa. 7 : 
8 and Amos 1 : 5. Afterwards it passed 
successively under the dominion of 
the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, 
Macedonians, Romans and Saracens, 
and was at last captured by the Turks 
in 1516 A.D. Here the apostle Paul 
was converted and preached the gos- 
pel. Acts 9 : 1-25. 

Damascus has always been a great 
centre for trade. Its present popula- 
tion is from 100,000 to 150,000. It 
has a delightful climate. Certain lo- 
calities are shown as the site of those 
scriptural events which specially in- 
terest us in its history. Queen's 
Street, which runs straight through 
the city from east to west, may be 
the street called Straight. Acts 9:11. 
The house of Judas and that of Ananias ! 
are shown, but little confidence can be | 
placed in any of these traditions. 

Dan (a judged. 1. The fifth son of i 
Jacob, and the first of Bilhah, Rachel's | 
134 



maid. Gen. 30 : 6. (B.C. after 1753.) The 
origin of the name is given in the excla- 
mation of Rachel. The records of Dan are 
unusually meagre. Only one son 
is attributed to him, Gen. 46 : 23 ; 
but his tribe was, with the excep- 
tion of Judah, the most numerous 
of all. In the division of the prom- 
ised land Dan was the last of the 
gw- tribes to receive his portion, which 
H I was the smallest of the twelve. 
f 1 Josh. 19 : 48. But notwithstand- 
ing its smallness it had eminent 
natural advantages. On the north 
and east it was completely em- 
braced by its two brother tribes 
Ephraim and Benjamin, while on 
the southeast and south it joined 
Judah, and was thus surrounded 
by the three most powerful states 
of the whole confederacy. It was 
a rich and fertile district; but 
the Amorites soon " forced them 
into the mountain," Judges 1 : 34, 
and they had another portion granted 
them. Judges 18. In the " security " 
and " quiet," Judges 18 : 7, 



10, of their 




AVall of Damascus. 

rich northern possession the Danites en- 
joyed the leisure and repose which had 
been denied them in their original seat. 
In the time of David Dan still kept its 
place among the tribes. 1 Chron. 12 : 35. 



DAN 



DAN 



Dan-ja'an (Danian, i. e. be- 
longing to Dan). 2 Sam. 24 : 6. 
Probably the same as Dan. 

Dance. The dance is spoken 
of in Holy Scripture universally 
as symbolical of some rejoicing, 
and is often coupled for the sake 
of contrast with mourning, as in 
Eccles. 3:4; comp. Ps. 30 : 11 ; 
Matt. 11 : 17. In the earlier pe- 
riod it is found combined with 
some song or refrain, Ex. 15 : 20 ; 
32 : 18, 19 ; 1 Sam. 21 : 11, and 
with the tambourine (Author- 
ized Version "timbrel"), more 
especially in those impulsive out- 
bursts of popular feeling which 
cannot find sufficient vent in 
voice or in gesture singly. Dan- 
cing formed a part of the relig- 
ious ceremonies of the Egyp- 
tians, and was also common in 
private entertainments. For the 
most part dancing was carried 
on by the women, the two sexes 
seldom and not customarily in- 
termingling. The one who hap- 
pened to be near of kin to the 
champion of the hour led the 
dance. In the earlier period of 
the Judges the dances of the 
virgins of Shiloh, Judges 21 : 19- 
23, were certainly part of a re- 
ligious festivity. Dancing also 
Asher is omitted, but the "prince of the had its place among merely festive amuse- 
ments, apart from any religious charac- 
ter. Jer. 31 : 4, 13 ; Mark 6 : 22. 
Dance, a musical instrument of per- 




The Street called Strai 



(Damascus.) 



tribe of Dan " is mentioned in the list 
of 1 Chron. 27 : 22. But from this time 
forward the name as applied to the tribe 

vanishes ; it is kept alive only by the j cushion, supposed to have been used by 



northern city. In the genealogies of 1 
Chron. 2-12, Dan is omitted entirely. 
Lastly, Dan is omitted from the list of 
those who were sealed by the angel in 
the vision of St. John. Rev. 7 : 5-7. 

2. The well-known city, so familiar as 
the most northern landmark of Pales- 
tine, in the common expression " from 
Dan even to Beersheba." The name of 
the place was originally Laish or Le- 
SHEM. Josh. 19 : 47. After the establish- 
ment of the Danites at Dan it became 
the acknowledged extremity of the coun- 
try. It is now Tell el-Kadi, a mound, 
three miles from Banias, from the foot 
of which gushes out one of the largest 
fountains in the world, the main source 
of the Jordan. 

Dan'ites, The. The descendants 
of Dan and the members of his tribe. 
Judges 13 : 2 ; 18 : 1, 11 ; 1 Chron. 12 : 35. 



the Hebrews at an early period of their 
history. 

Dan'iel {judgment of God). 1. The 
second son of David, by Abigail the Car- 
melitess. 1 Chron. 3 : 1. In 2 Sam. 3 : 3 
he is called Chileab. (B.C. about 1051.) 

2. The fourth of " the greater proph- 
ets." Nothing is known of his parent- 
age or family. He appears, however, to 
have been of royal or noble descent, Dan. 
1 : 3, and to have possessed considerable 
personal endowments. Dan. 1 : 4. He 
was taken to Babylon in " the third year 
of Jehoiakim" (B.C. 604\ and trained 
for the king's service. He was divinely 
supported in his resolve to abstain from 
the " king's meat" for fear of defilement. 
Dan. 1 : 8-16. At the close of his three- 
years discipline, Dan. 1 : 5, 18, Daniel 
had an opportunity of exercising his pe- 
culiar gift, Dan. 1 : 17, of interpreting 
135 



DAN 



DAR 



dreams, on the occasion of Nebuchad- 
nezzar's decree against the Magi. Dan. 
2 : 14 ff. In consequence of his success 
he was made " ruler of the whole prov- 
ince of Babylon." Dan. 2 : 48. He after- 
wards interpreted the second dream of 
Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 4 : 8-27, and the 
handwriting on the wall which disturbed 
the feast of Belshazzar. Dan. 5 : 10-28. 
At the accession of Darius he was made 
first of the "three presidents" of the 
empire, Dan. 6 : 2, and was delivered 
from the lions' den, into which he had 
been cast for his faithfulness to the rites 
of his faith. Dan. 6 : 10-23 ; cf. Bel and 
Dr. 29-42. At the accession of Cyrus he 
still retained his prosperity, Dan. 6 : 28, 
cf. 1 : 21, though he does not appear to 
have remained at Babylon, cf. Dan. 1 : 
21; and in "the third year of Cyrus" 
(B.C. 534) he saw his last recorded vision, 
on the banks of the Tigris. Dan. 10 : 1, 4. 
In the prophecies of Ezekiel mention is 
made of Daniel as a pattern of right- 
eousness, Ezek. 14 : 14, 20, and wisdom. 
Ezek. 28 : 3. The narrative in Dan. 1 : 
11 implies that Daniel was conspicuously 
distinguished for purity and knowledge 
at a very early age. 

3. A descendant of Ithamar, who re- 
turned with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 2. 

4. A priest who sealed the covenant 
drawn up by Nehemiah, B.C. 445. Neh. 
10 : 6. He is perhaps the same as No. 3. 

Dan'iel, The book of, stands at the 
head of a series of writings in which the 
deepest thoughts of the Jewish people 
found expression after the close of the 
prophetic era. Daniel is composed partly 
in the vernacular Aramaic (Chaldee) 
and partly in the sacred Hebrew. The 
introduction, Dan. 1-2 : 4 a, is written in 
Hebrew. On the occasion of the " Syriac " 
( i. e. Aramaic) answer of the Chaldeans, 
the language changes to Aramaic, and 
this is retained till the close of the 
seventh chapter (2:4 b-7 ). The personal 
introduction of Daniel as the writer of 
the text, 8 : 1, is marked by the resump- 
tion of the Hebrew, which continues to 
the close of the book. ch. 8-12. 

The book may be divided into three 
parts. The first chapter forms an intro- 
duction. The next six chapters, 2-7, 
give a general view of the progressive 
history of the powers of the world, and 
of the principles of the divine govern- 
ment as seen in the events of the life of 
Daniel. The remainder of the book, 
chs. 8-12, traces in minuter detail the 
136 



fortunes of the people of God, as typical 
of the fortunes of the Church in all ages. 
In the first seven chapters Daniel is 
spoken of historically ; in the last five he 
appears personally as the writer. The 
cause of the difference of person is com- 
monly supposed to lie in the nature of 
the case. It is, however, more probable 
that the peculiarity arose from the man- 
ner in which the book assumed its final 
shape. The book exercised a great in- 
fluence upon the Christian Church. The 
New Testament incidentally acknowl- 
edges each of the characteristic elements 
of the book, its miracles, Heb. 11 : 33, 34, 
its predictions, Matt. 24 : 15, and its doc- 
trine of angels. Luke 1 : 19, 26. 

The authenticity of the book has been 
attacked in modern times. (But the evi- 
dence, both external and internal, is 
conclusive as to its genuineness. Raw- 
linson, in his " Historical Evidences," 
shows how some historical difficulties 
that had been brought against the book 
are solved by the inscription on a cylin- 
der lately found among the ruins of Ur 
in Chaldea. — Ed.) 

Ban'iel, Apocryphal additions 
to. The Greek translations of Daniel 
contain several pieces which are not 
found in the original text. The most 
important are contained in the Apocry- 
pha of the English Bible under the titles 
of The Song of the Three Holy Children, 
The History of Susannah, and The His- 
tory of . . . Bel and the Dragon. The 
first of these is supposed to be the tri- 
umphal song of the three confessors in 
the furnace, Dan. 3 : 23, praising God for 
their deliverance, of which a chief part 
(35-66) has been used as a hymn in the 
Christian Church since the fourth cen- 
tury. The second, called also The Judg- 
ment of Daniel, relates the story of the 
clearing of Susannah from a charge of 
adultery ; and the third gives an exag- 
gerated account of Daniel's deliverance. 

Dan'nah, a city in the mountains of 
Judah, Josh. 15 : 49, and probably south 
or southwest of Hebron. No trace of its 
name has been discovered. 

Da'ra. 1 Chron. 2 : 6. [Darda.] 

Dar'da {pearl of wisdom), a son of 
Mahol, one of four men of great fame for 
their wisdom, but surpassed bv Solomon. 

1 Kings 4 : 31. (B.C. before 1010.) 
Daric (from dara, a king), Authorized 

Version " dram," 1 Chron. 29 : 7 ; Ezra 

2 : 69 ; 8 : 27 ; Neh. 7 : 70, 71, 72, a gold 
coin current in Palestine in the period 



DAR 



DAV 



after the return from Babylon. It weighed ! 
128 grains, and was worth about live dol- I 
lars. At these times there was no large j 
issue of gold money except by the Per- 
sian kings. The darics which have been 
discovered are thick pieces of pure gold, 
of archaic style, bearing on the obverse 
the figure of a king with bow and jave- 
lin or bow and dagger, and on the re- 
verse an irregular incuse square. The 
silver daric was worth about fifty cents. 

Dari'us {lord), the name of several 
kings of Media and Persia. 1. Darius 
the Mede, Dan. 6:1; 11 : 1, "the son 
of Ahasuerus," Dan. 9 : 1, who succeeded 
to the Babylonian kingdom on the death 
of Belshazzar, being then sixtv-two vears 
old. Dan. 5 : 31 ; 9 : 1. (B.C. 538.) Only 
one year of his reign is mentioned, Dan. 
9 : 1 ; 11 : 1, but that was of great import- 
ance for the Jews. Daniel was advanced 
by the king to the highest dignity, Dan. 
6:1 IF., and in his reign was cast into 
the lions' den. Dan. 6. This Darius is 
probably the same as "Astyages," the 
last king of the Medes. 

2. Darius, the son of Hystaspes the 
founder of the Perso-Arian dynasty. 
Upon the usurpation of the magi an 
Smerdis, he conspired with six other 
Persian chiefs to overthrow the impostor, 
and on the success of the plot was placed 
upon the throne, B.C. 521. With regard 
to the Jews, Darius Hystaspes pursued 
the same policy as Cyrus, and restored 
to them the privileges which they had 
lost. Ezra 5:1, etc. ; 6 : 1, etc. 

3. Darius the Persian, Neh. 12 : 
22, may be identified with Darius II. 
Nothus (Ochus), king of Persia B.C. 424-3 
to 405-4; but it is not improbable that 
it points to Darius III. Codomannus, the 
antagonist of Alexander and the last 
king of Persia. B.C. 336-330. 

Darkness is spoken of as encompass- 
ing the actual presence of God, as that 
out of which he speaks, — the envelope, 
as it were, of divine glory. Ex. 20 : 21 ; 1 
Kings 8 : 12. The plague of darkness in 
Egypt was miraculous. The darkness 
" over all the land," Matt. 27 : 45, at- 
tending the crucifixion has been attrib- 
uted to an eclipse, but was undoubtedly 
miraculous, as no eclipse of the sun could 
have taken place at that time, the moon 
being at the full at the time of the pass- 1 
over. Darkness is also, as in the expres- 1 
sion " land of darkness," used for the j 
state of the dead, Job 10 : 21, 22 ; and fre- ! 
quently, figuratively, for ignorance and J 



unbelief, as the privation of spiritual 
light. John 1:5; 3:19. 

Dar'kon (scatterer). Children of Dar- 
kon were among the " servants of Sol- 
omon " who returned from Babylon with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 56 ; Neh. 7 : 58. 
(B.C. before 536.) 

Dates. 2 Chron. 31 : 5, marg. [Palm 
tree.] 

Da'than (belonging to a fountain), a 
Reubenite chieftain, son of Eliab, who 
joined the conspiracy of Korah the Le- 
vite. Num. 16 : 1; 26 : 9; Deut. 11 : 6; 
Ps. 106 : 17. (B.C. 1490-1452.) 

Daughter. The word is used in 
Scripture not only for daughter, but for 
granddaughter or other female descend- 
ant. Gen. 24 : 48. It is used of the fe- 
male inhabitants of a place or country, 
Gen. 6:2; Luke 23 : 28, and of cities in 
general, Isa. 10 : 32 ; 23 : 12, but more 
specifically of dependent towns or ham- 
lets, while to the principal city the cor- 
relative " mother" is applied. Num. 21 : 
25. " Daughters of music," i. e. singing 
birds, Eccles. 12 : 4, refers to the power 
of making and enjoying music. 

Da'vid { well-beloved), the son of Jesse. 
His life may be divided into three por- 
tions : 1. His youth before his introduc- 
tion to the court of Saul ; 2. His relations 
with Saul ; 3. His reign. 

1. The early life of David contains in 
many important respects the antecedents 
of his future career. It appears that 
David was the youngest son, probably 
the youngest child, of a family of ten, 
and was born in Bethlehem B.C. 1085. 
The first time that David appears in 
history at once admits us to the whole 
family circle. The annual sacrificial 
feast is being held when Samuel ap- 
pears, sent by God to anoint one of 
Jesse's sons as king of Israel in place 
of Saul. 1 Sam. 16 : 1. Rejecting the 
elder sons as they pass before him, 16 : 
6-10, Samuel sends for the youngest, 
David, who was " keeping the sheep," 
and anoints him. 1 Sam. 16 : 11-13. As 
David stood before Samuel we are en- 
abled to fix his appearance at once in 
our minds. He was of short stature, 
with red or auburn hair, such as is not 
un frequently seen in his countrymen of 
the East at the present day. In later 
life he wore a beard. His bright eyes 
are specially mentioned, 1 Sam. 16 : 12, 
and generally he was remarkable for 
the grace of his figure and countenance 
("fair of eyes," "comely," "goodly," 
137 



DAV 



DAY 



1 Sam. 16 : 12, 18; 17 : 42), well made, 
and of immense strength and agility. 
His swiftness and activity made him 
like a wild gazelle, his feet like hart's 
feet, and his arms strong enough to break 
a bow of steel. Ps. 18 : 33, 34. After the 
anointing David resumes his accustomed 
duties, and the next we know of him he 
is summoned to the court to chase away 
the king's madness by music, 1 Sam. 16 : 
14-19, and in the successful effort of Da- 
vid's harp we have the first glimpse into 
that genius for music and poetry which 
was afterwards consecrated in the Psalms. 
After this he returned to the old shep- 
herd life again. One incident alone of 
his solitary shepherd life has come down 
to us — his conflict with the lion and the 
bear in defence of his father's flocks. 1 
Sam. 17 : 34, 35. It was some years after 
this that David suddenly appears before 
his brothers in the camp of the army, 
and hears the defiant challenge of the 
Philistine giant Goliath. With his shep- 
herd's sling and five small pebbles he 
goes forth and defeats the giant. 1 Sam. 
17 : 40-51. 

2. Relations with Saul. — We now enter 
on a new aspect of David's life. The 
victory over Goliath had been a turning- 
point of his career. Saul inquired his 
parentage, and took him finally to his 
court. Jonathan was inspired by the ro- 
mantic friendship which bound the two 
youths together to the end of their lives. 
Unfortunately David's fame proved the 
foundation of that unhappy jealousy of 
Saul towards him which, mingling with 
the king's constitutional malady, pois- 
oned his whole future relations to Da- 
vid. His position in Saul's court seems 
to have been first armor-bearer, 1 Sam. 
16 : 21 ; 18 : 2, then captain over a thou- 
sand, 18 : 13, and finally, on his marriage 
with Michal, the king's second daughter, 
he was raised to the high office of captain 
of the king's body-guard, second only, 
if not equal, to Abner, the captain of 
the host, and Jonathan, the heir appar- 
ent. David was now chiefly known for 
his successful exploits against the Philis- 
tines, by one of which he won his wife, 
and drove back the Philistine power with 
a blow from which it only rallied at the 
disastrous close of Saul's reign. He also 
still performed from time to time the 
office of minstrel ; but the successive at- 
tempts of Saul upon his life convinced 
him that he was in constant danger. He 
had two faithful allies, however, in the 
138 



court — the son of Saul, his friend Jon- 
athan, and the daughter of Saul, his wife 
Michal. Warned by the one and assisted 
by the other, he escaped by night, and 
was from thenceforward a fugitive. He 
at first found a home at the court of 
Achish, among the Philistines; but his 
stay was short. Discovered possibly by 
"the sword of Goliath," his presence re- 
vived the national enmity of the Phi- 
listines against their former conqueror, 
and he only escaped by feigning mad- 
ness. 1 Sam. 21 : 13. His first retreat 
was the cave of Adullam. In this vicin- 
ity he was joined by his whole family, 1 
Sam. 22 : 1, and by a motley crowd of 
debtors and discontented men, 22 : 2, 
which formed the nucleus of his army. 
David's life for the next few years was 
made up of a succession of startling in- 
cidents. He secures an important ally 
in Abiathar, 1 Sam. 23 : 6 ; his band of 
400 at Adullam soon increased to 600, 
23 : 13 ; he is hunted by Saul from place 
to place like a partridge. 1 Sam. 23 : 14, 
22, 25-29 ; 24 : 1-22 ; 26. He marries 
Abigail and Ahinoam. 1 Sam. 25 : 42, 
43. Finally comes the news of the battle 
of Gilboa and the death of Saul and 
Jonathan. 1 Sam. 31. The reception of 
the tidings of the death of his rival and 
of his friend, the solemn mourning, the 
vent of his indignation against the bearer 
of the message, the pathetic lamentation 
that followed, will close the second pe- 
riod of David's life. 2 Sam. 1 : 1-27. 

3. David's reign. — 1. As king of Judah 
at Hebron, 7£ years. 2 Sam. 2 : 1-5 : 5. 
Here David was first formally anointed 
king. 2 Sam. 2:4. To Judah his do- 
minion was nominally confined. Grad- 
ually his power increased, and during 
the two years which followed the eleva- 
tion of Ish-bosheth a series of skirmishes 
took place between the two kingdoms. 
Then rapidly followed the successive 
murders of Abner and of Ish-bosheth. 
2 Sam. 3 : 30 ; 4:5. The throne, so long 
waiting for him, was now vacant, and 
the united voice of the whole people at 
once called him to occupy it. For the 
third time David was anointed king, 
and a festival of three days celebrated 
the joyful event, 1 Chron. 12 : 39. One 
of David's first acts after becoming king 
was to secure Jerusalem, which he seized 
from the Jebusites and fixed the royal res- 
idence there. Fortifications were added 
by the kins: and by Joab, and it was 
known by the special name of the " city 



DAV 



DAV 



of David." 2 Sam. 5 : 9 ; 1 Chron. 11:7. 
The ark was now removed from its ob- 
scurity at Kirjath-jearim with marked 
solemnity, and conveyed to Jerusalem. 

The erection of the new capital at Je- 
rusalem introduces us to a new era in 
David's life and in the history of the 
monarchy. He became a king on the 
scale of the great Oriental sovereigns of 
Egypt and Persia, with a regular admin- 
istration and organization of court and 
camp ; and he also founded an imperial 
dominion which for the first time realized 
the prophetic description of the bounds 
of the chosen people. Gen. 15 : 18-21. 
During the succeeding ten years the na- 
tions bordering on his 
kingdom caused David 
more or less trouble, but 
during this time he re- 
duced to a state of per- 
manent subjection the 
Philistines on the west, 
2 Sam. 8:1; the Moab- 
ites on the east, 2 Sam. 
8 : 2, bv the exploits of 
Benaiah, 2 Sam. 23 : 20 ; 
the Syrians on the north- 
east as far as the Eu- 
phrates, 2 Sam. 8:3; the 
Edomites, 2 Sam. 8 : 14, 
on the south ; and finally 
the Ammonites, who had 
broken their ancient alli- 
ance, and made one grand 
resistance to the advance 
of his empire. 2 Sam. 10 : 
1-19 ; 12 : 26-31. 

Three great calamities 
may be selected as mark- 
ing the beginning, middle and close 
of David's otherwise prosperous reign, 
which appear .to be intimated in the 
question of Gad, 2 Sam. 24 : 13, " a three- 
years famine, a three-months flight or 
a three-days pestilence." a. Of these 
the first (the three-years famine) intro- 
duces us to the last notices of David's re- 
lations with the house of Saul, already 
referred to. b. The second group of in- 
cidents contains the tragedy of David's 
life, which grew in all its parts out of the 
polygamy, with its evil consequences, 
into which he had plunged on becoming 
king. Underneath the splendor of his 
last glorious campaign against the Am- 
monites was a dark story, known prob- 
ably at that time only to a very few — the 
double crime of adultery with Bath-sheba 
and the virtual murder of Uriah. The 



clouds from this time gathered over Da- 
vid's fortunes, and henceforward " the 
sword never departed from his house." 2 
j Sam. 12 : 10. The outrage on his daugh- 
j ter Tamar, the murder of his eldest son 
Amnon, and then the revolt of his best- 
beloved, Absalom, brought on the crisis 
which once more sent him forth a wan- 
derer, as in the davs Avhen he fled from 
Saul. 2 Sam. 15 : 18. The final battle of 
Absalom's rebellion was fought in the 
"forest of Ephraim," and terminated in 
the accident which led to the young 
man's death ; and, though nearly heart- 
broken at the loss of his son, David 
again reigned in undisturbed peace at 




The Tomb of David. (From an original Photograph.) 



j Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 20 : 1-22. c. The 
closing period of David's life, with the 
j exception of one great calamity, may be 
i considered as a gradual preparation for 
j the reign of his successor. This calamity 
was the three-days pestilence which vis- 
j ited Jerusalem at the warning of the 
j prophet Gad. The occasion which led 
I to this warning was the census of the 
\ people taken bv Joab at the king's or- 
| ders, 2 Sam. 24 : 1-9 ; 1 Chron. 21 : 1-7 ; 
j 27 : 23, 24, which was for some reason 
! sinful in God's sight, 2 Sam. 24. A for- 
midable conspiracy to interrupt the suc- 
! cession broke out in the last days of Da- 
vid's reign ; but the plot was stifled, and 
j Solomon's inauguration took place under 
j his father's auspices. 1 Kings 1 : 1-53. 

By this time David's infirmities had 
| grown upon him. His last song is pre- 

139 



DAV 



DEA 



served — a striking union of the ideal of 
a just ruler which he had placed before 
him and of the difficulties which he had 
felt in realizing it. 2 Sam. 23 : 1-7. His 
last words to his successor are general 
exhortations to his duty. 1 Kings 2 : 1-9. 
He died, according to Josephus, at the 
age of 70, and " was buried in the city of 
David." After the return from the cap- 
tivity, " the sepulchres of David " were 
still pointed out " between Siloah and 
the house of the mighty men," or " the 



guard-house." Neh. 3 : 16. His tomb, 
which became the general sepulchre of 
the kings of Judah, was pointed out in 
the latest times of the Jewish people. 
The edifice shown as such from the 
Crusades to the present day is on the 
southern hill of modern Jerusalem, 
commonly called Mount Zion, under the 
so-called " Coenaculum ;" but it cannot 
be identified with the tomb of David, 
which was emphatically within the 
walls. 



Salmon or Salmah. 
Ruth 4 : 21 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 
I 



Elimelech=Naomi. 
I 



Boaz= Ruth =M anion. 
| Ruth 4 : 10. 
Obed. 
Ruth 4 : 17. 



Chilion=Orpah. 



I 

2 Sam 17 : 25, Nahash=unknown=Jesse. 

I J 

I I I 

Abigail=Jether=Ira? ? Eliab 



Jonathan. 1 Chron. 27 : 32. 



Zeruiah. 
1 Chron. 
2 : 16. 



Ira 

1 Chron. (Jerome. Elihu. 
2 : 17. Qu Bel>. 1 Chron 
on 1 Chron. 27 : 
11 : 40). 18. 

I 



I 

Abin- 
adab. 



Abishai. Joab. Asahel. 

Zebadiah. 
1 Chron. 27 : 



Amasa. Abiliail=Rehoboam 
2 Chrou. 11 : 1. 



ou 



Shammah, 
Shimmah, 
Shimeah 
2 Sam. 
21 : 21. 
\_ 

I 

Jonathan. 
2 Sam. 21 : 1 ; 
1 Chron. 27 : 32. 

(Nathan?? 
Jer. Qu. Bcb. 
~ Sam. 16 : 12). 



Nethan 
eel. 



Raddai 
(Rael, 
Jos. Ant. . 
vi. 8. 1. 
Rei.Ewald) 



Jonadab. 
2 Sam. 
13:3. 



I I I 

Ozem (one DAVID 
(Asam, is not 
Fos. Ant. given, 
v. 8. 1). unless 
Elihu, 
Syr. and Arab. 
1 Chron. 2: 15). 



Joel? 
(Jerome, 
Qu. Heb. 
n 1 Chrou. 
11 : 38). 



Da'vid, City of. [Jerusalem.] 
Day. The variable length of the nat- 
ural day at different seasons led in the 
very earliest times to the adoption of the 
civil day (or one revolution of the sun) 
as a standard of time. The Hebrews 
reckoned the day from evening to even- 
ing, Lev. 23 : 32, deriving it from Gen. 
1 : 5, " the evening and the morning were 
the first day." The Jews are supposed, 
like the modern Arabs, to have adopted 
from an early period minute specifica- 
tions of the parts of the natural day. 
Roughly, indeed, they were content to 
divide it into " morning, evening and 
noonday," Ps. 55 : 17 ; but when they 
wished for greater accuracy they pointed 
to six unequal parts, each of which was 
again subdivided. These are held to 
have been — 1. "The dawn." 2. "Sun- 
rise." 3. " Heat of the day," about 9 
o'clock. 4. " The two noons," Gen. 43 : 
16; Deut. 28:29. 5. "The cool (lit. 
wind) of the day," before sunset, Gen. 
3 : 8, — so called by the Persians to this 
day. 6. " Evening." Before the captiv- 
ity the Jews divided the night into three 
watches, Ps. 63 : 6; 90 : 4, viz. the first 
140 



watch, lasting till midnight, Lam. 2 : 19 ; 
the "middle watch," lasting till cock- 
crow, Judges 7 : 19 ; and the " morning 
watch," lasting till sunrise. Ex. 14 : 24. 
In the New Testament we have allusions 
to four watches, a division borrowed 
from the Greeks and Romans. These 
were — 1. From twilight till 9 o'clock, 
Mark 11 : 11 ; John 20 : 19. 2. Midnight, 
from 9 till 12 o'clock, Mark 13 : 35. 3. 
Till 3 in the morning, .Mark 13 : 35 ; 3 
Mace. 5 : 23. 4. Till daybreak. John 
18 : 28. The word held to mean " hour " 
is first found in Dan. 3:6, 15 ; 5:5. 
Perhaps the Jews, like the Greeks, 
learned from the Babylonians the divis- 
ion of the day into twelve parts. In our 
Lord's time the division was common. 
John 11 : 9. 

Daysman, an old English term, 
meaning umpire or arbitrator. Job 9 : 
33. 

Deacon. The office described by this 
title appears in the New Testament as the 
correlative of bishop. [Bishop.] The 
I two are mentioned together in Philip. 1:1; 
1 Tim. 3 : 2, 8. Its original meaning im- 
plied a helper, an assistant. The bishops 



DEA 



DED 



were the " elders," the deacons the young 
active men, of the church. The narra- 
tive of Acts 6 is commonly referred to as 
giving an account of the institution of 
this office. The apostles, in order to 
meet the complaints of the Hellenistic 
Jews that their widows were neglected 
in the daily ministration, call on the 
body of believers to choose seven men 
" full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom," 
whom they " may appoint over this busi- 
ness." It may be questioned, however, 
whether the seven were not appointed to 
higher functions than those of the dea- 
cons of the New Testament. Qualifica- 
tions and duties. — Special directions as 
to the qualifications for and the duties 
of deacons will be found in Acts 6 : 1-6 
and 1 Tim. 3 : 8-12. From the analogy 
of the synagogue, and from the scanty 
notices in the New Testament, we may 
think of the deacons or " young men" at 
Jerusalem as preparing the rooms for 
meetings, distributing alms, maintaining 
order at the meetings, baptizing new 
converts, distributing the elements at the 
Lord's Supper. 

Deaconess. The word Sia/covo? is 
found in Rom. 16 : 1 (Authorized Version 
"servant") associated with a female 
name, and this has led to the conclusion 
that there existed in the apostolic age, as 
there undoubtedly did a little later, an 
order of women bearing that title, and 
exercising in relation to their own sex 
functions which were analogous to those 
of the deacons. On this hypothesis it 
has been inferred that the women men- 
tioned in Eom. 16 : 6, 12 belonged to 
such an order. The rules given as to the 
conduct of women in 1 Tim. 3 : 11, Titus 
2 : 3, have in like manner been referred 
to them, and they have been identified 
even with the " widows" of 1 Tim. 5 : 3-10. 

Dead Sea. This name nowhere oc- 
curs in the Bible, and appears not to 
have existed until the second century 
after Christ. [See Sea, The Salt.] 

Dearth. [Famine.] 

De'bir {a sanctuary), the name of 
three places of Palestine. 1. A town in 
the mountains of Judah, Josh. 15 : 49, 
one of a group of eleven cities to the 
west of Hebron. The earlier name of 
Debir was Kirjath-sepher, " city of book," 
Josh. 15 : 15 ; Judges 1 : 11, and Kirjath- 
sannah, " city of palm." Josh. 15 : 49. 
It was one of the cities given with their 
" suburbs " to the priests. Josh. 21 : 15 ; 
1 Chron. 6 : 58. , Debir has not been dis- 



covered with certainty in modern times ; 
but about three miles to the west of He- 
bron is a deep and secluded valley called 
the Wady Nunkur, enclosed on the north 
by hills, of which one bears a name cer- 
! tainly suggestive of Debir — Dewir-ban. 

2. A place on the north boundary of 
Judah, near the "valley of Achor." 
Josh. 15 : 7. A Wady Dabor is marked 
in Van de Velde's map as close to the 
south of Neby Musa, at the northwest 
corner of the Dead Sea. 

3. The "border of Debir" is named 
as forming part of the boundary of Gad, 
Josh. 13 : 26, and as apparently not far 
from Mahanaim. 

De'bir, king of Eglon ; one of the 
five kings hanged by Joshua. Josh. 10 : 
3, 23. (B.C. 1445.) 

Deb'orah (a bee), (b.c. 1857.) 1. 
The nurse of Rebekah. Gen. 35 : 8. Deb- 
orah accompanied Rebekah from the 
house of Bethuel, Gen. 24 : 59, and is 
only mentioned by name on the occasion 
of her burial under the oak tree of 
Bethel, which was called in her honor 
Allon-bachuth. 

2. A prophetess who judged Israel. 
Judges 4, 5. (B.C. 1316.) She lived 
under the palm tree of Deborah, be- 
tween Ramah and Bethel in Mount 
Ephraim, Judges 4 : 5, which, as palm 
trees were rare in Palestine, " is men- 
tioned as a well-known and solitary land- 
mark." She was probably a woman of 
Eimraim. Lapidoth was probably her 
husband, and not Barak, as some say. 
She was not so much a judge as one gift- 
ed with prophetic command, Judges 4 : 
6,14; 5:7, and by virtue of her inspira- 
tion " a mother in Israel." The tyrannv 
of Jabin, a Canaanitish king, was pecul- 
iarly felt in the northern tribes, who 
were near his capital and under her juris- 
diction. Under her direction Barak en- 
camped on the broad summit of Tabor. 
Deborah's prophecy was fulfilled, Judges 
4 : 9, and the enemy's general perished 
among the " oaks of the wanderers " (Za- 
anaim), in the tent of the Bedouin Ken- 
ite's wife, Judges 4 : 21, in the northern 
mountains. Deborah's title of " proph- 
etess" includes the notion of inspired 
poetry, as in Ex. 15 : 20 ; and in this 
sense the glorious triumphal ode, Judges 
5, well vindicates her claim to the office. 

Debtor. [Loan.] 

De'dan (low country). 1. The name 
of a son of Raamah, son of Cush. Gen. 
10 : 7 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 9. 

141 



DEB 



DEM 



2. A son of Jokshan, son of Keturah. 
Gen. 25 : 3; 1 Chron. 1 : 32. (B.C. after 
1988.) 

Ded'anim, descendants of Dedan I. 
Isa. 21 : 13. [Dedan.] 

Dedication, Feast of the, the fes- 
tival instituted to commemorate the 
purging of the temple and the rebuild- 
ing of the altar after Judas Maccabseus 
had driven out the Syrians, B.C. 164. 
1 Mace. 4 : 52-59. It is named only once 
in the canonical Scriptures. John 10 : 22. 
It commenced on the 25th of Chisleu 
(early in December), the anniversary of 
the pollution of the temple by Antiochus 
Epiphanes, B.C. 167. Like the great 
Mosaic feasts, it lasted eight days, but it 
did not require attendance at Jerusalem. 
It was an occasion of much festivity, 
and was celebrated in nearly the same 
manner as the feast of tabernacles, with 
the carrying of branches of trees and 
with much singing. In the temple at 
Jerusalem the " Hallel " was sung every 
day of the feast. 

Deer. [Fallow-deee.] 

Degrees, Songs of, a title given to 
fifteen Psalms, from 120 to 134 inclusive. 
Four of them are attributed to David, 
one is ascribed to the pen of Solomon, 
and the other ten give no indication of 
their author. With respect to the term 
rendered in the Authorized Version " de- 
grees " a great diversity of views prevails, 
but the most probable opinion is that 
they were pilgrim songs, sung by the 
people as they went up to Jerusalem. 

De'havites, mentioned only once in 
Scripture, Ezra 4 : 9, among the colonists 
planted in Samaria after the completion 
of the captivity of Israel. They are 
probably the Dai or Dahi, mentioned by 
Herodotus (i. 125) among the nomadic 
tribes of Persia. 

De'kar (a lancer). The son of De- 
kar, i. e. Ben Dekar, was Solomon's com- 
missariat officer in the western part of 
the hill-country of Judah and Benjamin, 
Shaalbim and Bethshemesh. 1 Kings 4 : 
9. (B.C. before 1014.) 

Dela-i'ah {freed by Jehovah). 1. A 
priest in the time of David, leader of the 
twenty-third course of priests. 1 Chron. 
24 : 18. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. " Children of Delaiah " were among 
the people of uncertain pedigree who 
returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. 
Ezra 2 : 60 ; Neh. 7 : 62. (B.C. 536.) 

3. Son of Mehetabeel and father of 
Shemaiah. Neh. 6 : 10. (B.C. before 410.) 

142 



4. Son of Shemaiah, one of the "prin- 
ces" about the court of Jehoiakim. Jer. 
36 : 12, 25. (B.C. 604.) 

Del'ilah, or Deli'lah {languishing), 
a woman who dwelt in the valley of 
Sorek, beloved by Samson. Judges 16 : 
4-18. There seems to be little doubt that 
she was a Philistine courtesan. [Sam- 
son.] (B.C. 1141.) 

Deluge. [Noah.] 

De'mas {governor of the people), most 
probably a contraction from Demetrius, 
or perhaps from Demarchus, a compan- 
ion of St. Paul, Phil. 24 ; Col. 4 : 14, dur- 
ing his first imprisonment at Rome. (B.C. 
57.) At a later period, 2 Tim. 4 : 10, we 
find him mentioned as having deserted 
the apostle through love of this present 
world, and gone to Thessalonica. 

Deme'trius {belonging to Ceres). 1. A 
maker of silver shrines of Artemis at 
Ephesus. Acts 19 : 24 (about a.d. 52). 
These were small models of the great 
temple of the Ephesian Artemis, with 
her statue, which it was customary to 
carry on journeys, and place on houses 
as charms. 

2. A disciple, 3 John 12, mentioned 
with commendation (about a.d. 90). 
Possibly the first Demetrius, converted ; 
but this is very doubtful. 

Demon. In the Gospels generally, 
in James 2 : 19 and in liev. 16 : 14 the 
demons are spoken of as spiritual beings, 
at enmity with God, and having power 
to afflict man not only with disease, but, 
as is marked by the frequent epithet " un- 
clean," with spiritual pollution also. 
They "believe" the power of God "and 
tremble," James 2:19; they recognized 
the Lord as the Son of God, Matt. 8 : 29 ; 
Luke 4 : 41, and acknowledged the power 
of his name, used in exorcism, in the 
place of the name of Jehovah, by his 
appointed messengers, Acts 19 : 15 ; and 
looked forward in terror to the judgment 
to come. Matt. 8 : 29. The description 
is precisely that of a nature akin to the 
angelic in knowledge and powers, but 
with the emphatic addition of the idea 
of positive and active wickedness. 

Demoniacs. This word is frequent- 
ly used in the New Testament, and ap- 
plied to persons suffering under the pos- 
session of a demon or evil spirit, such 
possession generally showing itself visi- 
bly in bodily disease or mental derange- 
ment. It has been maintained by many 
persons that our Lord and the evangel- 
ists, in referring to demonical possession, 



DEN 



DEU 



spoke only in accommodation to the 
general belief of the Jews, without any 
assertion as to its truth or its falsity, it 
is concluded that, since the symptoms of 
the affliction were frequently those of 
bodily disease (as dumbness, Matt. 9 : 32 ; 
blindness, Matt. 12 : 22 ; epilepsy, Mark 
9 : 17-27), or those seen in cases of ordi- 
nary insanity (as in Matt. 8 : 28 ; Mark 
5 : 1-5), the demoniacs were merely per- 
sons suffering under unusual diseases of 
body and mind. But demoniacs are fre- 
quently distinguished from those afflicted 
with bodily sickness, see Mark 1 : 32; 
16 : 17, 18 ; Luke 6 : 17, 18 ; the same out- 
ward signs are sometimes referred to pos- 
session, sometimes merely to disease, 
comp. Matt. 4 : 24 with 17 : 15 ; Matt. 12 : 
22 with Mark 7 : 32, etc. ; the demons 
are represented as speaking in their own 
persons with superhuman knowledge. 
Matt. 8 : 29 ; Mark 1 : 24 ; 5:7; Luke 4 : 
41, etc. All these things speak of a 
personal power of evil. Twice our Lord 
distinctly connects demoniacal possession 
with the power of the evil one. Luke 10 : 
18. Lastly, the single fact recorded of 
the entrance of the demons at Gadara, 
Mark 5 : 10-14, into the herd of swine, and 
the effect which that entrance caused, is 
sufficient to overthrow the notion that 
onr Lord and the evangelists do not as- 
sert or imply any objective reality of 
possession. We are led, therefore, to the 
ordinary and literal interpretation of 
these passages, that there are evil spirits, 
subjects of the evil one, who, in the days 
of the Lord himself and his apostles 
especially, were permitted by God to 
exercise a direct influence over the souls 
and bodies of certain men. 

Denarius {containing ten), Author- 
ized Version "penny," Matt. 18 : 28 ; 20 : 
2, 9, 13, a Roman silver coin in the time 
of our Saviour and the apostles, worth 
about 15 cents. It took its name from 
its being first equal to ten "asses," a 
number afterwards increased to sixteen. 
It was the princij^al silver coin of the 
Roman common wealth. From the par- 
able of the laborers in the vineyard it 
would seem that a denarius was then 
the ordinarv pav for a day's labor. Matt. 
20 : 2, 4, 7, 9, 10,* 13. 

Deputy. Acts 13 : 7, 8, 12; 19 : 38. 
The Greek word signifies proconsul, the 
title of the Roman governors who were 
appointed bv the senate. 

Der'be. Acts 14 : 20, 21 ; 16 : 1 ; 20 : 4. 
The exact position of this town has not 



yet been ascertained, but its general sit- 
uation is undoubted. It was in the east- 
ern part of the great upland plain of 
Lycaonia, which stretches from Iconium 
eastward along the north side of the 
chain of Taurus. (Rev. L. H. Adams, 
a missionary, identifies it with the mod- 
ern Divle, a town of about 4500 inhab- 
itants, on the ancient road between Tar- 
sus and Lystra. — Ed.) 

Desert. Not a stretch of sand, an 
utterly barren waste, but a wild, unin- 
habited region. The words rendered in 
the Authorized Version by " desert," 

j when used in the historical books de- 

i note definite localities. 

1. Arabah. This word means that 
| very depressed and enclosed region — the 
, deepest and the hottest chasm in the 

world — the sunken valley north and 
I south of the Dead Sea, but more partic- 
ularly the former. [Arabah.] Arabah 
in the sense of the Jordan valley is trans- 
lated bv the word "desert" only in 
Ezek. 47 : 8. 

2. Midbar. This word, which our 
translators have most frequently ren- 
dered by "desert," is accurately "the 
pasture ground." It is most frequently 
used for those tracts of waste land which 
lie beyond the cultivated ground in the 
immediate neighborhood of the towns 
and villages of Palestine, and which are 
a very familiar feature to the traveller 
in that country. Ex. 3:1; 5:3; 19 : 2. 

3. Charbah appears to have the force 
of dryness, and thence of desolation. It 
is rendered " desert" in Ps. 102 : 6; Isa. 
48:21; Ezek. 13:4. The term com- 
monly employed for it in the Authorized 
Version is "waste places" or " desola- 

| tion." 

4. Jeshimon, with the definite article, 
apparently denotes the waste tracts on 

; both sides of the Dead Sea. In all these 
j cases it is treated as a proper name in the 
' Authorized Version. Without the arti- 
j cle it occurs in a few passages of poetry, 
j in the following of which it is rendered 
| "desert:" Ps. 78 : 40; 106 : 14; Isa. 43: 
19. 20. 

De'uel, or De-u'el (invocation of 
j God), father of Eliasaph, the " captain " 
of the tribe of Gad at the time of the 
numbering of the people at Sinai. Num. 
1 : 14; 7 : 42, 47; 10 : 20. (B.C. 1491.) 
The same man is mentioned again in 
Num. 2 : 14, but here the name appears 
as Reuel. 

Deutercn'omy — which means "the 
143 



DEV 



DIA 



repetition of the law" — consists chiefly 
of three discourses delivered by Moses 
shortly before his death. Subjoined to 
these discourses are the Song of Moses, 
the Blessing of Moses, and the story of 
his death. 1. The first discourse. Deut. 
1 : 1-4 : 40. After a brief historical in- 
troduction the speaker recapitulates the 
chief events of the last forty years in the 
wilderness. To this discourse is append- 
ed a brief notice of the severing of the 
three cities of refuge on the east side of 
the Jordan. Deut. 4 : 41-43. 2. The sec- 
ond discourse is introduced like the first 
by an explanation of the circumstances 
under which it was delivered. Deut. 4 : 
44-49. It extends from chap. 5 : 1-26 : 19, 
and contains a recapitulation, with some 
modifications and additions, of the law 
alreadv given on Mount Sinai. 3. In 
the third discourse, Deut. 27 : 1-30 : 20, 
the elders of Israel are associated with 
Moses. The people are commanded to 
set up stones upon Mount Ebal, and on 
them to write " all the words of this law." 
Then follow the several curses to be pro- 
nounced by the Levites on Ebal, Deut. 
27 : 14-26, and the blessings on Gerizim. 
Deut. 28 : 1-14. 4. The delivery of the 
law as written by Moses (for its still 
further preservation) to the custody of 
the Levites, and a charge to the people 
to hear it read once every seven years, 
Deut. 31 ; the Song of Moses spoken in 
the ears of the people, Deut. 31 : 30-32 : 
44 ; and the blessing of the twelve tribes. 
Deut. 33. 5. The book closes, Deut. 34, 
with an account of the death 
of Moses, which is first an- 
nounced to him ch. 32 : 48-52. 
The book bears witness to its 
own authorship, Deut. 31 : 19, 
and is expressly cited in the 
New Testament as the work of 
Moses. Matt, 19 : 7, 8 ; Mark 
10:3; Acts 3: 22; 7:37. The 
last chapter, containing an ac- 
count of the death of Moses, 
was of course added by a later 
hand, and probably formed 
originally the beginning of 
the book of Joshua. [Pen- 
tateuch.] 

Devil (slanderer). The name de- 
scribes Satan as slandering God to man 
and man to God. The former work is, 
of course, a part of his great work of 
temptation to evil ; and is not only ex- 
emplified but illustrated as to its general 
nature and tendencv bv the narrative of 
144 



Gen. 3. The other work, the slandering 
or accusing man before God, is the impu- 
tation of selfish motives, Job 1 : 9, 10, and 
its refutation is placed in the self-sacri- 
fice of those "who loved not their own 
lives unto death." [Satan ; Demon.] 

Dew. This in the summer is so co- 
pious in Palestine that it supplies to 
some extent the absence of rain and be- 
comes important to the agriculturist. 
Thus it is coupled in the divine blessing 
with rain, or mentioned as a prime source 
j of fertility, Gen. 27 : 28 ; Deut. 33 : 13 ; 
Zech. 8 : 12, and its withdrawal is attrib- 
uted to a curse. 2 Sam. 1 : 21 ; 1 Kings 
17 : 1 ; Hag. 1 : 10. It becomes a leading 
object in prophetic imagery by reason of 
its penetrating moisture without the ap- 
parent effort of rain, Deut. 32:2; Job 
29 : 19 ; Ps. 133 : 3 ; Hos. 14 : 5 ; while its 
speedy evanescence typifies the transient 
goodness of the hypocrite. Hos. 6 : 4; 13 : 3. 

Diadem. What the " diadem " of the 
Jews was we know not. That of other 
nations of antiquity was a fillet of silk, 
two inches broad, bound round the head 
and tied behind. Its invention is attrib- 
uted to Liber. Its color was generally 
white ; sometimes, however, it was of 
blue, like that of Darius; and it was 
sown with pearls or other gems, Zech. 
9 : 16, and enriched with gold. Eev. 9 : 7. 
It was peculiarly the mark of Oriental 
sovereigns. In Esther 1 : 11 ; 2 : 17, we 
have cether for the turban worn by the 
Persian king, queen or other eminent 
persons to whom it was conceded as a 




Ancient Dials. 

special favor. The diadem of the king 
differed from that of others in having an 
erect triangular peak. The words in 
Ezek. 23 : 15 mean long and flowing tur- 
bans of gorgeous colors. [Crown.] 

Dial. "An instrument for showing 
the time of dav from the shadow of a 



DIA 



DIB 



style or gnomon on a graduated arc or 
surface ;" rendered " steps " in Author- 
ized Version, Ex. 20 : 26 ; 1 Kings 10 : 19, 
and " degrees," 2 Kings 20 : 9, 10, 11 ; 
Isa. 38 : 8, where to give a consistent ren- 
dering we should read with the margin 
the "degrees" rather than the "dial" 
of Ahaz. It is probable that the dial of 
Ahaz was really a series of steps or stairs, 
and that the shadow (perhaps of some 
column or obelisk on the top) fell on a 




Diana of the Ephesians. 

greater or smaller number of them ac- 
cording as the sun was low or high. The 
terrace of a palace might easily be thus 
ornamented. 

Diamond (Heb. yahalom), a gem, 
crystallized carbon, the most valued and 
brilliant of precious stones, remarkable 
for its hardness, the third precious stone 
in the second row on the breastplate of 
the high priest, Ex. 28 : 18 ; 39 : 11, and 
mentioned by Ezekiel, 28 : 13, among the 
precious stones of the king of Tyre. 
10 



Some suppose yahalom to be the " em- 
erald." Respecting shdmtr, which is 
translated " diamond " in Jer. 17 : 1, see 
under Adamant. 

Dia'na. This Latin word, properly 
denoting a Roman divinity, is the repre- 
sentative of the Greek Artemis, the tute- 
lary goddess of the Ephesians, who plays 
so important a part in the narrative of 
Acts 19. The Ephesian Diana was, how- 
ever, regarded as invested with very dif- 
ferent attributes, and is rather to be iden- 
tified with Astarte and other female di- 
vinities of the East. The head wore a 
mural crown, each hand held a bar of 
metal, and the lower part ended in a 




Temple of Diana of the Ephesians. 

rude block covered with figures of ani- 
mals and mystic inscriptions. This idol 
was regarded as an object of peculiar 
sanctity, and was believed to have fallen 
down from heaven. Acts 19 : 35. 

Dibla'im (double cake), mother of 
Hosea's wife Gomer. Hos. 1 : 3. (B.C. be- 
fore 725.) 

Dib'lath (accurately Diblah), a 
place named only in Ezek. 6 : 14. Prob- 
ably only another form of Riblah. 

Di'bon {wasting). 1. A town on the 
east side of Jordan, in the rich pastoral 
country, which was taken possession of 
and rebuilt by the children of Gad. 
Num. 32 : 3, 34. From this circumstance 
it possibly received the name of Dibon- 
GAD. Num. 33 : 45, 46. Its first mention 
is in Num. 21 : 30, and from this it ap- 
pears to have belonged originally to the 
Moabites. We find Dibon counted to 
Reuben in the lists of Joshua. Josh. 13 : 
9, 17. In the time of Isaiah and Jere- 
miah, however, it was again in possession 
of Moab. Isa. 15 : 2 ; Jer. 48 : 18, 22, 
comp. 24. In modern times the name 
Dhiban has been discovered as attached 
to extensive ruins on the Roman road, 
about three miles north of the Arnon 
( Wady Modjeb). 

2. One of the towns which were re- 
145 



DIB 



DIS 



inhabited by the men of Judah after the 
return from captivity, Neh. 11 : 25 ; iden- 
tical with DlMONAH. 

Di'bon-gad. [Dibon.] 

Dib'ri, a Danite, father of Shelomith. 
Lev. 24 : 11. 

Didrachmon. [Money; Shekel.] 

Did'ymus (the twin), a surname of 
the apostle Thomas. John 11 : 16 ; 20 : 24 ; 
21 : 2. [Thomas.] 

Dik'lah (palm grove). Gen. 10 : 27 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 21, a son of Joktan, whose 
settlements, in common with those of the 
other sons of Joktan, must be looked for 
in Arabia. It is thought that Diklah is 
a part of Arabia containing many palm 
trees. 

Dil'ean (gourd), one of the cities in 
the lowlands of Judah. Josh. 15 : 38. It 
has not been identified with certainty. 

Dim'nah (dung), a city in the tribe 
of Zebulun, given to the Merarite Levites. 
Josh. 21 : 35. 

Di'mon (river bed), The waters of, 
some streams on the east of the Dead 
Sea, in the land of Moab, against which 
Isaiah uttered denunciation. Isa. 15 : 9. 
Gesenius conjectures that the two names 
Dimon and Dibon are the same. 

Dimo'nah, a city in the south of 
Judah, Josh. 15 : 22, perhaps the same as 
Dibon in Neh. 11 : 25. 

Di'nah (judged, acquitted), the 
daughter of Jacob by Leah. Gen. 30 : 
21. (B.C. about 1751.) She accompanied 
her father from Mesopotamia to Canaan, 
and, having ventured among the inhab- 
itants, was violated by Shechem the son 
of Hamor, the chieftain of the territory 
in which her father had settled. Gen. 
34. Shechem proposed to make the 
usual reparation by paying a sum to the 
father and marrying her. Gen. 34 : 12. 
This proposal w as accepted, the sons of 
Jacob demanding, as a condition of the 
proposed union, the circumcision of the 
Shechemites. They therefore assented ; 
and on the third day, when the pain and 
fever resulting from the operation were 
at the highest, Simeon and Levi, own 
brothers of Dinah, attacked them unex- 
pectedly, slew all the males, and plun- 
dered their city. 

Di'naites, Ezra 4 : 9, the name of 
some of the Cuthsean colonists who were 
placed in the cities of Samaria after the 
captivity of the ten tribes. 

Din'tiabah, Gen. 36 : 32; 1 Chron. 1 : 43, 
the capital city, and probably the birth- 
place, of Bela, son of Beor king of Eclom. 
146 



i Dioiiys'ius (devoted to Dionysus, i. e. 

Bacchus) the Areop'agite, Acts 17 : 
j 34, an eminent Athenian, converted to 

Christianity by the preaching of St. Paul. 
! (A.D. 52.) He is said to have been first 

bishop of Athens. The writings which 
j were once attributed to him are now con- 
j fessed to be the production of some neo- 

Platonists of the sixth century. 
| Diot'rephes (nourished by Jove), a 

Christian mentioned in 3 John 9, but of 

whom nothing is known. 
Disciple. [Apostles.] 
Diseases. [Medicine.] 
Di'shan (antelope), the youngest son 
: of Seir the Horite. Gen. 36:21, 28, 30; 
j 1 Chron. 1 : 38, 42. 

Di'shon (antelope). 1. The fifth son 

of Seir. Gen. 36:21, 26, 30; 1 Chron. 

1:38. 

2. The son of Anah, and grandson of 
Seir. Gen. 36 : 25 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 38. 
Dispersion, The Jews of the, or 

simply The Dispersion, was the gen- 
eral title applied to those Jews who re- 
mained settled in foreign countries after 
the return from the Babylonian exile, 
and during the period of the second 
temple. At the beginning of the Chris- 
tian era the Dispersion was divided into 
three great sections, the Babylonian, the 
Syrian, the Egyptian. From Babylon 
the Jews spread throughout Persia, 
Media and Parthia. Large settlements 
of Jews were established in Cyprus, in 
the islands of the iEgean, and on the 
western coast of Asia Minor. Jewish 
settlements were also established at Alex- 
andria by Alexander and Ptolemy I.. 
The Jewish settlements in Pome were 
j consequent upon the occupation of Jeru- 
j salem by Pompey, B.C. 63. The infiu- 
I ence of the Dispersion on the rapid pro- 
' mulgation of Christianity can scarcely be 
I overrated. The course of the apostolic 
preaching followed in a regular progress 
the line of Jewish settlements. The 
I mixed assembly from which the first 
converts were gathered on the day of 
i Pentecost represented each division of 
j the Dispersion. Acts 2:9-11. {1) Par- 
i thians . . . Mesopotamia; (2) Judea 
j (i.e. Syria) . . . Pamphylia; (3) Egypt 
I . . . Greece ; (4) Romans' . . . , and these 
I converts naturally prepared the way for 
the apostles in the interval which pre- 
ceded the beginning of the separate apos- 
tolic missions. St. James and St. Peter 
I wrote to the Jews of the Dispersion. 
! James 1:1:1 Pet. 1 : 1. 



DIV 



DOG 



Divination is a ''foretelling future 
events, or discovering things secret by 
the aid of superior beings, or other than 
human means." It is used in Scripture 
of false systems of ascertaining the divine 
will. It has been universal in all ages, 
and all nations alike civilized and sav- 
age. Numerous forms of divination are 
mentioned, such as divination by rods, 
Hos. 4:12; divination by arrows, Ezek. 
21 : 21 ; divination by cups, Gen. 44 : 5 ; 
consultation of teraphim, 1 Sam. 15 : 23; 
Ezek. 21 : 21 ; Zech. 10 : 2 [Teraphim] ; 
divination by the liver, Ezek. 21 : 21 ; 
divination by dreams, Deut. 13 : 2, 3 ; 
Judges 7:13; Jer. 23 : 32 ; consultation 
of oracles. Isa. 41 : 21-24; 44 : 7. Moses 
forbade every species of divination, be- 
cause a prying into the future clouds the 
mind with superstition, and because it 
would have been an incentive to idolatry. 
But God supplied his people with sub- 
stitutes for divination which would have 
rendered it superfluous, and left them in 
no doubt as to his will in circumstances 
of danger, had they continued faithful. 
It was only when they were unfaithful 
that the revelation was withdrawn. 1 
Sam. 28:6; 2 Sam. 2:1; 5 : 23, etc. 
Superstition not unfrequently goes hand 
in hand with skepticism, and hence, 
amid the general infidelity prevalent 
throughout the Roman empire at our 
Lord's coming, imposture was rampant. 
Hence the lucrative trade of such men as 
Simon Magus, Acts 8 : 9, Bar-jesus, Acts 
13 : 6, the slave with the spirit of Py- 
thon, Acts 16 : 16, the vagabond Jews, ex- 
orcists, Luke 11 : 19; Acts 19 : 13, and 
others, 2 Tim. 3:13; Rev. 19 : 20, etc., 
as well as the notorious dealers in magi- 
cal books at Ephesus. Acts 19 : 19. 

Divorce, "a legal dissolution of the 
marriage relation." The law regulating 
this subject is found Deut. 24 : 1-4, and I 
the cases in which the right of a husband 
to divorce his wife was lost are stated 
ibid., 22 : 19, 29. The ground of divorce 
is a point on which the Jewish doctors 
of the- period of the New Testament 
differed widely ; the school of Shammai 
seeming to limit it to a moral delinquency 
in the woman, whilst that of Hillel ex- 
tended it to trifling causes, e.g., if the 
wife burnt the food she was cooking for j 
her. husband. The Pharisees wished per- 
haps to embroil our Saviour with these 
rival schools by their question, Matt. 19 : 
3 ; by his answer to which, as well as by 
his previous maxim, Matt. 5:31, he de- 



clares that he regarded all the lesser 
causes than "fornication" as standing 
on too weak ground, and declined the 
question of how to interpret the words 
of Moses. 

Diz'ahab (region of gold), a place in 
the Arabian desert, mentioned Deut. 1 : 
1, is identified with Dahab, a cape on the 
western shore of the Gulf of Akabah. 

Dod'a-i {loving, amorous), an Aho- 
hite who commanded the course of the 
second month. 1 Chron. 27 : 4. It is 
probable that he is the same as Dodo. 2. 

Dod'anim (leaders), Gen. 10:4; 1 
Chron. 1 : 7, a family or race descended 
from Javan, the son of Japhet. Gen. 10 : 
4; 1 Chron. 1 : 7. Dodanim is regarded 
as identical with the Dardani, who were 
found in historical times in Illyricum 
and Troy. 

Dod'avah (love of the Lord), a man 
of Maresha in Judah, father of Eliezer, 
who denounced Jehoshaphat's alliance 
with Ahaziah. 2 Chron. 20 : 37. 

Do' do (loving). 1. A man of Bethle- 
hem, father of Elhanan, who was one of 
David's thirty captains. 2 Sam. 23 : 24 ; 
1 Chron. 11 : 26. He is a different person 
from 

2. Dodo the Ahohite, father of 
Eleazar, the second of the three mighty 
men who were over the thirty. 2 Sam. 
23:9; 1 Chron. 11:12. (b'.c. before 
1046.) 

Do'eg (fearful), an Idumean, chief 
of Saul's herdmen. (B.C. 1062.) He 
was at Nob when Ahimelech gave David 
the sword of Goliath, and not only gave 
information to Saul, but when others 
declined the office, himself executed the 
king's order to destroy the priests of 
Nob, with their families, to the number 
of 85 persons, together with all their 
property. 1 Sam. 21 : 7 ; 22 : 9, 18, 22 ; 
Ps. 52. 

Dog, an animal frequently mentioned 
in Scripture. It was used "by the He- 
brews as a watch for their houses, Isa. 
56 : 10, and for guarding their flocks. Job 
30 : 1. Then also, as now. troops of 
hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wan- 
der about the fields and the streets of the 
cities, devouring dead bodies and other 
offal, 1 Kings 14 : 11 ; 21 : 19, 23 ; 22 : 38; 
Ps. 59 : 6, and thus became so savage and 
fierce and such objects of dislike that 
fierce and cruel enemies are poetically 
styled dogs in Ps. 22 : 16, 20. Moreover 
the dog being an unclean animal, Isa. 
66 : 3, the epithets dog, dead dog, dog's 
147 



DOO 



DKA 



head, were used as terms of reproach or 
of humility in speaking of one's self. 1 




Syrian Dog. 

Sam. 24 : 14 ; 2 Sam. 3:8; 9:8; 16 : 9 ; 
2 Kings 8 : 13. 
Doors. [Gate.] 

Doph'kah {cattle-driving), a place 
mentioned Num. 33 : 12 as a station in 
the desert where the Israelites encamped. 
[Wilderness of the wandering.] 

Dor {dwelling), Josh. 17 : 11 ; 1 Kings 
4 : 11, an ancient royal city of the Cana- 
anites, Josh. 12 : 23, whose ruler 
was an ally of Jabin king of Ha- 
zor against Joshua. Josh. 11:1, 
2. It appears to have been within 
the territory of the tribe of Asher, 
though allotted to Manasseh. 
Josh. 17 : 11 ; Judges 1 : 27. Solo- 
mon stationed at Dor one of his 
twelve purveyors. 1 Kings 4 : 11. 
Jerome places it on the coast, " in 
the ninth mile from Csesarea, on 
the way to Ptolemais." Just at the 
point indicated is the small vil- 
lage of Tantura, probably an Arab 
corruption of Bora, consisting of 
about thirty houses, wholly con- 
structed of ancient materials. 

Dor'cas (gazelle). [Tabitha.] 

Dosith'eus, a "priest and Le- 
vite" who carried the translation 
of Esther to Egypt. Esther 11:1,2. 

Do'tha-im. [Dothan.] 

Do'than (two wells), a place first 
mentioned Gen. 37 : 17 in connection 
with the history of Joseph, and appar- 
ently as in the neighborhood of Shechem. 
It next appears as the residence of Eli- 
sha. 2 Kings 6 : 13. It was known to 
Eusebius, who places it 12 miles to the 
north of Sebaste (Samaria) ; and here it 
has been discovered in our own times, still 
bearing its ancient name unimpaired. 
148 



Dove. The first mention of this bird 
occurs in Gen. 8. The dove's rapidity 
of flight is alluded to in Ps. 55 : 6 ; 
the beauty of its plumage in Ps. 68 : 
13 ; its dwelling in the rocks and 
valleys in Jer. 48 : 28 and Ezek. 7 : 
16 ; its mournful voice in Isa. 38 : 14 ; 
59 : 11 ; Nah. 2:7; its harmlessness 
in Matt. 10 : 16 ; its simplicity in 
Hos. 7:11, and its amativeness in 
Cant. 1 : 15 ; 2 : 14. Doves are kept 
in a domesticated state in many parts 
of the East. In Persia pigeon-houses 
are erected at a distance from the 
dwellings, for the purpose of collect- 
ing the dung as manure. There is 
* probably an allusion to such a cus- 
tom in Isa. 60 : 8. 

Dove's dung. Various explana- 
tions have been given of the passage in 
2 Kings 6 : 25. Bochart has labored to 
show that it denotes a species of cicer, 
" chick-pea," which he says the Arabs 
call usndn, and sometimes improperly 
"dove's" or "sparrow's dung." Great 
quantities of these are sold in Cairo to 
the pilgrims going to Mecca. Later au- 
thorities incline to think it the bulbous 




Dove. 

root of the Star of Bethlehem (ornithog- 
alum, i. e. bird-milk), a common root in 
Palestine, and sometimes eaten. — Ed. It 
can scarcely be believed that even in the 
worst horrors of a siege a substance so 
vile as is implied by the literal render- 
ing should have been used for food. 

Dowry. [Marriage.] 

Drachm, Luke 15 : 8, 9 ; 2 Mace. 4 : 
19 ; 10 : 20 ; 12 : 43, a Greek silver coin, 
varying in weight on account of the use 



DRA 



DRE 



of different talents. In Luke denarii 
(Authorized Version "piece of silver"] 
seem to be intended. [Money; Sil- 
ver.] 

Dragon- The translators of the Au- 
thorized Version, apparently following 




Star of Bethlehem (Dove's Dung). 

the Vulgate, have rendered by the same 
word "dragon" the two Hebrew words 
tan and tannin, which appear to be quite 
distinct in meaning. 1. The former is 
used, always in the plural, in Job 30 : 
29 ; Ps. 44 : 19 ; Isa. 34 : 13 ; 43 : 20 ; Jer. 
9 : 11. It is always applied to some 
creatures inhabiting the desert, and we 
should conclude from this that it refers 
rather to some wild beast than to a ser- 
pent. The Syriac renders it by a word 
which, according to Pococke, means a 
"jackal." 2. The word tannin seems to 
refer to any great monster, whether of 
the land or the sea, being indeed more 
usually applied to some kind of serpent or 
reptile, but not exclusively restricted to 
that sense. Ex. 7 : 9, 10, 12 ; Deut. 32 : 33 ; 
Ps. 91 : 13. In the New Testament it is 
found only in the Apocalypse, Rev. 12 : 
3, 4, 7, 9, 16, 17, etc., as applied meta- 
phorically to "the old serpent, called 
the devil, and Satan." 
Dram. [Daric] 

Dreams. The Scripture declares that 
the influence of the Spirit of God upon 
the soul extends to its sleeping as well 
as its waking thoughts. But, in accord- 
ance with the principle enunciated by 



St. Paul in 1 Cor. 14 : 15, dreams, in 
which the understanding is asleep, are 
placed below the visions of prophecy, in 
which the understanding plays its part. 
Under the Christian dispensation, while 
we read frequently of trances and visions, 
dreams are never referred to as 
vehicles of divine revelation. In 
exact accordance with this prin- 
ciple are the actual records of the 
dreams sent by God. The greater 
number of such dreams were grant- 
ed, for prediction or for warning, 
to those who were aliens to the Jew- 
ish covenant. And where dreams 
are recorded as means of God's 
revelation to his chosen servants, 
they are almost always referred to 
the periods of their earliest and 
most imperfect knowledge of him. 
Among the Jews, " if any person 
dreamed a dream which was pecul- 
iarly striking and significant, he 
was permitted to go to the high 
priest in a peculiar way, and see if 
it had any special import. But the 
observance of ordinary dreams and 
the consulting of those who pre- 
tend to skill in their interpretation 
are repeatedly forbidden. Deut. 
13 : 1-5 ; 18 : 9-14.— Schaff. 
Dress. This subject includes the fol- 
lowing particulars : 1. Materials; 2. Color 
and decoration ; 3. Name, form, and mode 
of wearing the various articles; 4. Special 
usages relating thereto. 

1. Materials. — After the first "apron" 
of fig leaves, Gen. 3 : 7, the skins of ani- 
mals were used for clothing. Gen. 3 : 21. 
Such was the " mantle" worn by Elijah. 
Pelisses of sheepskin still form an ordi- 
nary article of dress in the East. The 
art of weaving hair was known to the 
Hebrews at an early period, Ex. 25 : 4 ; 
26 : 7 ; and wool was known earlier still. 
Gen. 38 : 12. Their acquaintance with 
linen and perhaps cotton dates from the 
captivity in Egypt, 1 Chron. 4 : 21 ; silk 
was introduced much later. Rev. 18 : 12. 
The use of mixed material, such as wool 
and flax, was forbidden. Lev. 19 : 19 ; 
Deut, 22 : 11. 

2. Color and decoration. — The prevail- 
ing color of the Hebrew dress was the 
natural white of the materials employed, 
which might be brought to a high state 
of brilliancy by the art of the fuller. 
Mark 9 : 3. The notice of scarlet thread, 
Gen. 38 : 28, implies some acquaintance 
with dyeing. The elements of ornament- 

149 



DRE 



DRE 



ation were — (1) weaving with threads 
previously dyed, Ex. 35 : 25 ; (2) the in- j 
troduction of gold thread or wire, Ex. 
27 : 6 ff. ; (3) the addition of figures, j 
Eobes decorated with gold, Ps. 45 : 13, 
and with silver thread, cf. Acts 12 : 21, 
were worn by royal personages; other 
kinds of embroidered robes were worn 
by the wealthy, Judges 5 : 30; Ps. 45 : 
14 ; Ezek. 16 : 13 ; as well as purple, 
Prov. 31 : 22 ; Luke 16 : 19, and scarlet, 
2 Sam. 1 : 24. 

3. The names, forms, and modes of 
wearing the robes. — The general charac- 
teristics of Oriental dress have preserved 
a remarkable uniformity in all ages : the 
modern Arab dresses much as the ancient 
Hebrew did. The costume of the men 
and women was very similar ; there was 
sufficient difference, however, to mark 
the sex, and it was strictly forbidden to 
a woman to wear the appendages, such 
as the staff, signet-ring, and other orna- 
ments, of a man ; as well as to a man to 
wear the outer robe of a woman. Deut. 
22 : 5. We shall first describe the robes 
which were common to the two sexes, and 
then those which were peculiar to women. 
(1) The inner garment was the most es- 
sential article of dress. It was a closely- 
fitting garment, resembling in form and 
use our shirt, though unfortunately trans- 
lated "coat" in the Authorized Version. 
The material of which it was made was 
either wool, cotton or linen. It was with- 
out sleeves, and reached only to the knee. 
Another kind reached to the wrists and 
ankles. It was in either case kept close 
to the body by a girdle, and the fold 
formed by the overlapping of the robe 
served as an inner pocket. A person 
wearing the inner garment alone was 
described as naked. (2) There was an 
upper or second tunic, the difference be- 
ing that it was longer than the first. (3) 
The linen cloth appears to have been a 
wrapper of fine lmen, which might be 
used in various ways, but especially as 
a night-shirt. Mark 14 : 51. (4) The 
outer garment consisted of a quadrangu- 
lar piece of woollen cloth, probably re- 
sembling in shape a Scotch plaid. The 
size and texture would vary with the 
means of the wearer. It might be worn 
in various ways, either wrapped round 
the body or thrown over the shoulders 
like a shawl, with the ends or "skirts" 
hanging down in front; or it might be 
thrown over the head, so as to conceal ! 
the face. 2 Sam. 15 : 30 ; Esther 6 : 12. j 
150 



The ends were skirted with a fringe and 
bound with a dark purple ribbon, Num. 
15 : 38 ; it was confined at the waist by a 
girdle. The outer garment was the poor 
man's bed clothing. Ex. 22 : 26, 27. The 
dress of the women differed from that of 
the men in regard to the outer garment, 
the inner garment being worn equal iy 




Fringed Garment. 



by both sexes. Cant. 5 : 3. Among their 
distinctive robes we find a kind of shawl, 
Ruth 3 : 15 ; Isa. 3 : 22, light summer 
dresses of handsome appearance and am- 
ple dimensions, and gay holiday dresses. 
Isa. 3 : 24. The garments of females were 
terminated by an ample border of fringe 
{skirts, Authorized Version), which con- 
cealed the feet. Isa. 47 : 2 ; Jer. 13 : 22. 
The travelling cloak referred to by St, 
Paul, 2 Tim. 4 : 13, is generally identi- 
fied with the Roman pcenula. It is, how- 
ever, otherwise explained as a travelling- 
case for carrying clothes or books. The 
coat of many colors worn by Joseph, 
Gen. 37 : 3, 23, is variously taken to be 
either a "coat of divers colors" or a 
tunic furnished with sleeves and reach- 
ing down to the ankles. The latter is 
probably the correct sense. 



DRI 



DUN 



4. Special usages relating to dress. — 
The length of the dress rendered it in- 
convenient for active exercise ; hence the 
outer garments were either left in the 
house by a person working close by, 
Matt. 24 : 18, or were thrown off when 
the occasion arose, Mark 10 : 50 ; or, if 
this were not possible, as in the case of 
a person travelling, they were girded up. 

1 Kings 18 : 40 ; 1 Pet. 1 : 13. On enter- 
ing a house the upper garment was prob- 
ably laid aside, and resumed on going 
out. Acts 12 : 8. In a sitting posture, the 
garments concealed the feet; this was 
held to be an act of reverence. Isa. : 2. 
The number of suits possessed by the 
Hebrews was considerable : a single suit 
consisted of an under and an upper gar- 
ment. The presentation of a robe in 
many instances amounted to installation 
or investiture, Gen. 41 : 42 ; Esther 8:15; 
Isa. 22 : 21 ; on the other hand, taking it 
away amounted to dismissal from office. 

2 Mace. 4 : 38. The production of the 
best robe was a mark of special honor in 
a household. Luke 15 : 22. The number 
of robes thus received or kept in store 
for presents was very large, and formed 
one of the main elements of wealth in 
the East, Job 22 : 6 ; Matt. 6 : 19 ; James 
5 : 2, so that to have clothing implied the 
possession of wealth and power. Isa. 3 : 
0, 7. On grand occasions the entertainer 
offered becoming robes to his guests. The 
business of making clothes devolved 
upon women in a family. Prov. 31 : 22 ; 
Acts 9 : 39. Little art was required in 
what we may term the tailoring depart- 
ment ; the garments came forth for the 
most part ready made from the loom, so 
that the weaver supplanted the tailor. 

Drink, Strong. The Hebrew term 
shecar, in its etymological sense, applies 
to any beverage that had intoxicating \ 
qualities. With regard to the application I 
of the term in later times Ave have the 
explicit statement of Jerome, as well as 
other soui*ces of information, from which 
we may state that the following bever- 
ages were known to the Jews : — 1. Beer, 
which was largely consumed in Egypt 
under the name of zyth us, and was thence 
introduced into Palestine. It was made 
of barley ; certain herbs, such as lupine 
and skirret, were used as substitutes' for 
hops. 2. Cider, which is noticed in the 
Mishna as apple wine. 3. Honey wine, 
of which there were two sorts, one con- 
sisting of a mixture of wine, honey and 
pepper ; the other a decoction of tne juice 



! of the grape, termed dgbash (honey) by 
j the Hebrews, and dibs by the modern 
Syrians. 4. Bate wine, which was also 
| manufactured in Egypt. It was made 
by mashing the fruit in water in certain 
j proportions. 5. Various other fruits and 
| vegetables are enumerated by Pliny as 
supplying materials for factitious or 
home-made wine, such as figs, millet, the 
carob fruit, etc. It is not improbable 
that the Hebrews applied raisins to this 
purpose in the simple manner followed 
by the Arabians, viz., by putting them in 
jars of water and burying them in the 
ground until fermentation took place. 
Dromedary. [Camel.] 
Drusil'la \toatered by the dew), daugh- 
ter of Herod Agrippa I., Acts 24 : 24 
ff., and Cypros. Born A. D. 38. She was 
at first betrothed to Antiochus Epiph- 
anes, prince of Commagene, but was 
married to Azizus, king of Emesa. Soon 
after, Felix, procurator of Judea, brought 
about her seduction by means of the Cyp- 
rian sorcerer Smion, and took her as 
his wife. In Acts 24 : 24 we find her in 
company with Felix at Csesarea. Felix 
had by Drusdla a son named Agrippa, 
who, together with his mother, perished 
in the eruption of Vesuvius under Titus. 

Dulcimer iHeb. sumphoniah). a mu- 
sical instrument, mentioned in Dan. 3 : 
5, 15, probably the bagpipe. The same 
instrument is still in use amongst peas- 
ants in the northwest of Asia and in 
southern Europe, where it is known by 
the similar name sampogna or zampogna. 

Du'mah (s.lence). 1. A son of Ish- 
mael, most probably the founder of the 
Ishmaelite tribe of Arabia, and thence 
the name of the principal place or dis- 
trict inhabited by that tribe. Gen. 25 : 14 ; 
1 Chron. 1:30; Isa. 21 : 11. 

2. A city in the mountainous district 
of Judah, near Hebron, Josh. 15 : 52, 
represented by the ruins of a village 
called ed-Dcnimeh, six miles southwest 
of Hebron. 

Dung. The uses of dung were two- 
fold. — as manure and as fuel. The ma- 
nure consisted either of straw steeped in 
liquid manure, Isa. 25 : 10, or the sweep- 
ings, Isa. 5 : 25, of the streets and roads, 
which were carefully removed from about 
the houses, and collected in heaps outside 
the walls of the towns at fixed spots — 
hence the dung-gate at Jerusalem — and 
thence removed in due course to the 
fields. The difficulty of procuring fuel 
in Syria, Arabia and Egypt has made 



DUN 



DUS 



dung in all ages valuable as a substitute. 
It was probably used for heating ovens 
and for baking cakes, Ezra 4 : 12, 15, the 
equable heat which it produced adapt- 
ing it peculiarly for the latter operation. 
Cow's and camel's dung is still used for 
a similar purpose by the Bedouins. 

Dungeon. [Prison.] 

Du'ra {a circle), the plain where Neb- 
uchadnezzar set up the golden image, 
152 



Dan. 3:1, has been sometimes identified 
with a tract a little below Tekrit, on the 
left bank of the Tigris, where the name 
Dur is still found. M. Oppert places 
the plain (or, as he calls it, the " valley ") 
of Dura to the southeast of Babylon, in 
the vicinity of the mound of Dowair or 
Duair, where was found the pedestal of 
a huge statue. 
Dust. [Mourning.] 



EAG 



EAR 



E. 



Eagle (Heb. nesher, i. e. a tearer j 
with the beak). At least four distinct 
kinds of eagles have been observed in 
Palestine, viz., the golden eagle, Aquila 
chrysaetos, the spotted eagle, A quila nce- 
via, the imperial eagle, Aquila heliaca, 
and the very common Circaetos gallicus. 
The Hebrew nesher may stand for any of 
these different species, though perhaps 
more particular reference to the golden 
and imperial eagles and the griffon vulture 
may be intended. The passage in Micah, 
1 : 16, " enlarge thy baldness as the eagle," 
may refer to the gritfon vulture, Vultur 
fulvus, in which case the simile is pecul- 
iarly appropriate, for the whole head 
and neck of this bird are destitute of true 
feathers. The " eagles " of Matt. 24 : 28, 
Luke 17 : 37, may include the Vultur 
fulvus and Neophron percnopterus ; 
though, as eagles frequently prey upon 
dead bodies, there is no necessity to re- 
strict the Greek word to the Vultur idaz. 
The figure of an eagle is now and has 
long been a favorite military ensign. 
The Persians so employed it ; a fact 
which illustrates the passage in Isa. 46 : 
11. The same bird was similarly em- 
ployed by the Assyrians and the Romans. 

Earing. Gen. 45 : 6; Ex. 34 : 21. De- 
rived from the Latin arare, to plough ; 
hence it means ploughing. 

Earnest. 2 Cor. 1 : 22 ; 5 : 5 ; Eph. 1 : 
14. The Hebrew word was used gener- 
ally for pledge, Gen. 38 : 17, and in its 
cognate forms for surely, Prov. 17 : 18, 
and hostage. 2 Kings 14 : 14. The Greek j 
derivative, however, acquired a more 
technical sense as signifying the deposit \ 
paid by the purchaser on entering into j 
an agreement for the purchase of any- j 
thing. In the New Testament the word 
is used to signify the pledge or earnest 
of the superior blessings of the future j 
life. 

Earrings. The material of which ; 
earrings were made was generally gold, j 
Ex. 32 : 2, and their form circular. They i 
were worn by women and by youth of j 
both sexes. These ornaments appear to 
have been regarded with superstitious 
reverence as an amulet. On this ac- 
count they were surrendered along with 
the idols by Jacob's household. Gen. 35 : 



4. Chardin describes earrings with talis- 
manic figures and characters on them as 
still existing in the East. Jewels Avere 
sometimes attached to the rings. The 
size of the earrings still worn in eastern 
countries far exceeds what is usual among 
ourselves; hence they formed a hand- 
some present, Job 42 : 11, or offering to 
the service of God. Num. 31 : 50. 

Earth. The term is used in two wide- 
ly-different senses: (1) for the material 
of which the earth's surface is composed ; 
(2) as the name of the planet on which 
man dwells. The Hebrew language dis- 
criminates between these two by the use 
of separate terms, adamah for the former, 
erets for the latter. 1. Adamah is the 
earth in the sense of soil or ground, par- 
ticularly as being susceptible of cultiva- 
tion. Gen. 2:7. 2. Erets is applied in a 
more or less extended sense — (1) to the 
whole world, Gen. 1:1; (2) to land 
as opposed to sea, Gen. 1:10; (3) to 
a country, Gen. 21 : 32 ; (4) to a plot of 
ground, Gen. 23:15; and (5) to the 
ground on which a man stands. Gen. 
33 : 3. The two former senses alone con- 
cern us, the first involving an inquiry 
into the opinions of the Hebrews on cos- 
mogony, the second on geography. 1. 
Cosmogony. — (1) The Hebrew cosmog- 
ony is based upon the leading principle 
that the universe exists, not independent- 
ly of God, nor yet co-existent with God, 
nor yet in opposition to him as a hostile 
element, but dependency upon him, sub- 
sequently to him and in subjection to 
him. (2) Creation was regarded as a 
progressive work — a gradual develop- 
ment from the inferior to the superior 
orders of things. 2. Geography. — There 
seem to be traces of the same ideas as 
prevailed among the Greeks, that the 
world was a disk, Isa. 40 : 22, bordered 
by the ocean, with Jerusalem as its cen- 
tre, like Delphi as the navel, or, accord- 
ing to another view, the highest point of 
the world. As to the size of the earth, 
the Hebrews had but a very indefinite 
notion. 

Earthenware. [Pottery.] 
Earthquake. Earthquakes, more or 
less violent, are of frequent occurrence 
in Palestine. The most remarkable oc- 
153 



EAS 



ECB 



curred in the reign of Uzziah. Zech. 14 : 
5. From Zech. 14 : 4 we are led to infer 
that a great convulsion took place at 
this time in the Mount of Olives, the 
mountain being split so as to leave a 
valley between its summit. An earth- 
quake occurred at the time of our Sav- 
iour's crucifixion. Matt. 27 : 51-54. j 
Earthquakes are not unfrequently ac- j 
companied by fissures of the earth's sur- i 
face ; instances of this are recorded in 
connection with the destruction of Korah 
and his company, Num. 16 : 32, and at 
the time of our Lord's death, Matt. 27 : 
51 ; the former may be paralleled by a 
similar occurrence at Oppido in Calabria 
A.D. 1783, where the earth opened to the 
extent of five hundred and a depth of 
more than two hundred feet. 

East. The Hebrew term kedem prop- 
erly means that which is before or in 
front of a person, and was applied to the 
east from the custom of turning in that 
direction when describing the points of 
the compass, before, behind, the right and 
the left representing respectively east, 
west, south and north. Job 23 : 8, 9. The 
term as generally used refers to the lands 
lying immediately eastward of Palestine, 
viz., Arabia, Mesopotamia and Babylonia ; 
on the other hand mizrach is used of the 
far east with a less definite signification. 
Isa. 42 : 2, 25; 43:5; 46 : 11. 

Easter. Acts 12 : 4. In the earlier 
English versions Easter has been fre- 
quently used as the translation of pascha 
(passover). In the Authorized Version 
Passover was substituted in all passages 
but this ; and in the new Revision Pass- 
over is used here. [Passover.] 

E'bal {stone, bare mountain). 1. One 
of the sons of Shobal the son of Seir. 
Gen. 36 : 23 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 40. 

2. Obal the son of Joktan. 1 Chron. 
1 : 22 ; comp. Gen. 10 : 28. 

E'bal, Mount, a mount in the prom- 
ised land, on which the Israelites were 
to "put" the curse which should fall 
upon them if they disobeyed the com- 
mandments of Jehovah. The blessing 
consequent on obedience was to be simi- 
larly localized on Mount Gerizim. Deut. 
11 : 26-29. Ebal and Gerizim are the 
mounts which form the sides of the fer- 
tile valley in which lies Nablus, the an- 
cient Shechem — Ebal on the north and 
Gerizim on the south. (They are nearly in 
the centre of the country of Samaria, about 
eight hundred feet above Nablus in the 
valley ; and they are so near that all the 
154 



j vast body of the people could hear the 
| words read from either mountain. The 
i experiment has repeatedly been tried in 
late years. — Ed.) The modern name of 
Ebal is Sdti Salamiyah, from a Moham- 
medan female saint, whose tomb is stand- 
ing on the eastern part of the ridge, a 
little before the highest point is reached. 

E'bed {a servant). (Many MSS. have 
Ebee.) 1. Father of Gaal, who with his 
brethren assisted the men of Shechem in 
their revolt against Abimelech. Judges 

9 : 26, 28, 30, 31, 35. (B.C. 1206.) 

2. Son of Jonathan ; one of the Bene- 
Adin who returned from Babylon with 
Ezra. Ezra 8 : 6. 

E'bed-me'lech {a king's servant), an 
Ethiopian eunuch in the service of King 
Zedekiah, through whose interference 
Jeremiah was released from prison. Jer. 
38:7 ff'.; 39 : 15 ff. (B.C. 15&9.) 

Eben-e'zer {stone of help), a stone 
set up by Samuel after a signal defeat of 
the Philistines, as a memorial of the 
" help " received on the occasion from 
Jehovah. 1 Sam. 7 : 12. Its position is 
carefully defined as between Mizpeh and 
Shen. 

E'ber {the region beyond). 1. Son of 
Salah, and great-grandson of Shem. Gen. 

10 : 24; 1 Chron. 1 : 19. (B.C. 2277-1813.) 
[For confusion between Eber and Heber 
see Heber.] 

2. Son of Elpaal and descendant of 
Sharahaim of the tribe of Benjamin. 1 
Chron. 8:12. (B.C. 1400.) 

3. A priest in the days of Joiakim the 
son of Jeshua. Neh. 12 : 20. (B.C. 445.) 

Ebi'asaph. 1 Chron. 6 : 23, 37. [See 
Abiasaph.J 

Ebony, Ezek. 27 : 15, one of the val- 
uable commodities imported into Tyre 
by the men of Dedan ; a hard, heavy 
and durable wood, which admits of a 
fine polish or gloss. The most usual 
color is black, but it also occurs red or 
green. The black is the heart of a tree 
called Diospyros ebenum. It was im- 
ported from India or Ceylon by Phoeni- 
cian traders. 

Ebro'nah {passage), one of the halt- 
ing-places of the Israelites in the des- 
ert, immediately preceding Ezion-geber. 
Num. 33 : 34, 35. 

Ecbat'ana. Ezra 6 : 2, margin. In 
the apocryphal books Ecbatana is fre- 
quently mentioned. Two cities named 
Ecbatana seem to have existed in ancient 
times, one the capital of northern Media 
— the Media Atropatene of Strabo — the 



ECC 



EDO 



other the metropolis of the larger and 
more important province known as Me- 
dia Magna. The site of the former ap- 
pears to be marked by the very curious 
ruins at Takht-i- Suleiman (lat. 36° 28', 
long. 47° 9'); while that of the latter 
is occupied by Hamadan, which is one 
of the most important cities of modern 
Persia. 

Ecclesias'tes (the preacher). The 
title of this book is in Hebrew Koheleth, 
signifying one who speaks publicly in an 
assembly. Koheleth is the name by which 
Solomon, probably the author, speaks 
of himself throughout the book. The 
book is that which it professes to be, — 
the confession of a man of wide expe- 
rience looking back upon his past life 
and looking out upon the disorders and 
calamities which surround him. The 
writer is a man who has sinned in giving 
way to selfishness and sensuality, who 
has paid the penalty of that sin in sa- 
tiety and weariness of life, but who has 
through all this been under the discipline 
of a divine education, and has learned 
from it the lesson which God meant to 
teach him. 

Ecclesias'ticus, one of the books of 
the Apocrypha. This title is given in the 
Latin version to the book which is called 
in the SeptuagintTHE Wisdom of Jesus 
the Son of Sirach. The word desig- 
nates the character of the writing, as 
publicly used in the services of the 
Church. 

Eclipse of the sun. No historical 
notice of an eclipse occurs in the Bible, 
but there are passages in the prophets 
which contain manifest allusion to this 
phenomenon. Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; 
Amos 8:9; Micah 3:6; Zech. 14 : 6. 
Some of these notices probably refer to 
eclipses that occurred about the time of 
the respective compositions : thus the 
date of Amos coincides with a total 
eclipse which occurred Feb. 9, B.C. 784, 
and was visible at Jerusalem shortly after 
noon ; that of Micah with the eclipse of 
June 5, B.C. 710. A passing notice in 
Jer. 15 : 9 coincides in date with the 
eclipse of Sept. 30, B.C. 610, so well 
known from Herodotus' account (i., 74, 
103). The darkness that overspread the 
world at the crucifixion cannot with 
reason be attributed to an eclipse, as the 
moon was at the full at the time of the 
passover. 

Ed (witness), a word inserted in the 
Authorized Version of Josh. 22 : 34, ap- 



parently on the authority of a few MSS., 
and also of the Syriac and Arabic ver- 
sions, but not existing in the generally- 
received Hebrew text. 

E'dar, Tower of (accur. Eder, a 
flock), a place named only in Gen. 35 : 
21. According to Jerome it was one 
thousand paces from Bethlehem. 

E'den (pleasure). 1. The first resi- 
dence of man, called in the Septuagint 
Paradise. The latter is a word of Per- 
sian origin, and describes an extensive 
tract of pleasure land, somewhat like an 
English park ; and the use of it suggests 
a wider view of man's first abode than a 
garden. The description of Eden is 
found in Gen. 2 : 8-14. In the eastern 
portion of the region of Eden was the 
garden planted. The Hiddekel, one of 
its rivers, is the modern Tigris ; the Eu- 
phrates is the same as the modern Eu- 
phrates. With regard to the Pison and 
Gihon a great variety of opinion exists, 
but the best authorities are divided be- 
tween (1) Eden as in northeast Arabia, at 
the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, 
and their separation again, making the 
four rivers of the different channels of 
these two, or (2), and most probably, Eden 
as situated in Armenia, near the origin of 
the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and in 
which same region rise the Araxes (Pison 
of Genesis) and the Oxus (Gihon). 

2. One of the marts which supplied the 
luxury of Tyre with richly-embroidered 
stuffs. In 2 Kings 19 : 12 and Isa. 37 : 12 
" the sons of Eden " are mentioned with 
Gozan, Haran and Rezeph as victims of 
the Assyrian greed of conquest. Proba- 
bility seems to point to the northwest of 
Mesopotamia as the locality of Eden. 

3. Beth-eden, " house of pleasure:" 
probably the name of a country residence 
of the kings of Damascus. Amos 1 : 5. 

E'den. 1. A Gershonite Levite, son 
of Joah, in the davs of Hezekiah. 2 
Chron. 29 : 12. (B.C. 727.) 

2. Also a Levite, probably identical 
with the preceding. 2 Chron. 31 : 15. 

E'der (a flock). 1. One of the towns 
of Judah, in the extreme south, and on 
the borders of Edom. Josh. 15:21. No 
trace of it has been discovered in modern 
times. 

2. A Levite of the family of Merari, 
in the time of David. 1 Chron. 23 : 23 ; 
24 : 30. 

E'dom, Idumge'a or Idume'a (red). 
The name Edom was given to Esau, the 
first-born son of Isaac and twin brother 
155 



EDO 



EGL 



of Jacob, when he sold his birthright to 
the latter for a meal of lentil pottage. 
The country which the Lord subsequent- 
ly gave to Esau was hence called "the 
country of Edom," Gen. 32 : 3, and h:s 
descendants were called Edomites. Edom 
was called Mount Seir and Idumea also. 
Edom was wholly a mountainous coun- 
try. It embraced the narrow mountain- 
ous tract (about 100 miles long by 20 
broad) extending along the eastern side 
of the Arabah from the northern end of 
the Gulf of Elath to near the southern 
end of the Dead Sea. The ancient cap- 
ital of Edom was Bozrah {Buseireh). 
Sela (Petra) appears to have been the 
principal stronghold in the days of Am- 
aziah (B.C. 838). 2 Kings 14 : 7. Elath 
and Ezion-geber were the seaports. 2 
Sam. 8 : 14 ; 1 Kings 9 : 26. 

History. — Esau's bitter hatred to his 
brother Jacob for fraudulently obtaining 
his blessing appears to have been in- 
herited by his latest posterity. The 
Edomites peremptorily refused to permit 
the Israelites to pass through their land. 
Num. 20 : 18-21. For a period of 400 
years we hear no more of the Edomites. 
They were then attacked and defeated by 
Saul, 1 Sam. 14 : 47, and some forty years 
later by David. 2 Sam. 8 : 13, 14. In the 
reign of Jehoshaphat (B.C. 914) the 
Edomites attempted to invade Israel, 
but failed. 2 Chron. 20 : 22. They joined 
Nebuchadnezzar when that king besieged 
Jerusalem. For their cruelty at this time 
they were fearfully denounced by the 
later prophets. Isa. 34 : 5-8 ; 63 : 1-4 ; 
Jer. 49 : 17. After this they settled in 
southern Palestine, and for more than 
four centuries continued to prosper. But 
during the warlike rule of the Maccabees 
they were again completely subdued, and 
even forced to conform to Jewish laws 
and rites, and submit to the govern- 
ment of Jewish prefects. The Edomites 
were now incorporated with the Jewish 
nation. They were idolaters. 2 Chron. 
25 : 14, 15, 20. Their habits were singu- 
lar. The Horites, their predecessors in 
Mount Seir, were, as their name implies, 
troglodytes, or dwellers in caves ; and the 
Edomites seem to have adopted their 
dwellings as well as their country. 
Everywhere we meet with caves and 
grottos hewn in the soft sandstone strata. 

E'domites. [Edom.] 

Ed'rei (stronghold). 1. One of the 
two capital cities of Bashan, in the ter- 
ritory of Manasseh east of the Jordan. 
156 



Num. 21 : 33 Deut. 1:4; 3 : 10 ; Josh. 
12:4. In Scripture it is only mentioned 
in connection with the victory gained by 
the Israelites over the Amorites under 
Og their king, and the territory thus ac- 
quired. The ruins of this ancient city, 
still bearing the name Edr'a, stand on a 
rocky promontory which projects from 
the southwest corner of the Lejah. The 
ruins are nearly three miles in circum- 
ference, and have a strange, wild look, 
rising up in dark, shattered masses from 
the midst of a wilderness of black rocks. 

2. A town of northern Palestine, al- 
lotted to the tribe of Naphtali, and sit- 
uated near Kedesh. Josh. 19 : 37. About 
two miles south of Kedesh is a conical 
rocky hill called Tell Khuraibeh, the 
"tell of the ruin/' which may be the 
site of Edrei. 

Education. There is little trace 
among the Hebrews in earlier times of 
education in any other subjects than the 
law. The wisdom therefore and instruc- 
tion, of which so much is said in the 
book of Proverbs, are to be understood 
chiefly of moral and religious discipline, 
imparted, according to the direction of 
the law, by the teaching and under the 
example of parents. (But Solomon him- 
self wrote treatises on several scientific 
subjects, which must have been studied 
in those days. ) In later times the proph- 
ecies and comments on them, as well as 
on the earlier Scriptures, together with 
other subjects, were studied. Parents 
were required to teach their children 
some trade. (Girls also went to schools, 
and women generally among the Jews 
were treated with greater equality to men 
than in any other ancient nation.) Pre- 
vious to the captivity, the chief depos- 
itaries of learning were the schools or 
colleges, from which in most cases pro- 
ceeded that succession of public teachers 
who at various times endeavored to re- 
form the moral and religious conduct of 
both rulers and people. Besides the pro- 
phetical schools instruction was given by 
the priests in the temple and elsewhere. 
[See Schools.] 

Eg'lah (a heifer), one of David's wives 
during his reign in Hebron. 2 Sam. 3:5; 
1 Chron. 3 : 3. (B.C. 1055.) 

Egla'im {two ponds), a place named 
only in Isa. 15 : 8, probably the same as 
En-eglaim. 

Eg'lon {calf-like). 1. A king of the 
Moabites, Judges 3 : 12 IF., who, aided 
by the Ammonites and the Amalekites, 



Tombs at Petra in Edora. (From an original Photograph.) 

157 



EGY 



EGY 



crossed the Jordan and took " the city of 
palm trees." (B.C. 1359.) Here, accord- 
ing to Josephus, he built himself a pal- 
ace, and continued for eighteen years to 
oppress the children of Israel, who paid 
him tribute. He was slain by Ehud. 
[Ehud.] 

2. A town of Judah in the low coun- 
try. Josh. 15 : 39. The name survives in 
the modern Ajlan, a shapeless mass of 
ruins, about 10 miles from Eleutheropolis 
and 14 from Gaza, on the south of the 
great maritime plain. 

E'gypt {land of the Copts), a country 
occupying the northeast angle of Africa. 
Its limits appear always to have been 
very nearly the same. It is bounded on 
the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on 
the east by Palestine, Arabia and the 
Red Sea, on the south by Nubia, and on 
the west by the Great Desert. It is di- 
vided into upper Egypt — the valley of 
the Nile — and lower Egypt, the plain of 
the Delta, from the Greek letter a ; it is 
formed by the branching mouths of the 
Nile, and the Mediterranean Sea. The 
portions made fertile by the Nile com- 
prise about 9582 square geographical 
miles, of which only about 5600 is under 
cultivation.- -Encyc. Brit. The Delta ex- 
tends about 200 miles along the Mediter- 
ranean, and Egypt is 520 miles long from 
north to south from the sea to the First 
Cataract. 

Names. — The common name of Egypt 
in the Bible is " Mizraim." It is in the 
dual number, which indicates the two 
natural divisions of the country into an 
upper and a lower region. The Arabic 
name of Egypt — Mizr — signifies "red 
mud." Egypt is also called in the Bible 
"the land of Ham," Ps. 105:23, 27, 
comp. 78 : 51 — a name most probably re- 
ferring to Ham the son of Noah — and 
" Rahab," the proud or insolent: these 
appear to be poetical appellations. The 
common ancient Egyptian name of the 
country is written in hieroglyphics Kem, 
which was perhaps pronounced Chem. 
This name signifies, in the ancient lan- 
guage and in Coptic, " black," on account 
of the blackness of its alluvial soil. We 
may reasonably conjecture that Kem is 
the Egyptian equivalent of Ham. 

General Appearance, Climate, 
etc. — The general appearance of the 
country cannot have greatly changed 
since the days of Moses. The whole 
country is remarkable for its extreme 
fertility, which especially strikes the be- 
158 



holder when the rich green of the fields 
is contrasted with the utterly bare, yel- 
low mountains or the sand-strewn rocky 
desert on either side. The climate is 
equable and healthy. Rain is not very 
unfrequent on the northern coast, but in- 
land is very rare. Cultivation nowhere 
depends upon it. The inundation of the 
Nile fertilizes and sustains the country, 
and makes the river its chief blessing. 
The Nile was on this account anciently 
worshipped. The rise begins in Egypt 
about the summer solstice, and the in- 
undation commences about two months 
later. The greatest height is attained 
about or somewhat after the autumnal 
equinox. The inundation lasts about 
three months. The atmosphere, except 
on the seacoast, is remarkably dry and 
clear, which accounts for the so perfect 

I preservation of the monuments, with their 
pictures and inscriptions. The heat is 
extreme during a large part of the year. 

i The winters are mild,— from 50° to 60° 

j in the afternoon shade, in the coldest 

I season. 

Cultivation, Agriculture, etc. — 
The ancient prosperity of Egypt is at- 
; tested by the Bible as well as by the 
! numerous monuments of the country. As 
j early as the age of the great pyramid it 
must have been densely populated. The 
j contrast of the present state of Egypt 
i with its former prosperity is more to be 
I ascribed to political than to physical 
j causes. Egypt is naturally an agricul- 
! tural country. Vines were extensively 
j cultivated. Of fruit trees, the date palm 
j was the most common and valuable, 
j The gardens resembled the fields, being 
watered in the same manner by irriga- 
tion. Egypt has neither woods nor for- 
ests. The commonest large trees are the 
sycamore fig, the acacia and the mul- 
berry, the date palm and the banana. 
The best-known fruits are dates, grapes, 
! figs, pomegranates, peaches, oranges, 
lemons, bananas, melons, olives and mul- 
• berries. All kinds of grain are abundant. 
The gardens produce peas, beans, lentils, 
celery, radishes, carrots, lettuce, toma- 
toes, cucumbers, etc. Tobacco, sugar 
cane, cotton, hemp and flax are raised. 
The ancient reed, the papyrus, is nearly 
extinct. — Encyc. Brit. 

Religion. — The basis of the religion 
was Nigritian fetichism, the lowest kind 
of nature worship, differing in different 
parts of the country, and hence obviously 
indigenous. There were three orders of 



EGY 



EGY 



gods — the eight great gods, the twelve 
lesser, and the Osirian group. The great 
doctrines of the immortality of the soul, 
man's responsibility, and future rewards 
and punishments, were taught. Among 
the rites, circumcision is the most re- 
markable : it is as old as the time of the 
fourth dynasty. 

Domestic Life. — The sculptures and 
paintings of the tombs give us a very full 
insight into the domestic life of the ancient 
Egyptians. What most strikes us in 



their manners is the high position occu- 
pied by women, and the entire absence 
I of the harem system of seclusion. Mar- 
riage appears to have been universal, at 
least with the richer class ; and if polyg- 
amy were tolerated it was rarely prac- 
ticed. There were no castes, although 
great classes were very distinct. The 
funeral ceremonies were far more import- 
ant than any events of the Egyptian life, 
as the tomb was regarded as the only 
true home. 



Front of Temple at Aboo Simbel, Nubia. 



Industrial Arts. — The industrial 
arts held an important place in the oc- 
cupations of the Egyptians. The work- 
ers in fine flax and the weavers of white 
linen are mentioned in a manner that 
shows they were among the chief contrib- 
utors to the riches of the country. Isa. 
19 : 9. The fine linen of Egypt found its 
way to Palestine. Prov. 7 : 16. Pottery 
was a great branch of the native manu- 
factures, and appears to have furnished 
employment to the Hebrews during the 
bondage. Ps. 68 : 13 ; 81:6; comp. Ex. 
1 : 14. 

History. — The ancient history of 
Egypt may be divided into three por- 



tions : the old monarchy, extending from 
the foundation of the kingdom to the in- 
vasion of the Hyksos ; the middle, from 
the entrance to the expulsion of the 
Hyksos; and the new, from the re-es- 
tablishment of the native monarchy by 
Amasis to the Persian conquest. 1. The 
old monarchy. — Memphis was the most 
ancient capital, the foundation of which 
is ascribed to Menes, the first mortal 
king of Egypt. The names of the kings, 
divided into thirty dynasties, are handed 
down in the lists of Manetho, 1 and are 



1 Manetho was an Egyptian priest who lived 
under the Ptolemies in the third century B.C., 
159 



EGY 



EGY 



also known from the works which they 
executed. The most memorable epoch 
in the history of the old monarchy is 
that of the Pyramid kings, placed in 
Manetho's fourth dynasty. Their names 
are found upon these monuments : the 
builder of the great pyramid is called 
Suphis by Manetho, Cheops by Herod- 
otus, and Khufu or Shufu in an inscrip- 



that in the Sethroite nome they construct- 
ed an immense earth-camp, which they 
called Abaris ; that at a certain period 
of their occupation two independent 
kingdoms were formed in Egypt, one in 
the Thebaid, which held intimate rela- 
tions with Ethiopia; another at Xois, 
among the marshes of the Nile ; and 
that, finally, the Egyptians regained their 




Pyramids of Gizeh, Egypt. 

tion upon the pyramid. The erection of 
the second pyramid is attributed by 
Herodotus and Diodorus to Chephren; 
and upon the neighboring tombs has been 
read the name of Khafra or Shafre. The 
builder of the third pyramid is named 
Mycerinus by Herodotus and Diodorus ; 
and in this very pyramid a coffin has 
been found bearing the name Menkura. 
The most powerful kings of the old mon- 
archy were those of Manetho's twelfth 
dynasty : to this period is assigned the 
construction of the Lake of Moeris and 
the Labyrinth. 2. The middle, monarchy. 
— Of this period we only know that a 
nomadic horde called Hyksos 1 for several 
centuries occupied and made Egypt trib- 
utary ; that their capital was Memphis ; 

and wrote in Greek a history of Egypt, in 
which he divided the kings into thirty dynas- 
ties. The work itself is lost, but the lists of 
dynasties have been preserved by the Christian 
writers. 

1 This, their Egyptian name, is derived by 
Manetho from hyk, a king, and sos, a shep- 
herd. 

160 



The Sphinx, Egypt, 

independence and expelled the Hyksos, 
who thereupon retired into Palestine. 
The Hyksos form the fifteenth, sixteenth 
and seventeenth dynasties. Manetho 
says they were Arabs, but he calls the 
six kings of the fifteenth dynasty Phoe- 
nicians. 3. The new monarchy extends 
from the commencement of the eighteenth 
to the end of the thirtieth dynasty. The 
kingdom was consolidated by Amasis, 
who succeeded in expelling the Hyksos, 
and thus prepared the way for the for- 
eign expeditions which his successors 
carried on in Asia and Africa, extending 
from Mesopotamia in the former to Ethi- 
opia in the latter continent. The glori- 
ous era of Egyptian history was under 
the nineteenth dynasty, when Sethi I., 
B.C. 1322, and his grandson, Rameses the 
Great, B.C. 1311, both of whom represent 
the Sesostris of the Greek historians, 
carried their arms over the whole of 
western Asia and southward into Sou- 
dan, and amassed vast treasures, which 
were expended on public works. Under 
the later kings of the nineteenth dynasty 



EGY 



EHI 



the power of Egypt faded : the twentieth 
and twenty -first dynasties achieved noth- 
ing worthy of record ; but with the twen- 
ty-second we enter upon a period that is 
interesting from its associations with 
biblical history, the first of this dynasty, 
Sheshonk I. (Seconchis), B.C. 990, being 
the Shishak who invaded Judea in Re- 
hoboam's reign and pillaged the temple. 
1 Kings 14 : 25. Probably his successor, 
Osorkon I., is the Zerah of Scripture, 
defeated by Asa. Egypt makes no figure 
in Asiatic history during the twenty- 
third and twenty -fourth dynasties ; under 
the twenty-fifth it regained, in part at 
least, its ancient importance. This was 
an Ethiopian line, the warlike sovereigns 
of which strove to the utmost to repel 
the onward stride of Assyria. So, whom 
we are disposed to identify with Shebek 
II. or Sebichus, the second Ethiopian, 
made an alliance with Hoshea, the last 
king of Israel. Tehrak or Tirhakah, 
the third of this house, advanced against 
Sennacherib in support of Hezekiah. 
After this a native dynasty — the twenty- 
sixth — of Saite kings again occupied the 
throne. Psametek I. or Psammetichus 
I. (B.C. 664), who may be regarded as 
the head of this dynasty, warred in Pales- 
tine, and took Ashdod (Azotus) after a 
siege of twenty-nine years. Neku or 
Necho, the son of Psammetichus, con- 
tinued the war in the east, and marched 
along the coast of Palestine to attack the 
king of Assyria. At Megiddo Josiah 
encountered him (B.C. 608-7), notwith- 
standing the remonstrance of the Egyp- 
tian king, which is very illustrative of 
the policy of the Pharaohs in the East, 2 
Chron. 35 : 21, no less than is his lenient 
conduct after the defeat and death of the 
king of Judah. The army of Necho 
was after a short space routed at Car- 
chemish by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 605-4. 
Jer. 46 : 2. The second successor of 
Necho, Apries, or Pharaoh-hophra, sent 
his army into Palestine to the aid of 
Zedekiah, Jer. 37 : 5, 7, 11— so that the 
siege of Jerusalem was raised for a time 
— and kindly received the fugitives from 
the captured city. He seems to have 
been afterwards attacked by Nebuchad- 
nezzar in his own country. There is, 
however, no certain account of a com- 
plete subjugation of Egypt by the king 
of Babylon. Amasis, the successor of 
Apries, had a long and prosperous reign, 
and somewhat restored the weight of 
Egypt in the East. But the new power 
11 



of Persia was to prove even more terrible 
! to this house than Babylon had been to 
! the house of Psammetichus, and the son 
I of Amasis had reigned but six months 
; when Cambyses reduced the country to 
| the condition of a province of his em- 
I pire, B.C. 525. 

(Chronology. — The early history 
I and chronology of Egypt is involved in 
much uncertainty. Its principal sources 
are the lists of thirty dynasties of kings 
| given by Manetho, the smaller list of the 
| Turin Papyrus, and the sculptures, paint- 
' ings and inscriptions on the monuments, 
i There have been lately discovered (1881), 
! in a Coptic convent near Thebes, the 
J ruins of an ancient tomb in which are the 
mummies of Eameses II. and Thothmes 
III., and others of the great Pharaohs ; 
but no new light has been thrown on the 
chronology. Till about the time of Solo- 
mon, 1000 B.C., there is much uncertain- 
ty as to dates. 

Exodus. — As far back as history re- 
cords, there were flourishing empires in 
Egypt. The chief interest to the Bible 
student, in the early history of Egypt, is 
whether it agrees with the statements 
and chronology of the Bible. Egyptian 
history is so uncertain as to dates that 
nothing it contains could count against 
the Bible chronology ; but what is known 
is reconcilable with the usual dates given 
in our Bibles, and cannot, at the farthest, 
ask for longer ages than are given in the 
Septuagint. 

Present Condition.— Egypt is now, 
j as it has been for many centuries, under 
the government of the Turks. It con- 
tained, in 1874, 5,252,000 inhabitants, 
seven-eighths of whom are Mohammed- 
ans. The ancient Egyptians spoke the 
Coptic language. The modern Egyptians 
of the upper and middle classes speak 
Arabic. The native Christians of Egypt, 
or Copts, are chiefly descended from the 
ancient Egyptian race, and they rarely 
intermarry with other races. These speak 
the Coptic language, a branch of the an- 
cient Egyptian, but spell their words with 
the letters of the Greek alphabet. — Ed.) 

Egyp'tian, Egyptians , a native or 
natives of Egypt. 

E'hi (my brother), head of one of the 
Benjamite houses according to the list in 
Gen. 46 : 21. He seems to be the same 
as Ahiram in the list in Num. 26 : 38. In 
1 Chron. 8:1 he is called Aharah, and 
perhaps also Ahoah in ver. 4, Ahiah, 
ver. 7, and Aher, ch. 7:12. 

161 



EHU 



ELA 



E'hud (union). 1. Ehud son of Bil- 
han, and great-grandson of Benjamin 
the patriarch. 1 Chron. 7 : 10 ; 8:6. 

2. Ehud son of Gera, of the tribe of 
Benjamin, Judges 3 : 15, the second judge 
of the Israelites. (B.C. about 1370.) In j 
the Bible he is not called a judge, but a j 
deliverer (I. c): so Othniel, Judges 3 : 

9, and all the Judges. Neh. 9 : 27. As a 
Benjamite he was specially chosen to de- 
stroy Eglon, who had established him- 
self in Jericho, which was included in | 
the boundaries of that tribe. He was 
very strong, and left-handed. [Eglon.] 

E'ker (a rooting up), a descendant of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 27. 

Ek'ron (torn up by the roots; emi- 
gration), one of the five towns belonging 
to the lords of the Philistines, and the 
most northerly of the five. Josh. 13 : 3. 
Like the other Philistine cities its situa- 
tion was in the lowlands. It fell to the 
lot of Judah. Josh. 15:45, 46; Judges 
1 : 18. Afterwards we find it mentioned 
among the cities of Dan. Josh. 19 : 43. 
Before the monarchy it was again in full 
possession of the Philistines. 1 Sam. 5 : 

10. Akir, the modern representative of 
Ekron, lies about five miles southwest of 
Ramleh. In the Apocrypha it appears 
as Accaron. 1 Mace. 10 : 89 only. 

El'adah (whom God has put on), a de- 
scendant of Ephraim through Shuthelah. 
1 Chron. 7 : 20. 

E'lah (an oak, strength). 1. The son 
and successor of Baasha king of Israel. 
1 Kings 16 : 8-10. His reign lasted for 
little more than a year; comp. ver. 8 
with 10. (B.C. 928-7.) He was killed 
while drunk, by Zimri, in the house of 
his steward Arza, who was probably a 
confederate in the plot. 

2. Father of Hoshea, the last king of 
Israel. 2 Kings 15 : 30; 17 : 1. (B.C. 
729 or before.) 

E'lah. 1. One of the dukes of Edom. 
Gen. 36 : 41 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 52. 

2. Shimei ben-Elah was Solomon's 
commissariat officer in Benjamin. 1 
Kings 4: 18. (B.C. 1013.) 

3. A son of Caleb the son of Jephun- 
neh. 1 Chron. 4 : 15. (B.C. 1450.) 

4. Son of Uzzi, a Benjamite, 1 Chron. 
9 : 8, and one of the chiefs of the tribe at 
the settlement of the country. (B.C. 
536.) 

E'lah, The valley of (valley of the 
terebinth), the valley in which David 
killed Goliath. 1 Sam. 17:2, 19. It lay 
somewhere near Socoh of Judah and 
162 



Azekah, and was nearer Ekron than any 
other Philistine town. 1 Sam. 17. 

E'lam (eternity). 1. This seems to 
have been originally the name of a man, 
the son of Shem. Gen. 10 : 22 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 17. Commonly, however, it is used as 
the appellation of a country. Gen. 14 : 1, 
9 ; Isa. 11 : 11 ; 21 : 2. The Elam of Scrip- 
ture appears to be the province lying 
south of Assyria and east of Persia prop- 
er, to which Herodotus gives the name 
of Cissia (iii. 91, v. 49, etc.), and which 
is termed Susis or Susiana by the geogra- 
phers. Its capital was Susa. This coun- 
try was originally peopled by descend- 
ants of Shem. By the time of Abraham 
a very important powor had been built 
up in the same region. It is plain that 
at this early time the predominant power 
in lower Mesopotamia was Elam, which 
for a while held the place possessed 
earlier by Babylon, Gen. 10 : 10, and 
later by either Babylon or Assyria. 

2. A Korhite Levite in the time of 
King David. 1 Chron. 26 : 3. (B.C. 1014.) 

3. A chief man of the tribe of Benja- 
min. 1 Chron. 8 : 24. 

4. " Children of Elam," to the number 
of 1254, returned with Zerubbabel from 
Babylon. Ezra 2:7; Neh. 7 : 12; 1 Esd. 
5 : 12. (B.C. 536 or before.) Elam oc- 
curs amongst the names of the chief of 
the people who signed the covenant with 
Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 14. 

5. In the same lists is a second Elam, 
whose sons, to the same number as in the 
former case, returned with Zerubbabel, 
Ezra 2 : 31; Neh.' 7 : 34, and which for 
the sake of distinction is called " the 
other Elam." 

j 6. One of the priests who accompanied 
Nehemiah at the dedication of the new 
wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 42. 

E'lamites. This word is found only 
in Ezra 4 : 9. The Elamites were the 
original inhabitants of the country called 
| Elam; they were descendants of -Shem, 
i and perhaps drew their name from an 
actual man Elam. Gen. 10 : 22. 

El'asah (whom God made). 1. A priest 
in the time of Ezra who had married a 
Gentile wife. Ezra 10 : 22. (B.C. 458.) " 

2. Son of Shaphan, one of the two 
men who were sent on a mission by King 
Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon. 
Jer. 29:3. (B.C. 594.) 

E'lath, E'loth (a grove), the name of 
a town of the land of Edom, commonly 
mentioned with Ezion-geber, and situate 
at the head of the Arabian Gulf, which 



ELB 



ELE 



was thence called the Elanitic Gulf. It 
first occurs in the account of the wander- 
ings, Deut. 2 : 8, and in later times must 
have come under the rule of David. 2 
Sam. 8 : 14. We find the place named 
again in connection with Solomon's 
navy. 1 Kings 9 : 26 ; comp. 2 Chron. 8 : 
17. In the Roman period it became a 
frontier town of the south and the resi- 
dence of a Christian bishop. The Arabic 
name is Eyleh, and palm groves still ex- 
ist there, after which it was named. 

El-beth'el {the God of Bethel), the 
name which Jacob is said to have be- 
stowed on the place at which God ap- 
peared to him when he was flying from 
Esau. Gen. 35 : 7. 

El'daah, Gen. 25 : 4 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 33, 
the last in order of the sons of Midian. 

El'dad {favored of God) and Me'dad 
(love), two of the seventy elders to whom 
was communicated the prophetic power 
of Moses. Num. 11 : 16, 26. (B.C. 1490.) 
Although their names were upon the list 
which Moses had drawn up, Num. 11 : 
26, they did not repair with the rest of 
their brethren to the tabernacle, but con- 
tinued to prophesy in the camp. Moses, 
being requested by Joshua to forbid this, 
refused to do so, and expressed a wish 
that the gift of prophecy might be dif- 
fused throughout the people. 

Elder. The term elder, or old man 
as the Hebrew literally imports, was one 
of extensive use, as an official title, 
among the Hebrews and the surrounding 
nations, because the heads of tribes and 
the leading people who had acquired in- 
fluence were naturally the older people 
of the nation. It had reference to vari- 
ous offices. Gen. 24 : 2 ; 50 : 7 ; 2 Sam. 12 : 
17 ; Ezek. 27 : 9. As betokening a po- 
litical office, it applied not only to the 
Hebrews, but also to the Egyptians, Gen. 
50 : 7, the Moabites and the Midianites. 
Num. 22 : 7. The earliest notice of the 
elders acting in concert as a political 
body is at the time of the Exodus. They 
were the representatives of the people, 
so much so that elders and people are 
occasionally used as equivalent terms; 
comp. Josh. 24 : 1 with 2, 19, 21 ; 1 Sam. 
8 : 4 with 7, 10, 19. Their authority was 
undefined, and extended to all matters 
concerning the public weal. Their num- 
ber and influence may be inferred from 
1 Sam. 30 : 26 ff. They retained their 
position under all the political changes 
which the Jews underwent. The seventy 
elders mentioned in Exodus and Num- 



bers were a sort of governing body, a 
parliament, and the origin of the tribu- 
nal of seventy elders called the Sanhe- 
drin or Council. In the New Testament 
Church the elders or presbyters were the 
same as the bishops. It was an office 
derived from the Jewish usage of elders 
or rulers of the synagogues. [Bishop.] 

El'ead {praised by God), a descend- 
ant of Ephraim. 1 Chron. 7 : 21. 

Elea'ieh {the ascending of God), a 
place on the east of Jordan, taken pos- 
session of and rebuilt by the tribe of 
Reuben. Num. 32 : 3, 37. By Isaiah and 
Jeremiah it is mentioned as a Moabite 
town. Isa. 15 : 4 ; 16:9; Jer. 48 : 34. 

Ele'asah {whom God made). 1. Son 
of Helez, one of the descendants of Ju- 
dah, of the family of Hezron. 1 Chron. 
2 : 39. (B.C. after 1046.) 

2. Son of Rapha or Rephaiah ; a de- 
scendant of Saul through Jonathan and 
Merib-baal or Mephibosheth. 1 Chron. 
8 :37; 9 : 43. (B.C. before 588.) ■ 

Elea'zar {help of God). 1. Third son 
of Aaron. After the death of Nadab and 
Abihu without children, Lev. 10 : 6 ; 
Num. 3 : 4, Eleazar was appointed chief 
over the principal Levites. Num. 3 : 
32. With his brother Ithamar he min- 
istered as a priest during their father's 
lifetime, and immediately before his 
death was invested on Mount Hor with 
the sacred garments, as the successor of 
Aaron in the office of high priest. Num. 
20 : 28. (B.C. 1452.) One of his first 
duties was in conjunction with Moses to 
superintend the census of the people. 
Num. 26 : 3. After the conquest of Ca- 
naan by Joshua he took part in the dis- 
tribution of the land. Josh. 14 : 1. The 
time of his death is not mentioned in 
Scripture. 

2. The son of Abinadab, of the hill of 
Kirjath-jearim. 1 Sam. 7 : 1. (B.C. 1134.) 

3. One of the three principal mighty 
men of David's army. 2 Sam. 23 : 9 ; 1 
Chron. 11 : 12. (B.C. 1046.) 

4. A Merarite Levite, son of Mahli 
and grandson of Merari. 1 Chron. 23 : 21, 
22; 24:28. 

5. A priest who took pai't in the feast 
of dedication under Nehemiah. Neh. 12 : 
42. (B.C. 446.) 

6. One of the sons of Parosh, an Israel- 
ite {i.e. a layman) who had married a 
foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 25. 

7. Son of Phinehas, a Levite. Ezra 8 : 33. 

8. The son of Eliud, in the genealogy 
of Jesus Christ. Matt. 1 : 15. 

163 



ELE 



ELI 



El-Elo'he-Is'rael {God, the God of 
Israel), the name bestowed by Jacob on 
the altar which he erected facing the city 
of Shechem. Gen. 33 : 19, 20. 

E'leph {the ox), one of the towns al- 
lotted to Benjamin, and named next to 
Jerusalem. Josh. 18 : 28. 

Elha'nan {the grace of God). 1. A 
distinguished warrior in the time of King 
David, who performed a memorable ex- 
ploit against the Philistines. 2 Sam. 21 : 
19; 1 Chron. 20 : 5. (B.C. about 1020.) 

2. One of " the thirty " of David's 
guard, and named first on the list. 2 
Sam. 23 : 24 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 26. 

E'Ji {ascension), a descendant of Aaron 
through Ithamar, the youngest of his two 
surviving sons. Lev. 10 : 1, 2, 12; comp. 

1 Kings 2 : 27 with 2 Sam. 8 : 17 ; 1 Chron. 
24:3. (B.C. 1214-1116.) He was the 
first of the line of Ithamar avIio held the 
office of high priest. The office remained 
in his family till Abiathar was thrust out 
by Solomon, 1 Kings 1 : 7 ; 2 : 26, 27, when 
it passed back again to the family of 
Eleazar in the person of Zadok. 1 Kings 

2 : 35. Its return to the elder branch 
was one part of the punishment which 
had been denounced against Eli during 
his lifetime, for his culpable negligence, 

I Sam. 2 : 22-25, when his sons profaned 
the priesthood ; comp. 1 Sam. 2 : 27-36 
with 1 Kings 2 : 27. Notwithstanding 
this one great blemish, the character of 
Eli is marked by eminent piety, as shown 
by his meek submission to the divine 
judgment, 1 Sam. 3 : 18, and his supreme 
regard for the ark of God. 1 Sam. 4 : 18. 
In addition to the office of high priest 
he held that of judge. He died at the 
advanced age of 98 years, 1 Sam. 4 : 15, 
overcome by the disastrous intelligence 
that the ark of God had been taken in 
battle by the Philistines, who had also 
slain his sons Hophni and Phinehas. 

E'li, E'li, lama sabachthani. The 
Hebrew form, as Eloi, Eloi, etc., is the 
Syro-Chaldaic (the common language in 
use by the Jews in the time of Christ) of 
the first words of the twenty-second 
Psalm; they mean "My God, my God, 
ivhy hast thou forsaken meV 

Eli'ab {God is my father). 1. Son of 
Helon and leader of the tribe of Zebulun 
at the time of the census in the wilder- 
ness of Sinai. Num. 1:9; 2:7; 7 : 24, 
29; 10: 16. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. A Reubenite, father of Dathan and 
Abiram. Num. 16 : 1, 12 ; 26 : 8, 9 ; Deut. 

II : 6. 

164 



3. One of David's brothers, the eldest 
of the family. 1 Sam. 16 : 6 ; 17 : 13, 28 ; 
1 Chron. 2 : 13. (B.C. 1063.) 

4. A Levite in the time of David, who 
was both a " porter" and a musician on 
the "psaltery." 1 Chron. 15:18, 20; 
16:5. 

5. One of the warlike Gaclite leaders 
who came over to David when he was in 
the wilderness taking refuge from Saul. 

1 Chron. 12 : 9. (B.C. 1061.) 

6. An ancestor of Samuel the prophet ; 
a Kohathite Levite, son of Nahath. 1 
Chron. 6:27. (B.C. 1250.) 

7. Son of Nathanael, one of the fore- 
fathers of Judith, and therefore belong- 
ing to the tribe of Simeon. Judith 8 : 1. 

Eli'ada {knoivn by God). 1. One of 
David's sons ; according to the lists, the 
youngest but one of the family born to 
him after his establishment in Jerusalem. 

2 Sam. 5 : 16 ; 1 Chron. 3 : 8. (B.C. after 
1033.) 

2. A mighty man of war, a Benjamite, 
M ho led 200,000 of his tribe to the army 
of Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 17 : 17. (B.C. 
945.) 

Eli'adah, father of Bezon, the cap- 
tain of a marauding band that annoyed 
Solomon. 1 Kings 11 : 23. 

Eli'ah {my God is Jehovah). 1. A 
Benjamite, a chief man of the tribe. 1 
Chron. 8 : 27. 

2. One of the Bene-Elam, an Israelite 
(-?'. e. a layman) who had married a foreign 
wife. Ezra 10 : 26. 

Eli'ahlsa {ivhom God hides), one of 
the thirty of David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 
32 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 33. (B.C. 1046.) 

Eli'akim {raisedup by God ). 1. Son 
of Hilkiah, master of Hezekiah's house- 
hold (" over the house," as Isa. 36 : 3). 2 
Kings 18:18, 26, 37. (B.C. 713.) Elia- 
kim was a good man, as appears by the 
title emphatically applied to him by 
God, " my servant Eliakim," Isa. 22 : 20, 
and also in the discharge of the duties of 
his high station, in which he acted as a 
"father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
and to the house of Judah." Isa. 22 : 21. 

2. The original name of Jehoiakim 
king of Judah. 2 Kings 23 : 34; 2 Chron. 
36 : 4. 

3. A priest in the days of Nehemiah, 
who assisted at the dedication of the new 
Avail of Jerusalem. Neh. 12:41. (B.C. 
446.) 

4. Eldest son of Abiud or Judah ; 
brother of Joseph, and father of Azor. 
Matt. 1 : 13. 



ELI 



ELI 



5. Son of Melea, and father of Jonan. 
Luke 3: 30, 31. 

Eli'am {God's people). 1. Father of 
Bath-sheba, the wife of David. 2 Sam. 
11:3. 

2. One of David's "thirty" warriors. 
2 Sam. 23 : 34. 

Eli'as, the Greek form of Elijah. 

Eli'asaph. 1. Head of the tribe of 
Dan at the time of the census in the wil- 
derness of Sinai. Num. 1 : 14; 2 : 14; 7 : 
42, 47; 10: 20. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. A. Levite, and " chief of the Ger- 
shonites" at the same time. Num. 3 : 24. 

Eli'ashib (whom God restores). 1. 
A priest in the time of King David, 
eleventh in the order of the " governors " 
of the sanctuary. 1 Chron. 24 : 12. 

2. One of the latest descendants of the 
royal family of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 24. 

3. High priest at Jerusalem at the time 
of the rebuilding of the walls under Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 3 : 1, 20, 21. (B.C. 446.) 

4. A singer in the time of Ezra who 
had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 
24. 

5. A son of Zattu, Ezra 10 : 27, and 

6. A son of Bani, Ezra 10 : 36, both of 
whom had transgressed in the same man- 
ner. (B.C. 458.) 

Eli'athah {to whom God comes), a 
musician in the temple in the time of 
King David. 1 Chron. 25 : 4, 27. 

Eli'dad (whom God loves), the man 
chosen to represent the tribe of Benjamin 
in the division of the land of Canaan. 
Num. 34 : 21. (B.C. 1452.) 

Eli'el (to whom God is strength). 1. 
One of the heads of the tribe of Manas- 
seh on the east of Jordan. 1 Chron. 5 : 
24. 

2. A forefather of Samuel the prophet. 
1 Chron. 6 : 34. 

3. A chief man in the tribe of Benja- 
min. 1 Chron. 8 : 20. 

4. Also a Benjamite chief. 1 Chron. 
8:22. 

5. One of the heroes of David's guard. 
1 Chron. 11 : 46. 

6. Another of the same guard. 1 Chron. 
11 : 47. 

7. One of the Gadite heroes who came 
across Jordan to David when he was in 
the wilderness of Judah hiding from Saul. 
1 Chron. 12 : 11. 

8. A Kohathite Levite, at the time of 
transportation of the ark from the house 
of Obed-edom to Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 
15:9,11. (B.C. 1043.) 

9. A Levite in the time of Hezekiah ; 



i one of the overseers of the offerings made 
in the temple. 2 Chron. 31 : 13. (B.C. 726.) 

Elie'na-i (my eyes are toward God), 
a descendant of Benjamin, and a chief 
man in the tribe. 1 Chron. 8 : 20. 

Elie'zer (God is his help) . 1. Abra- 
ham's chief servant, called by him " Eli- 
ezer of Damascus." Gen. 15 : 2. (B.C. 
1857.) 

| 2. Second son of Moses and Zipporah 
; (B.C. 1523), to whom his father gave this 
name because " the God of my father was 
mine help, and delivered me from the 
sword of Pharaoh." Ex. 18 : 4; 1 Chron. 
23:15, 17; 26:25. 

3. One of the sons of Becher, the son 
of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7 : 8. 

4. A priest in the reign of David. 1 
Chron. 15 : 24. 

5. Son of Zichri, ruler of the Beuben- 
ites in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 
16. 

6. Son of Dodavah, of Mareshah in 
Judah, 2 Chron. 20 : 37, a prophet, who 
rebuked Jehoshaphat for joining him- 
self with Ahaziah king of Israel. (B.C. 

895.) 

7. A chief Israelite whom Ezra sent 
with others from Ahava to Cesiphia, to 
induce some Levites and Nethinim to 
accompany him to Jerusalem. Ezra 8 : 
16. (B.C. 459.) 

8. 9, 10. A priest, a Levite and an Is- 
raelite of the sons of Harim, who had 
married foreign wives. Ezra 10 : 18, 23, 
31. 

11. Son of Jorim, in the genealogy of 
Christ. Luke 3 : 29. 

Elihoe'na=i {my eyes are toward Je- 
hovah), son of Zerahiah, who with 200 
men returned from the captivity with 
Ezra. Ezra 8 : 4. (B.C. 459.) 

Eliho'reph (God is his reward), one 
of Solomon's scribes. 1 Kings 4:3. 

Eli'hu (whose God is he (Jehovah)). 
1. One of the interlocutors in the book 
of Job. [Job.] He is described as the 
"son of Barachel the Buzite." 

2. A forefather of Samuel the prophet. 
1 Sam. 1 : 1. 

3. In 1 Chron. 27:18 Elihu "of the 
brethren of David" is mentioned as the 
chief of the tribe of Judah. 

4. One of the captains of the thousands 
of Manasseh, 1 Chron. 12 : 20, who fol- 
lowed David to Ziklag after he had left 
the Philistine army on the eve of the 
battle of Gilboa. 

5. A Korhite Levite in the time of 
David. 1 Chron. 26 : 7. 

• 165 



ELI 



ELI 



Eli'jah {my God is Jehovah) has been 
well entitled " the grandest and the most 
romantic character that Israel ever pro- 
duced." " Elijah the Tishbite, ... of 
the inhabitants of Gilead " is literally all 
that is given us to know of his parentage 
and locality. Of his appearance as he 
"stood before" Ahab (B.C. 910) with the 
suddenness of motion to this day char- 
acteristic of the Bedouins from his native 
hills, we can perhaps realize something 
from the touches, few but strong, of the 
narrative. His chief characteristic was 
his hair, long and thick, and hanging 
down his back. His ordinary clothing 
consisted of a girdle of skin round his 
loins, which he tightened when about to 
move quickly. 1 Kings 18 : 46. But in 
addition to this he occasionally wore the 
" mantle " or cape of sheepskin which 
has supplied us with one of our most fa- 
miliar figures of speech. His introduc- 
tion, in what we may call the first act of 
his life, is of the most startling descrip- 
tion. He suddenly appears before Ahab, 
prophesies a three-years drought in Is- 
rael, and proclaims the vengeance of 
Jehovah for the apostasy of the king. 
Obliged to flee from the vengeance of the 
king, or more probab J y of the queen ( comp. 
1 Kings 19 : 2), he was directed to tiie 
brook Cherith. There in the hollow of 
the torrent bed he remained, supported 
in the miraculous manner with which 
we are all familiar, till the failing of the 
brook obliged him to forsake it. His 
next refuge was at Zarephath. Here in 
the house of the widow woman Elijah 
performed the miracles of prolonging the 
oil and the meal, and restored the son of 
the widow to life after his apparent death. 
1 Kings 17. In this or some other re- 
treat an interval of more than two years 
must have elapsed. The drought con- 
tinued, and at last the full horrors of 
famine, caused by the failure of the 
crops, descended on Samaria. Again 
Elijah suddenly appears before Ahab. 
There are few more sublime stories in 
history than the account of the succeed- 
ing events — with the servant of Jehovah 
and his single attendant on the one hand, 
and the S50 prophets of Baal on the 
other ; the altars, the descending fire of 
Jehovah consuming both sacrifice and 
altar ; the rising storm, and the ride 
across the plain to Jezreel. 1 Kings 18. 
Jezebel vows vengeance, and again Eli- 
jah takes refuge in flight into the wilder- 
ness, where he is again miraculously fed, 
166 



and goes forward, in the strength of that 
food, a journey of forty days to the mount 
of God, even to Horeb, where he takes 
refuge in a cave, and witnesses a remark- 
able vision of Jehovah. 1 Kings 19 : 9- 
18. He receives the divine communica- 
tion, and sets forth in search of Elisha, 
whom he finds ploughing in the field, 
and anoints him prophet in his place, 
ch. 19. For a time little is heard of 
Elijah, and Ahab and Jezebel probably 
believed they had seen the last of him. 
But after the murder of Naboth, Elijah, 
who had received an intimation from 
Jehovah of what was taking place, again 
suddenly appears before the king, and 
then follows Elijah's fearful denunciation 
of Ahab and Jezebel, which may possi- 
bly be recovered by putting together the 
\ words recalled by J ehu, 2 Kings 9 : 26, 
36, 37, and those given in 1 Kings 21 : 
19-25. A space of three or four years 
i now elapses (comp. 1 Kings 22:1, 51; 
2 Kings 1 : 17) before we again catch a 
glimpse of Elijah. Ahaziah is on his 
! death-bed, 1 Kings 22 : 51 ; 2 Kings 1 : 1, 
j 2, and sends to an oracle or shrine of 
| Baal to ascertain the issue of his illness ; 
but Elijah suddenly appears on the path 
j of the messengers, without preface or 
] inquiry utters his message of death, and 
I as rapidly disappears. The wrathful 
j king sends two bands of soldiers to seize 
j Elijah, and they are consumed with fire ; 
but finally the prophet goes down and 
delivers to Ahaziah's face the message 
of death. Not long after Elijah sent a 
message to Jehoram denouncing his evil 
doings, and predicting his death. 2 
Chron. 21 : 12-15. It was at Gilgal— 
probably on the western edge of the hills 
of Ephraim — that the prophet received 
the divine intimation that his departure 
was at hand. He was at the time with 
Elisha, who seems now to have become 
his constant companion, and who would 
not consent to leave him. " And it came 
to pass as they still went on and 
talked, that, behold, a chariot of fire and 
horses of fire, and parted them both 
asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirl- 
wind into heaven." (B.C. 896.) Fifty 
men of the sons of the prophets as- 
cended the abrupt heights behind the 
town, and witnessed the scene. How 
deep was the impression which he made 
on the mind of the nation may be judged 
of from the fixed belief which many cen- 
turies after prevailed that Elijah would 
again appear for the relief and restora- 



ELI 



ELI 



tion of his country, as Malachi prophe- 
sied. Mai. 4 : 5. He spoke, but left no 
written words, save the letter to Jehoram 
king of Judah. 2 Chron. 21 : 12-15. 

El'ika {rejected of God), a Harodite, 
one of David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 25. 

E'lim {strong trees), Ex. 15 : 27 ; 
Num. 33 : 9, the second station where the 
Israelites encamped after crossing the 
Red Sea. It is distinguished as having 
had " twelve wells (rather 'fountains') 
of water, and three-score and ten palm 
trees." It is generally identified by the 
best authorities with Wady Garundel, 
about halfway down the shore of the 
Gulf of Suez. A few palm trees still re- 
main, and the water is excellent. 

Elim'elech {my God is king), a man 
of the tribe of Judah and of the family 
of the Hezronites, who dwelt in Bethle- 
hem-Ephratah in the days of the Judges. 
(B.C. 1312.) In consequence of a great 
dearth in the land he went with his wife, 
Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and 
Chilion, to dwell in Moab, where he and 
his sons died without posterity. Ruth 1 : 
2, 3, etc. 

Elio-e'na-i {my eyes are toivard the 
Lord). 1. Eldest son of Neariah, the 
son of Shemaiah. 1 Chron. 3 : 23, 24. 

2. Head of a family of the Simeonites. 
1 Chron. 4 : 36. (B.C. after 1451.) 

3. Head of one of the families of the 
sons of Becher, the son of Benjamin. 1 
Chron. 7 : 8. 

4. A Korhite Levite, and one of the 
doorkeepers of the " house of Jehovah." 
1 Chron. 26 : 3. 

5. A priest in the days of Ezra, one 
of those who had married foreign wives. 
Ezra 10 : 22. (B.C. 446.) Possibly the 
same as 

6. An Israelite of the sons of Zattu, 
who had also married a foreign wife. 
Ezra 10 : 27. (B.C. 458.) 

El'iphal {whom God judges), son of 
Ur, one of David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 
35. [Eliphelet, 3.] 

Eliph'alet {the God of deliverance), 
the last of the thirteen sons born to 
David after his establishment in Jeru- 
salem. 2 Sam. 5 : 16; 1 Chron. 14 : 7. 
[Eliphelet, 2.] 

El'iphaz ( God is his strength). 1. The 
son of Esau and Adah, and the father of 
Teman. Gen. 36 : 4 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 35, 36. 

2. The chief of the " three friends" of 
Job. He is called " the Temanite ;" 
hence it is naturally inferred that he 
was a descendant of Teman. On him 



falls the main burden of the argument, 
that God's retribution in this world is 
perfect and certain, and that consequent- 
ly suffering must be a proof of previous 
sin. Job 4, 5, 15, 22. The great truth 
brought out by him is the unapproach- 
able majesty and purity of God. Job 4 : 
12-21 ; 15 : 12-16. LJOB.] 

Eliph'eleh {whom God makes d s- 
tingwished), a Merarite Levite, one of the 
gate-keepers appointed by David to play 
on the harp " on the Sheminith " on the 
occasion of bringing up the ark to the 
city of David. 1 Chron. 15 : 18, 21. 

Eliph'elet {the God of deliverance). 
1. The name of a son of David, one of 
the children born to him after his estab- 
lishment in Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 3 : 6. 
(B.C. after 1044.) 

2. Another son of David, belonging 
also to the Jerusalem family, and ap- 
parently the last of his sons. 1- Chron. 
3:8. 

3. One of the thirty warriors of David's 
guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 34. 

4. Son of Eshek, a descendant of King 
Saul through Jonathan. 1 Chron. 8 : 39. 
(B.C. before 536.) 

5. One of the leaders of the Bene- 
Adonikam who returned from Babylon 
with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 13. (B.C. 459.) 

6. A man of the Bene-Hashum in the 
time of Ezra who had married a foreign 
wife. Ezra 10 : 33. (B.C. 458.) 

Elis'afoeth {the oath of God), the wife 
of Zacharias and mother of John the 
Baptist. She was herself of the priestly 
family, and a relation, Luke 1 : 36, of 
the mother of our Lord. 

Elise'us, the Greek form of the 
name Elisha. 

Eli'sha {God his salvation), son of 
Shaphat of Abel-meholah ; the attendant 
and disciple of Elijah, and subsequently 
his successor as prophet of the kingdom 
of Israel. The earliest mention of his 
name is in the command to Elijah in the 
cave at Horeb. 1 Kings 19 : 16, 17. (B.C. 
about 900.) Elijah sets forth to obey the 
command, and comes upon his successor 
engaged in ploughing. He crosses to 
him and throws over his shoulders the 
rough mantle — a token at once of invest- 
iture with the prophet's office and of 
adoption as a son. Elisha delayed merely 
to give the farewell kiss to his father and 
mother and preside at a parting feast 
with his people, and then followed the 
great prophet on his northward road. We 
hear nothing more of Elisha for eight 
■ 167 



ELI 



ELI 



years, until the translation of his master, 
when he reappears, to become the most 
prominent figure in the history of his 
country during the rest of his long life. 

In almost every respect Elisha pre- 
sents the most complete contrast to Eli- | 
jah. Elijah was a true Bedouin child 
of the desert. If he enters a city it is 
only to deliver his message of fire and be 
gone. Elisha, on the other hand, is a 
civilized man, an inhabitant of cities. 
His dress was the ordinary garment of 
an Israelite, the beged, probably similar 
in form to the long dbbeyeh of the modern 
Syrians. 2 Kings 2 : 12. His hair was 
worn trimmed behind, in contrast to the 
disordered locks of Elijah, and he used a 
walking-staff, 2 Kings 4 : 29, of the kind 
ordinarily carried by grave or aged citi- 
zens. Zech. 8 : 4. After the departure of 
his master, Elisha returned to dwell at 
Jericho, 2 Kings 2 : 18, where he mirac- 
ulously purified the springs. We next 
meet with Elisha at Bethel, in the heart 
of the country, on his way from Jericho 
to Mount Carmel. 2 Kings 2 : 23. The 
mocking children, Elisha's curse and the 
catastrophe which followed are familiar 
to all. Later he extricates Jehoram king 
of Israel, and the kings of Judah and 
Edom, from their difficulty in the cam- 
paign against Moab arising from want of 
water. 2 Kings 3 : 4-27. Then he multi- 
plies the widow's oil. 2 Kings 4 : 5. The 
next occurrence is at Shunem, where he 
is hospitably entertained by a woman of 
substance, whose son dies, and is brought 
to life again by Elisha. 2 Kings 4 : 8-37. 
Then at Gilgal he purifies the deadly 
pottage, 2 Kings 4 : 38-41, and multiplies 
the loaves. 2 Kings 4 : 42-44. 

The simple records of these domestic 
incidents amongst the sons of the proph- 
ets are now interrupted by an occurrence 
of a more important character. 2 Kings 
5: 1-27. The chief captain of the army 
of Syria, Naaman, is attacked with lep- 
rosy, and is sent by an Israelite maid to 
the prophet Elisha, who directs him to 
dip seven times in the Jordan, which he 
does and is healed, 2 Kings 5 : 1-14 ; 
while Naaman's servant, Gehazi, he 
strikes with leprosy for his unfaithful- 
ness, ch. 5 : 20-27. Again the scene 
changes. It is probably at Jericho that 
Elisha causes the iron axe to swim. 2 
Kings 6 : 1-7. A band of Syrian maraud- 
ers are sent to seize him, but are struck 
blind, and he misleads them to Samaria, 
where they find themselves in the pres- 
168 



ence of the Israelite king and his troops. 
2 Kings 6 : 8-23. During the famine in 
Samaria, 2 Kings 6 : 24-33, he prophesied 
incredible plenty, ch. 7 : 1-2, which was 
soon fulfilled, ch. 7:3-20. We next 
find the prophet at Damascus. Ben- 
hadad the king is sick, and sends to 
Elisha by Hazael to know the result. 
Elisha prophesies the king's death, and 
announces to Hazael that he is to suc- 
ceed to the throne. 2 Kings 8 : 7 15. 
Finally this prophet of God, after hav- 
ing filled the position for sixty years, is 
found on his death-bed in his own house. 
2 Kings 13 : 14-19. The power of the 
prophet, however, does not terminate 
with his death. Even in the tomb he 
restores the dead to life. ch. 13 : 21. 

Eli'shah ( God is salvation), the eldest 
son of Javan. Gen. 10 : 4. The residence 
of his descendants is described in Ezek. 
27 : 7 as the isles of Elishah, whence the 
Phoenicians obtained their purple and 
blue dyes. Some connect the race of 
Elishah with the iEolians, others with 
Elis, and in a more extended sense Pelo- 
ponnesus, or even Hellas. 

Eiish'ama {whom God hears). 1. 
The " prince" or " captain" of the tribe 
of Ephraim in the wilderness of Sinai. 
Num. 1:10; 2:18; 7:48; 10:22. (B.C. 
1491.) From 1 Chron. 7 : 26 we find that 
he was grandfather to the great Joshua. 

2. A son of King David. 2 Sam. 5 : 16 ; 

1 Chron. 3:8; 14 : 7. 

3. Another son of David, 1 Chron. 3 : 
6, who in the other lists is called Elishua. 
(B.C. after 1044.) 

4. A descendant of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 
41. 

5. The father of Nethaniah and grand- 
father of Ishmael. 2 Kings 25:25; Jer. 
41 : 1. 

6. Scribe to King Jehoiakim. Jer. 36 : 
12, 20, 21. (B.C. 605.) 

7. A priest in the time of Jehoshaphat. 

2 Chron. 17:8. (B.C. 912.) 
Elish'aphat {whom God judges), son 

of Zichri; one of the captains of hun- 
dreds in the time of Jehoiada. 2 Chron. 
23 : 1. (B.C. 877.) 

Elish'eba {God is her oath), the Avife 
of Aaron. Ex. 6 : 23. She was the daugh- 
ter of Amminadab, and sister of Nah- 
shon the captain of the host of Judah. 
Num. 2:3. (B.C. 1491.) 

Elish'ua {God is my salvation), one 
of David's sons, born after his settlement 
in Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 5 : 15 ; 1 Chron. 14 : 
5. (B.C. 1044.) 



ELI 



ELZ 



Eli'ud {God his praise), son of Achira 
in the genealogy of Christ. Matt. 1 : 15. 

Eliz'aphan {whom God protects) . 1. 
A Levite, son of Uzziel, chief of the house 
of the Kohathites at the time of the cen- 
sus in the wilderness of Sinai. Num. 3 : 
30. (B.C. 1491.) 

2. Prince of the tribe of Zebulun. 
Num. 34 : 25. 

Eli'zur, prince of the tribe and over 
the host of Reuben. Num. 1:5; 2 : 10 ; 
7:30, 35; 10-: 18. 

El'kanah, or El'konah {God-pro- 
vided). 1. Son, or rather grandson, see 
1 Chron. 6 : 22, 23 (7, 8). of Korah, ac- 
cording to Ex. 6 : 24. 

2. A descendant of the above in the 
line of Ahimoth, otherwise Mahath, 1 
Chron. 6 : 26, 35 ; Heb. 11 : 20. 

3. Another Kohathite Levite, father 
of Samuel the illustrious judge and 
prophet. 1 Chron. 6 : 27, 34. (B.C. about 
1190.) All that is known of him is con- 
tained in the above notices and in 1 Sam. 
1 : 1, 4, 8, 19, 21, 23 and 2 : 11, 20. 

4. A Levite. 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 

5. A Korhite who joined David while 
he was at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 6. (B.C. 
1054.) 

6. An officer in the household of Ahaz 
king of Judah, who was slain by Zichri 
the Ephraimite when Pekah invaded 
Judah. 2 Chron. 28 : 7. (B.C. 739.) 

El'kosh {God my boiv), the birthplace 
of the prophet Nahum, hence called " the 
Elkoshite." Nah. 1 : 1. This place is 
located at the modern Alkush, a village 
on the east bank of the Tigris, about two 
miles north of Mosul. Some think a small 
village in Galilee is intended. 

El'Iasar {oak), the city of Arioch, 
Gen. 14 : 1, seems to be the Hebrew rep- 
resentative of the old Chaldean town 
called in the native dialect Larsa or 
Larancha. Larsa was a town of lower 
Babylonia or Chaldea, situated nearly 
halfway between . Ur {Mugheir) and 
Erech ( Warka), on the left bank of the 
Euphrates. It is now Senkereh. 

Elm. Hos. 4 : 13. [See Oak.] 

Elma'dam. In the Revised Version, 
Luke 3 : 28. Same as Elmodam. 

Elmo'dara {measure), son of Er, in 
the genealogy of Joseph. Luke 3 : 28. 

El'naam {God his delight), the father 
of Jeribai and Joshaviah, two of David's 
guard, according to 1 Chron. 11 : 46. 

El'nathan, or Elna'than {God hath 
given). 1. The maternal grandfather of 
Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24 : 8 ; the same with 



Elnathan the son of Achbor. Jer. 26 : 22 ; 
36 : 12, 25. 

2. The name of three persons, appar- 
ently Levites, in the time of Ezra. Ezra 
8 : 16. 

E'lon {an oak). 1. A Hittite, whose 
daughter was one of Esau's wives. Gen. 
26:34; 36:2. (B.C. 1797.) 

2. The second of the three sons attrib- 
uted to Zebulun, Gen. 46 : 14 ; Num. 26 : 26, 
and the founder of the family of the 
Elonites. (B.C. 1695.) 

3. Elon the Zebulonite, who judged 
Israel for ten years, and was buried in 
Aijalon in Zebulun. Judges 12 : 11, 12. 
(B.C. 1174-1164.) 

4. One of the towns in the border of 
the tribe of Dan. Josh. 19 : 43. 

E'lon-beth'-hanan {oak of the house 
of grace) is named with two Danite towns 
as forming one of Solomon's commissariat 
districts. 1 Kings 4 : 9. 

E'lonites, The. Num. 26 : 26. 
[Elon, 2.] 

E'loth. 1 Kings 9 : 26. [Elath.] 

Elpa'al ( God his wages), a Benjamite, 
son of Hushim and brother of Abitub. 
1 Chron. 8:11. He was the founder of a 
numerous family. 

El'palet (God his deliverance), one of 
David's sons born in Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 
14 : 5. , 

El-pa'ran {God his deliverance), lit- 
erally "the terebinth of Paran." Gen. 
14 : 6. [Paran.] 

El'tekeh (God its fear), one of the 
cities in the border of Dan, Josh. 19 : 44, 
which with its suburbs was allotted to 
the Kohathite Levites. Josh. 21 : 23. 

El'tekon (God its foundation), one of 
the towns of the tribe of Judah in the 
mountains. Josh. 15 : 59, It has not yet 
been identified. 

El'tolad (God's kindred), one of the 
cities in the south of Judah, Josh. 15 : 30, 
allotted to Simeon, Josh. 19 : 4, and in 
possession of that tribe until the time of 
David. 1 Chron. 4 : 29. 

E'lul (vine; gleaning). Neh. 6:15; 
1 Mace. 14 : 27. [Month.] 

Elu'za=i ( God is my praise) , one of the 
warriors of Benjamin who joined David 
at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 5. (B.C. 1054.) 

El'ymas {a wise man), the Arabic 
name of the Jewish magus or sorcerer 
Bar-jesus. Acts 13 : 6 ff. (a.D. 44.) 

El'zafoad (whom God hath given). 1. 
One of the Gadite heroes who came across 
the Jordan to David. 1 Chron. 12 : 12. 

2. A Korhite Levite. 1 Chron. 26 : 7. 

169 



ELZ 



EMB 



El'zaphan {whom God pro- 
tects), second son of Uzziel, who 
was the son of Kohath son of 
Levi. Ex. 6 : 22. 

Embalming, the process by 
which dead bodies are preserved 
from putrefaction and decay. 
It was most general among the 
Egyptians, and it is in connec- 
tion with this people that the 
two instances which we meet 
with in the Old Testament are 
mentioned. Gen. 50 : 2, 26. The 
embalmers first removed part of 
the brain through the nostrils, 
by means of a crooked iron, and 
destroyed the rest by injecting 
caustic drugs. An incision was 
then made along the flank with 
a sharp Ethiopian stone, and the 
whole of the intestines removed. 
The cavity was rinsed out with 
palm wine, and afterwards scour- 
ed with pounded perfumes. It 
was then filled with pure myrrh 
pounded, cassia and other aro- 
matics, except frankincense. 
This done, the body was sewn 
up and steeped in natron (salt- 
petre) for seventy days. When 
the seventy days were accom- 
plished, the embalmers washed 
the corpse and swathed it in bandages 
of linen, cut in strips and smeared 





170 



Mummy-Cases. 



Different Forms of Mummy-Cases. 
1 , 2, 4, 9. Of wood. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8. Of stone. 10. Of burnt earthenware. 

with gum. They then gave it up to the 
relatives of the deceased, who provided 
for it a wooden case, made in the shape 
of a man, in which the dead was placed, 
and deposited in an erect position against 
the wall of the sepulchral chamber. 
Sometimes no incision was made in the 
body, nor were the intestines removed, 
but cedar-oil was injected into the stomach 
by the rectum. At others the oil was 
prevented from escaping until the end 
of the steeping process, when it was 
withdrawn, and carried off with it the 
stomach and intestines in a state of so- 
lution, while the flesh was consumed by 
the natron, and nothing was left but 
the skin and bones. The body in this 
state was returned to the relatives of 
the deceased. The third mode, which 
was adopted by the poorer classes, and 
cost but little, consisted in rinsing out 
the intestines with syrmsea, an infusion 
of senna and cassia, and steeping the 
body for several days in natron. It does 
not appear that embalming was practiced 
by the Hebrews. The cost of embalming 
was sometimes nearly $2000, varying from 
this amount down to $200 or $300. 



EMB 



ENE 



Embroiderer. Vai'ious explanations 
have been offered as to the distinction 
between " needle-work " and " cunning 
work." Probably neither term expresses 
just what is to-day understood by em- 
broidery, though the latter may come 
nearest to it. The art of embroidery by 
the loom was extensively practiced among 
the nations of antiquity. In addition to 
the Egyptians, the Babylonians were cel- 
ebrated for it. 

Emerald, a precious stone of a rich 
green color, upon which its value chiefly 
depends. This gem was the first in the 
second row on the breastplate of the 
high priest. Ex. 28 : 18 ; 39 : 11. It was 
imported to Tyre from Syria, Ezek. 27 : 16 ; 
was used as a seal or signet, Ecclus. 32 : 6, 
as an ornament of clothing and bedding, 
Ezek. 28 : 13 ; Judges 10 : 21, and is spoken 
of as one of the foundations of Jerusa- 
lem. Kev. 21 : 19 ; Tob. 13 : 16. The 
rainbow around the throne is compared 
to emerald in Rev. 4 : 3. 

Emerods. Deut. 28 : 27 ; 1 Sam. 5 : 6, 
9,12; 6:4,5,11. Probably hemorrhoidal 
tumors, or bleeding piles, are intended. 
These are very common in Syria at pres- 
ent, Oriental habits of want of exercise 
and improper food, producing derange- 
ment of the liver, constipation, etc., being 
such as to cause them. 

E'rairas (terrors), a tribe or family of 
gigantic stature which originally inhab- 
ited the region along the eastern side of 
the Dead Sea. They were related to the 
Anakim. 

Emman'uel. Matt. 1 : 23. [Imman- 

I7EL.] 

Era'ma-us, or Emma'us (warm 
baths), the village to which thr two dis- 
ciples were going when our Le Jim, ppeared 
to them on the way, on the day of his 
resurrection. Luke 24 : 13. Luke makes 
its distance from Jerusalem sixty stadia 
(Authorized Version " threescore fur- 
longs"), or about 7i miles; and Josephus 
mentions "a village called Emmaus" at 
the same distance. The site of Emmaus 
remains yet to be identified. 

Em'mor (an ass), the father of Sy- 
chem. Acts 7 : 16. [Hamor.] 

En, at the beginning of many Hebrew 
words, signifies a spring or fountain. 

E'nam (double spring), one of the 
cities of Judah in the Shefelah or low- 
land. Josh. 15 : 34. 

E'nan (having eyes). Ahira ben-Enan | 
was "prince" of the tribe of Naphtali i 
at the time of the numbering of Israel in | 



the wilderness of Sinai. Num. 1 : 15. 
(B.C. 1491.) 

Encampment primarily denoted the 
resting-place of an army or company of 
travellers at night, Gen. 32 : 21 ; Ex. 16 : 
13, and was hence applied to the army or 
caravan when on its march. Gen. 32 : 7, 
8; Ex. 14:19; Josh. 10:5; 11:4. The 
description of the camp of the Israelites, 
on their march from Egypt, Num. 2, 3, 
supplies the greatest amount of informa- 
tion on the subject. The tabernacle, cor- 
responding to the chieftain's tent of an 
ordinary encampment, was placed in the 
centre, and around and facing it, Num. 
2:1, arranged in four grand divisions, 
corresponding to the four points of the 
compass, lay the host of Israel, according 
to their standards. Num. 1 : 52 ; 2:2. 
In the centre, round the tabernacle, and 
with no standard but the cloudy or fiery 
pillar which rested over it, were the tents 
of the priests and Levites. The former, 
with Moses and Aaron at their head, were 
encamped on the eastern side. The order 
of encampment was preserved on the 
march. Num. 2 : 17. 

Enchantments. The words so trans- 
lated have several significations: the 
practice of secret arts, Ex. 7 : 11, 22 ; 8:7; 
" muttered spells," 2 Kings 9 : 22 ; Micah 
5 : 12 ; the charming of serpents, Eccles. 
10 : 11 ; the enchantments sought by 
Balaam, Num. 24 : 1 ; the use of magic, 
Isa. 47 : 9, 12. Any resort to these methods 
of imposture was strictly forbidden in 
Scripture, Lev. 19 : 26 ; Isa. 47 : 9, etc. ; 
but to eradicate the tendency is almost 
impossible, 2 Kings 17 : 17, and we find 
it still flourishing at the Christian era. 
Acts 13 : 6, 8. 

En'-dor (fountain of Dor), a place 
in the territory of Issachar, and yet pos- 
sessed by Manasseh. Josh. 17 : 11. En- 
dor was the scene of the great victory 
over Sisera and Jabin. It was here that 
the witch dwelt whom Saul consulted. 
1 Sam. 28 : 7. It was known to Eusebius, 
who describes it as a large village four 
miles south of Tabor. Here to the north 
of Jebel Duhy the name still lingers. 
The distance from the slopes of Gilboa to 
Endor is seven or eight miles, over diffi- 
cult ground. 

En-egla'im (fountain of the two 
calves), a place named only by Ezekiel, 
47 : 10, apparently as on the Dead Sea ; 
but whether near to or far from Engedi, 
on the east or the west side of the sea, it 
to ascertain. 

171 




172 



ENG 



ENO 



En-gan'nim {fountain of the garden). 
1. A city in the low country of Judah, 
named between Zanoah and Tappuah. 
Josh. 15 : 34. 

2. A city on the border of Issachar, 
Josh. 19 : 21, allotted with its " suburbs" 
to the Gershonite Levites, Josh. 21 : 29 ; 
probably Jenin, the first village encount- 
ered on the ascent from the great plain 
of Esdraelon into the hills of the central 
country. 

En'-gedi or En-ge'di {fount of the 
kid), a town in the wilderness of Judah, 
Josh. 15 : 62, on the western shore of the 




Wilderness of Engedi (Dead Sea). 

Dead Sea. Ezek. 47 : 10. Its original 
name was Hazezon-tamar, on account of 
the palm groves which surrounded it. 2 
Chron. 20 : 2. Its site is about the mid- 
dle of the western shore of the lake, at 
the fountain of Ain Jidy, from which the 
place gets its name. It was immediately 
after an assault upon the " Amorites that 
dwelt in Hazezon-tamar," that the five 
Mesopotamian kings were attacked by 
the rulers of the plain of Sodom. Gen. 
14 : 7 ; comp. 2 Chron. 20 : 2. Saul was 
told that David was in the "wilderness 
of Engedi and he took " three thousand 
men, and went to seek David and his 
men upon the rocks of the wild goats." 
1 Sam. 24 : 1-4. The vineyards of En- 
gedi were celebrated by Solomon. Cant. 
1 :14. 



Engine, a term a 



to military affairs in the Bible. The en 



pplied 
he Bib 



gines to which the term is applied in 2 
Chron. 26 : 15 were designed to propel 
various missiles from the walls of a be- 
sieged town. One, with which the He- 
brews were acquainted, was the battering- 
ram, described in Ezek. 26 : 9, and still 
more precisely in Ezek. 4:2; 21 : 22. 

Engraver. His chief business was 
cutting names or devices on rings and 
seals ; the only notices of engraving are 
in connection with the high priest's dress 
— the two onyx stones, the twelve jewels 
and the mitre-plate having inscriptions 
on them. Ex. 28 : 11, 21, 36. 

En-had'dah {swift 
fountain), one of the cities 
on the border of Issachar 
named next to Engannim. 
Josh. 19 : 21. 

En-hak'ko-re {fount 
of the caller), the spring 
which burst out in answer 
to the cry of Samson after 
his exploit with the jaw- 
bone. Judges 15 : 19. 

En-ha'zor {fount of 
Hazor), one of the fenced 
cities in the inheritance 
of Naphtali, distinct from 
Hazor. Josh. 19 : 37. It 
has not yet been identi- 
fied. 

En-mish'pat {fount 
of judgment). Gen. 14 : 7. 
[Kadesh.] 

E'noch {dedicated). 1. 
The eldest son of Cain, 
Gen. 4 : 17, who called after 
his name the city which 
he built, Gen. 4 : 18. (B.C. 3870.) 

2. The son of Jared and father of Me- 
thuselah. Gen. 5 : 21 ff. ; Luke 3 : 37. (B.C. 
3378-3013.) In the Epistle of Jude, 14, 
he is described as "the seventh from 
Adam;" and the number is probably 
noticed as conveying the idea of divine 
completion and rest, while Enoch was 
himself a type of perfected humanity. 
After the birth of Methuselah it is said, 
Gen. 5 : 22-24, that Enoch "walked with 
God three hundred years . . . and he 
was not ; for God took him." The phrase 
"walked with God" is elsewhere only 
used of Noah, Gen. 6:9; cf. Gen. 17 : 1, 
etc., and is to be explained of a prophetic 
life spent in immediate converse with the 
spiritual world. Like Elijah, he was 
translated without seeing death. In the 
hf 



exclusively Epistle to the Hebrews the spring and is 



sue of Enoch's life are clearly marked. 

173 



ENO 



EPA 



Both the Latin and Greek fathers com- 
monly coupled Enoch and Elijah as his- 
toric witnesses of the possibility of a 
resurrection of the body and of a true 
human existence in glory. Rev. 11 : 3. 

E'noch, Tiie book of. The first 
trace of the existence of this work is 
found in the Epistle of Jude, 14, 15. An 
apocryphal book called Enoch was known 
at a very early date, but was lost sight of 
until 1773, when Bruce brought with him 
on his return from Egypt three MSS. con- 
taining the complete Ethiopic transla- 
tion. In its present shape the book con- 
sists of a series of revelations supposed to 
have been given to Enoch and Noah, 
which extend to the most varied aspects 
of nature and life, and are designed to 
offer a comprehensive vindication of the 
action of Providence. Notwithstanding 
the quotation in Jude, and the wide cir- 
culation of the book itself, the apocalypse 
of Enoch was uniformly and distinctly 
separated from the canonical Scriptures. 
Its authorship and date are unknown. 

E'non {springs), a place "near to 
Salim," at which John baptized. John 
3 : 23. It was evidently west of the Jor- 
dan, comp. John 3 : 22 with 26, and with 
1 : 28, and abounded in water. This is 
indicated by the name, which is merely 
a Greek version of a Chaldee word signi- 
fying "springs." iEnon is given in the 
Onomasticon as eight miles south of 
Scythopolis, " near Salem and the Jor- 
dan." 

E'nos (mortal man), the son of Seth, 
Gen. 4:26; 5 : 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 ; Luke 3 : 38 ; 
properly ENOSH, as in 1 Chron. 1 : 1. 

E'nosh. Same as Enos. 1 Chron. 1 : 1. 

En-rim'mon (fount of the pome- 
granate), one of the places which the men 
of Judah reinhabited after their return 
from the captivity. Neh. 11 : 29. Per- 
haps the same as " Ain and Rimmon," 
Josh. 15 : 32, and " Ain, Remmon," Josh. 
19 : 7 ; and see 1 Chron. 4 : 32. 

En-ro'gel (fount of the fuller), a 
spring which formed one of the land- 
marks on the boundary line between 
Judah, Josh. 15 : 7, and Benjamin. Josh. 
18 : 16. It may be identified with the 
present " Fountain of the Virgin," 'Ain 
Umm ed-Daraj, the perennial source 
from which the pool of Siloam is sup- 
plied. 

En-she'mesh (fountain of the sun), 
a spring which formed one of the land- 
marks on the north boundary of Judah, 
Josh. 15 : 7, and the south boundary of 
174 



Benjamin, Josh. 18:17; perhaps Ain- 
Haud or Ain-Chot — the "well of the 
apostles" — about a mile below Bethany. 

Ensign (nts; in the Authorized Ver- 
sion generally "ensign," sometimes 




Roman Standards. 



"standard;" degel, "standard," with the 
exception of Cant. 2 : 4, " banner ;" 6th, 
"ensign"). The distinction between 
these three Hebrew terms is sufficiently 
marked by their respective uses. Nts is 
a signal, and not a military standard. It 
is an occasional signal, which was exhib- 
ited on the top of a pole from a bare 
mountain-top, Isa. 13:2; 18 :3; degel a 
military standard for a large division of 
an army ; and 6th the same for a small 
one. Neither of them, however, expresses 
the idea which "standard" conveys to 
our minds, viz. a flag. The standards in 
use among the Hebrews probably resem- 
bled those of the Egyptians and Assyrians 
— a figure or device of* some kind elevated 
on a pole ; usually a sacred emblem, such 
as an animal, a boat, or the king's name. 

En-tap'puah. Josh. 17 : 7. [See 
Tappuah.] 

Epene'tus (praiseworthy), a Chris- 
tian at Rome, greeted by St. Paul in Rom. 
16 : 5, and designated as his beloved and 
the first-fruit of Asia unto Christ. 

Ep'aphras (lovely), a fellow laborer 
with the apostle Paul, mentioned Col. 1 : 
7 as having taught the Colossian church 
the grace of God in truth, and designated 
a faithful minister of Christ on their be- 
half. He was at that time with St. Paul 



EPA 



EPH 



at Rome. (a.d. 57.) For Paul's estimate 
of him see Col. 1:7,8; 4:12. 

Epaphrodi'tus {lovely), the full 
name of which Epaphras is a contrac- 
tion. Philip. 2 : 25 ; 4 : 18. 

E'phah (gloomy), the first, in order, 
of the sons of Midian, Gen. 25 : 4 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 33, afterwards mentioned by 
Isaiah. Isa. 60 : 6. 

E'phah. 1. Concubine of Caleb, in 
the line of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 46. 

2. Son of Jahdai ; also in the line of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 47. 

Ephah. [Weights and Measures.] 

E'pha-i (gloomy), a Netophathite, 
whose sons were among the " captains of 
the forces" left in Judah after the de- 
portation to Babylon. Jer. 40 : 8 ; 41 : 3, 
comp. 40 : 13. (B.C. 588.) 

E'pher (a calf), the second, in order, 
of the sons of Midian. Gen. 25 : 4 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 33. (B.C. 1820.) 

E'pher. 1. A son of Ezra, among the 
descendants of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 17. 

2. One of the heads of the families of 
Manasseh on the east of Jordan. 1 Chron. 
5:24. 

E'phes-dam'mim (cessation of blood- 
shed), a place between Socoh and Arekah, 
at which the Philistines were encamped 
before the affray in which Goliath was 
killed. 1 Sam. 17 : 1. Under the shorter 
form of Pas-dammim it occurs once 
again in a similar connection. 1 Chron. 
11 : 13. 

Ephe'sians, The Epistle to the, 

was written by the apostle St. Paul during 
his first captivity at Rome, Acts 28 : 16, 
apparently immediately after he had 
written the Epistle to the Colossians 
[Colossians, Epistle to], and during 
that period (perhaps the early part of a. 
d. 62) when his imprisonment had not as- 
sumed the severer character which seems 
to have marked its close.. This epistle 
was addressed to the Christian church at 
Ephesus. [Ephesus.] Its contents may 
be divided into two portions, the first 
mainly doctrinal, ch. 1-3, the second 
hortatory and practical. 

Eph'esus (permitted), the capital of 
the Roman province of Asia, and an il- 
lustrious city in the district of Ionia, 
nearly opposite the island of Samos. 

Buildings. — Conspicuous at the head 
of the harbor of Ephesus was the great 
temple of Diana or Artemis, the tutelary 
divinity of the city. This building was 
raised on immense substructions, in con- 
sequence of the swampy nature of the 



ground. The earlier temple, which had 
been begun before the Persian war, was 
burnt down in the night when Alexander 
the Great was bora ; and another struc- 
ture, raised by the enthusiastic co-oper- 
ation of all the inhabitants of "Asia," 
had taken its place. The magnificence 
of this sanctuary was a proverb through- 
out the civilized world. In consequence 
of this devotion the city of Ephesus was 
called i/eoi«opo5, Acts 19 : 35, or "warden" 
of Diana. Another consequence of the 
celebrity of Diana's worship at Ephesus 
was that a large manufactory grew up 
there of portable shrines, which strangers 
purchased, and devotees carried with 
them on journeys or set up in their 
houses. The theatre, into which the mob 
who had seized on Paul, Acts 19 : 29, 
rushed, was capable of holding 25,000 or 
30,000 persons, and was the largest ever 
built by the Greeks. The stadium or cir- 
cus, 685 feet long by 200 wide, where the 
Ephesians held their shows, is probably 
referred to by Paul as the place where he 
"fought with beasts at Ephesus." 1 Cor. 
15 : 32. 

Connection with Christianity. — The 
Jews were established at Ephesus in con- 
siderable numbers. Acts 2 : 9 ; 6 : 9. It 
is here and here only that we find disci- 
ples of John the Baptist explicitly men- 
tioned after the ascension of Christ. Acts 
18 : 25 ; 19 : 3. The first seeds of Chris- 
tian truth were possibly sown here imme- 
diately after the great Pentecost. Acts 2. 
St. Paul remained in the place more than 
two years, Acts 19 : 8, 10 ; 20 : 31, during 
which he wrote the First Epistle to the 
Corinthians. At a later period Timothy 
was set over the disciples, as we learn 
from the two epistles addressed to him. 
Among St. Paul's other companions, two, 
Trophimus and Tychicus, Avere natives 
of Asia, Acts 20:4, and the latter was 
probably, 2 Tim. 4:12, the former cer- 
tainly, Acts 21 : 29, a native of Ephesus. 

Present condition. — The whole place is 
now utterly desolate, with the exception 
of the small Turkish village at Ayasaluk. 
The ruins are of vast extent. 

Eph'Ial (judgment), a descendant of 
Judah, of the family of Hezron and of 
Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 37. 

E'phod (image), father of Hanniel of 
the tribe of Manasseh. Num. 34 : 23. 

Ephod, a sacred vestment originally 
I appropriate to the high priest. Ex. 28 : 4. 
j E'phra-im (double fruitfulness), the 
[ second son of Joseph by his wife Asenath. 

175 




176 




12 



177 



EPH 



EPI 



(B.C. 1715-1708.) The first indication we 
have of that ascendency over his elder 
brother Manasseh which at a later period 
the tribe of Ephraim so unmistakably 
possessed is in the blessing of the children 
by Jacob. Gen. 48. 

E'phra-im, that portion of Canaan 
named after Joseph's second son. Gen. 
41 : 50-52. The boundaries of the portion 
of Ephraim are given in Josh. 16 : 1-10. 
The south boundary was coincident for 
part of its length with the north boundary 
of Benjamin. It extended from the Jor- 
dan on the east, at the reach opposite 
Jericho, to the Mediterranean on the 
west, probably about Joppa. On the 
north of Ephraim and Manasseh were the 
tribes of Asher, Zebulun and Issachar. 
The territory thus allotted to the " house 
of Joseph " may be roughly estimated at 
55 miles from east to west by 70 from 
north to south. It was one at once of 
great richness and great security. Its 
fertile plains and well-watered valleys 
could only be reached by a laborious as- 
cent through steep and narrow ravines, 
all but impassable for an army. Under 
Joshua the tribe must have taken a high 
position in the nation, to judge from the 
tone which the Ephraimites assumed on 
occasions shortly subsequent to the con- 
quest. After the revolt of Jeroboam the 
history of Ephraim is the history of the 
kingdom of Israel, since not only did the 
tribe become a kingdom, but the kingdom 
embraced little besides the tribe. 

E'phra-im. In "Baal-hazor which 
is by Ephraim" was Absalom's sheep- 
farm, at which took place the murder of 
Amnon, one of the earliest precursors of 
the great revolt. 2 Sam. 13 : 23. There 
is no clue to its situation. 

E'phra-im, a city "in the district 
near the wilderness " to which our Lord 
retired with his disciples when threatened 
with violence by the priests. John 11 : 
54. 

E'phra-im, Gate of, one of the 

gates of the city of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 
14 : 13 ; 2 Chron. 25 : 23 ; Neh. 8 : 16 ; 12 : 
39, probably at or near the position of 
the present " Damascus gate." 

E'phra-im, Mount, is a district 
which seems to extend as far south as 
Ramah and Bethel, 1 Sam. 1:1; 7:17; 
2 Chron. 13 : 4, 19, compared with 15 : 8, 
places but a few miles north of Jerusalem, 
and within the limits of Benjamin. 

E'phra-im, The wood of, a wood, 
or rather a forest, on the east of Jordan, 
178 



in which the fatal battle was fought be- 
tween the armies of David and of Absa- 
| lorn. 2 Sam. 18 : 6. 

E'phra-imite. Of the tribe of 
I Ephraim ; elsewhere called " Ephra- 
j thite." Judges 12 : 5. 

E'phra-in {hamlet), a city of Israel, 
which Judah captured from Jeroboam. 
I 2 Chron. 13 : 19. It has been conjectured 
| that this Ephrain or Ephron is identical 
with the Ephraim by which Absalom's 
sheep-farm of Baal-hazor was situated ; 
with the city called Ephraim near the 
wilderness in which our Lord lived for 
some time ; and with Ophrah, a city of 
Benjamin, apparently not far from 
Bethel. But nothing more than con- 
jecture can be arrived at on these points. 

Eph'ratah, or Eph'rath {fruitful). 
1. Second wife of Caleb the son of 
Hezron, mother of Hur and grandmother 
of Caleb the spy, according to 1 Chron. 
2 : 19, 50, and probably 24, and 4 : 4. 
(B.C. 1695.) 

2. The ancient name of Bethlehem- 
judah. Gen. 35 : 16, 19 ; 48 : 7. 

Eph'rathite. 1. An inhabitant of 
Bethlehem. Ruth 1 : 2. 

2. An Ephraimite. 1 Sam. 1:1; 1 
Kings 11 : 26. 

Eph'ron { fawn-like), the son of Zo- 
char, a Hittite, from whom Abraham 
bought the field and cave of Machpelah. 
Gen. 23 : 8-17 ; 25 : 9 ; 49 : 29, 30 ; 50 : 13. 
(B.C. 1860.) 

Eph'ron, Mount. The "cities of 
Mount Ephron " formed one of the land- 
marks on the northern boundary of the 
tribe of Judah. Josh. 15 : 9. 

Epicure'ans, The, derived their 
name from Epicurus (342-271 B.C.), & 
philosopher of Attic descent, whose 
" Garden " at Athens rivalled in popu- 
larity the " Porch " and the "Academy." 
The doctrines of Epicurus found wide 
acceptance in Asia Minor and Alexan- 
dria. (95-50 B.C.) The object of Epi- 
curus was to find in philosophy a prac- 
tical guide to happiness. True pleasure 
and not absolute truth was the end at 
which he aimed; experience and not 
reason the test on which he relied. It is 
obvious that a system thus framed would 
degenerate by a natural descent into 
mere materialism ; and in this form Epi- 
curism was the popular philosophy at 
the beginning of the Christian era. 
When St. Paul addressed " Epicureans 
and Stoics," Acts 17 : 18, at Athens, the 
philosophy of life was practically re- 



EPI 



ESA 



duced to the teaching of these two an- ' 
tagonistic schools. 

Epistles, letters; personal corre- ' 
spondence by writing. The twenty-one 
epistles of the New Testament took the 
place of tracts among us. In their out- I 
ward form they are such as might be ex- 
pected from men who were brought into 
contact with Greek and Roman customs, ; 
themselves belonging to a different race, 
and so reproducing the imported style 
with only partial accuracy. They begin 
(the Epistle to the Hebrews and 1 John ; 
excepted) with the nanies of the writer | 
and of those to whom the epistle is ad- j 
dressed. Then follows the formula of 
salutation. Then the letter itself com- ! 
mences in the first person, the singular 
and plural being used indiscriminately, j 
When the substance of the letter has I 
been completed, come the individual 
messages. The conclusion in this case 
was probably modified by the fact that 
the letters were dictated to an amanuen- j 
sis. When he had done his work, the | 
apostle took up the pen or reed, and I 
added in his own large characters, Gal. | 
6 : 11, the authenticating autograph. In j 
one instance, Eom. 16 : 22, the amanuen- 
sis in his own name adds his salutation. 
An allusion in 2 Cur. 3 : 1 brings be- 
fore us another class of letters which 
must have been in frequent use in the 
early ages of the Christian Church, by 
which travellers or teachers were com- 
mended by one church to the good offices 
of others. 

Er {watchful). 1. First-born of Judah. 
Er " was wicked in the sight of the Lord ; 
and the Lord slew him." Gen. 38 : 3-7 ; 
Num. 26 : 19. 

2. Descendant of Shelah the son of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 21. 

3. Son of Jose and father of Elmodam. 
Luke 3 : 28. 

E'ran (watchful), the eldest son of 
Ephraim. Num. 26 : 36. 

E'ranites, The. Num. 26 : 36. 

E'rech {length), one of the cities of 
Nimrod's kingdom in the land of Shinar, 
Gen. 10 : 10, doubtless the same as Orchoe, 
82 miles south and 43 east of Babylon, j 
the modem designations of the site — 
Warka, Irka and Irak — bearing a con- 
siderable affinity to the original name. 

Eras'tus (beloved). 1. One of the 
attendants of St. Paul at Ephesus, who j 
with Timothy was sent forward into 
Macedonia. Acts 19 : 22. (a.D. 51.) He j 
is probably the same with Erastus who 



is again mentioned in the salutations to 
Timothy. 2 Tim. 4 : 20. 

2. Erastus the chamberlain, or rather 
the public treasurer, of Corinth, who was 
one of the early converts to Christianity. 
Rom. 16:23. 'According to the tradi- 
tions of the Greek Church, he was first 
treasurer to the church at Jerusalem, 
and afterwards bishop of Paneas. 

E'ri (watchful), son of Gad, Gen. 46 : 
16, and ancestor of the Erites. Num. 
26 : 16. 

Esa'ias, the Greek form of Isaiah. 
[Isaiah.] 

E'sar-had'don (victor), one of the 
greatest of the kings of Assyria, was the 
son of Sennacherib, 2 Kings 19 : 37, and 
the grandson of Sargon, who succeeded 
Shalmaneser. He appears by his monu- 
ments to have been one of the most 
powerful, if not the most powerful, of all 
the Assyrian monarchs. He is the only 
one of them whom we find to have actu- 
ally reigned at Babylon, where he built 
himself a palace, bricks from which have 
been recently recovered bearing his name. 
His Babylonian reign lasted thirteen 
years, from B.C. 680 to B.C. 667 ; and it 
was doubtless within this space of time 
that Manasseh king of Judah, having 
been seized by his captains at Jerusalem 
on a charge of rebellion, was brought 
before him at Babylon, 2 Chron. 33 : 11, 
and detained for a time as prisoner there. 
As a builder of great works Esar-haddon 
is particularly distinguished. Besides 
his palace at Babylon, he built at least 
three others in different parts of his do- 
minions, either for himself or his sons, 
and thirty temples. 

E'sau*( hairy), the eldest son of Isaac, 
and twin-brother of Jacob. The singu- 
lar appearance of the child at his birth 
originated the name. Gen. 25 : 25. Esau's 
robust frame and " rough " aspect were 
the types of a wild and daring nature. 
He was a thorough Bedouin, a " son of 
the desert." He was much loved by his 
father, and was of course his heir, but 
was induced to sell his birthright to 
Jacob. Mention of his unhappy mar- 
riages may be found in Gen. 26 : 34. The 
next episode in the life of Esau is the 
loss of his father's covenant blessing, 
which Jacob secured through the craft 
of his mother, and the anger of Esau, 
who vows vengeance. Gen. 27. Later 
he marries a daughter of Ishmael, Gen. 
28 : 8, 9, and soon after establishes him- 
self in Mount Seir, where he was living 
. 179 



ESD 



ESD 



when Jacob returned from Padan-aram 
rich and powerful, and the two brothers 
were reconciled. Gen. 33 : 4. Twenty 
years thereafter they united in burying 
Isaac's body in the cave of Machpelah. 
Of Esau's subsequent history nothing is 
known ; for that of his descendants see 
Edom. 

Esdra-e'lon. This name is merely 
the Greek form of the Hebrew word Jez- 



reel. " The great plain of Esdraelon " 
extends across central Palestine from the 
Mediterranean to the Jordan, separating 
the mountain ranges of Carmel and Sa- 
maria from those of Galilee. The west- 
ern section of it is properly the plain of 
Accho or 'Akka. The main body of the 
plain is a triangle. Its base on the east 
extends from Jenin (the ancient Engan- 
nim) to the foot of the hills below 




Plain of Esdraelon. (Jezreei.) 



Nazareth, and is about 15 miles long; 
the north side, formed by the hills of 
Galilee, is about 12 miles long ; and the 
south side, formed by the Samaria range, 
is about 18 miles. The apex on the west 
is a narrow pass opening into the plain 
of 'Akka. From the base of this trian- 
gular plain three branches stretch out 
eastward, like fingers from a hand, di- 
vided by two bleak, gray ridges — one 
bearing the familiar name of Mount Gil- 
boa, the other called by Franks Little 
Hermon, but by natives Jebel ed-Duhy. 
The central branch is the richest as well 
as the most celebrated. This is the " val- 
ley of Jezreei " proper — the battle-field 
on which Gideon triumphed, and Saul 
and Jonathan were overthrown. Judges 
180 



7:1, seq. ; 1 Sam. 29 and 31. Two things 
are worthy of special notice in the plain 
of Esdraelon : 1. Its wonderful richness ; 
2. Its present desolation. If we except 
the eastern branches, there is not a single 
inhabited village on its whole surface, 
and not more than one-sixth of its soil is 
cultivated. It is the home of the wild 
wandering Bedouin. 

Es'dras, the form of the name of 
Ezra the scribe in 1 and 2 Esdras. 

Es'dras {Greek form of Ezra), The 
First Book of, the first in order of the 
apocryphal books in the English Bible. 
The first chapter is a transcript of the 
last two chapters of 2 Chron., for the 
most part verbatim, and only in one or 
two parts slightly abridged and para- 



ESD 



EST 



phrased. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 to the end 
of ver. 6, are the original portions of the 
book, and the rest is a transcript more or 
less exact of the book of Ezra, with the 
chapters transposed and quite otherwise 
arranged, and a portion of Nehemiah. 
Hence a twofold design in the compiler 
is discernible — one to introduce and give 
scriptural sanction to the legend about 
Zerubbabel; the other to explain the 
great obscurities of the book of Ezra, in 
which, however, he has signally failed. 
Its author is unknown, and it was prob- 
ably written in Egypt. It has no histor- 
ical value. 

Es'dras, The Second Book of. 
This exists in a Latin translation, the 
Greek being lost. Chapters 3-14 consist 
of a series of angelic revelations and 
visions in which Ezra is instructed in 
some of the great mysteries of the moral 
world, and assured of the final triumph 
of the righteous. The date of the book 
is uncertain. Like the first book, it was 
probably written in Egypt. 

E'sek {contention), a well which the 
herdsmen of Isaac dug in the valley of 
Gerar. Gen. 26 : 20. 

Esh-ba'al {Baal's man), 1 Chron. 8 : 
33 ; 9 : 39, the same as Ish-bosheth. 

Esh'ban {wise man), a Horite; one 
of the four sons of Dishon. Gen. 36 : 26 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 41. 

Esh'col {cluster of grapes), brother 
of Mamre the Amorite and of Aner, and 
one of Abraham's companions in his pur- 
suit of the four kings who had carried 
off" Lot, Gen. 14 : 13, 24. (B.C. 1912.) 

Esh'col, The valley or The brook 
of, a wady in the neighborhood of Ht»- 
bron (Mamre), explored by the spies who 
were sent bv Moses from Kadesh-barnea. 
Num. 13 : 23, 24 ; Deut. 1 : 24. The name 
is still attached to a spring of fine water 
called ' Ain Eskkali, in a valley about 
two miles north of Hebron. 

Esh'e-an {slope), one of the cities of 
Judah. Josh. 15 : 52. 

E'shek {oppression), one of the late 
descendants of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 39. 

Esh'kalonites, The. Josh. 13 : 3. 

[ASHKELON.] 

Esh'taol (a pass), a town in the low 
country — the Shefelah — of Judah, after- 
wards allotted to Dan. Josh. 15 : 33; 
19 : 41. Here Samson spent his boyhood, 
and hither after his last exploit his body 
was brought, Judges 13 : 25 ; 16 : 31 ; 
18 : 2, 8, 11, 12. 

Esh'taulites, The, with the Zareath- 



ites, were among the families of Kirjath- 
jearim. 1 Chron. 2 : 53- 

Eshtem/o-a, and in shorter form 
Eshtemoh {obedience), a town of Judah, 
in the mountains, Josh. 15 : 50, allotted 
to the priests. Josh. 21 : 14 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 
57. It was one of the places frequented 
by David and his followers during the 
long period of their wanderings. 1 Sam. 
! 30 : 28 ; comp. 31. Its site is at Semu'a, 
j a village seven miles south of Hebron. 

Esh/ton {effeminate), a name which 
j occurs in the genealogies of Judah. 1 
| Chron. 4 : 11, 12. 

Es'li, son of Nagge or Naggai, in the 
genealogy of Christ, Luke 3 : 25. 

Es'ril. 1 Esd. 9 : 34. [Azakeel, or 
Sua ha i.J 

Es'rom {enclosed). Matt. 1:3; Luke 
13:33. [Hezrok.J 

Essenes', a Jewish sect, who, accord- 
! ing to the description of Josej^hus, com- 
bined the ascetic virtues of the Pythago- 
j reans and Stoics with a spiritual knowl- 
edge of the divine law. It seems prob- 
i able that the name signifies seer, or the 
, silent, the mysterious. As a sect the Es- 
l senes were distinguished by an aspiration 
I after ideal purity rather than by any 
j special code of doctrines. There were 
; isolated communities of Essenes, which 
were regulated by strict rules, analogous 
j to those of the monastic institutions of a 
later date. All things were held in com- 
mon, without distinction of property; 
and special provision was made for the 
relief of the poor. Self-denial, temper- 
| ance and labor— especially agriculture — 
were the marks of the outward life of the 
Essenes; purity and divine communion 
the objects of their aspiration. Slavery, 
war and commerce were alike forbidden, 
j Their best-known settlements were on 
! the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. 

Es'ther {a star), the Persian name of 
Hadassah {myrtle), daughter of Abihail, 
I the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Ben- 
| jamite. Esther was a beautiful Jewish 
j maiden. She was an orphan, and had 
been brought up by her cousin Mordecai, 
who had an office in the household of 
Ahasuerus king of Persia— supposed to 
be the Xerxes of history — and dwelt at 
"Shushan the palace." When Vashti 
was dismissed from being queen, the king 
chose Esther to the place on account of 
j her beauty, not knowing her race or 
parentage ; and on the representation of 
Haman the Agagite that the Jews scat- 
tered through his empire were a perni- 
1 • 181 



EST 



ETH 



cious race, he gave him full power and | 
authority to kill them all. The means 
taken by Esther to avert this great ca- 
lamity from her people and her kindred 
are fully related in the book of Esther. 
The Jews still commemorate this deliv- 
erance in the yearly festival Purim, on 
the 14th and 15th of Adar (February, 
March). History is wholly silent about 
both Vashti and Esther. 

Es'ther, Book of, one of the latest 
of the canonical books of Scripture, hav- 
ing been written late in the reign of 
Xerxes, or early in that of his son Arta- 
xerxes Longimanus (B.C. 444-434). The 
author is not known. The book of Es- 
ther is placed among the hagiographa by 
the Jews, and in that first portion of 
them which they call " the five rolls." 
It is written on a single roll, in a dra- 
matic style, and is read through by the 
Jews in their synagogues at the feast of j 
Purim, when it is said that the names | 
of Hainan's sons are read rapidly all in ; 
one breath, to signify that they were all 
hanged at the same time ; while at every 
mention of Hainan the audience stamp 
and shout and hiss, and the children 
spring rattles. It has often been re- 
marked as a peculiarity of this book that 
the name of God does not once occur in 
it. Schaff gives as the reason for this 
that it was to permit the reading of the 
book at the hilarious and noisy festival 
of Purim, without irreverence. The style 
of writing is remarkably chaste and sim- 
ple. It does not in the least savor of ro- 
mance. The Hebrew is very like that 
of Ezra and parts of the Chronicles ; gen- 
erally pure, but mixed with some words 
of Persian origin and some of Chaldaic 
affinity. In short it is just what one 
would expect to find in a work of the age 
to which the book of Esther professes to 
belong. 

E'tam (lair of tvild beasts). 1. A vil- 
lage of the tribe of Simeon, specified only 
in the list in 1 Chron. 4 : 32 ; comp. Josh. 
19 : 7. 

2. A place in Judah, fortified and gar- 
risoned by Rehoboam. 2 Chron. 11 : 6. 
Here, according to the statements of Jo- 
sephus and the Talmudists, were the 
sources of the water from which Sol- 
omon's gardens and pleasure-grounds 
were fed, and Bethlehem and the temple 
supplied. 

E'tam, The rock, a cliff or lofty 
rock, into a cleft or chasm of which 
Samson retired after his slaughter of the 
182 



Philistines. Judges 15 : 8, 11. This nat- 
ural stronghold was in the tribe of Ju- 
dah ; and near it, probably at its foot, 
were Lehi or Ramath-lehi and Enhak- 
kore. Judges 15 : 9, 14, 17, 19. The name 
Etam was held by a city in the neighbor- 
hood of Bethlehem, 2 Chron. 11 : 6, which 
is known to have been situated in the 
extremely uneven and broken country 
round the modern Urtas. 

E'tham (bounded by the sea), one of 
the early resting-places of the Israelites 
when they quitted Egypt; described as 
" in the edge of the wilderness." Ex. 
13 : 20 ; Num. 33 : 6, 7. Etham may be 
placed where the cultivable land ceases, 
near the Seba Bidr or Seven Wells, about 
three miles from the western side of the 
ancient head of the gulf. 

E'than (enduring). 1. Ethan the Ez- 
rahite, one of the four sons of Mahol, 
whose wisdom was excelled by Solomon. 
1 Kings 4 : 31 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 6. His name 
is in the title of Ps. 89. 

2. Son of Kishi or Kushaiah ; a Merar- 
ite Levite, head of that family in the 
time of King David, 1 Chron. 6 : 44, and 
spoken of as a "singer." With Heman 
and Asaph, the heads of the other two 
families of Levites, Ethan was appointed 
to sound with cymbals. 1 Chron. 15 : 17, 
19. (B.C. 1014.) 

3. A Gershonite Levite, one of the an- 
cestors of Asaph the singer. 1 Chron. 6 : 
42; Heb. 27. (B.C. 1420.) 

Eth'anim. [Month.] 

Ethba'al (with Baal), king of Sidon 
and father of Jezebel. 1 Kings 16 : 31. 
Josephus represents him as king of the 
Tyrians as well as of the Sidonians. We 
may thus identify him with Eithobalus, 
who, after having assassinated Pheles, 
usurped the throne of Tyre for thirty-two 
years. The date of Ethbaal's reign may 
be given as about B.C. 940-908. 

E'ther (abundance), one of the cities 
of Judah in the low country, the Shefelah, 
Josh. 15 : 42, allotted to Simeon. Josh. 
19:7. 

Ethio'pia {burnt faces). The country 
which the Greeks and Romans described 
as "^Ethiopia" and the Hebrews as 
" Cush" lay to the south of Egypt, and 
embraced, in its most extended sense, the 
modern Nubia, Sennaar, Kordofan and 
northern Abyssinia, and in its more defi- 
nite sense the kingdom of Meroe. Ezek. 
29 : 10. The Hebrews do not appear to 
have had much practical acquaintance 
with Ethiopia itself, though the Ethio- 



ETH 



EUP 



pians were well known to them through 
their intercourse with Egypt. The in- 
habitants of Ethiopia were a Hamitic 
race. Gen. 10 : 6. They were divided 
into various tribes, of which the Sabaeans 
were the most powerful. The history of | 
Ethiopia is closely interwoven with that , 
of Egypt. The two countries were not j 
unfrequently united under the rule of I 
the same sovereign. Shortly before our j 
Saviour's birth a native dynasty of fe- j 
males, holding the official title of Can- | 
dace (Plin. vi. 35), held sway in Ethio- 
pia, and even resisted the advance of the 
Roman arms. One of these is the queen 
noticed in Acts 8 : 27. 

Ethio'pian, properly " Cushite," Jer. 
13 : 23 ; used of Zerah, 2 Chron. 14 : 9 (8), 
and Ebed-melech. Jer. 38 : 7, 10, 12 ; 39 : 
16. 

Ethio'pian eunuch, The, a Jewish 
proselyte, Acts 8 : 26, etc., who was treas- 
urer of Candace queen of Ethiopia, but 
who was converted to Christianity on a 
visit to Jerusalem, through Philip the 
evangelist. Nothing is known of him 
after his return to Ethiopia. 

Ethio'pian woman. The wife of 
Moses is so described in Num. 12 : 1. 
She is elsewhere said to have been the 
daughter of a Midianite, and in conse- 
quence of this some have supposed that 
the allusion is to another wife whom 
Moses married after the death of Zip- 
porah. 

Eth'nan {hire), one of the sons of He- 
lah the wife of Ashur. 1 Chron. 4 : 7. 

Eth'ni (munificent), a Gershonite Le- 
vi te. 1 Chron. 6 : 41. 

Eubu'lus {prudent), a Christian at 
Eome mentioned by St. Paul. 2 Tim. 4 : 
21. (A.D. 64.) 

Euni'ce (good victory), mother of 
Timotheus. 2 Tim. 1 : 5. (A.D. before 47.) 

Eunuch. " The English form of the 
Greek word which means bed-keeper. In 
the strict and proper sense they were the 
persons who had charge of the bed-cham- 
bers in palaces and larger houses. But 
as the jealous and dissolute temperament 
of the East required this charge to be in 
the hands of persons who had been de- 
prived of their virility, the word eunuch 
came naturally to denote persons in that 
condition. But as some of these rose to 
be confidential advisers of their royal 
masters or mistresses, the word was occa- 
sionally employed to denote persons in 
such a position, without" indicating any- 
thing of their proper manhood.", — Abbott. 



Euo'dia. [See Euodias.] 

Euo'dias (fragrant), a Christian 
woman at Philippi. Philip. 4 : 2. (A.D. 
57.) The name is correctly Euodia, as 
given in the Revised Version. 

Euphrates is probably a word of 
Aryan origin, signifying " the good and 
abounding river." It is most frequently 
denoted in the Bible by the term " the 
river." The Euphrates is the largest, the 
longest and by far the most important of 




Village of Anah on the Euphrates. 

the rivers of western Asia. It rises from 
two chief sources in the Armenian mount- 
ains, and flows into the Persian Gulf. 
The entire course is 1780 miles, and of 
this distance more than two-thirds (1200 
miles) is navigable for boats. The width 
of the river is greatest at the distance of 
700 or 800 miles from its mouth — that is 
to say, from its junction with the Khabour 
to the village of Werai. It there aver- 
ages 400 yards. The annual inundation 
of the Euphrates is caused by the melt- 
ing of the snows in the Armenian high- 
lands. It occurs in the month of May. 
The great hydraulic works ascribed to 
Nebuchadnezzar had for their chief ob- 
ject to control the inundation. The Eu- 
phrates is first mentioned in Scripture as 
one of the four rivers of Eden. Gen. 2 : 14. 
We next hear of it in the covenant made 
with Abraham. Gen. 15 : 18. During the 
reigns of David and Solomon it formed 
the boundary of the promised land to the 
northeast. Deut. 11 : 24; Josh. 1 : 4. 
Prophetical reference to the Euphrates 
183 



EUE 



EXC 



is found in Jer. 13 : 4-7 ; 46 : 2-10 ; 51:63; 
Rev. 9 : 14 ; 16 : 12. " The Euphrates is 
linked with the most important events in 
ancient history. On its banks stood the 
city of Babylon ; the army of Necho was 
defeated on its banks by Nebuchadnezzar ; 
Cyrus the Younger and Crassus perished 
after crossing it; Alexander crossed it, 
and Trajan and Severus descended it." — 
Appleton's C'yc. 

Eurac'quila, the word used in the 
Revised Version instead of euroclydon, 
in Acts 27 : 14. It is compounded of two 
words meaning east and yiorth, and means 
a northeast gale. 

Euroc'lydon {a violent agitation), a 
tempestuous wind or hurricane, cyclone, 
on the Mediterranean, and very danger- 
ous ; now called a " levanter." This 
wind seized the ship in which St. Paul 
was ultimately wrecked on the coast of 
Malta. It came down from the island, 
and therefore must have blown more or 
less from the northward. Acts 27 : 14. 

Eu'tychus {fortunate), a youth at 
Troas, Acts 20 : 9, who sitting in a win- 
dow, and having fallen asleep while St. 
Paul was discoursing, fell from the third 
story, and being taken up dead, was mi- 
raculously restored to life by the apostle. 

Evangelist {publisher of glad tid- 
ings). In the New Testament the " evan- 
gelists" appear on the one hand after the 
" apostles " and " prophets ;" on the other 
before the "pastors" and "teachers." 
They probably stood between the two. 
Acts 21:8; Eph. 4:11. The work of 
the evangelist is the proclamation of the 
glad tidings to those who have not known 
them, rather than the instruction and 
pastoral care of those who have believed 
and been baptized. It follows also that 
the name denotes a work rather than an 
order. Its use is nearly like our word 
missionary. The evangelist might or 
might not be a bishop-elder or a deacon. 
The apostles, so far as they evangelized, 
Acts 8 : 25 ; 14 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 17, might 
claim the title, though there were many 
evangelists who were not apostles. If 
the gospel were a written book, and the 
office of the evangelists was to read or 
distribute it, then the writers of such 
books were pre-eminently the evangel- 
ists. In later liturgical language the 
word was applied to the reader of the 
gospel for the day. 

Eve {life), the name given in Scripture 
to the first woman. The account of Eve's 
creation is found at Gen. 2 : 21, 22. Per- 
184 



haps that which we are chiefly intended 
to learn from the narrative is the foun- 
dation upon which the union between 
man and wife is built, viz., identity of 
nature and oneness of origin. Through 
the subtlety of the serpent Eve was be- 
guiled into a violation of the one com- 
mandment which had been imposed upon 
her and Adam. The Scripture account 
of Eve closes with the birth of Seth. 

E'vi {desire), one of the five kings or 
princes of Midian slain by the Israelites. 
Num. 31 : 8; Josh. 13:21. 

E'vil-mero'dach [the fool of Mero- 
dach), 2 Kings 25 : 27, the son and succes- 
sor of Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned but 
a short time, having ascended the throne 
on the death of Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 
561, and being himself succeeded by 
Neriglissar in B.C. 559. He was mur- 
dered by Neriglissar. 

Excommunication {expulsion from 
communion). 1. Jewish excommunica- 
tion. — The Jewish system of excommun- 
ication was threefold. The twenty-four 
offences for which it was inflicted are 
various, and range in heinousness from 
the offence of keeping a fierce dog to that 
of taking God's name in vain. The of- 
fender was first cited to appear in court ; 
and if he refused to appear or to make 
amends, his sentence was pronounced. 
The term of this punishment was thirty 
days ; and it was extended to a second 
and to a third thirty days when necessary. 
If at the end of that time the olfender was 
still contumacious, he was subjected to 
the second excommunication. Severer 
penalties were now attached. The sen- 
tence was delivered by a court of ten, and 
was accompanied by a solemn maledic- 
tion. The third excommunication was an 
entire cutting off from the congregation. 
The punishment of excommunication is 
not appointed by the law of Moses ; it is 
founded on the natural right of self-pro- 
tection which all societies enjoy. In the 
New Testament, Jewish excommunica- 
tion is brought prominently before us in 
the case of the man that was born blind. 
John 9. In Luke 6 : 22 it has been 
thought that our Lord referred specif- 
ically to the three forms of Jewish excom- 
munication : " Blessed are ye when men 
shall hate you, and when they shall sep- 
arate you from their company, and shall 
reproach you, and cast out your name as 
evil, for the Son of man's sake." 

2. Christian excommunication. — Ex- 
communication, as exercised by the 



EXE 



EXO 



Christian Church, was instituted by our 
Lord, Matt. 18 : 15, 18, and it was prac- 
ticed and commanded by St. Paul. 1 Cor. 
5 : 11 ; 1 Tim. 1 : 20 ; Titus 3 : 10. In the 
epistles we find St. Paul frequently 
claiming the right to exercise discipline 
over his converts ; comp. 2 Cor. 1 : 23 ; 
13 : 10. We find, (1) that it is a spiritual 
penalty, involving no temporal punish- 
ment, except accidentally ; (2) that it 
consists in separation from the com- 
munion of the Church; (3) that its object 
is the good of the sufferer, 1 Cor. 5:5, 
and the protection of the sound members 
of the Church, 2 Tim. 3 : 17 ; (4) that its 
subjects are those who are guilty of 
heresy, 1 Tim. 1 : 20, or gross immorality, 

1 Cor. 5:1; (5) that it is inflicted by the 
authority of the Church at large, Matt. 
18 : 18, wielded by the highest ecclesias- 
tical officer, 1 Cor. 5:3; Titus 3 : 10 ; 
(6) that this officer's sentence is promul- 
gated by the congregation to which the 
offender belongs, 1 Cor. 5 : 4, in deference 
to his superior judgment and command, 

2 Cor. 2 : 9, and in spite of any opposi- 
tion on the part of* a minority, 2 Cor. 2 : 
6; (7) that the exclusion may be of in- 
definite duration, or for a period; (8) 
that its duration may be abridged at the 
discretion and by the indulgence of the 
person who has imposed the penalty, 2 
Cor. 2:8; (9) that penitence is the con- 
dition on which restoration to communion 
is granted, 2 Cor. 2:8; (10) that the sen- 
tence is to be publicly reversed as it was 
publicly promulgated. 2 Cor. 2 : 10. 

Executioner. The post of execu- 
tioner was one of high dignity. Poti- 
phar was " captain of the executioners." 
Gen. 37 : 36 ; see margin. That the 
"captain of the guard" himself occa- 
sionally performed the duty of an exe- 
cutioner appears from 1 Kings 2 : 25, 34. 

Ex'odus (thatis, going out j of'Egypt]), 
the second book of the law or Pentateuch. 
Its author was Moses. It was written 
probably during the forty-years wander- 
ings in the wilderness, between B.C. 1491 
and 1451. It may be divided into two 
principal parts : 1 . Historical , chs. 1 : 1-18 : 
27 ; and, 2. Legislative, chs. 19 : 40, 38. 1. 
The first part contains an account of the 
following particulars : The great increase 
of Jacob's posterity in the land of Egypt, 
and their oppression under a new dy- 
nasty, which occupied the throne after 
the death of Joseph ; the birth, educa- 
tion, flight and return of Moses ; the in- 
effectual attempts to prevail upon Pha- 



raoh to let the Israelites go ; the successive 
signs and wonders, ending in the death 
of* the first-born, by means of which the 
deliverance of" Israel from the land of 
bondage is at length accomplished, and 
the institution of the Passover; finally 
the departure out of Egypt and the ar- 
rival of the Israelites at Mount Sinai. 

2. This part gives a sketch of the early 
: history of Israel as a nation ; and the 
: history has three clearly-marked stages. 
! First we see a nation enslaved ; next a 
! nation redeemed ; lastly a nation set 
j apart, and through the blending of its 
' religious and political life consecrated to 
: the service of God. 

I Exodus, The, of the Israelites from 
\ Egypt. The common chronology places 
i the date of this event at B.C. 1491, de- 
riving it in this way : — In 1 Kings 6 : 1 
j it is stated that the building of the tem- 
' pie, in the fourth year of Solomon, was 
in the 480th year after the exodus. The 
fourth year of Solomon was about B.C. 
1012. Add the 480 years (leaving off one 
year because neither the fourth nor the 
480th was a full year), and we have B.C. 
1491 as the date of the exodus. This is 
probably very nearly correct ; but many 
Egyptologists place it at 215 years later, — 
about B.C. 1300. Which date is right 
depends chiefly on the interpretation of 
the Scripture period of 430 years, as de- 
noting the duration of the bondage of the 
Israelites. The period of bondage given 
in Gen. 15 : 13, 14, Ex. 12 : 40, 41 and 
Gal. 3 : 17 as 430 years has been inter- 
preted to cover different periods. The 
common chronology makes it extend 
from the call of Abraham to the exodus, 
one-half of it, or 215 years, being spent 
in Egypt. Others make it to cover only 
the period of bondage spent in Egypt. 
St. Paul says in Gal. 3 : 17 that from the 
covenant with (or call of) Abraham to 
the giving of the law (less than a year 
after the exodus) was 430 years. But in 
Gen. 15 : 13, 14 it is said that they should 
be strangers in a strange land, and be 
afflicted 400 years, and nearly the same 
is said in Ex. 12 : 40. But, in very truth, 
the children of Israel were strangers in 
a strange land from the time that Abra- 
ham left his home for the promised land, 
and during that whole period of 430 
years to the exodus they were nowhere 
rulers in the land. So in Ex. 12 : 40 it is 
said that the sojourning of the children 
of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 
years. But it does not say that the so- 
185 



EXO 



EXO 



journing was all in Egypt, but this ! 
people who lived in Egypt had been j 
sojourners for 430 years, (a) This is the I 
simplest way of making the various 1 
statements harmonize. (6) The chief 
difficulty is in the great increase of the 
children of Israel from 70 to 2,000,000 in 
so short a period as 215 years, while it is 
very easy in 430 years. But under the 
circumstances it is perfectly possible in 
the shorter period. See on ver. 7. (c) 



If we make the 430 years to include only 
the bondage in Egypt, we must place the 
whole chronology of Abraham and the 
immigration of Jacob into Egypt some 
200 years earlier, or else the exodus 200 
years later, or B.C. 1300. In either case 
special difficulty is brought into the 
reckoning, (d) Therefore, on the whole, 
it is as well to retain the common chro- 
nology, though the later dates may yet 
prove" to be correct. 



The Chronology from the Monuments. 



Authorities. 


The Pharaoh 

and Date 
op the Exodus. 


The Pharaoh 
of the 
Oppression. 


Duration 
of 

Bondage. 


The Pharaoh 
and Date of the 
Immigration of Jacob. 


Wilkinson : 

Ancient Egyptians. 


Thothraes III. 


B.C. 

1491 


The 18th Dynasty. 


215 


B.C. 
1706 


Usirtesen II . 
16th Dynasty. 


Osburn : 
Monumental Egypt. 


Siphtha, 
the successor of 
Menephthah. 


1314 


Rameses II. 


430 


1706 


Aphophis, 
last king of 
15th Dynasty. 


S. Birch: 

Ancient History 
from the Monu- 
ments — Egypt. 


Menephthah, 

son of 
Rameses II. 


1300 


Rameses II. 
(Sesostris). 
B.C. 1355. 


430 


1730 


Seti, 
or Saites. 


Lenormant and 
Chevallier : 
Ancient History of 
the East. 


Menephthah. 


1300 


Rameses II. 


400 


1700 


Seti. 


HenryBrugsch-Bey: 
History of Egypt 
under the 
Pharaohs. 


Menephthah. 


1300 


Rameses II. 
B.C. 1350. 


430 


1730 


King Nub. 


Professor Gustav 
Seyffarth. 


Thothmes III. 


1866 


The 18th Dynasty. 


213 


2080 





The history of the exodus itself com- 
mences with the close of that of the ten 
plagues. [Plagues, The ten.] In the 
night in which, at midnight, the first- 
born were slain, Ex. 12 : 29, Pharaoh 
urged the departure of the Israelites, vs. 
31, 32. They at once set forth from Ra- 
meses, vs. 37, 39, apparently during the 
night, v. 42, but towards morning on the 
15th day of the first month. Num. 33 : 3. 
They made three journeys, and encamped 
by the Red Sea. Here Pharaoh overtook 
them, and the great miracle occurred by 
186 



which they were saved, while the pur- 
suer and his army were destroyed. [Red 
Sea, Passage of.] 

Exorcist, one who pretends to expel 
evil spirits by conjuration, prayers and 
ceremonies. Exorcism was frequently 
practiced among the Jews. Matt. 12 : 27 ; 
Acts 19 : 13. David, by playing skill- 
fully on a harp, procured the tempo- 
rary departure of the evil spirit which 
troubled Saul. 1 Sam. 16 : 23. The power 
of casting out devils was bestowed by 
Christ while on earth upon the apostles, 



EXP 



EZE 



Matt. 10 : 8, and the seventy disciples, 
Luke 10 : 17-19, and was, according to 
his promise, Mark 16 : 17, exercised by 
believers after his ascension. Acts 16 : 18. 

Expiation. [Sacrifice.] 

Eye. (The practice of painting the 
eyelids to make the eyes look large, lus- 
trous and languishing is often alluded to 
in the Old Testament, and still exten- 
sively prevails among the women of the 




Painted Eyes. 

East, and especially among the Moham- 
medans. Jezebel, in 2 Kings 9 : 30, is 
said to have prepared for her meeting 
with Jehu by painting her face, or, as it 
reads in the margin, " put her eyes in 
paint." See also Ezek. 23 : 40. A* small 
probe of wood, ivory or silver is wet 
with rose-water and dipped in an impal- 
pable black powder, and is then drawn 
between the lids of the eye nearly closed, 
and leaves a narrow black border, which 
is thought a great ornament. — Ed.) 

Ez'ba-i {shining), father of Naarai, 
who was one of David's thirty mightv 
men. 1 Chron. 11 : 37. (B.C. 1046.) 

Ez'bon (working). 1. Son of Gad, 
and founder of one of the Gadite fami- 
lies. Gen. 46 : 16 ; Num. 26 : 16. 

2. Son of Bela, the son of Benjamin 
according to 1 Chron. 7 : 7. 

Ezeki'as. Matt. 1 : 9, 10. [Heze- 
kiah.] 

Eze'ki-el (the strength of God), one 
of the four greater prophets, was the son 
of a priest named Buzi, and was taken 
captive in the captivity of Jehoiachin, 
eleven years before the destruction of 
Jerusalem. He was a member of a com- 
munity of Jewish exiles who settled on 
the banks of the Chebar, a "river" or 
stream of Babylonia. He began proph- 
esying B.C. 595, and continued until B.C. 



573, a period of more than twenty-two 
years. We learn from an incidental al- 
lusion, Ezek. 24 : 18, that he was married, 
and had a house, Ezek. 8 : 1, in his place 
of exile, and lost his wife by a sudden 
and unforeseen stroke. He lived in the 
highest consideration among his com- 
panions in exile, and their elders con- 
sulted him on all occasions. He is said 
to have been murdered in Babylon and 
to have been buried on the banks of the 
Euphrates. The tomb, said to have been 
built by Jehoiachin, is shown, a few 
days journey from Bagdad. 

Ezekiel was distinguished by his stern 
and inflexible energy of will and char- 
acter and his devoted adherence to the 
rites and ceremonies of his national re- 
ligion. The depth of his matter and the 
marvellous nature of his visions make 
him occasionally obscure. 

Prophecy of Ezekiel. — The book is di- 
vided into two great parts, of which the 
destruction of Jerusalem is the turning- 
point. Chapters 1-24 contain predictions 
delivered before that event, and chs. 25- 
48 after it, as we see from ch. 26 : 2. 
Again, chs. 1-32 are mainly occupied 
with correction, denunciation and re- 
proof, while the remainder deal chiefly 
in consolation and promise. A paren- 
thetical section in the middle of the book, 
chs. 25-32, contains a group of prophecies 
against seven foreign nations, the septen- 
ary arrangement being apparently inten- 
tional. There are no direct quotations 
from Ezekiel in the New Testament, but 
in the Apocalypse there are many paral- 
lels and obvious allusions to the later 
chapters— 40-48. 

E'zel (departure). The stone, a 
well-known stone in the neighborhood 
of Saul's residence, the scene of the part- 
ing of David and Jonathan. 1 Sam. 20 : 
19. 

E'zem (bone), one of the towns of 
Simeon. 1 Chron. 4 : 29. 

E'zer (treasure). 1. A son of Ephraim, 
who was slain by the aboriginal inhabit- 
ants of Gath while engaged in a foray on 
their cattle. 1 Chron. 7 : 21. (B.C. before 
1491.) 

2. A priest who assisted in the dedica- 
tion of the walls of Jerusalem under Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 12 : 42. (B.C. 446.) 

3. Father of Hushah of the sons of 
Hur. 1 Chron. 4 : 4. 

4. One of the Gadite chiefs who fought 
with David. 1 Chron. 12 : 8, 9. (B.C. 
1054.) 

■ 187 



EZI 



EZR 



5. One who aided in repairing the wall 
at Jerusalem ; a Levite. Neh. 3 : 19. 
E'zion-ga'ber, or E'zion-ge'ber 

{giant's backbone), Num. 33 :35; Deut. 
2 : 8 ; 1 Kings 9 : 26 ; 22 : 48 ; 2 Chron. 
8 : 17, the last station named for the en- 
campment of the Israelites before they 
came to the wilderness of Zin. It prob- 
ably stood at Ain el-Ghudydn, about ten 
miles up what is now the dry bed of the 
Arabah, but which was probably then 
the northern end of the gulf. 

Ez'nite, The. According to the 
statement of 2 Sam. 23 : 8, Adino the Ez- 
nite was another name for Jashobeam, a 
Tachmonite. 1 Chron. 11 : 11. (Probably 
the words are a corruption for the He- 
brew " he lifted up his spear." — Fatisset.) 

Ez'ra {help), called Esdras in the 
Apocrypha, the famous scribe and priest. 
He was a learned and pious priest resid- 
ing at Babylon in the time of Artaxerxes 
Longimanus. The origin of his influence 
with the king does not appear, but in the 
seventh year of his reign he obtained 
leave to go to Jerusalem, and to take 
with him a company of Israelites. (B.C. 
457.) The journey from Babylon to Je- 
rusalem took just four months ; and the 
company brought with them a large free- 
will offering of gold and silver, and sil- 
ver vessels. It appears that Ezra's great 
design was to effect a religious reforma- 
tion among the Palestine Jews. His 
first step was to enforce separation upon 
all who had married foreign wives. Ezra 
10. This was effected in little more than 
six months after his arrival at Jerusalem. 
With the detailed account of this im- 
portant transaction Ezra's autobiography 
ends abruptly, and we hear nothing more 
of him till, thirteen years afterwards, in 
the twentieth of Artaxerxes, we find him 
again at Jerusalem with Nehemiah. It 
seems probable that after effecting the 
above reformations he returned to the 
king of Persia. The functions he exe- 
cuted under Nehemiah's government 
188 



| were purely of a priestly and ecclesias- 
I tical character. The date of his death 
j is uncertain. There was a Jewish tra- 
! dition that he was buried in Persia. The 
| principal works ascribed to him by the 
| Jews are— 1. The institution of the great 
| synagogue ; 2. The settling the canon of 
I Scripture, and restoring, correcting and 
| editing the whole sacred volume ; 3. The 
introduction of the Chaldee character 
instead of the old Hebrew or Samaritan ; 
4. The authorship of the books of Chron- 
icles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and, some add, 
Esther ; and, many of the Jews say, also 
of the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the 
twelve prophets; 5. The establishment 
of synagogues. 

Ez'ra, Book of, is a continuation of 
the books of Chronicles. The period 
covered by the book is eighty years, 
from the first of Cyrus, B.C. 536, to the 
beginning of the eighth of Artaxerxes, 
B.C. 456. It consists of the contemporary 
historical journals kept from time to 
time, containing, chs. 1-12, an account 
of the return of the captives under Ze- 
rubbabel, and the rebuilding of the tem- 
ple in the reign of Cyrus and Cambyses. 
Most of the book is written in Hebrew, 
but from chs. 4 : 8 to 6 : 19 it is written in 
Chaldee. The last four chapters, begin- 
ning with ch. 7, continue the history 
after a gap of fifty-eight years — from the 
sixth of Darius to the seventh of Arta- 
xerxes — narrating his visit to Jerusalem, 
and giving an account of the reforms 
there accomplished, referred to under 
Ezra. Much of the book was written 
by Ezra himself, though the first chapter 
was probably written by Daniel; and 
other hands are evident. 

Ez'rahite, The {son of Zerah), a title 
attached to two persons — Ethan, 1 Kings 
4 : 31 ; Ps. 89, title, and Heman, Ps. 88, 
title. 

Ez'ri {help of Jehovah), son of Chelub, 
superintendent of King David's farm- 
laborers. 1 Chron. 27 : 26. (B.C. 1014.) 



FAB 



FAM 



F. 



Fable. A fable is a narrative in 
which beings irrational, and sometimes 
inanimate, are, for the purpose of moral 
instruction, feigned to act and speak with 
human interests and passions. — Encyc. 
Brit. The fable differs from the parable 
in that — 1. The parable always relates 
what actually takes place, and is true 
to fact, which the fable is not; and 2. 
The parable teaches the higher heavenly 
and spiritual truths, but the fable only 
earthly moralities. Of the fable, as dis- 
tinguished from the parable [Parable], 
we have but two examples in the Bible : 
1. That of the trees choosing their king, 
addressed by Jotham to the men of 
Shechem, Judges 9 : 8-15 ; 2. That of the 
cedar of Lebanon and the thistle, as the 
answer of Jehoash to the challenge of 
Amaziah. 2 Kings 14 : 9. The fables of 
false teachers claiming to belong to the 
Christian Church, alluded to by writers 
of the New Testament, 1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 
Titus 1 : 14 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 16, do not appear to 
have had the character of fables, prop- 
erly so called. 

Fair Ha'vens, a harbor in the island 
of Crete, Acts 27 : 8, though not mentioned 
in any other ancient writing, is still 
known by its own Greek name, and ap- 
pears to have been the harbor of Lassea. 

Fairs, a word which occurs only in 
Ezek. 27, and there no less than seven 
times, vs. 12, 14, 16, 19, 22, 27, 33 ; in the 
last of these verses it is rendered " wares," 
and this we believe to be the true mean- 
ing of the word throughout. 

Fallow deer (called fallow from its 
reddish-brown color) (Heb. yachrnur). 
The Hebrew word, which is mentioned 
only in Deut. 14 : 5 and 1 Kings 4 : 23, 
probably denotes the Alcelaphus bubalis 
(the bubale or wild cow) of Barbary and 
North Africa. It is about the size of a 
stag, and lives in herds. It is almost 
exactly like the European roebuck, and 
is valued for its venison. 

Famine. In the whole of Syria and 
Arabia, the fruits of the earth must ever 
be dependent on rain ; the watersheds 
having few large springs, and the small 
rivers not being sufficient for the irriga- 
tion of even the level lands. If therefore 
the heavy rains of November and Decem- 



ber fail, the sustenance of the people is 
cut off in the parching drought of har- 
vest-time, when the country is almost 
devoid of moisture. Egypt, again, owes 
all its fertility to its mighty river, whose 
annual rise inundates nearly the whole 
land. The causes of dearth and famine 
in Egypt are defective inundation, pre- 
ceded, accompanied and followed by 
prevalent easterly and southerly winds. 
Famine is likewise a natural result in the 




The Fallow Deer. 

East when caterpillars, locusts or other 
insects destroy the products of the earth. 
The first famine recorded in the Bible is 
that of Abraham after he had pitched his 
tent on the east of Bethel, Gen. 12 : 10; 
the second in the days of Isaac, Gen. 26 : 
1, seq. We hear no more of times of 
scarcity until the great famine of Egypt, 
which " was over all the face of the 
earth." Gen. 41 : 53-57. The modern 
history of Egypt throws some curious 
light on these ancient records of famines; 
and instances of their recurrence may be 
cited to assist us in understanding their 
course and extent. The most remarkable 
famine was that of the reign of the Fati- 
mee Khaleefeh, El-Mustansir billah, 
• 189 



FAN 



FAT 



which is the only instance on record of 
one of seven years duration in Egypt 
since the time of Joseph (a.h. 457-464, 
A.B. 1064-1071). Vehement drought and 
pestilence continued for seven consecutive 
years, so that the people ate corpses, and 
animals that died of themselves. The 
famine of Samaria resembled it in many 
particulars; and that very briefly re- 
corded in 2 Kings 8 : 1, 2 affords another 
instance of one of seven years. In Arabia 
famines are of frequent occurrence. 




Winnowing- Fans. 

Fan, a winnounng-shovel, with which 
grain was thrown up against the wind to 
be cleansed from the chaff and straw. 
Isa. 30 : 24 ; Matt. 3:12. A large wooden 
fork is used at the present day. 

Farthing-. Two names of coins in 
the New Testament are rendered in the 
Authorized Version by this word : 1. 
Quadrcms, Matt. 5:26; Mark 12:42, a 




A Farthing. 

coin current in the time of our Lord, 
equivalent to three-eighths of a cent ; 2. 
The assarion, equal to one cent and a 
half. Matt. 10 : 29 ; Luke 12 : 6. 

Fasts. 1. One fast only was appointed 
by the Mosaic law, that on the day of 
190 



atonement. There is no mention of any 
other periodical fast in the Old Testament 
except in Zech. 7:1-7; 8 : 19. From 
these passages it appears that the Jews, 
during their captivity, observed four an- 
nual fasts, — in the fourth, fifth, seventh 
and tenth months. 

2. Public fasts were occasionally pro- 
claimed to express national humiliation 
and to supplicate divine favor. In the 
case of public danger the proclamation 
appears to have been accompanied with 
the blowing of trumpets. 
Joel 2 : 1-15. (See 1 Sam. 
7:6; 2 Chron. 20:3; Jer. 
36 : 6-10.) Three days 
after the feast of taber- 
nacles, when the second 
temple was completed, 
"the children of Israel 
assembled with fasting, 
and with sackclothes and 
earth upon them," to hear 
the law read and to con- 
fess their sins. Neh. 9 : 
1. 

3. Private occasional 
fasts are recognized in one 
passage of the law — Num. 
30 : 13. The instances 
given of individuals fast- 
ing under the influence of 
grief, vexation or anxiety 
are numerous. 

4. In the New Testament the only ref- 
erences to the Jewish fasts are the men- 
tion of " the fast " in Acts 27 : 9 (generally 
understood to denote the day of atone- 
ment) and the allusions to the weekly 
fasts. Matt. 9 : 14 ; Mark 2:18; Luke 5 : 
33; 18:12; Acts 10 : 30. These fasts 
originated some time after the captivity. 

5. The Jewish fasts were observed with 
various degrees of strictness. Sometimes 
there was entire abstinence from food. 
Esther 4 : 16, etc. On other occasions 
there appears to have been only a restric- 
tion to a very plain diet. Dan. 10 : 3. 
Those who fasted frequently dressed in 
sackcloth or rent their clothes, put ashes 
on their head and went barefoot. 1 Kings 
21 : 27 ; Neh. 9:1; Ps. 35 : 13. 

6. The sacrifice of the personal will, 
which gives to fasting all its value, is ex- 
pressed in the old term used in the law, 
afflicting the soul. 

Fat. The Hebrews distinguished be- 
tween the suet or pure fat of an animal and 
the fat which was Intermixed with the 
lean. Neh. 8 : 10. Certain restrictions 



FAT 



FES 



were imposed upon them in reference to 
the former; some parts of the suet, viz., 
about the stomach, the entrails, the kid- 
neys, and the tail of a sheep, which 
grows to an excessive size in many east- 
ern countries, and produces a large quan- 
tity of rich fat, were forbidden to be 
eaten in the case of animals offered to 
Jehovah in sacrifice. Lev. 3 : 3, 9, 17 ; 7 : 
3, 23. The ground of the prohibition 
was that the fat was the richest part of 
the animal, and therefore belonged to him. 
Lev. 3 : 16. The burning of the fat of 
sacrifices was particularly specified in 
each kind of offering. 

Fat, i. e. Vat, the word employed in 
the Authorized Version to translate the 
Hebrew term yekeb, in Joel 2 : 24 ; 3 : 13. 
The word commonly used for yekeb is 
"winepress" or "winefat," and once 
" pressfat." Hag. 2 : 16. The " vats " ap- 
pear to have been excavated out of the 
native rock of the hills on which the 
vineyards lay. 

Father. The position and authority | 
of the father as the head of the family j 
are expressly assumed and sanctioned in j 
Scripture, as a likeness of that of the | 
Almighty over his creatures. It lies of j 
course at the root of that so-called pa- I 
triarchal government, Gen. 3 : 16 ; 1 
Cor. 11 : 3, which was introductory to the 
more definite systems which folloAved, 
and which in part, but not wholly, su- 
perseded it. The father's blessing was 
regarded as conferring special benefit, but 
his malediction special injury, on those 
on whom it fell, Gen. 9 : 25, 27 ; 27 : 27- 
40 ; 48 : 15, 20 ; 49 ; and so also the sin 
of a parent was held to affect, in certain i 
cases, the welfare of his descendants. 2 
Kings 5 : 27. The command to honor 
parents is noticed by St. Paul as the only 
one of the Decalogue which bore a dis- 
tinct promise, Ex. 20 : 12 ; Eph. 6:2; and 
disrespect towards them was condemned 
by the law as one of the worst of crimes. 
Ex. 21 : 15, 17 ; 1 Tim. 1:9. It is to this 
well-recognized theory of parental au- 
thority and supremacy that the very 
various uses of the term "father" in 
Scripture are due. " Fathers " is used in 
the sense of seniors, Acts 7 : 2 ; 22 : 1, and 
of parents in general, or ancestors. Dan. 
5:2; Jer. 27 : 7 ; Matt. 23 : 30, 32. 

Fathom. [Weights and Meas- 
ures.] 

Feasts. [Festivals; Meals.] 
Fe'lix {happy), a Roman procurator of 
Judea appointed by the emperor Claudi- 



us in A.D. 53. He ruled the province in 
a mean, cruel and profligate manner. 
! His period of office was full of troubles 
! and seditions. St. Paul was brought be- 
| fore Felix in Csesarea. He was remanded 
I to prison, and kept there two years in 
[ hopes of extorting money from him. 
Acts 24 : 26, 27. At the end of that time 
Porcius Festus [Festus] was appointed 
to supersede Felix, who, on his return to 
Rome, was accused by the Jews in Csesa- 
rea, and would have suffered the penalty 
due to his atrocities had not his brother 
Pallas prevailed with the emperor Nero 
to spare him. This was probably about 
A.D. 60. The wife of Felix was Drusilla, 
daughter of Herod Agrippa I., who was 
his third wife and whom he persuaded 
to leave her husband and marry him. 

Fenced cities, i. e. cities fortified or 
defended. The fortifications of the cities 
of Palestine, thus regularly " fenced," 
consisted of one or more walls (some- 
times of thick stones, sometimes of com- 
bustible material), crowned with battle- 
mented parapets, having towers at regu- 
lar intervals, 2 Chron. 32 : 5 ; Jer. 31 : 38, 
on which in later times engines of war 
were placed, and watch was kept by day 
and night in time of war. Judges 9 : 45 ; 
2 Kings 9 : 17 ; 2 Chron. 26 : 9, 15. 




The Gecko. 



Ferret, one of the unclean creeping 
things mentioned in Lev. 11 : 30. The 
animal referred to was probably a reptile 
of the lizard tribe (the gecko). The rab- 
binical writers seem to have identified 
this animal with the hedgehog. 

Festivals. I. The religious times or- 
dained in the law fall under three heads : 
1. Those formally connected with the 
institution of the Sabbath ; 2. The his- 
torical or great festivals ; 3. The day of 
atonement. 1. Immediately connected 
with the institution of the Sabbath are — 
. 191 



FES 



FIG 



a. The weekly Sabbath itself, b. The 
seventh new moon, or feast of trumpets. 
c. The sabbatical year. d. The year 
of jubilee. 2. The great feasts are — a. 
The passover. b. The feast of pentecost, 
of weeks, of wheat-harvest or of the first- 
fruits, c. The feast of tabernacles or of 
ingathering. On each of these occasions 
every male Israelite was commanded to 
" appear before the Lord," that is, to at- 
tend in the court of the tabernacle or the 
temple, and to make his offering with a 
joyful heart.' Deut. 27 : 7 ; Neh. 8 : 9-12. 
The attendance of women was voluntary, 
but the zealous often went up to the 
passover. On all the days of holy con- 
vocation there was to be an entire sus- 
pension of ordinary labor of all kinds, 
Ex. 12 : 16 ; Lev. 16 : 29 ; 23 : 21, 24, 25, 
35 ; but on the intervening days of the 
longer festivals work might be carried 
on. The agricultural significance of the 
three great festivals is clearly set forth 
in the account of the Jewish sacred year 
contained in Lev. 23. The times of the 
festivals were evidently ordained in wis- 
dom, so as to interfere as little as possible 
with the industry of the people. The 
value of these great religious festivals 
was threefold. (1) JZeligious effects. — 
They preserved the religious faith of the 
nation and religious unity among the 
people. They constantly reminded the 
people of the divinely-wrought deliver- 
ances of the past; promoted gratitude 
and trust ; and testified the reverence of 
the people for the temple and its sacred 
contents. Besides this was the influence 
of well-conducted temple services upon 
the synagogues through the land. (2) 
Political effects. — The unity of the nation 
would be insured by this fusion of the 
tribes ; otherwise they would be likely 
to constitute separate tribal states. They 
would carry back to the provinces glow- 
ing accounts of the wealth, power and 
resources of the country. (3) Social ef- 
fects. — They promoted friendly inter- 
course between travelling companions; 
distributed information through the coun- 
try at a time when the transmission of 
news was slow and imperfect; and im- 
ported into remote provincial districts 
a practical knowledge of all improve- 
ments in arts and sciences. 3. For the 
day of atonement see that article. II. 
After the captivity, the feast of purim, 
Esther 9 : 20, seq., and that of the dedica- 
tion, 1 Mace. 4 : 56, were instituted. 
Fes'tus, Por'cius (Festus means 
192 



festival), successor of Felix as procura- 
tor of Judea, Acts 24 : 27, sent by Nero 
probably in the autumn of a.d. 60. A 
few weeks after Festus reached his prov- 
ince he heard the cause of St. Paul, who 
had been left a prisoner by Felix, in the 
presence of Herod Agrippa II. and Ber- 
: nice his sister, Acts 25 : 11, 12. Judea 
was in the same disturbed state during 
the procuratorship of Festus which had 
prevailed through that of his predecessor. 
He died probably in the summer of A.D. 
60, having ruled the province less than 
two years. 

Fetters. Fetters were for the feet 
only, while chains were for any part of 
the body. They were usually made of 
brass, and also in pairs, the word being 
in the dual number. Iron was occasion- 
ally employed for the purpose. Ps. 105 : 
18; 149:8. 

Field. The Hebrew sadeh is applied 
to any cultivated ground, and in some 
instances in marked opposition to the 
neighboring wilderness. On the other 
hand the sadeh is frequently contrasted 
with what is enclosed, whether a vine- 
yard, a garden or a walled town. In 
many passages the term implies what is 
remote from a house, Gen. 4:8; 24 : 63 ; 
Deut. 22 : 25, or settled habitation, as in 
the case of Esau. Gen. 25 : 27. The sep- 
arate plots of ground were marked off by 
stones, which might easily be removed, 
Deut. 19 : 14 ; 27 : 17 ; cf. Job 24 : 2 ; Prov. 
22 : 28 ; 23 : 10 ; the absence of fences 
rendered the fields liable to damage from 
straying cattle, Ex. 22 : 5, or fire, Ex. 
22 : 6 ; 2 Sam. 14 : 30 ; hence the neces- 
sity of constantly watching flocks and 
herds. From the absence of enclosures, 
cultivated land of any size might be 
termed a field. 

Fig, Fig tree. The fig tree (Ficus 
carica) is very common in Palestine. 
Deut. 8 : 8. Mount Olivet was famous 
for its fig trees in ancient times, and they 
are still found there. To " sit under one's 
own vine and one's own fig tree " became 
a proverbial expression among the Jews 
to denote peace and prosperity. 1 Kings 
4 : 25 ; Micah 4:4; Zech. 3 : 10. The fig 
is a pear-shaped fruit, and is much used 
by the Orientals for food. The young figs 
are especially prized for their sweetness 
and flavor. The fruit always appears 
before the leaves; so that when Christ 
saw leaves on the fig tree by the wayside, 
Mark 11 : 13, he had a right to expect 
fruit. The usual summer crop of fruits 



FIR 



FIR 




sical instruments, 2 Sam. 6:5; for beams and raft- 
ers of houses, 1 Kings 5 : 8, 10 ; 2 Chron. 2:8. It 
was a tall evergreen tree of vigorous growth. 

Fire is represented as the symbol of Jehovah's 
presence and the instrument of his power, in the 
way either of approval or of destruction. Ex. 3 : 2 ; 
14 : 19, etc. There could not be a better symbol for 
Jehovah than this of fire, it being immaterial, 
mysterious, but visible, warming, cheering, com- 
forting, but also terrible and consuming. Parallel 
with this application of fire and with its symbol- 
ical meaning are to be noted the similar use for 
sacrificial purposes and the respect paid to it, or 
to the heavenly bodies as symbols of deity, which 
prevailed among so many nations of antiquity, and 
of which the traces are not even now extinct ; e. g. 
the Sabean and Magian systems of worship. Isa. 
27 : 9. Fire for sacred purposes obtained elsewhere 
than from the altar was called " strange fire," and 
for the use of such Nadab and Abihu were punished 
with death bv fire from God. Lev. 10 : 1, 2 ; Num. 
3:4; 26 : 61. 

Firepan, one of the vessels of the temple ser- 
vice. Ex. 27 : 3 ; 38 : 3 ; 2 Kings 25 : 15 ; Jer. 52 : 19. 
The same word is elsewhere rendered " snuff-dish," 
Ex. 25:38; 37:23; Num. 4:9, and "censer." 



Figs. 



is not gathered till May 
or June; but in the 
sunny ravines of Oli- 
vet fig trees could have 
ripe fruit some weeks 
earlier (Dr. Thomson), 
and it was not strange 
that so early as Easter 
Christ might find the 
young eatable figs, al- 
though it was not the 
usual season for gath- 
ering the fruit. 

Fir. Isaiah 14 : 8 ; 
Ezek. 27 : 5, etc. As 
the term "cedar" is 
in all probability ap- 
plicable to more than 
one tree, so also " fir " 
in the Authorized Ver- 
sion represents proba- 
bly one or other of 
the following trees : 1. 
Pinus sylvestris, or 
Scotch fir ; 2. Larch ; 
3. Cupressus sempervi- 
rens, or cypress, all 
which are at this day 
found in the Lebanon. 
The wood of the fir was 
used for ship-building, 
Ezek. 27:5; for mu- 
13 




Fig Tree. 



193 



FIK 



FIR 



Lev. 10 : 1 ; 16 : 12 ; Num. 16 : 6 ff. There 
appear, therefore, to have been two ar- 
ticles so called : one, like a chafing-dish, 
to carry live coals for the purpose of 
burning incense ; another, like a snuffer- 
dish, to be used in trimming the lamps, 
in order to carry the snuffers and convey 
away the snuff. 
Firkin. [Weights and Measures.] 
Firmament. In Scripture the word 
denotes an expanse, a wide extent; for 
such is the signification of the Hebrew 
word. The original, therefore, does not 
convey the sense of solidity, but of 
stretching, extension ; the great arch or 
expanse over our heads, in which are 
placed the atmosphere and the clouds, 
and in which the stars appear to be 
placed, and are really seen. — Webster. 

First-born. Under the law, in mem- 
ory of the exodus (when the first-born of 
the Egyptians were slain), the eldest son 
was regarded as devoted to God, and was 
in every case to be redeemed by an offer 



commanded, but it was left to the spirit- 
ual and moral sense of each individual. 
2. On the morrow after the passover sab- 
bath, i. e. on the 16th of Nisan, a sheaf 
of new corn was to be brought to the 
priest and waved before the altar, in ac- 
knowledgment of the gift of fruitfulness. 
Lev. 2 : 12 ; 23 : 5, 6, 10, 12. 3. At the 
expiration of seven weeks from this time, 
i. e. at the feast of pentecost, an oblation 
was to be made of two loaves of leavened 
bread made from the new flour, which 
were to be waved in like manner with 
the passover sheaf. Ex. 34 : 22 ; Lev. 23 : 
15, 17 ; Num. 28 : 26. 4. The feast of in- 
gathering, i. e. the feast of tabernacles, 
in the seventh month, was itself an ac- 
knowledgment of the fruits of the har- 
vest. Ex. 23 : 16 ; 34 : 22 ; Lev. 23 : 39. 
These four sorts of offerings were na- 
tional. Besides them, the two following 
were of an individual kind. 5. A cake 
of the first dough that was baked was to 
be offered as a heave offering. Num. 15 : 



mg not exceeding five shekels, within one 19, 21. 6. The first-fruits of the land 
month from birth. If he died before the I were to be brought in a basket to the 
expiration of thirty days, 
the Jewish doctors held the 
father excused, but liable to 
the payment if he outlived 
that time. Ex. 13 : 12-15 ; 22 : 
29; Num. 8:17; 18 : 15, 16; 
Lev. 27 : 6. The eldest son 
received a double portion 
of the father's inheritance, 
Deut. 21 : 17, but not of the 
mother's. Under the mon- 
archy the eldest son usually, 
but not always, as appears 
in the case of Solomon, suc- 
ceeded his father in the king- 
dom. 1 Kings 1 : 30 ; 2 : 22. 
The male first-born of ani- 
mals was also devoted to God. 
Ex. 13:2, 12, 13; 22:29; 34: 
19, 20. Unclean animals were 
to be redeemed with the ad- 
dition of one-fifth of the val- 
ue, or else put to death ; or, 
if not redeemed, to be sold, 
and the price given to the 
priests. Lev. 27 : 13, 27, 28. 

First-fruits. 1. The law 
ordered in general that the 
first of all ripe fruits and of 
liquors, or, as it is twice ex- 
pressed, the first of first-fruits, should be 
offered in God's house. Ex. 22 : 29 ; 23 : 19 ; 
34 : 27. It was an act of allegiance to God 
as the giver of all. No exact quantity was 
194 




Fishes of the Sea of Galilee. 
1. Chromis nilotica. 2. Clarias macracanthus. 3. Labeobarbus canis. 

holy place of God's choice, and there 
presented to the priest, who was to set 
the basket down before the altar. Deut. 
26 : 2-11. The offerings were the per- 



FIS 



FIT 




Fisherman Casting his Net. 

quisite of the priests. Num. 18 : 11 ; Deut. 18 : 4. 
Nehemiah, at the return from captivity, took 
pains to reorganize the offerings of first-fruits of 
both kinds, and to appoint places to receive them. 
Neh. 10 : 35, 37 ; 12 : 44. An offering of first-fruits 
is mentioned as an acceptable one to the prophet 
Elisha. 2 Kings 4 : 42. 

Fish. The Hebrews recognized fish as one of 
the great divisions of the animal kingdom, and as 
such gave them a place in the account of the crea- 
tion, Gen. 1 : 21, 28, as well as in other passages 
where an exhaustive description of living crea- 
tures is intended. Gen. 9:2; Ex. 20 : 4 ; Deut. 4 : 
18 ; 1 Kings 4 : 33. The Mosaic law, Lev. 11 : 9, 
10, pronounced unclean such fish as were devoid 
of fins and scales ; these were and are regarded 
as unwholesome in Egypt. Among the Philis- 
tines Dagon was represented by a figure half man 
and half fish. 1 Sam. 5 : 4. On this account the 
worship of fish is expressly prohibited. Deut. 4 : 
18. In Palestine, the Sea of Galilee was and still 
is remarkably wall stored with fish. (Tristram 
speaks of fourteen species found there, and thinks 
the number inhabiting it at least three times as 
great.) Jerusalem derived its supply chiefly 
from the Mediterranean. Comp. Ezek. 47 : 10. 
The existence of a regular fish-market is implied 
in the notice of the fish-gate, which was probably 
contiguous to it. 2 Chron. 33 : 14 ; Neh. 3:3; 
12 : 39 ; Zeph. 1 : 10. The Orientals are exceed- 
ingly fond of fish as an article of diet. Numerous 
allusions to the art of fishing occur in the Bible. 
The most usual method of catching fish was by 
the use of the net, either the casting net, Ezek. 
26 : 5, 14 ; 47 : 10 ; Hab. 1 : 15, probably resembling 



the one used in 
Egypt, as shown in 
Wilkinson (iii. 55), 
or the draw or drag 
net, Isa. 19:8; Hab. 
1 : 15, which was 
larger, and required 
the use of a boat. 
The latter was prob- 
ably most used on 
the Sea of Galilee, 
as the number of 
boats kept on it was 
very considerable. 

Fitches (i. e. 
Vetches), without 
doubt the Nigella 
sativa, an herba- 
ceous annual plant 
belonging to t he nat- 
ural order Ranun- 
culacece (the butter- 
cup family), which 
grows in the south 
of Europe and in the 




Fennel Flower or Vetches {Nigella 
sativa). 

195 



FLA 



FLY 



north of Africa. Its black seeds are used 
like pepper, and have almost as pungent 
a taste. The Syrians sprinkle these seeds 
over their flat cakes before they are 
baked. [See Rye.] 

Flag. There are two Hebrew words 
rendered " flag " in our Bible : 1. A word 
of Egyptian origin, and denoting "any 
green and coarse herbage, such as rushes 
and reeds, which grows in marshy 
places." Gen. 41 : 2, 18 (here translated 
meadow). It is perhaps the Cyperus es- 
culentus. 2. A word which appears to 
be used in a very wide sense to denote 
" weeds of any kind." Ex. 2:3, 5 ; Isa. 
19:6. 

Flagon, a word employed in the 
Authorized Version to render two dis- 
tinct Hebrew terms : 1. Ashishah, 2 Sam. 
6:19; 1 Chron. 16 : 3 ; Cant. 2:5; Hos. 
3:1. It really means a cake of pressed 
raisins. Such cakes were considered as 
delicacies; they were also offered to 
idols. 2. Nebel, Isa. 22 : 24, is commonly 
used for a bottle or vessel, originally 
probably a skin, but in later times a 
piece of pottery. Isa. 30 : 14. 




Flax. 

Flax, a well-known plant with yel- 
lowish stem and bright-blue flowers. Its 
fibres are employed in the manufacture 
of linen. The root contains an oil, and 
after the oil is expressed is used as a food 
for cattle. Egypt was celebrated for the 
196 



culture of flax and the manufacture of 
linen. The spinning was anciently done 
by women of noble birth. It seems 
probable that the cultivation of flax for 
the purpose of the manufacture of linen 
was by no means confined to Egypt, but 
that, originating in India, it spread over 
Asia at a very early period of antiquity. 
That it was grown in Palestine even be- 
fore the conquest of that country by the 
Israelites appears from Josh. 2 : 6. The 
various processes employed in preparing 
the flax for manufacture into cloth are 
indicated : 1. The drying process. 2. 
The peeling of the stalks and separation 
of the fibres. 3. The hackling. Isa. 19 : 
9. That flax was one of the most im- 
portant crops in Palestine appears from 
Hos. 2 : 5, 9. 

Flea, an insect but twice mentioned 
in Scripture, viz., in 1 Sam. 24: 14; 26 : 
20. Fleas are abundant in the East, and 
afford the subject of many proverbial 
expressions. 

Flesh. [Food.] 

Flint, a well-known stone, a variety 
of quartz. It is extremely hard, and 
strikes fire. It was very abundant in 
and about Palestine. 

Flood. [Noah.] 

Floor. [Gaebatha.] 

Flour. [Bread.] 

Flute (1 Kings 1 : 40, marg., Pipe), a 
musical instrument mentioned amongst 
others, Dan. 3 : 5, 7, 10, 15, as used at the 
worship of the golden image which Neb- 
uchadnezzar had set up. It bore a close 
resemblance to the modern flute, and was 
made of reeds, of copper, and other ma- 
terial. It was the principal wind-instru- 
ment. 

Flux, Bloody, Acts 28 : 8, the same 
as our dysentery, which in the East is, 
though sometimes sporadic, generally 
epidemic and infectious, and then assumes 
its worst form. 

Fly, Flies. The two following He- 
brew terms denote flies of some kind : 1. 
Zebub, which occurs only in Eccles. 10 : 1 
and in Isa. 7 : 18, and is probably a 
generic name for an insect. 2. 'Arab 
(" swarms of flies," " divers sorts of flies," 
Authorized Version), the name of the in- 
sect or insects which God sent to punish 
Pharaoh ; see Ex. 8 : 21-31 ; Ps. 78 : 45 ; 
105 : 31. The question as to what par- 
ticular species is denoted, or whether any 
one species is to be understood, has long 
been a matter of dispute. As the drob 
are said to have filled the houses of the 



FOO 



FOR 



Egyptians, it seems not improbable that 
common liies {Muse idee) are more espec- 
ially intended. The drOb may include 
various species of Culicidce (gnats), such 
as the mosquito ; but the common flies 
are to this day in Egypt regarded as a 
" plague," and are the great instrument 
of spreading the well-known ophthalmia, 
which is conveyed from one individual 
to another by these dreadful pests. " It 
is now generally supposed that the dog- 
fly is meant, which at certain seasons is 
described as a far worse plague than 
mosquitos. The bite is exceedingly sharp 
and painful, causing severe inflamma- 
tion, especially in the eyelids. Coming- 
in immense swarms, they cover all ob- 
jects in black and loathsome masses, and 
attack every exposed part of a traveller's 
person with incredible pertinacity." — 
Cook. 

Food. The diet of eastern nations 
has been in all ages light and simple. 
Vegetable food was more used than ani- 
mal. Bread was the principal food; 
preparations of corn were, however, com- 
mon. The Hebrews used a great variety 
of articles, John 21 : 5, to give a relish to 
bread. Milk and its preparations hold a 
conspicuous place in eastern diet, as af- 
fording substantial nourishment; gener- 
ally in the form of the modern leben, i. e. 
sour milk. Authorized Version "but- 
ter;" Gen. 18:8; Judges 5:25; 2 Sam. 
17 : 29. Fruit was another source of sub- 
sistence : figs stood first in point of im- 
portance ; they were generally dried and 
pressed into cakes. Grapes were gener- 
ally eaten in a dried state as raisins. Of 
vegetables we have most frequent notice 
of lentils, beans, leeks, onions and garlic, 
which were and still are of a superior 
quality in Egypt. Num. 11 : 5. Honey 
is extensively used, as is also olive oil. 

The Orientals have been at all times 
sparing in the use of animal food; not 
only does the excessive heat of the cli- 
mate render it both unwholesome to eat 
much meat and expensive from the ne- 
cessity of immediately consuming a whole 
animal, but beyond this the ritual regu- 
lations of the Mosaic law in ancient, as 
of the Koran in modern, times have 
tended to the same result. The prohibi- 
tion expressed against consuming the 
blood of any animal, Gen. 9 : 4, was more 
fully developed in the Levitical law, and 
enforced by the penal tv of death. Lev. 
3 : 17 ; 7 : 26 ; 19 : 26 ; Deut. 12 : 16. Cer- 
tain portions of the fat of sacrifices were 



| also forbidden, Lev. 3 : 9, 10, as being set 
! apart for the altar. Lev. 3 : 16 ; 7 : 25. 
i In addition to the above, Christians 
j were forbidden to eat the flesh of animals 
I portions of which had been offered to 
idols. All beasts and birds classed as 
unclean, Lev. 11 : 1 ff. ; Deut. 14 : 4 ff., 
were also prohibited. Under these re- 
strictions the Hebrews were permitted 
the free use of animal food : generally 
speaking they only availed themselves 
of it in the exercise of hospitality or at 
festivals of a religious, public or private 
character. It was only in royal house- 
holds that there was a daily consumption 
of meat. The animals killed for meat 
were — calves, lambs, oxen not above 
three years of age, harts, roebucks and 
fallow deer ; birds of various kinds ; fish, 
with the exception of such as were with- 
out scales and fins. Locusts, of which 
certain species only were esteemed clean, 
were occasionally eaten, Matt. 3 : 4, but 
were regarded as poor fare. 

Footman, a word employed in the 
English Bible in two senses : 1. Gener- 
ally, to distinguish those of the fighting 
men who went on foot from those who 
were on horseback or in chariots ; 2. In 
a more special sense, in 1 Sam. 22 : 17 
only, and as the translation of a different 
term from the above — a body of swift 
runners in attendance on the king. This 
body appears to have been afterwards 
kept up, and to have been distinct from 
the body-guard — the six hundred and the 
thirty — who were originated by David. 
See i Kings 14 : 27, 28 ; 2 Kings 11 : 4, 
6, 11, 13, 19; 2 Chron. 12:10, 11. In 
each of these cases the word is the same 
as the above, and is rendered "guard," 
with " runners " in the margin in two in- 
stances— 1 Kings 14 : 27 ; 2 Kings 11 : 13. 

Forehead. The practice of veiling 
the face (forehead) in public for women 
of the higher classes, especially married 
women, in the East, sufficiently stigma- 
tizes with reproach the unveiled face of 
women of bad character. Gen. 24 : 65 ; 
Jer. 3 : 3. The custom among many 
Oriental nations both of coloring the face 
and forehead and of impressing on the 
body marks indicative of devotion to 
some special deity or religious sect is 
mentioned elsewhere. The "jewels for 
the forehead," mentioned by Ezekiel, ' 
16 : 12, and in margin of Authorized Ver- 
sion, Gen. 24 : 22, were in all probability 
nose-rings. Isa. 3 : 21. 

Forest. Although Palestine has 
■ 197 



FOR 



FRA 



never been in historical times a woodland 
country, yet there can be no doubt that 
there was much more wood formerly 
than there is at present, and that the de- 
struction of the forests was one of the 
chief causes of the present desolation. 

Fortifications. [Fenced cities.] 

Fortuna'tus {fortunate), 1 Cor. 
16 : 17, one of three Corinthians, 
the others being Stephanas and 
Acha'icus, who were at Ephesus 
when St. Paul wrote his first epis- 
tle. There is a Fortunatus men- 
tioned in the end of Clement's first 
epistle to the Corinthians, who was 
possibly the same person. 

Fountain (a spring, in distinc- 
tion from a well). The springs of 
Palestine, though short-lived, are 
remarkable for their abundance 
and beauty, especially those which 
fall into the Jordan and into its 
lakes, of which there are hundreds 
throughout its whole course. The 
spring or fountain of living water, 
the "eye" of the landscape, is dis- 
tinguished in all Oriental lan- 
guages from the artificially-sunk 
and enclosed well. Jerusalem ap- 
pears to have possessed either more 
than one perennial spring or one 
issuing by more than one outlet. In Ori- 
ental cities generally public fountains 
are frequent. Traces of such fountains 
at Jerusalem may perhaps be found in 
the names of Enrogel, 2 
the " Dragon well " or fountain, and the 
"gate of the fountain." Neh. 2 : 13, 14. 

Fowl. Several distinct Hebrew and 
Greek words are thus rendered in the 
English Bible. Of these the most corn- 



have easily caught three hundred foxes, 
but it was easy to catch that number of 
jackals, which are concealed by hundreds 
in the caves and ruins of Syria. It is not 
probable, however, that Samson sent out 
the whole three hundred at once. With 
respect to the jackals and foxes of Pales- 




Syrian Fox. 



tine, there is no doubt that the common 
jackal of the country is the Canis aureus, 
which may be heard every night in the 
villages. It is like a medium-sized dog, 
Sam. 17 : 17, j with a head like a wolf, and is of a bright- 
yellow color. These beasts devour the 
bodies of the dead, and even dig them up 
from their graves. 

Frankincense, a vegetable resin, 
brittle, glittering, and of a bitter taste, 
mon is 'oph, which is usually a collective j used for the purpose of sacrificial fumiga- 



term for all kinds of birds. In 1 Kinofs 
4 : 23, among the daily provisions for 
Solomon's table "fatted fowl" are in- 



tion. Ex. 30:34-36. It was called frank 
because of the freeness with which, when 
burned, it gives forth its odor. It burns 



eluded. In the New Testament the word j for a long time, with a steady flame. It 



translated " fowls " is most frequently 
that which comprehends all kinds of 
birds (including ravens, Luke 12 : 24). 
[Sparrow.] 

Fox (Heb. shiVdl). Probably the 
jackal is the animal signified in almost 
all the passages in the Old Testament 
where the Hebrew term occurs. Though 
both foxes and jackals abound in Pales- 
tine, the shu'dlim (foxes) of Judges 15 : 4 
are evidently jackals and not foxes, 
for the former animal is gregarious, 
whereas the latter is solitary in its habits ; 
and Samson could not, for that reason, 
198 



is obtained by successive incisions in the 
bark of a tree called Arbor thuris. The 
first incision yields the purest and whitest 
resin, while the product of the after in- 
cisions is spotted with yellow, and loses 
its whiteness altogether as it becomes old. 
The Hebrews imported their frankincense 
from Arabia, Isa. 60 : 6 ; Jer. 6 : 20, and 
more particularly from Saba ; but it is 
remarkable that at present the Arabian 
libanum or olibanum is of a very inferior 
kind, and that the finest frankincense 
imported into Turkey comes through 
Arabia from the islands of the Indian 



FEO 



FUL 



Archipelago. There can be little doubt 
that the tree which produces the Indian 
frankincense is the Boswellia serrata of 
Roxburgh, or Boswellia thurifera of 




Frankincense. 

Colebrooke, and bears some resemblance 
when young to the mountain ash. It 
grows to be forty feet high. 

Frog, a well-known amphibious an- 
imal of the genus Rana. The mention 
of this reptile in the Old Testament is 
confined to the passage in Ex. 8 : 2-7, etc., 
in which the plague of frogs is described, 
and to Ps. 78 : 45 ; 105 : 30. In the New 
Testament the word occurs once only, in 
Rev. 16 : 13. There is no question as to 
the animal meant. The only known spe- 
cies of frog which occurs at present in 
Egypt is the Rana esculenta, the edible 
frog of the continent. 




These " frontlets " or " phylacteries " were 
strips of parchment, on which were writ- 
ten four passages of Scripture, Ex. 13 : 2- 
10, 11-17 ; Deut. 6 : 4-9, 13-23, in an ink 
prepared for the purpose. They were 
then rolled up in a case of black calf- 
skin, which was attached to a stiffer 
piece of leather, having a thong one 
finger broad and one and a half cubits 
long. They were placed at the bend 
of the left arm. Those worn on the 
forehead were written on four strips 
of parchment, and put into four little 
cells within a square case on which the 
letter ty was written. The square had 
two thongs, on which Hebrew letters 
were inscribed. That phylacteries were 
used as amulets is certain, and was very 
natural. The expression ''they make 
broad their phylacteries," Matt. 23 : 5, 
refers not so much to the phylactery 
itself, Avhich seems to have been of a 
prescribed breadth, as to the case in 
which the parchment was kept, which 
the Pharisees, among their other pre- 




Arm Phylactery. 

Frontlets, or Phylacteries. Ex. 

13 : 16 ; Deut. 6:8: 11 : 18 ; Matt. 23 : 5. 



The Phylactery. 

tentious customs, Mark 7:3, 4 ; Luke 
5 : 33, etc., made as conspicuous as they 
could. It is said that the Pharisees wore 
them always, whereas the common peo- 
ple only used them at prayers. 

Fuller. The trade of the fullers, so 
far as it is mentioned in Scripture, ap- 
pears to have consisted chiefly in cleans- 
ing garments and whitening them. The 
process of fulling or cleansing clothes con- 
sisted in treading or stamping on the gar- 
ments with the feet or with bats in tubs 
of water, in which some alkaline substance 
answering the purpose of soap had been 
dissolved. The substances used for this 
■ 199 



FUL 



FUK 



purpose which are mentioned in Scripture 
are natron, Pro v. 25 : 20 ; Jer. 2 : 22, and 
soap. Mai. 3 : 2. Other substances also 
are mentioned as being employed in 
cleansing, which, together with alkali, 
seem to identify the Jewish with the Ro- 
man process, as urine and chalk. The 
process of whitening garments was per- 
formed by rubbing into them chalk or 
earth of some kind. Creta cimolia (cim- 
olite) was probably the earth most fre- 
quently used. The trade of the fullers, 
as causing offensive smells, and also as 
requiring space for drying clothes, ap- 
pears to have been carried on at Jeru- 
salem outside the city. 

Fuller's field, The, a spot near Jeru- 
salem, 2 Kings 18:17; Isa. 7:3; 36 : 2, 
so close to the walls that a person speak- 
ing from there could be heard on them. 
2 Kings 18 : 17, 26. One resort of the 
fullers of Jerusalem would seem to have 
been below the city on the southeast side. ! 
200 



But Rabshakeh and his "great host" 
must have come from the north ; and the 
fuller's field was therefore, to judge 
from this circumstance, on the table-land 
on the northern side of the city. 
Funerals. | Burial.] 
Furlong. [Weights and Meas- 
ures.] 

Furnace. Various kinds of furnaces 
are noticed in the Bible, such as a smelt- 
ing or calcining furnace, Gen. 19 : 28 ; 
Ex. 9 : 8, 10 ; 19 : 18, especially a lime- 
kiln, Isa. 33 : 12 ; Amos 2 : 1 ; a refining 
furnace, Prov. 17:3; Nebuchadnezzar's 
furnace, a large furnace built like a brick- 
kiln, Dan. 3 : 22, 23, with two openings, 
one at the top for putting in the materials, 
and another below for removing them ; 
the potter's furnace, Ecclus. 27 : 5 ; the 
blacksmith's furnace. Ecclus. 38 : 28. 
The Persians were in the habit of using 
the furnace as a means of inflicting pun- 
| ishment. Dan. 3 : 22, 23 ; Jer. 29 : 22. 



GAA 



GAD 



G. 



Ga'al {contempt), son of Ebed, aided 
the Shechemites in their rebellion against 
Abimelech. Judges 9. (B.C. 1206.) 

Ga'ash {earthquake), a hill of Ephra- 
im, where Joshua was buried. The 
brooks or valley of Gaash, 2 Sam. 23 : 30; 

1 Chron. 11 : 32, were probably at the foot 
of the hill. 

Ga'ba. The same name as Geba, 
which see. 

Gab'atha. Esther 12 : h [Bigthan.] 

Gab'ba-i {tax-gatherer), apparently 
the head of an important family of Ben- 
jamin resident at Jerusalem. Neh. 11:8. 
(B.C. before 536.) 

Gabbatha {elevated; a platform), 
the Hebrew or Chaldee appellation of a 
place, also called " Pavement," where the 

i'udgment-seat or bema was planted, from 
is place on which Pilate delivered our 
Lord to death. John 19 : 13. It was a 
tessellated platform outside the prseto- 
rium, on the western hill of Jerusalem, 
for Pilate brought Jesus forth from thence 
to it. 

Ga'briel {man of God), an angel sent 
by God to announce to Zacharias the birth 
of John the Baptist, and to Mary the 
birth of Christ. He was also sent to 
Daniel to explain his visions. Dan. 8:16; 
9 : 21. 

Gad {a troop). 1. Jacob's seventh 
son, the first-born of Zilpah, Leah's maid, 
and whole-brother to Asher. Gen. 30 : 11- 
13 ; 46 : 16, 18. (B.C. 1753-1740.) 

2. "The seer," or "the king's seer," 
i. e. David's, 1 Chron. 29 : 29 ; 2 Chron. 
29 : 25 ; was a "prophet" who appears to 
have joined David when in the hold. 1 
Sam. 22 : 5. (B.C. 1061.) He reappears 
in connection with the punishment in- 
llicted for the numbering of the people. 

2 Sam. 24:11-19; 1 Chron. 21:9-19. 
He wrote a book of the Acts of David, 
1 Chron. 29 : 29, and also assisted in the 
arrangements for the musical service of 
the "house of God." 2 Chron. 29 : 25. 

Gad, The tribe of. The country 
allotted to the tribe of Gad appears, speak- 
ing roughly, to have lain chiefly about 
the centre of the land east of Jordan. 
The south of that district — from the Ar- 
non ( Wady Mojeb), about halfway down 
the Dead Sea, to Heshbon, nearly due 



| east of Jerusalem — was occupied by Reu- 
| ben, and at or about Heshbon the pos- 
sessions of Gad commenced. They em- 
braced half Gilead, Deut. 3 : 12, or half 
the land of the children of Amnion, 
Josh. 13 : 25, probably the mountainous 
district which is intersected by the tor- 
rent Jabbok, including, as its most north- 
ern town, the ancient sanctuary of Ma- 
hanaim. On the east the furthest land- 
mark given is " Aroer that is before Kab- 
bah," the present Amman. Josh. 13 : 25. 
West was the Jordan, ver. 27. The char- 
acter of the tribe is throughout strongly 
marked — fierce and warlike. 

Gad'ites, The, the descendants of 
Gad, and members of his tribe. 

Gad'ara, a strong city situated near 
the river Hieromax, six miles southeast 
of the Sea of Galilee, over against Scy- 
thopolis and Tiberias, and 16 Roman 
miles distant from each of those places. 
Josephus calls it the capital of Persea. 
The ruins of this city, now called Urn 
Keis, are about two miles in circumfer- 
ence. The most interesting remains of 
Gadara are its tombs, which dot the cliffs 
for a considerable distance around the 
city. Godet says there is still a popula- 
tion of 200 souls in these tombs. Gadara 
was captured by Vespasian on the first 
outbreak of the war with the Jews, all 
its inhabitants were massacred, and the 
town itself, with the surrounding villages, 
was reduced to ashes. 

Gadarenes', Girgesenes', Gera- 
senes'. (These three names are used 
indiscriminately to designate the place 
where Jesus healed two demoniacs. The 
first two are in the Authorized Version. 
Matt. 8 : 28 ; Mark 5:1; Luke 8 : 26. In 
Mark and Luke the Revised Version uses 
Gerasenes in place of Gadarenes. The 
miracle referred to took place, without 
doubt, near the town of Gergesa, the 
modern Kersn, close by the eastern shore 
of the Sea of Galilee, and hence in the 
country of the Gergesenes. But as Ger- 
gesa was a small village, and little known, 
the evangelists, who wrote for more dis- 
tant readers, spoke of the event as taking 
place in the country of the Gadarenes, 
so named from its largest city, Gadara ; 
and this country included the country 
201 



GAD 



GAL 



of the Gergesenes as a state includes a 
county. The Gerasenes were the people 
of the district of which Gerasa was the 
capital. This city was better known than 
Gadara or Gergesa ; indeed in the Roman 
age no city of Palestine was better known. 
" it became one of the proudest cities of 
Syria." It was situated some 30 miles 
southeast of Gadara, on the borders of 
Persea, and a little north of the river 
Jabbok. It is now called Jerash, and 
is a deserted ruin. The district of the 
Gerasenes probably included that of the 
Gadarenes ; so that the demoniac of Ger- 
gesa belonged to the country of the Ga- 
darenes and also to that of the Gerasenes, 
as the same person may, with equal truth, 
be said to live in the city or the state, or 
in the United States. For those near by 
the local name would be used; but 
in writing to a distant people, as the 
Greeks and Romans, the more compre- 
hensive and general name would be given. 
—Ed.) 

Gad'di {fortunate), son of Susi; the 
Manassite spy sent by Moses to explore 
Canaan. Num. 13 : 11. (B.C. 1490.) 

Gad'diel {fortune of God), a, Zebulun- 
ite, one of the twelve spies. Num. 13": 10. 
(B.C. 1490.) 

Ga'di, a Gadite, father of Menahem, 
a king of Israel. 2 Kings 15 : 14, 17. 

Ga'ham {sunburnt), son of Nahor, 
Abraham's brother, by his concubine 
Reumah. Gen. 22 : 24. (B.C. about 1900.) 

Ga'har {hiding-place). The Berie- 
Gahar were among the families of Neth- 
inim who returned from the captivity 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 47 ; Neh. 7 : 
49. (B.C. before 536.) 

Gai'us,or Cai'us {lord). 1. A Mace- 
donian who accompanied Paul in his 
travels, and whose life was in danger from 
the mob at Ephesus. Acts 19 : 29. ( a.d. 54. ) 

2. Of Derbe. He went with Paul from 
Corinth in his last journey to Jerusalem. 
Acts 20: 4. (a.d. 55.) 

3. Of Corinth, whom Paul baptized, 
and who was his host in his second sojourn 
in that city. 1 Cor. 1:14; Rom. 16 : 23. 
(These are supposed by some to be only 
one person.) 

4. John's third epistle is addressed to a 
Christian of this name. We may possi- 
bly identify him with No. 2. 

Gal 'a -ad, the Greek form of the 
word Gilead. 

Ga'lal {influential). 1. A Levite, one 
of the sons of Asaph. 1 Chron. 9 : 15. 
(B.C. 536.) 
202 



2. Another Levite, of the family of 
Elkanah. 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 

3. A third Levite, son of Jeduthun. 
Neh. 11 : 17. (B.C. 536.) 

Gala'tia {land of the Galli, Gauls). 
The Roman province of Galatia may be 
roughly described as the central region 
of the peninsula of Asia Minor, bounded 
on the north by Bithynia and Paphla- 
gonia; on the east by Pontus; on the 
south by Cappadocia and Lycaonia ; on 
the west by Phrygia. — Encyc. Brit. It 
derived its name from the Gallic or 
Celtic tribes who, about 280 B.C., made 
an irruption into Macedonia and Thrace. 
It finally became a Roman province. 
The Galatia of the New Testament was 
really the " Gaul " of the East. The 
people have always been described as 
" susceptible of quick impressions and 
sudden changes, with a fickleness equal 
to their courage and enthusiasm, and a 
constant liability to that disunion which 
is the fruit of excessive vanity. The 
Galatian churches were founded by Paul 
at his first visit, when he was detained 
among them by sickness, Gal. 4 : 13, 
during his second missionary journey, 
about A.D. 51. He visited them again on 
his third missionary tour. 

Gala'tians, The Epistle to the, 
was written by the apostle St. Paul not 
long after his journey through Galatia 
and Phrygia, Acts 18 : 23, and probably 
in the early portion of his two-and-a-half- 
years stay at Ephesus, which terminated 
with the Pentecost of A.D. 57 or 58. The 
epistle appears to have been called forth 
by the machinations of Judaizing teach- 
ers, who, shortly before the date of its 
composition, had endeavored to seduce 
the churches of this province into a rec- 
ognition of circumcision, Gal. 5 : 2, 11, 
12 ; 6 : 12, seq., and had openly sought to 
depreciate the apostolic claims of St. 
Paul. Comp. 1 : 1, 11. " Since the days 
of Luther the Epistle to the Galatians 
has always been held in high esteem as 
the gospel's banner of freedom. To it 
and the Epistle to the Romans we owe 
most directly the springing up and de- 
velopment of the ideas and energies of 
the Reformation." — Meyer. 

Galbanum, one of the perfumes em- 
ployed in the preparation of the sacred 
incense. Ex. 30 : 34. The galbanum of 
commerce is brought chiefly from India 
and the Levant. It is a resinous gum of 
a brownish-yellow color and strong dis- 
agreeable smell, usually met with in 



GAL 



GAL 



masses, but sometimes found in yellow- ■ 
ish tear-like drops. But, though gal- 
banum itself is well known, the plant ! 
which yields it has not been exactly [ 
determined. 

Gal'e-ed {the heap of witness), the 
name given by Jacob to the heap which . 
he and Laban made on Mount Gilead 
in witness of the covenant then entered 
into between them. Gen. 31 : 47, 48 ; 
comp. 23, 25. 

Galile'ans, the inhabitants of Gali- 
lee, the northern province of Palestine. 
The apostles were all Galileans by either 
birth or residence. Acts 1:11. It ap- 
pears also that the pronunciation of those 
Jews who resided in Galilee had become 
peculiar, probably from their contact 
with their Gentile neighbors. Matt. 26 : 
73. 

Gal'ilee {circuit). This name, which 
in the Roman age was applied to a large 
province, seems to have been originally 
confined to a little " circuit" of country 
round Kedesh-Naphtali, in which were 
situated the twenty towns given by Solo- 
mon to Hiram king of Tyre as payment 
for his work in conveying timber from 
Lebanon to Jerusalem. Josh. 20 : 7 ; 1 
Kings 9 : 11. In the time of our Lord 
all Palestine was divided into three prov- 
inces, Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Luke 
17 : 11 ; Acts 9:31; Joseph. B. J. iii. 3. 
The latter included the whole northern 
section of the country, including the 
ancient territories of Issachar, Zebulun, 
Asher and Naphtali. On the west it was 
bounded by the territory of Ptolemais, 
which probably included the whole plain 
of Akka to the foot of Carmel. The 
southern border ran along the base of 
Carmel and of the hills of Samaria to 
Mount Gilboa, and then descended the 
valley of Jezreel by Scythopolis to the 
Jordan. The river Jordan, the Sea of 
Galilee, and the upper Jordan to the 
fountain at Dan, formed the eastern bor- 
der; and the northern ran from Dan 
westward across the mountain ridge till 
it touched the territory of the Phoenicians. 
Galilee was divided into two sections, 
" Lower" and " Upper." Lower Galilee 
included the great plain of Esdraelon 
with its offshoots, which run down to the 
Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias, and 
the whole of the hill country adjoining 
it on the north to the foot of the mount- 
ain range. It was thus one of the rich- 
est and most beautiful sections of Pales- 
tine. Upper Galilee embraced the whol e 



mountain range lying between the upper 
Jordan and Phoenicia. To this region 
the name "Galilee of the Gentiles" is 
given in the Old and New Testaments, 
isa. 9:1; Matt. 4 : 15. Galilee was the 
scene of the greater part of our Lord's 
private life and public acts. It is a re- 
markable fact that the first three Gospels 
are chiefly taken up with our Lord's 
ministrations in this province, while the 
Gospel of John dwells more upon those 
in Judea. 

{Galilee in the time of Christ. — From 
Rev. Selah Merrill's late book (1881) with 
this title, we glean the following facts : 

Size. — It is estimated that of the 6000 
square miles in Palestine west of the 
Jordan, nearly one-third, almost 2000 
square miles, belongs to Galilee. 

Population. — The population is be- 
tween 2,000,000 and 3,000,000. Dr. Mer- 
rill argues for the general correctness of 
Josephus' estimates, who says there were 
204 cities and villages in Galilee, the 
smallest of which numbered 15,000 in- 
habitants. 

Character of the country. — Galilee was 
a region of great natural fertility. Such 
is the fertility of the soil that it rejects no 
plant, for the air is so genial that it suits 
every variety. The walnut, which de- 
lights above other trees in a wintry cli- 
mate, grows here luxuriantly, together 
with the palm tree, which is nourished 
by heat. It not only possesses the extra- 
ordinary virtue of nourishing fruits of 
opposite climes, but also maintains a 
continual supply of them. Here were 
found all the productions which made 
Italy rich and beautiful. Forests cov- 
ered its mountains and hills, while its 
uplands, gentle slopes and broader val- 
leys were rich in pasture, meadows, cul- 
tivated fields, vineyards, olive groves and 
fruit trees of every kind. 

Character of the Galileans. — They were 
thoroughly a Jewish people. With few 
exceptions they were wealthy and in 
general an influential class. If one 
should say the Jews were bigoted in re- 
ligion, he should remember at the same 
time that in regard to social, commercial 
and political relations none were more 
cosmopolitan in either sentiment or prac- 
tice than they. The Galileans had many 
manufactures, fisheries, some commerce, 
but were chiefly an agricultural people. 
They were eminent for patriotism and 
courage, as were their ancestors, with 
great respect for law and order. — Ed.) 

• 203 



GAL 



GAM 



Gal'ilee, Sea of. So called from the 
province of Galilee, which bordered on its 
western side. Matt. 4 : 18. It was also 
called the "Sea of Tiberias," from the 
celebrated city of that name. John 6 : 1. 
At its northwestern angle was a beautiful 
and fertile plain called " Gennesaret," 
and from that it derived the name of 
" Lake of Gennesaret." Luke 5:1. It 
was called in the Old Testament "the 
Sea of Chinnereth" or "Cinneroth," 
Num. 34 : 11 ; Josh. 12 : 3, from a town of 
that name which stood on or near its 
shore. Josh. 19 : 35. Its modern name 
is Bahr Tubariyeh. Most of our Lord's 
public life was spent in the environs of 
this sea. The surrounding region was 
then the most densely peopled in all 
Palestine. No less than nine very popu- 
lous cities stood on the very shores of the 
lake. The Sea of Galilee is of an oval 
shape, about thirteen geographical miles 
long and six broad. It is 60 miles north- 
east of Jerusalem and 27 east of the 
Mediterranean Sea. The river Jordan 
enters it at its northern end and passes 
out at its southern end. In fact the bed 
of the lake is just a lower section of the 
great Jordan valley. Its most remark- 
able feature is its deep depression, being 
no less than 700 feet below the level of 
the ocean. The scenery is bleak and 
monotonous, being surrounded by a high 
and almost unbroken wall of hills, on 
account of which it is exposed to frequent 
sudden and violent storms. The great 
depression makes the climate of the 
shores almost tropical. This is very sen- 
sibly felt by the traveller in going down 
from the plains of Galilee. In summer 
the heat is intense, and even in early 
spring the air has something of an Egyp- 
tian balminess. The water of the lake 
is sweet, cool and transparent; and as 
the beach is everywhere pebbly it has a 
beautiful sparkling look. It abounds in 
fish now as in ancient times. There were 
large fisheries on the lake, and much 
commerce was carried on upon it. 

Gall. 1. Mereerah, denoting "that 
which is bitter;" hence the term is ap- 
plied to the "bile" or "gall" (the fluid 
secreted by the liver), from its intense 
bitterness, Job 16 : 13 ; 20 : 25 ; it is also 
used of the "poison" of serpents, Job 
20 : 14, which the ancients erroneously 
believed was their gall. 2. Rosh, gener- 
ally translated "gall" in the English 
Bible, is in Hos. 10 : 4 rendered " hem- 
lock :" in Deut. 32 : 33 and Job 20 : 16, 
204 



rosh denotes the " poison" or "venom " 
of serpents. From Deut. 29 : 18 and 
Lam. 3 ; 19, compared with Hos. 10 : 4, it 
is evident that the Hebrew term denotes 
some bitter and perhaps poisonous plant. 
Other writers have supposed, and with 
some reason, from Deut. 32 : 32, that 
some berry-bearing plant must be in- 
tended. Gesenius understands poppies; 
in which case the gall mingled with the 
wine offered to our Lord at his crucifix- 
ion, and refused by him, would be an 
ansesthetic, and tend to diminish the 
sense of suffering. Dr. Richardson, ' ' Ten 
Lectures on Alcohol," p. 23, thinks these 
drinks were given to the crucified to di- 
minish the suffering through their in- 
toxicating effects. 

Gallery, an architectural term de- 
scribing the porticos or verandas which 
are not uncommon in eastern houses. It 
is doubtful, however, whether the He- 
brew words so translated have any refer- 
ence to such an object. (According to 
the latest researches, the colonnade or else 
wainscoting is meant. S. of Sol. 1 : 17 ; 
Ezek. 41 : 15.— Schaff.) 

Galley. [Ship.J 

Gal'lim ( fountains). This is given 
as the native place of the man to whom 
Michal, David's wife, was given. 1 Sam. 
25 : 44. There is no clue to the situation 
of the place. The name occurs again in 
the catalogue of places terrified at the 
approach of Sennacherib. Isa. 10 : 30. 

Gal'lio {one who lives on milk), Juni- 
us Annseus Gallio, the Roman proconsul 
of Achaia when St. Paul was at Corinth, 
A.D. 53, under the emperor Claudius. 
Acts 18 : 12. He was brother to Lucius 
Anna?us Seneca, the philosopher. Jerome 
in the Chronicle of Eusebius says that 
he committed suicide in 65 A.D. Winer 
thinks he was put to death by Nero. 
Gallows. [Punishments.] 
Gama'liel {recompense of God). 1. 
Son of Pedahzur ; prince or captain of 
! the tribe of Manasseh at the census at 
Sinai, Num. 1 : 10; 2 : 20 ; 7 : 54, 59, and 
! at starting on the march through the 
j wilderness, ch. 10 : 23. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. A Pharisee and celebrated doctor of 
the law, who gave prudent worldly ad- 
vice in the Sanhedrin respecting the 
' treatment of the followers of Jesus of 
| Nazareth. Acts 5 : 34 ff. (A.D. 29.) We 
j learn from Acts 22 : 3 that he was the 
preceptor of St. Paul. He is generally 
identified with the very celebrated Jew- 
ish doctor Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel, 



GAM 



GAR 



and who is referred to as authority in the 
Jewish Mishna. 

Games. Among the Greeks the rage 
for theatrical exhibitions was such that 
every city of any size possessed its thea- 
tre and stadium. At Ephesus an annual 
contest was held in honor of Diana. It 
is probable that St. Paul was present 
when these games were proceeding. A 
direct reference to the exhibitions that 
took place on such occasions is made in 
1 Cor. 15 : 32. St. Paul's epistles abound 
with allusions to the Greek contests, bor- 
rowed probably from the Isthmian games, 
at which he may well have been present 
during his first visit to Corinth. These 
contests^ 1 Tim. 6 : 12 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 7, were 
divided into two classes, the pancratium, 
consisting of boxing and wrestling, and 
the pentathlon, consisting of leaping, 
running, quoiting, hurling the spear and 
wrestling. The competitors, 1 Cor. 9 : 
25 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 5, required a long and se- 
vere course of previous training, 1 Tim. 
4, 8, during which a particular diet was 
enforced. 1 Cor. 9 : 25, 27. In the Olym- 
pic contests these preparatory exercises 
extended over a period of ten months, 
during the last of which they were con- 
ducted under the supervision of appoint- 
ed officers. The contests took place in 
the presence of a vast multitude of spec- 
tators, Heb. 12 : 1, the competitors being 
the spectacle. 1 Cor. 4:9; Heb. 10 : 33. 
The games were opened by the proclama- 
tion of a herald, 1 Cor. 9 : £7, whose office 
it was to give out the name and country 
of each candidate, and especially to an- 
nounce the name of the victor before the 
assembled multitude. The judge was 
selected for his spotless integrity, 2 Tim. 
4:8; his office was to decide any dis- 
putes, Col. 3 : 15, and to give the prize, 1 
Cor. 9 : 24 ; Phil. 3 : 14, consisting of a 
crown, 2 Tim. 2:5; 4 : 8, of leaves' of 
wild olive at the Olympic games, and of 
pine, or at one period ivy, at the Isthmian 
games. St. Paul alludes to two only out 
of the five contests, boxing and running, 
more frequently to the latter. The Jews 
had no public games, the great feasts of 
religion supplying them with anniver- 
sarv occasions of national gatherings. 

Gam'madim. This word occurs only 
in Ezek. 27 : 11. A variety of explana- 
tions of the term have been offered. 1. 
One class renders it "pygmies." 2. A 
second treats it as a geographical or local 
term. 3. A third gives a more general 
sense to the word " brave warriors." 
206 



Hitzig suggests "deserters." After all, 
the rendering in the LXX. — " guards " — 
furnishes the simplest explanation. 

Ga'mul (weaned), a priest, the leader 
of the twenty-second course in the service 
of the sanctuary. 1 Chron. 24 : 17. (B.C. 
535.) 

Garden. Gardens in the East, as the 
Hebrew word indicates, are enclosures 
on the outskirts of towns, planted with 
various trees and shrubs. From the 
allusions in the Bible we learn that they 
were surrounded by hedges of thorn, Isa. 
5 : 5, or walls of stone. Prov. 24 : 31. For 
further protection lodges, Isa. 1:8; Lam. 
2:6, or watchtowers, Mark 12 : 1, were 
built in them, in which sat the keeper, 
Job 27 : 18, to drive away the wild beasts 
and robbers, as is the case to this day. 
The gardens of the Hebrews were planted 
with flowers and aromatic shrubs, Cant. 
G : 2 ; 4 : 16, besides olives, fig trees, nuts 
or walnuts, Cant. 6 : 12, pomegranates, 
and others for domestic use. Ex. 23 : 11 ; 
Jer. 29 : 5 ; Amos 9 : 14. Gardens of herbs, 
or kitchen gardens, are mentioned in 
Deut. 11 : 10 and 1 Kings 21 : 2. The rose 
garden in Jerusalem, said to have been 
situated westward of the temple mount, 
is remarkable as having been one of the 
few gardens which, from the time of the 
prophets, existed within the city walls. 
The retirement of gardens rendered them 
favorite places for devotion. 

Ga'reb (scabby), one of the heroes of 
David's army. 2 Sam. 23 : 38. 

Ga'reb, The hill, in the neighbor- 
hood of Jerusalem, named only in Jer. 
31 : 39. 

Garlic, Num. 11 : 5, is the Allium sa- 
tivum of Linnaeus, which abounds in 
Egypt. 

Garment. [Deess.] 

Gar'mite, The. Keilah the Gar- 
mite, i. e. the descendant of Gerem, is 
mentioned in the obscure genealogical 
lists of the families of Judah. 1 Chron. 
4: 19. 

Gash'mu, a variation of the name 
Geshem. Neh. 6 : 6. (B.C. 446.) 

Ga'tara (a burnt valley), the fourth 
son of Eliphaz the son of Esau, Gen. 36 : 
11 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 36, and one of the 
" dukes" of Eliphaz. Gen. 36 : 16. (B.C. 
after 1760.) 

Garrison. The Hebrew words so 
rendered in the Authorized Version are 
derivatives from the root ndtsab, to 
"place, erect," which may be applied 
to a variety of objects. 1. Mattsab and 



GAT 



GAZ 



mattsabah undoubtedly mean a " garri- 
son" or fortified post. 1 Sam. 13 : 23 ; 14 : 
1, 4, 12, 15 ; 2 Sam. 23 : 14. 2. Netsib is 
also used for a " garrison " in 1 Chron. 
11 : 16, but elsewhere for a " column " 
erected in an enemy's country as a token 
of conquest. 1 Sam. 13 : 3. 3. The same 
word elsewhere means " officers " placed 
over a vanquished people. 2 Sam. 8 : 6, 
14 ; 1 Chron. 18 : 13 ; 2 Chron. 17 : 2. 4. 
Mattsebah in Ezek. 26 : 11 means a " pil- 
lar." 

Gate. The gates and gateways of 
eastern cities anciently held and still 
hold an important part, not only in the 
defence but in the public economy of the 
place. They are thus sometimes taken 
as representing the city itself. Gen. 22 : 
17 ; 24 : 60 ; Deut. 12 : 12 ; Judges 5:8; 
Ruth 4 : 10 ; Ps. 87 : 2 ; 122 : 2. Among 
the special purposes for which they were 
used may be mentioned — 1. As places of 
public resort. Gen. 19:1; 23 : 10 ; 34 : 

20, 24 ; 1 Sam. 4 : 18, etc. 2. Places for j 
public deliberation, administration of 
justice, or of audience for kings and 
rulers or ambassadors. Deut. 16 : 18 ; 21 : 
19; 25 : 7 ; Josh. 20 : 4; Judges 9 : 35, etc. 
3. Public markets. 2 Kings 7:1. In 
heathen towns the open spaces near the 
gates appear to have been sometimes used 
as places for sacrifice. Acts 14 : 13 ; comp. 
2 Kings 23 : 8. Regarded therefore as 
positions of great importance, the gates 
of cities were carefully guarded, and 
closed at nightfall. Deut. 3:5; Josh. 2 : 
5, 7 ; Judges 9 : 40, 44. They contained 
chambers over the gateway. 2 Sam. 18 : 
24. The doors themselves of the larger 
gates mentioned in Scripture were two- 
leaved, plate J with metal, closed with 
locks and fastened with metal bars. Deut. 
3:5; Ps. 107 : 16 ; Isa. 45 : 1 2. Gates 
not defended by iz-on were of course lia- 
ble to be set on fire by an enemy. Judges 
9 : 52. The gateways of royal palaces 
and even of private houses were often 
richly ornamented. Sentences from the 
law were inscribed on and above the 
gates. Deut. 6:9; Isa. 54 : 12 ; Rev. 21 : 

21. The gates of Solomon's temple were 
very massive and costly, being overlaid 
with gold and carvings. 1 Kings 6 : 34, 
35 ; 2 Kings 18 : 16. Those of the holy 
place were of olive wood, two-leaved and 
overlaid with gold ; those of the temple 
of fir. 1 Kings 6 : 31, 32, 34 ; Ezek. 41 : 
23, 24. 

Gath (a wine-press), one of the five 
royal cities of the Philistines, Josh. 13 : 



3 ; 1 Sam. 6 : 17, and the native place of 
the giant Goliath. 1 Sam. 17 : 4, 23. It 
probably stood upon the conspicuous hill 
now called Tell-es-Sdfieh, upon the side 
of the plain of Philistia, at the foot of 
the mountains of Judah; 10 miles east 
of Ashdod, and about the same distance 
south by east of Ekron. It is irregular 
in form, and about 200 feet high. Gath 
occupied a strong position, 2 Chron. 11 : 
8, on the border of Judah and Philistia, 

1 Sam. 21 : 10 ; 1 Chron. 18 : 1 ; and from 
its strength and resources forming the 
key of both countries, it was the scene of 
frequent struggles, and was often cap- 
tured and recaptured. 2 Kings 12 : 17 ; 

2 Chron. 11:8; 26 : 6 ; Amos 6 : 2. The 
ravages of war to whiah Gath was ex- 
posed appear to have destroyed it at a 
comparatively early period, as it is not 
mentioned among the other royal cities 
by the later prophets. Zeph. 2:4; Zech. 
9 : 5, 6. It is familiar to the Bible student 
as the scene of one of the most romantic 
incidents in the life of King David. 1 
Sam. 21 : 10-15. 

Gath-he'pher, or Git'tah-he'pher 
(tvine-press on the hill), a town on the 
border of the territory of Zebulun, not 
far from Japhia, now Ydfa, Josh. 19 : 12, 
13, celebrated as the native place of the 
prophet Jonah. 2 Kings 14 : 25. El-Mesh- 
had, a village two miles east of Sefurieh, 
is the ancient Gath-hepher. 

Gath-rira'mon (press of the pome- 
granate). 1. A city given out of the 
tribe of Dan to the Levites. Josh. 21 : 24; 
1 Chron. 6 : 69, situated on the plain of 
Philistia, apparently not far from Joppa. 
Josh. 19 : 45. 

2. A town of the half tribe of Manas- 
seh west of the Jordan, assigned to the 
Levites. Josh. 21 : 25. The reading Gath- 
rimmon is probably an error of the tran- 
scribers. 

Ga'za (the fortified ; the strong) (prop- 
erly Azzah), one of the five chief cities 
of the Philistines. It is remarkable for 
its continuous existence and importance 
I from the very earliest times. The secret 
[ of this unbroken history is to be found 
j in the situation of Gaza. It is the last 
| town in the southwest of Palestine, on 
I the frontier towards Egypt. The same 
I peculiarity of situation has made Gaza 
important in a military sense. Its name 
means " the strong;" and this was well 
elucidated in its siege by Alexander the 
Great, which lasted five months. In the 
conquest of Joshua the territory of Gaza 



GAZ 



GEB 



is mentioned as one which he was not 
able to subdue. Josh. 10 : 41 ; 11 : 22 ; 13 : 
3. It was assigned to the tribe of Juclah, 
Josh. 15 : 47, and that tribe did obtain 
possession of it, Judges 1 : 18, but did not 
hold it long, Judges 3:3; 13 : 1, and ap- 
parently it continued through the times 
of Samuel, Saul and David to be a Philis- 
tine city. 1 Sam. 6:17; 14:52; 31:1; 
2 Sam. 21 : 15. Solomon became master 
of " Azzah," 1 Kings 4 : 24 ; but in after 
times the same trouble with the Philis- 
tines recurred. 2 Chron. 21 : 16; 26 : 6; 



28 : 18. The passage where Gaza is men- 
tioned in the New Testament (Acts 8 : 
26) is full of interest. It is the account 
of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch 
on his return from Jerusalem to Egypt. 
Gaza is the modern Ghuzzeh, a Moham- 
medan town of about 16,000 inhabitants, 
situated partly on an oblong hill of mod- 
erate height and partly on the lower 
ground. The climate of the place is 
almost tropical, but it has deep wells of 
excellent water. There are a few palm 
trees in the town, and its fruit orchards 




Gaza. 



are very .productive ; but the chief feature 
of the neighborhood is the wide-spread 
olive grove to the north and northeast. 

Ga'zathites, The, Josh. 13 : 3, the 
inhabitants of Gaza. 

Ga'zer. 2 Sam. 5 : 25 ; 1 Chron. 14 : 
16. [Gezee.] 

Ga'zez {shearer), a name which oc- 
curs twice in 1 Chron. 2 : 46 — first as son 
of Caleb by Ephah his concubine, and 
second as son of Haran, the son of the 
same woman. The second is possibly only 
a repetition of the first. ( B.C. after 1688.) 

Ga'zites, The, inhabitants of Gaza. 
Judges 16 : 2. 

Gaz'zam {devouring). The Bene- 
Gazzam were among the families of the 
Nethinim who returned from the cap- 
208 



tivity with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 48 ; Neh. 
7:51. (B.C. 536.) 

Ge'ba (a hill), a city of Benjamin, 
with "suburbs," allotted to the priests. 
Josh. 21 : 17 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 60. It is named 
amongst the first group of the Benjamite 
towns — apparently those lying near to 
and along the north boundary. Josh. 
18 : 24. Here the name is given as Gaba. 
During the wars of the earlier part of the 
reign of Saul, Geba was held as a garrison 
by the Philistines, 1 Sam. 13 : 3, but they 
were ejected by Jonathan. It is now the 
modern village of Jeba, which stands pic- 
turesquely on the top of its steep terraced 
hill, six miles north of Jerusalem, on the 
very edge of the great Wady Suweinit, 
looking northward to the opposite village 



GEB 



GEN 



of ancient Michmash, which also retains 
its old name of Mukhmas. 

Ge'bal {mountain), a maritime town 
of Phoenicia, near Tyre, Ezek. 27 :'9; 
known by the Greeks as Byblus. It is 
called Jebail by the Arabs, thus reviving 
the old biblical name. 

Ge'ber {manly,. 1. The son of Geber 
resided in the fortress of Iiamoth-gilead, 
and had charge of Havoth-jair and the 
district of Argob. 1 Kings 4 : 13. (B.C. 
1013.) 

2. Geber the son of Uri had a district 
south of the former — the "land of Gil- 
ead." 1 Kings 4 : 19. 

Ge'bim (grasshoppers), a village north 
of Jerusalem, Isa. 10 : 31, apparently be- 
tween Anathoth (the modern Anata) and 
the ridge on which Nob was situated. 

Gedali'ah ( God is my greatness), son 
of Ahikam (Jeremiah's protector, Jer. 

26 : 24) and grandson of Shaphan the 
secretary of King Josiah. After the de- 
struction of the temple, B.C. 588, Neb- 
uchadnezzar departed from Judea, leav- 
ing Gedaliah with a Chaldean guard, 
Jer. 40 : 5, at Mizpah to govern the vine- 
dressers and husbandmen, Jer. 52 : 16, 
who were exempted from captivity. Jer- 
emiah joined Gedaliah ; and Mizpah be- 
came the resort of Jews from various 
quarters. Jer. 40 : 6, 11. He was mur- 
dered by Ishmael two months after his 
appointment. 

Ged'eon. The Greek form of the 
Hebrew name Gideon. Heb. 11 : 32. 

Ge'der (a wall). The king of Geder 
was one of the thirty-one kings who were 
overcome by Joshua on the west of the 
Jordan. Josh. 12 : 13. (B.C. 1445.) It is 
possible that it may be the same place as 
the Geder named in 1 Chron. 4 : 39. 

Gede'rah (a sheepfold), a town of 
Judah in the lowland country, Josh. 15 : 
36, apparently in its eastern part. No 
town bearing this name has, however, 
been yet discovered in this hitherto little- 
explored district. 

Gede'rathite, The, the native of a 
place called Gederah, apparently in Ben- 
jamin. 1 Chron. 12 : 4. 

Ged'erite, The, the native of some 
place named Geder or Gederah. 1 Chron. 

27 : 28. 

Gede'roth (sheepfolds), a town in the 
low country of Judah. Josh. 15 : 41 ; 2 
Chron. 28 : 18. 

Gederotha'im (two sheepfolds), a 
town in the low country of Judah, Josh. 
15 : 36, named next in order to Gederah. 
14 



Ge'dor (a wall), a town in the mount- 
ainous part of Judah, Josh. 15 : 58, a few 
miles north of Hebron. Robinson dis- 
covered a Jedur halfway between Beth- 
lehem and Hebron, about two miles west 
of the road. 

Geha'zi (valley of vision), the servant 
or boy of Elisha. He was sent as the 
prophet's messenger on two occasions to 
the good Shunammite, 2 Kings 4 (B.C. 
889-887) ; obtained fraudulently money 
and garments from Naaman, was mirac- 
ulously smitten with incurable leprosy, 
and was dismissed from the prophet's 
service. 2 Kings 5. Later in the history 
he is mentioned as being engaged in re- 
lating to King Joram all the great things 
which Elisha had done. 2 Kings 8 : 4, 5. 

Gehen'na. [Hinnom.] 

Gel'iloth (circuit), a place named 
among the marks of the south boundary 
line of the tribe of Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 
17. The name Geliloth never occurs 
again in this locality, and it therefore 
seems probable that Gilgal is the right 
reading. 

Gemal'li (camel-driver), the father 
of Ammiel, the Danite spy. Num. 13.: 12. 
(B.C. 1490.) 

Gemari'ah (perfected by Jehovah). 
1. Son of Shaphan the scribe, and father 
of Michaiah. He was one of the nobles 
of Judah, and had a chamber in the 
house of the Lord, from which Baruch 
read Jeremiah's alarming prophecy in 
the ears of all the people, B.C. 606. Jer. 
36. 

2. Son of Hilkiah, was made the bearer 
of Jeremiah's letter to the captive Jews. 
Jer. 29 : 3. (B.C. 594.) 
Gems. [Stones, Precious.] 
Genealogy. In Hebrew the term for 
genealogy or pedigree is " the book of the 
generations and because the oldest his- 
tories were usually drawn up on a genea- 
logical basis, the expression often extend- 
ed to the whole history, as is the case 
with the Gospel of St. Matthew, where 
"the book of the generation of Jesus 
Christ" includes the whole history con- 
tained in that Gospel. The promise of 
the land of Canaan to the seed of Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob successively, and 
the separation of the Israelites from the 
Gentile world ; the expectation of Mes- 
siah as to spring from the tribe of Judah ; 
the exclusively hereditary priesthood of 
Aaron with its dignity and emoluments ; 
the long succession of kings in the line 
of David ; and the whole division and 
209 



GEN 



GEN 



occupation of the land upon genealogical 
principles by the tribes, families and 
nouses of fathers, gave a deeper import- 
ance to the science of genealogy among 
the Jews than perhaps any other nation. 
When Zerubbabel brought back the cap- 
tivity from Babylon, one of his first cares 
seems to have been to take a census of 
those that returned, and to settle them 
according to their genealogies. Passing 
on to the time of the birth of Christ, we 
have a striking incidental proof of the 
continuance of the Jewish genealogical 
economy in the fact that when Augustus 
ordered the census of the empire to be 
taken, the Jews in the province of Syria 
immediately went each one to his own 
city. The Jewish genealogical records 
continued to be kept till near the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. But there can be 
little doubt that the registers of the Jew- 
ish tribes and families perished at the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and not before. 
It remains to be said that just notions of 
the nature of the Jewish genealogical 
records are of great importance with a 
view to the right interpretation of Scrip- 
ture. Let it only be remembered that 
these records have respect to political 
and territorial divisions as much as to 
strictly genealogical descent, and it will 
at once be seen how erroneous a conclu- 
sion it may be that all who are called 
"sons" of such or such a patriarch or 
chief father must neceasarily be his very 
children. If any one family or house 
became extinct, some other would suc- 
ceed to its place, called after its own 
chief father. Hence of course a census 
of any tribe drawn up at a later period 
would exhibit different divisions from 
one drawn up at an earlier. The same 
principle must be borne in mind in in- 
terpreting any particular genealogy. 
Again, when a pedigree was abbreviated, 
it would naturally specify such genera- 
tions as would indicate from what chief 
houses the person descended. Females 
are named in genealogies when there is 
anything remarkable about them, or 
when any right or property is trans- 
mitted through them. See Gen. 11 : 29; 
22 : 23 ; 25 : 1-4 ; 35 : 22-26 ; Ex. 6 : 23 ; 
Num. 26 : 33. 

Genealogy of Jesus Christ. The 
New Testament gives us the genealogy 
of but one person, that of our Saviour. 
This is given because it was important 
to prove that Jesus fulfilled the proph- 
ecies spoken of him. Only as the son 
210 



and heir of David could he be the Mes- 
siah. The following propositions will 
explain the true construction of these 
genealogies : — 1. They are both the gen- 
ealogies of Joseph, i. e. of Jesus Christ as 
the reputed and legal son of Joseph and 
| Mary. 2. The genealogy of St. Matthew 
is Joseph's genealogy as legal successor 
to the throne of David. St. Luke's is 
Joseph's private genealogy, exhibiting 
! his real birth as David's son, and thus 
; showing why he was heir to Solomon's 
crown. The simple principle that one 
evangelist exhibits that genealogy which 
J contained the successive heirs to David's 
| and Solomon's throne, while the other 
| exhibits the paternal stem of him who 
was the heir, explains all the anomalies 
of the two pedigrees, their agreements as 
well as their discrepancies, and the cir- 
cumstance of there being two at all. 3. 
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in all 
probability the daughter of Jacob, and 
first cousin to Joseph her husband. 
Thus : 

Matt. Matthan or Matthat Luke. 

I 



Jacob Heli 
| (Mutt, and Luke.) | 

Mary= Jacob's heir was Joseph 

Jesus, called Christ. 

(Godet, Lange and many others take 
the ground that Luke gives the genealogy 
of Mary, rendering 'Luke 3:23 thus: 
Jesus " being (as was supposed) the son 
of Joseph, (but in reality) the son of 
Heli." In this case Mary, as declared 
in the Targums, was the daughter of 
Heli, and Heli was the grandfather of 
Jesus. Mary's name was omitted be- 
cause "ancient sentiment did not Com- 
port with the mention of the mother as 
the genealogical link." So we often find 
in the Old Testament the grandson called 
I the son. This view has this greatly in 
I its favor, that it shows that Jesus was 
I not merely the legal but the actual de- 
j seen lant of David ; and it would be very 
j strange that in the gospel accounts, where 
i so much is made of Jesus being the son 
! and heir of David and of his kingdom, 
his real descent from David should not 
. be given. — Ed.) 

Generation. In the long-lived patri- 
archal age a generation seems to have 
been computed at 100 years, Gen. 15 : 16, 
comp. 13, and Ex. 12 : 40 ; but subse- 
quently the reckoning was the same 



GEN 



GEN 



which has been adopted by modern civ- 
ilized nations, viz. from thirty to forty 
years. Job 42 : 16. Generation is also 
used to signify the men of an age or time, 
as contemporaries, Gen. 6:9; Isa. 53 :' 8 ; 
posterity, especially in legal formula?, 
Lev. 3 : 17, etc. ; fathers, or ancestors. Ps. 
49 : 19. 

Gen'esis {origin), the first book of 
the law or Pentateuch, so called from its 
title in the Septuagint, that is, Creation. 
Its author was Moses. The date of writ- 
ing was probably during the forty-years 
wanderings in the wilderness, B.C. i491- 
1451. 

Time.— The book of Genesis covers 
2369 years, — from the creation of Adam, 
A.M. 1, to the death of Joseph, A.M. 2369, 
or B.C. 1635. 

Character and purpose. — The book of 
Genesis (with the first chapters of Ex- 
odus) describes the steps which led to the 
establishment of the theocracy. It is a 
part of the writer's plan to tell us what 
the divine preparation of the world was, 
in order to show, first, the significance of 
the call of Abraham, and next, the true 
nature of the Jewish theocracy. He be- 
gins with the creation of the world, be- 
cause the God who created the world and 
the God who revealed himself to the 
fathers is the same God. The book of 
Genesis has thus a character at once 
special and universal. 

Construction. — It is clear that Moses 
must have derived his knowledge of the 
events which he records in Genesis either 
from immediate divine revelation or from 
oral tradition or written documents. The 
nature of many of the facts related, and 
the minuteness of the narration, render 
it extremely improbable that immediate 
revelation was the source from whence 
they were drawn. That his knowledge 
should have been derived from oral tra- 
dition appeal's morally impossible when 
we consider the great number of names, 
ages, dates and minute events which are 
recorded. The conclusion, then, seems 
fair that he must have obtained his in- 
formation from written documents coeval, 
or nearly so, with the events which they 
recorded, and composed by persons inti- 
mately acquainted with the subjects to 
which they relate. He may have col- 
lected these, with additions from authen- 
tic tradition or existing monuments, 
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 
into a single book. Certain it is that 
several of the first chapters of Genesis 



| have the air of being made up of selec- 
tions from very ancient documents, writ- 
ten by different authors at different 
periods. The variety which is observable 
in the names and titles of the Supreme 
Being is appealed to among the most 
striking proofs of this fact. This is ob- 
vious in the English translation, but still 
more so in the Hebrew original. In Gen. 
1 to 2 : 3, which is really one piece of 
composition, as the title, v. 4, "These are 
the generations," shows, the name of the 
Most High is uniformly Elohim, God. 
| In ch. 2 : 4 to ch. 3, which may be con- 
j sidered the second document, the title is 
1 uniformly Yehovah Elohim, Lord God; 
and in the third, including ch. 4, it is 
Yehovah, Lord, only ; while in ch. 5 it is 
Eloh im, God, only, except in v. 29, where 
a quotation is made, and Yehovah used. 
It is hardly conceivable that all this 
should be the result of mere accident. 
The changes of the name correspond ex- 
actly to the changes in the narratives and 
the titles of the several pieces. " Now, 
do all these accurate quotations," says 
Professor Stowe, "impair the credit of 
the Mosaic books, or increase it ? Is Mar- 
shall's Life of Washington to be regarded 
as unworthy of credit because it contains 
copious extracts from Washington's cor- 
respondence and literal quotations from 
important public documents? Is not its 
value greatly enhanced by this circum- 
stance ? The objection is altogether futile. 
In the common editions of the Bible the 
Pentateuch occupies about one hundred 
and fifty pages, of which perhaps ten may 
be taken up with quotations. This surely 
is no very large proportion for an histor- 
ical work extending through so long a 
period." — Bush. On the supposition that 
writing was known to Adam, Gen. 1-4, 
containing the first two of these docu- 
ments, formed the Bible of Adam's de- 
scendants, or the antediluvians. Gen. 1 
to 11 : 9, being the sum of these two and 
the following three, constitutes the Bible 
of the descendants of Noah. The whole 
of Genesis may be called the Bible of the 
posterity of Jacob; and the five Books 
of the Law were the first Bible of Israel 
as a nation. — Canon Cook. 

Gennes'aret {garden of the prince), 
Land of. It is generally believed that 
this term was applied to the fertile cres- 
cent-shaped plain on the western shore 
of the lake, extending from Khan Minyeh 
(two or three miles south of Capernaum 
( Tel-Hum)) on the north to the steep hill 
211 



GEN 



GER 



behind Mejdel (Magdala) on the south, 
and called by the Arabs el-Ghuweir, 
" the little Ghor." Mr. Porter gives the 
length as three miles, and the greatest 
breadth as about one mile. Additional 
interest is given to the land of Gennesaret, 
or el-Ghuweir, by the probability that its 
scenery suggested the parable of the sow- 
er. It is mentioned only twice in Scrip- 
ture—Matt. 14 : 34 ; Mark 6 : 53. Com- 
pare Luke 5:1. 



Gennes'aret, Sea of. [See Gali- 
lee, Sea of.] 

Gennes'areth. Inaccurately written 
for Gennesaret. 

Gen'tiles (nations). All the people 
who were not Jews were so called by 
them, being aliens from the worship, rites 
and privileges of Israel. The word was 
used contemptuously by them. In the 
New Testament it is used as equivalent 
to Greek. This use of the word seems to 




Gennesaret from Khan Minyeh. 



have arisen from the almost universal 
adoption of the Greek language. 

Gen'ubath, the son of Hadad, an 
Edomite of the royal family, by an Egyp- 
tian princess, the sister of Tahpenes, the 
queen of the Pharaoh who governed 
Egypt in the latter part of the reign of 
David. 1 Kings 11 : 20; comp. 16. (B.C. 
1015.) 

Ge'ra (a grain), one of the " sons," i. e. 
descendants, of Benjamin. Gen. 46 : 21. 
Gera, who is named, Judges 3 : 15, as the 
ancestor of Ehud, and in i Sam. 16 : 5 as 
the ancestor of Shimei who cursed David, 
is probably also the same person (though 
some consider them different persons). 
Gerah. [W eights and Measures.] 
Ge'rar (a lodging-place), a very an- 
cient city south of Gaza. It occurs chiefly 
212 



in Genesis, 10 : 19 ; 20 : 1 ; 26 : 17 ; also 
incidentally in 2 Chron. 14 : 13, 14. It 
must have trenched on the " south " or 
"south country" of later Palestine. 
From a comparison of Gen. 21 : 32 with 
26 : 23, 26, Beersheba would seem to be 
just on the verge of this territory, and 
perhaps to be its limit towards the north- 
east. 

j Gerasenes'. Luke 8 : 26, Revised 
| Version. [See Gadarenes.] 

Gersresenes'. [See Gadarenes.] 
! Ger'izim (cutters), a limestone mount- 
\ ain, 2855 feet high (800 feet above the 
j valley at its foot), in Ephraim; near 
! Shechem (Sychar), from which the bless- 
! ings were read to the Israelites on enter- 
ing Canaan. [See Ebal.] According 
! to the traditions of the Samaritans it was 



GEE 



GER 



here that Abraham sacrificed Isaac, that 
Melchizedek met the patriarch, that 
Jacob built an altar, and at its base dug 
a well, the ruins of which are still seen. 
Some scholars think there is ground for 
the first belief (so Smith) ; but careful 
observers of the locality discredit it, and 
believe Moriah to be the spot. [See Mo- 



riah.] Gerizim was the site of the Sa- 
maritan temple, which was built there 
after the captivity, in rivalry with the 
temple at Jerusalem. [See Samaritans.] 
Gerizim is still to the Samaritans what 
Jerusalem is to the Jews and Mecca to 
the Mohammedans. 

Ger'izites. 1 Sam. 27 : 8. [Gerzites.] 




Ger'shom (a stranger or exile). 1. 
The first-born son of Moses and Zip- 
porah. Ex. 2 : 22 ; 18 : 3. (B.C. 1530.) 

2. The form under which the name 
Gershon — the eldest son of Levi — is 
given in several passages of Chronicles, 
viz., 1 Chron. 6 : 16, 17, 20, 43, 62, 71 ; 
15:7. 

3. The representative of the priestly 
family of Phinehas, among those who 
accompanied Ezra from Babylon. Ezra 
8:2. (B.C. 536.) 

Ger'shon (exile), the eldest of the 
three sons of Levi, born before the de- 
scent of Jacob's family into Egypt. Gen. 



46 : 11 ; Ex. 6 : 16. (B.C. before 1706.) 
But, though the eldest born, the families 
of Gershon were outstripped in fame by 
their younger brethren of Kohath, from 
whom sprang Moses and the priestly line 
of Aaron. 

Ger'shonites, The, the family de- 
scended from Gershon or Gershom, the 
son of Levi. "The Gershonite," as 
applied to individuals, occurs in 1 Chron. 
26 : 21. The sons of Gershon (the Ger- 
shonites) had charge of the fabrics of 
the tabernacle — the coverings, curtains, 
hangings and cords. Num. 3 : 25, 26 ; 4 : 
25, 26. 



GER 



GET 



Ger'zites {dwellers in the desert), 
The, a tribe who with the Geshurites 
and the Amalekites occupied the land 
between the south of Palestine and Egypt 
in the time of Saul. 1 Sam. 27 : 8. In 
the name of Mount Gerizim we have the 
only remaining trace of the presence of 
this old tribe of Bedouins in central Pal- 
estine. 

Ge'sham {filthy) (sometimes written 
Geshan), one of the sons of Jahdai, in 
the genealogy of Judah and family of 
Caleb. 1 Chron. 2 : 47. 



Ge'shem and Gash'mu (mm), an 
Arabian, mentioned in Neh. 2 : 19 and 
6:1, 2, 6. (B.C. 446.) We may con- 
clude that he was an inhabitant of Ara- 
bia Petrsea, or of the Arabian Desert, and 
probably the chief of a tribe. " Gashum 
said it" made him a type of those who 
create a common report. 

Ge'shur {a bridge), a little princi- 
pality of Syria, northeast of Bashan. 
Deut. 3 : 14 ; 2 Sam. 15 : 8. It is highly 
probable that Geshur was a section of 
the wild and rugged region now called 




The Garden of Gethsemane. {From an original Photograph.) 



el-Lejah, still a refuge for criminals and 
outlaws. [Argob.] 

Gesh'uri and Gesh'urites. 1. The 
inhabitants of Geshur. Deut. 3 : 14; Josh. 
12:5; 13:11. 

2. An ancient tribe which dwelt in the 
desert between Arabia and Philistia. 
Josh. 13 : 2 ; 1 Sam. 27 : 8. 

Ge'ther {fear), the third in order of 
the sons of Aram. Gen. 10:23. No 
satisfactory trace of the people sprung 
from this stock has been found. 

Gethsem'a-ne {an oil-press), a small 
"farm," Matt. 26:36; Mark 14:32, 
situated across the brook Kedron, John 
18 : 1, probably at the foot of Mount 
Olivet, Luke 22 : 39, to the northwest and 
214 



about one-half or three-quarters of a mile 
English from the walls of Jerusalem, 
and 100 yards east of the bridge over the 
Kedron. There was a "garden," or 
rather orchard, attached to it, to which 
the olive, fig and pomegranate doubtless 
invited resort by their hospitable shade. 
And we know from the evangelists Luke, 
22 : 39, and John, 18: 2, that our Lord 
ofttimes resorted thither with his dis- 
ciples. But Gethsemane has not come 
down to us as a scene of mirth ; its inex- 
haustible associations are the offspring 
of a single event — the agony of the Son 
of God on the evening preceding his pas- 
sion. A garden, with eight venerable 
olive trees, and a grotto to the north, de- 



GEU 



GIB 



tached from it, and in closer connection 
with the church of the Sepulchre of the 
Virgin, are pointed out as the Geth- 
semane. Against the contemporary an- 
tiquity of the olive trees it has been urged 
that Titus cut down all the trees about 
Jerusalem. The probability would seem 
to be that they were planted by Chris- 
tian hands to mark the spot ; unless, like 
the sacred olive of the Acropolis, they 
may have reproduced themselves. 

Geu'el {majesty of God ), son of Ma- 
chi the Gadite spy. Num. 13 : 15. (B.C. 
1490.) 

Ge'zer (a precipice), an ancient city 
of Canaan, whose king, Horam or Elam, 
coming to the assistance of Lachish, was 
killed with all his people by Joshua. 
Josh. 10 : 33 ; 12 : 12. It formed one of 
the landmarks on the south boundary of 
Ephraim, between the lower Beth-horon 
and the Mediterranean, Josh. 16 : 3, the 
western limit of the tribe. 1 Chron. 7 : 

28. It was allotted with its suburbs to 
the Kohathite Levites, Josh. 21 : 21 ; 1 
Chron. 6 : 67 ; but the original inhabit- 
ants were not dispossessed, Judges 1 : 

29, and even down to the reign of Solo- 
mon the Canaanites were still dwelling 
there, and paying tribute to Israel. 1 
Kings 9 : 16. It was burned by Pharaoh 
in Solomon's time, 1 Kings 9 : 15-17, and 
given to Solomon's Egyptian wife, and 
rebuilt by him. 

Gez'rites, The. The word which 
the Jewish critics have substituted in the 
margin of the Bible for the ancient read- 
ing, " the Gerizite." 1 Sam. 27 : 8. [Ger- 
zites, The.] 

Gi'ah (a waterfall), a place named 
only in 2 Sam. 2 : 24 to designate the po- 
sition of the hill Ammah. 

Giants, men of extraordinary size or 
height. 1. They are first spoken of in 
Gen. 6:4, under the name Nephilim. 
We are told in Gen. 6 : 1-4 that " there 
were Nephilim in the earth," and that 
afterwards the " sons of God " mingling 
with the beautiful " daughters of men " 
produced a race of violent and insolent 
Gibborim (Authorized Version " mighty 
men"). 

2. The Rephaim, a name which fre- 
quently occurs. The earliest mention 
of them is the record of their defeat by 
Chedorlaomer and some allied kings at 
Ashteroth Karnaim. The "valley of 
Rephaim," 2 Sam. 5:18; 1 Chron. 11: 
15 ; Isa. 17 : 5, a rich valley southwest of 
Jerusalem, derived its name from them. 



They were probably an aboriginal peo- 
ple of which the Emim, Anakim and 
Zuzim [which see] were branches. [See 
also Goliath.] 

Gib'bar {gigantic), the father of some 
who returned with Zerubbabel from 
Babylon. Ezra 2 : 20. 

Gib'bethon (a hill), a town allotted 
to the tribe of Dan, Josh. 19 : 44, and 
afterwards given with its "suburbs" to 
the Kohathite Levites. ch. 21 : 23. 

Gib'e-a {a hill ). Sheva " the father 
of Macbenah " and " father of Gibea" is 
mentioned with other names, unmistak- 
ably those of places and not persons, 
among the descendants of Judah. 1 
Chron. 2 : 49, comp. 42. This would 
seem to point out Gibea. 

Gib'e-ah, a word employed in the 
Bible to denote a hill. Like most words 
of this kind it gave its name to several 
towns and places in Palestine, which 
would doubtless be generally on or near 
a hill. They are — 1. Gibeah, a city in 
the mountain district of Judah, named 
with Maon and the southern Carmel, 
Josh. 15 : 57 ; and comp. 1 Chron. 2 : 49, 
etc. 

2. Gibeah of Benjamin first appears in 
the tragical story of the Levite and his 
concubine. Judges 19 : 20. It was then 
a " city," with the usual open street or 
square, Judges 19 : 15, 17, 20, and con- 
taining 700 " chosen men," ch. 20 : 15, 
probably the same whose skill as sling- 
ers is preserved in the next verse. In 
many particulars Gibeah agrees very 
closely with Tuleil-el-Ful, a conspicuous 
eminence just four miles north of Jerusa- 
lem, to the right of the road. We next 
meet with Gibeah of Benjamin during 
the Philistine wars of Saul and Jonathan. 
1 Sam. 13 : 15, 16. It now bears its full 
title. As "Gibeah of Benjamin" this 
place is referred to in 2 Sam. 23 : 29 
(comp. 1 Chron. 11 : 31), and as "Gib- 
eah " it is mentioned by Hosea, 5:8; 
9:9; 10 : 9, but it does not again appear 
in the history. It is, however, almost 
without doubt identical with 

3. Gibeah of Saul. This is not men- 
tioned as Saul's city till after his anoint- 
ing, 1 Sam. 10 : 26, when he is said to 
have gone "home" to Gibeah. In the 
subsequent narrative the town bears its 
full name. ch. 11 : 4. 

4. Gibeah in Kirjath-jearim was no 
doubt a hill in that city, and the place in 
which the ark remained from the time 
of its return by the Philistines till its 

•215 



GIB 



GID 



removal by David. 2 Sam. 6 : 3, 4 ; comp. 

1 Sam. 7 : 1, 2. 

5. Gibeah in the field, named only in 
Judges 20 : 31 as the place to which one 
of the "highways" led from Gibeah of 
Benjamin. It is probably the same as 
Geba. The "meadows of Gaba" (Au- 
thorized Version Gibeah, Judges 20 : 33) 
have no connection with the "field," 
the Hebrew word being entirely differ- 
ent. 

Gib'e-ath, probably the same as : 
Gibeah of Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 28. 

Gib'eon {hill city), one of the four 
cities of the Hivites, the inhabitants of 
which made a league with Joshua, Josh. 
9 : 3-15, and thus escaped the fate of 
Jericho and Ai. Comp. ch. 11 : 19. Gib- 
eon lay within the territory of Benjamin, 
ch. 18 : 25, and with its " suburbs " was 
allotted to the priests, ch. 21 : 17, of whom 
it became afterwards a principal station. 
It retains its ancient name almost intact, 
el-Jib. Its distance from Jerusalem by 
the main road is about Q\ miles; but 
there is a more direct road reducing it to 
five miles. 

Gib'eonites, The, the people of 
Gibeon, and perhaps also of the three 
cities associated with Gibeon, Josh. 9 : 
17 — Hivites ; and who, on the discovery 
of the stratagem by which they had ob- 
tained the protection of the Israelites, 
were condemned to be perpetual bond- 
men, hewers of wood and drawers of 
water for the congregation, and for the 
house of God and altar of Jehovah. Josh. 
9 : 23, 27. Saul appears to have broken 
this covenant, and in a fit of enthusiasm 
or patriotism to have killed some and 
devised a general massacre of the rest. 

2 Sam. 21 : 1, 2, 5. This was expiated 
many years after by giving up seven men 
of Saul's descendants to the Gibeonites, 
who hung them or crucified them " be- 
fore Jehovah" — as a kind of sacrifice — 
in Gibeah, Saul's own town. ch. 21 : 4, 
6, 9. 

Gib'lites, The. [Gebal.] 

Giddal'ti (I have trained up), one of 
the sons of Hernan, the king's seer. 1 
Chron. 25 : 4. 

Gid/del {very great). 1. Children of 
Giddel were among the Nethinim who 
returned from the captivity with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 47 ; Neh. 7 : 40. 

2. Bcne-Giddel were also among the 
" servants of Solomon " who returned to 
Judea in the same caravan. Ezra 2 : 56 ; 
Neh. 7 : 58. (B.C. 536.) 
216 



Gid'eon {he that cuts down), youngest 
son of Joash of the Abiezrites, an undis- 
tinguished family who lived at Ophrah, 
a town probably on the west of Jordan, 
Judges 6 : 15, in the territory of Manasseh, 
near Shechem. He was the fifth recorded 
judge of Israel, and for many reasons the 
greatest of them all. When we first hear 
of him he was grown up and had sons, 
Judges 6:11; 8 : 20 ; and from the apos- 
trophe of the angel, ch. 6 : 12, we may 
conclude that he had already distin- 
guished himself in war against the rov- 
ing bands of nomadic robbers who had 
oppressed Israel for seven years. When 
the angel appeared, Gideon wag thresh- 
ing wheat with a flail in the wine-press, 
to conceal it from the predatory tyrants. 
His call to be a deliverer, and his de- 
struction of Baal's altar, are related in 
Judges 6. After this begins the second 
act of Gideon's life. Clothed by the 
Spirit of God, Judges 6 : 34 ; comp. 1 
Chron. 12:18; Luke 24 : 43, he blew a 
trumpet, and was joined by Zebulun, 
Naphtali and even the reluctant Asher. 
Strengthened by a double sign from God, 
he reduced his army of 32,000 by the 
usual proclamation. Deut. 20 : 8 ; comp. 
1 Mace. 3 : 56. By a second test at " the 
spring of trembling" he further reduced 
the number of his followers to 300. 
Judges 7 : 5, seq. The midnight attack 
upon the Midianites, their panic, and the 
rout and slaughter that followed, are told 
in Judges 7. The memory of this splen- 
did deliverance took deep root in the 
national traditions. 1 Sam. 12 : 11 ; Ps. 
83 : 11 ; Isa. 9:4; 10 : 26 ; Heb. 11 : 32. 
After this there was a peace of forty 
years, and we see Gideon in peaceful 
possession of his well-earned honors, and 
surrounded by the dignity of a numerous 
household. Judges 8 : 29-31. It is not 
improbable that, like Saul, he owed 
a part of his popularity to his princely 
appearance. Judges 8 : 18. In this third 
stage of his life occur alike his most 
noble and his most questionable acts, 
viz., the refusal of the monarchy on the- 
ocratic grounds, and the irregular conse- 
cration of a jewelled ephod formed out 
of the rich spoils of Midian, which proved 
to the Israelites a temptation to idolatry, 
although it was doubtless intended for 
use in the worship of Jehovah. 

Gideo'ni (a cutting down), a Ben- 
jamite, father of Abidan. Num. 1 : 11; 
7 : 60, 65 ; 10 : 24. 

Gi'dom {desolation), a place named 



GIE 



GIL 



only in Judges 20 : 45. It would appear 
to nave been situated between Gibeah 
(Tuliel-el-Ful) and the cliff Bimmon. 

Gier- eagle, an unclean bird men- 
tioned in Lev. 11 : 18 and Deut. 14:17; 
identical in reality as in name with the 
racham of the Arabs, viz., the Egyptian 
vulture. 

Gift. The giving and receiving of 
presents has in all ages been not only a 
more frequent bat also a more formal 
and significant proceeding in the East 
than among ourselves. We cannot ad- 
duce a more remarkable proof of the im- 
portant part which presents play in the 
social life of the East than the fact that 
the Hebrew language possesses no less 
than fifteen different expressions for the 
one idea. The mode of presentation was 
with as much parade as possible. The 
refusal of a present was regarded as a 
high indignity. No less an insult was it 
not to bring a present when the position 
of the parties demanded it. 1 Sam. 10 : 27. 

Gi'hon (a stream). 1. The second 
river of Paradise. Gen. 2 : 13. [Eden.] 

2. A place near Jerusalem, memorable 
as the scene of the anointing and procla- 
mation of Solomon as king. 1 Kings 1 : 
33, 38, 45. 

Gil'ala-i (weighty), one of the priests' 
sons at the consecration of the Avail of 
Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 36. (B.C. 44G.) 




Mountains of Gilboa. 

Gilbo'a (a bubbling spring), a mount- 
ain range on the eastern side of the plain 
of Esdraelon, rising over the city of Jez- 
reel. Comp. 1 Sam. 28 : 4 with 29 : 1. It 
is mentioned in Scripture only in con- 
nection with one event in Israelitish his- 



tory, the defeat and death of Saul and 
Jonathan by the Philistines. 1 Sam. 31 : 
1 ; 2 Sam. 1:6; 21 : 12 ; 1 Chron. 10 : 1, 8. 
Of the identity of Gilboa with the ridge 
which stretches eastward from the ruins 
of Jezreel no doubt can be entertained. 
The village is now called Jelbbu. 

GiPe-ad [rocky region). 1. A mount- 
ainous region bounded on the west by the 
Jordan, on the north by Bashan, on the 
east by the Arabian plateau, and on the 
south by Moab and Ammon. Gen. 31 : 21 ; 
Deut. 3 : 12-17. It is sometimes called 
" Mount Gilead," Gen. 31 : 25, sometimes 
" the land of Gilead," Num. 32 : 1, and 
sometimes simply " Gilead." Ps. 60 : 7 ; 
Gen. 37 : 25. The name Gilead, as is 
usual in Palestine, describes the physical 
aspect of the country : it signifies " a 
hard rocky region." The mountains of 
Gilead, including Pisgah, Abarim and 
Peor, have a real elevation of from 2000 
to 3000 feet ; but their apparent elevation 
on the western side is much greater, owing 
to the depression of the Jordan valley, 
which averages about 1000 feet. Their 
outline is singularly uniform, resembling 
a massive wall running along the hori- 
zon. Gilead was specially noted for its 
balm collected from " balm of Gilead " 
trees, and worth twice its weight in 
silver. 

2. Possibly the name of a mountain 
west of the Jordan, near Jezreel. 
Judges 7 : 3. We are inclined, how- 
ever, to think that the true reading 
in this place should be Gilboa. 

3. Son of Machir, grandson of 
Manasseh. Num. 26 : 29, 30. 

4. The father of Jephthah. 
Judges 11 : 1, 2. 

GiFe=adites, The, Num. 26 : 
29 ; Judges 10 : 3 ; 12 : 4, 5, a branch 
of the tribe of Manasseh, descended 
from Gilead. 

Gil 'gal (a wheel; rolling). 1. 
The site of the first camp of the Is- 
raelites on the west of the Jordan, 
the place at which they passed the 
first night after crossing the river, 
and where the twelve stones were 
set up which had been taken from 
the bed of the stream, Josh. 4 : 19, 20, 
comp. 3 ; where also they kept their 
first passover in the land of Canaan, ch. 5 : 
10. It was " in the east border of Jericho," 
apparently on a hillock or rising ground, 
Josh. 5 : 3, comp. 9, in the A rboth- Jericho 
(Authorized Version " the plains"), that 
is, the hot depressed district of the Ghor 
217 



GIL 



GIR 



which lay between the town and the 
Jordan, ch. 5 : 10. Here Samuel was 
judge, and Saul was made king. A\e 
again have a glimpse of it, some sixty 
years later, in the history of David's re- 
turn to Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 19 : 40. A Gil- 
gal is spoken of in Josh. 15 : 7, in describ- 
ing the north border of Judah. In Josh. 
18 : 17 it is given as Geliloth. Gilgal 
near Jericho is doubtless intended. 



2. In 2 Kings 2 : 1, 2 ; 4 : 38 is named 
a Gilgal visited by Elijah and Elisha. 
This could not be the Gilgal of the low 
plain of the Jordan, for the prophets are 
said to have gone down to Bethel, which 
is 3000 feet above the plain. It has been 
identified with Jiljilia, about four miles 
from Bethel and Shiloh respectively. 

3. The " king of the nations of Gilgal," 
or rather perhaps the " king of Goim at 




Gilead. 



Gilgal," is mentioned in the catalogue 
of the chiefs overthrown bv Joshua. 
Josh. 12 : 23. Possibly the site of this 
place is marked by the modern village 
Jiljulieh, about four miles south of An- 
tipatris, which lies 16 miles northeast of 
Joppa. But another Gilgal, under the 
slightly-different form of Kilkilieh, lies 
about two miles east of Antipatris. 

Gi'loh {exile), a town in the mount- 
ainous part of Judah, named in the first 
group with Debir and Eshtemoh, Josh. 
15 : 51 ; it was the native place of the 
famous Ahithophel. 2 Sam. 15 : 12. 

Gi'lonite, The, native of Giloh. 2 
Sam. 15:12; 23:34. 

Gim'zo {fertile in sycamores), a town 
which with its dependent villages was 
taken possession of by the Philistines in 
218 



the reign of Ahaz. 2 Chron. 28 : 18. The 
name (Jimzu) still remains attached to a 
large village between two and three miles 
southwest of Lydda, south of the road 
between Jerusalem and Jaffa. 

Gin, a trap for birds or beasts ; it con- 
sisted of a net, Isa. 8 : 14, and a stick to 
act as a spring. Amos 3:5. 

Gi'nath {protection), father of Tibni. 
1 Kings 16 : 21 , 22. 

Gin'netho (gardener), one of the 
chief of the priests and Levites who re- 
turned to Judea with Zerubbabel. Neh. 
12 : 4. He is doubtless the same person as 

Gin'nethoii {gardener), a priest who 
| sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:6. (B.C. 410.) 

Girdle, an essential article of dress 
in the East, and worn by both men and 



GO A 



women. The common girdle was made 
of leather, 2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3 : 4, like 
that worn by the Bedouins of the present 
day. A finer girdle was made of linen, 
Jer. 13 : 1 ; Ezek. 16 : 10, embroidered 
with silk, and sometimes with gold and 
silver thread, Dan. 10 : 5 ; Rev. 1 : 13 ; 
15 : 6, and frequently studded with gold 
and precious stones or pearls. The mili- 
tary girdle was worn about the waist; 
the" sword or dagger was suspended from 
it. Judges 3 : 16 ; 2 Sam. 20 : 8 ; Ps. 45 : 3. 
Hence girding up the loins denotes prep- 
aration for battle or for active exertion. 
Girdles were used as pockets, as they 
still are among the Arabs, and as purses, 
one end of the girdle being folded back 
for the purpose. Matt. 10 : 9 ; Mark 6 : 8. 

Gir'gasite, The, Gen. 10 : 16, or 

Gir'gashites {dwelling on a clayey 
soil), The, one of the nations who were 
in possession of Canaan east of the Sea 
of Galilee before the entrance thither of 
the children of Israel. Gen. 10 : 16 ; 15 : 
21; Deut. 7:1. 

Gis'pa (caress), one of the overseers 
of the Nethinim, in " the Ophel," after 
the return from captivity. Neh. 11 : 21. 

Git'tah-he'pher. Josh. 19 : 13. 
[Gath-hephee.] 

Gitta'im. [Gittites.] 

Git'tites (belonging to Gath), the 600 
men who followed David from Gath, 
under Ittai the Gittite, 2 Sam. 15 : 18, 19, 
and who probably acted as a kind of 
body-guard. Obed-edom "the Gittite" 
may have been so named from the town 
of Gittaim in Benjamin, 2 Sam. 4:3; 
Neh. 11 : 33, or from Gath-rimmon. 

Gittith, a musical instrument, by 
some supposed to have been used by the 
people of Gath, and by others to have 
been employed at the festivities of the 
vintage. Ps. 8, 81, 84. 

Gi'zonite, The (inhabitant of Gizoh). 
" The sons of Hashem the Gizonite" are 
named amongst the warriors of David's 
guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 34. Kennicott con- 
cludes that the name should be Gouni. 

Glass. The Hebrew word occurs only 
in Job 28 : 17, where in the Authorized 
Version it is rendered " crystal." In 
spite of the absence of specific allusion to 
glass in the sacred writings, the Hebrews 
must have been aware of the invention. 
From paintings representing the process 
of glass-blowing which have been dis- 
covered at Beni-hassan, and in tombs at 
other places, we know that the invention 
was known at least 3500 years ago. 



Fragments too of wine-vases as old as the 
exodus have been discovered in Egypt. 
The art was also known to the ancient 
Assyrians. In the New Testament glass 
is alluded to as an emblem of brightness. 
Rev. 4:6; 15:2; 21 : 18. 

Gleaning. The gleaning of fruit 
trees, as well as of corn-fields, was re- 
served for the poor. [COENER.J 

Glede, the old name for the common 
kite (Milvus ater), occurs only in Deut. 
14 : 13, among the unclean birds of prey. 

Gnat, a species of mosquito mentioned 
only in the proverbial expression used 
by our Saviour in Matt. 23 : 24. 

Goad. Judges 3 : 31 ; 1 Sam. 13 : 21. 
The Hebrew word in the latter passage 
probably means the point of the plough- 
share. The former word does probably 
refer to the goad, the long handle of which 
might be used as a formidable weapon. 
The instrument, as still used in countries 
of southern Europe and western Asia, 
consists of a rod about eight feet long, 
brought to a sharp point and sometimes 
cased with iron at the head. 




Syrian Goat. 

Goat. There appear to be two or three 
varieties of the common goat, Hircus 
cegagrus, at present bred in Palestine and 
Syria, but whether they are identical 
with those which were reared by the an- 
cient Hebrews it is not possible to say. 
The most marked varieties are the Svrian 
219 " 



GOA 



GOL 



goat (Capra mambrica, Linn.) and the 
Angora goat [Capra angorensis, Linn.), 
with fine long hair. As to the " wild 
goats," 1 Sam. 24 : 2 ; Job 39 : 1 ; Ps. 104 : 
18, it is not at all improbable that some 
species of ibex is denoted. 
Goat, Scape. [Atonement, Day 

OF.] 

Go'ath {lowing), a place apparently 
in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, and 
named, in connection with the hill Ga- 
reb, only in Jer. 31 : 39. 

Gob {cistern), a place mentioned only 
in 2 Sam. 21 : 18, 19, as the scene of two 
encounters between David's warriors and 
the Philistines. In the parallel account 
in 1 Chron. 20 : 4 the name is given as 
Gezek. 

Goblet, a circular vessel for wine or 
other liquid. 

God [good). Throughout the Hebrew 
Scriptures two chief names are used for 
the one true divine Being — Elohim, 
commonly translated God in our version, 
and Jehovah, translated Lord. Elohim 
is the plural of Eloah (in Arabic Allah)) 
it is often used in the short form El (a 
word signifying strength), as in El-Shad- 
DAI, God Almighty, the name by which 
God was specially known to the patri- 
archs. Gen. 17:1; 28 : 3 ; Ex. 6 : 3. The 
etymology is uncertain, but it is generally 
agreed that the primary idea is that of 
strength, power of effect, and that it prop- 
erly describes God in that character in 
which he is exhibited to all men in his 
works, as the creator, sustainer and su- 
preme governor of the world. The plural 
form of Elohim has given rise to much 
discussion. The fanciful idea that it re- 
ferred to the trinity of persons in the 
Godhead hardly finds now a supporter j 
among scholars. It is either what gram- j 
marians call the plural of majesty, or it j 
denotes the fullness of divine strength, | 
the sum of the poivers displayed by God. 
Jehovah denotes specifically the one true 
God, whose people the Jews were, and j 
who made them the guardians of his 
truth. The name is never applied to a ! 
false god, nor to any other being except 
one, the Angel- Jehovah, who is there- 
by marked as one with God, and who ap- 
pears again in the New Covenant as 
" God manifested in the flesh." Thus 
much is clear ; but all else is beset with 
difficulties. At a time too early to be 
traced, the Jews abstained from pro- 
nouncing the name, for fear of its irrev- 
erent use. The custom is said to have 
220 



been founded on a strained interpreta- 
tion of Lev. 24 : 16 ; and the phrase there 
used, " The Name " {Shema), is substi- 
tuted by the rabbis for the unutterable 
word. In reading the Scriptures they 
substituted for it the word Adonai 
(Lord), from the translation of which by 
Kupio? in the LXX., followed by the Vul- 
gate, which uses Dominus, we have the 
Lord of our version. The substitution 
of the word Lord is most unhappy, for 
it in no way represents the meaning of 
the sacred name. The key to the mean- 
ing of the name is unquestionably given 
in God's revelation of himself to Moses 
by the phrase " I am that I am," Ex. 
3 : 14 ; 6 :3. We must connect the name 
Jehovah with the Hebrew substantive 
verb to be, with the inference that it ex- 
presses the essential, eternal, unchange- 
able being of Jehovah. But more, it is 
not the expression only, or chiefly, of an 
absolute truth : it is a practical revela- 
tion of God, in his essential, unchange- 
able relation to his chosen people, the 
basis of his covenant. 

Gog {mountain). 1. A Reubenite, 1 
Chron. 5 : 4, son of Shemaiah. 

2. Gog and Magog. [See MAGOG.] 

Go'lan (circle), a city of Bashan, 
Deut. 4 : 43, allotted out of the half tribe 
of Manasseh to the Levites, Josh. 21 : 27, 
and one of the three cities of refuge east 
of the Jordan, ch. 20 : 8. Its very site is 
now unknown. It gave its name to the 
province of Gaulanitis. It lay east of 
Galilee and north of Gadaritis [Gad- 
AEa], and corresponds to the modern 
province of Jauldn. 

Gold. Gold was known from the very 
earliest times. Gen. 2 : 11. It was at first 
used chiefly for ornaments, etc. Gen. 24 : 
22. Coined money was not known to the 
ancients till a comparatively late period ; 
and on the Egyptian tombs gold is rep- 
resented as being weighed in rings for 
commercial purposes. Comp. Gen. 43 : 
21. Gold was extremely abundant in 
ancient times, 1 Chron. 22 : 14 ; 2 Chron. 
1 : 15 ; 9:9; Dan. 3:1; Nah. 2:9; but 
this did not depreciate its value, because 
of the enormous quantities consumed by 
the wealthv in furniture, etc. 1 Kings 6 : 
22 ; 10 passim ; Esther 1:6; Cant. 3 : 9, 10 ; 
Jer. 10 : 9. The chief countries men- 
tioned as producing gold are Arabia, 
Sheba and Ophir. 1 Kings 9 : 28 ; 10 : 1 ; 
Job 28 : 16. 

Gol'gotha (skull), the Hebrew name 
of the spot at which our Lord was cru- 



GOL 



GOS 



cified. Matt. 27 : 33 ; Mark 15 : 22 ; John | 
19 : 17. By these three evangelists it is 
interpreted to mean the " place of a 
skull." Two explanations of the name 
are given: (1) that it was a spot where 
executions ordinarily took place, and j 
therefore abounded in skulls; or (2) it 
may come from the look or form of the 
spot itself, bald, round and skull-like, 
and therefore a mound or hillock, in ac- 
cordance with the common phrase — for 
which there is no direct authority — 
" Mount Calvary." Whichever of these 
is the correct explanation, Golgotha 
seems to have been a known spot. 

Goli'ath {splendor), a famous giant 
of Gath, who " morning and evening for 
forty days " defied the armies of Israel. 
1 Sam. 17. (B.C. 1063.) He was possi- J 
bly descended from the old Rephaim 
[Giants], of whom a scattered remnant 
took refuge with the Philistines after their 
dispersion by the Ammonites. Deut. 2 : 
20, 21 ; 2 Sain. 21 : 22. His height was 
" six cubits and a span," which, taking 
the cubit at 21 inches, would make him 10? 
feet high. The scene of his combat with 
David, by whom he was slain, was the 
" valley * of the terebinth," between 
Shochoh and Arekah, probably among 
the western passes of Benjamin. In 2 
Sam. 21 : 19 we find that another Goliath 
of Gath was slam by Elhanan, also a 
Bethlehemite. 

Go'mer (perfect). 1. The eldest son 
of Japheth, Gen. 10 : 2, 3, the progenitor 
of the early Cimmerians, of the later 
Cimbri and the other branches of the 
Celtic family, and of the modern Gael 
and Cvmri. 

2. The wife of Hosea. Hos. 1 : 3. 

Gomor'rah {submersion), one of the 
five "cities of the plain" or "vale of 
Siddim " that under their respective kings 
joined battle there with Chedorlaomer, 
Gen. 14 : 2-8, and his allies, by whom 
they were discomfited till Abraham 
came to the rescue. Four out of the five 
were afterwards destroyed by the Lord 
with fire from heaven. Gen.' 19 : 23-29. 
One of them only, Zoar (or Bela, which 
was its original name), was spared at the 
request of Lot, in order that he might 
take refuge there. The geographical 
position of these cities is discussed under 
Sodom. 

Gopher (pitch) wood. Only once 
mentioned — Gen. 6 : 14. Two principal 
conjectures have been proposed: — 1. 
That the "trees of gopher" are any 



trees of the resinous kind, such as pine, 
fir, etc. 2. That gopher is cypress. 

Go'shen. 1. The name of a part of 
Egypt where the Israelites dwelt during 
the whole period of their sojourn in that 
country. It was probably situated on the 
eastern border of the Nile, extending 
from the Mediterranean to the Bed Sea. 
It contained the treasure-cities of Barne- 
ses and Pittim. It was a pasture land, 
especially suited to a shepherd people, 
and sufficient for the Israelites, who there 
prospered, and were separate from the 
main body of the Egyptians. 

2. A district in southern Palestine con- 
quered by Joshua. Josh. 10 : 41. It lay 
between Gaza and Gibeon. 

3. A town in the mountains of Judah, 
probably in a part of the country of 
Goshen. 

Gos'pels. The name Gospel (from 
god and spell, Ang. Sax. good message or 
news, which is a translation of the Greek 
evaggelion) is applied to the four inspired 
histories of the life and teaching of 
Christ contained in the New Testament, 
of which separate accounts are given in 
their place. They were all composed 
during the latter half of the first century : 
those of St. Matthew and St. Mark some 
years before the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem ; that of St. Luke probably about 
a.d. 64 ; and that of St. John towards 
the close of the century. Before the end 
of the second century, there is abundant 
evidence that the four Gospels, as one 
collection, were generally used and ac- 
cepted. As a matter of literary history, 
nothing can be better established than 
the genuineness of the Gospels. On com- 
paring these four books one with another, 
a peculiar difficulty claims attention, 
which has had much to do with the con- 
troversy as to their genuineness. In the 
fourth Gospel the narrative coincides 
with that of the other three in a few 
passages only. The received explanation 
is the only satisfactory one, namely, that 
John, writing last, at the close of the first 
century, had seen the other Gospels, and 
purposely abstained from writing anew 
what they had sufficiently recorded. In 
the other three Gospels there is a great 
amount of agreement. If we suppose the 
history that they contain to be divided 
into 89 sections, in 42 of these all the 
three narratives coincide, 12 more are 
given by Matthew and Mark only, 5 by 
Mark and Luke only, and 14 by Matthew 
and Luke. To these must be added 5 
221 



GOU 



peculiar to Matthew, 2 to Mark and 9 
to Luke, and the enumeration is com- 
plete. But this applies only to general 
coincidence as to the facts narrated : the 
amount of verbal coincidence, that is, 
the passages either verbally the same or 
coinciding in the use of many of the 
same words, is much smaller. It has j 
been ascertained by Stroud that " if the 
total contents of the several Gospels be 
represented by 100, the following table 
is obtained : 

Matthew ha^ 42 peculiarities and 58 coincidences. 
Mark "7 " 93 

Luke " 59 " 41 

John " 92 " 8 " 

Why four Gospels. — 1. To bring four 
separate independent witnesses to the 
truth. 2. It is to 
give the Lord's 
life from every 
point of view, 
four living por- 
traits of one per- 
son. There were 
four Gospels be- 
cause Jesus was 
to be commend- 
ed to four races 
or classes of 
men, or to four 
phases of human 
thought, — the 
Jewish, Roman, 
Greek and Chris- 
tian. Had not 
these exhausted 
the classes to be 
reached, there 
would doubtless 
have been more 
Gospels. In all 
ages, the Jew- 
ish, Roman and 
Greek natures 
reappear among men, and, in fact, make 
up the world of natural men, while the 
Christian nature and wants likewise re- 
main essentially the same. 

The First Gospel was prepared by 
Matthew for the Jew. He gives us the 
Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews, 
the Messianic royalty of Jesus. He places 
the life and character of Jesus, as lived 
on earth, alongside the life and charac- 
ter of the Messiah, as sketched in the 
prophets, showing Christianity as the 
fulfillment of Judaism. Mark wrote the 
Second Gospel. It was substantially 
the preaching of Peter to the Romans. 
222 



The Gospel for him must represent the 
character and career of Jesus from the 
Roman point of view, as answering to the 
idea of divine power, work, law, conquest 
and universal sway ; must retain its old 
significance and ever-potent inspiration 
as the battle-call of the almighty Con- 
queror. Luke wrote the Third Gospel 
in Greece for the Greek. It has its basis 
in the gospel which Paul and Luke, by 
long preaching to the Greeks, had already 
thrown into the form best suited to com- 
mend to their acceptance Jesus as the 
perfect divine man. It is the gospel of 
the future, of progressive Christianity, 
of reason and culture seeking the perfec- 
tion of manhood. John, " the beloved 
disciple," wrote the Fourth Gospel 



for the Christian, to cherish and train 
those who have entered the new kingdom 
of Christ, into the highest spiritual life. 
— Condensed from Prof . Gregory. 

Gourd. 1. Kikdyon only in Jonah 
4 : G-10. The plant which is intended 
by this w T ord, and which afforded shade 
to the prophet Jonah before Nineveh, is 
the Ricinus communis, or castor-oil plant, 
which, a native of Asia, is now natural- 
ized in America, Africa and the south of 
Europe. This plant varies considerably 
in size, being in India a tree, but in 
England seldom attaining a greater 
height than three or four feet. The leaves 




ColocyntVuis or Wild Gourd. 



GOV 



GRE 



are large and palmate, with serrated 
lobes, and would form an excellent shel- 
ter for the sun-stricken prophet. The 
seeds contain the oil so well known under 
the name of " castor oil," which has for 
ages been in high repute as a medicine. 
It is now thought by many that the plant 
meant is a vine of the cucumber family, 
a genuine gourd, which is much used for 
shade in the East. 

2. The wild gourd of 2 Kings 4 : 39, 
which one of " the sons of the prophets" 
gathered ignorantly, supposing them to 
be good for food, is a poisonous gourd, 
supposed to be the colocynth, which bears 
a fruit of tiie color and size of an orange, 
with a hard, woody shell. As several 
varieties of the same family, such as 
melons, pumpkins, etc., are favorite 
articles of refreshing food amongst the 
Orientals, we can easily understand the 
cause of the mistake. 

Governor. In the Authorized Ver- 
sion this one English word is the repre- 
sentative of no less than ten Hebrew and 
four Greek words. 1. The chief of a 
tribe or family. 2. A ruler in his ca- 
pacity of lawgiver and dispenser of jus- 
tice. 3. A ruler considered especially as 
having power over the property and per- 
sons of his subjects. Gen. 24 : 2 ; Josh. 12 : 
2 ; Ps. 1U5 : 20. The "governors of the 
people," in 2 Chron. 23 : 20, appear to 
have been the king's body-guard; cf. 2 
Kings 11 : 19. 4. A prominent person- 
age, whatever his capacity. It is applied 
to a king as the military and civil chief 
of his people, 2 Sam. 5 : 2 ; 6 : 21 ; 1 Chron. 
29 : 22, to the general of an army, 2 
Chron. 32 : 21, and to the head of a tribe. 
2 Chron. 19 : 11. It denotes an officer of 
high rank in the palace, the lord high 
chamberlain. 2 Chron. 28 : 7. It is ap- 
plied in 1 Kings 10 : 15 to the petty chief- 
tains who were tributary to Solomon, 2 
Chron. 9 : 14 ; to the military commander 
of the Syrians, 1 Kings 20 : 24, the As- 
syrians, 2 Kings 18 : 24 ; 23 : 8, the Chal- 
deans, Jer. 51 : 23, and the Medes. Jer. 
51 : 38. Under the Persian viceroys, 
during the Babylonian captivity, the 
land of the Hebrews appears to have been 
portioned out among " governors" {pa- 
choth) inferior in rank to the satraps, 
Ezra 8 : 3G, like the other provinces which 
were under the dominion of the Persian 
king. Neh. 2:7, 9. It is impossible to 
determine the precise limits of their au- 
thority or the functions which they had 
to perform. It appears from Ezra 6 : 8 



that these governors were intrusted with 
the collection of the king's taxes ; and 
from Neh. 5:18; 12 : 26 that they were 
supported by a contribution levied upon 
the people, which was technically termed 
" the bread of the governor ;" comp. Ezra 
4 : 14. They were probably assisted in 
discharging their official duties by a 
council. Ezra 4:7; 6:6. The " govern- 
or" beyond the river had a judgment- 
seat beyond Jerusalem, from which prob- 
ably he administered justice when making 
a progress through his province. Neh. 3 : 
7. At the time of Christ Judea was a 
Eoman province, governed by a procura- 
tor (governor) appointed by Home. 

Go'zan seems in the Authorized Ver- 
sion of 1 Chron. 5 : 26 to be the name of 
a river; but in 2 Kings 17 : 6 and 18 : 11 
it is evidently applied not to a river but 
a country. Oozan was the tract to which 
the Israelites were carried away captive 
by Pul, Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, 
or possibly Sargon. It is probably iden- 
tical with the Gauzanilis of Ptolemy, and 
J may be regarded as represented by the 
j Mygdonia of other writers. It was the 
J tract watered by the Habor, the modern 
Khabour, the great Mesopotamian afflu- 
ent of the Euphrates. 
Grape. [Vine.] 
Grasshopper. [Locust.] 
Grave. [Burial.] 
Greaves, a piece of defensive armor 
which reached from the foot to the knee, 
and thus protected the shin of the wearer. 
It was made of leather or brass. 

Greece, Greeks, Gre'cians. The 
histories of Greece and Palestine are little 
connected with each other. In Gen. 10 : 
2-5 Moses mentions the descendants of 
Javan as peopling the isles of the Gen- 
tiles ; and when the Hebrews came into 
contact with the Ionians of Asia Minor, 
and recognized them as the long-lost isl- 
anders of the western migration, it was 
natural that they should mark the sim- 
ilarity of sound between Javan and Iones. 
Accordingly the Old Testament word 
which is Grecia, in Authorized Version 
Greece, Greeks, etc., is in Hebrew Javan, 
Dan. 8:21; Joel 3:6; the Hebrew, how- 
ever, is sometimes retained. Isa. 66 : 19 ; 
Ezek. 27 : 13. The Greeks and Hebrews 
met for the first time in the slave-market. 
The medium of communication seems to 
have been the Tyrian slave-merchants. 
About B.C. 800 Joel speaks of the Tyrians 
as selling the children of Judah to the 
Grecians, Joel 3:6; and in Ezek. 27 : 13 
223 



GRE 



GUR 



the Greeks are mentioned as bartering 
their brazen vessels for slaves. Pnmhet- 
ical notice of Greece occurs in Dan. 8:21, 
etc., where the history of Alexander and 
his successors is rapidly sketched. Zech- 
ariah, Zech. 9 : 13, foretells the triumphs 
of the Maccabees against the Graeco-Syr- 
ian empire, while Isaiah looks forward 
to the conversion of the Greeks, amongst 
other Gentiles, through the instrument- 
ality of Jewish missionaries. Isa. 66 : 
19. The name of the country, Greece, 
occurs once in the New Testament, Acts 
20 : 2, as opposed to Macedonia. [Gen- 
tiles.] 

Gre'cian. The term Grecian, or Hel- 
lenist, denotes a Jew by birth or religion 
who spoke Greek. It is used chiefly of 
foreign Jews and proselytes in contrast 
with the Hebrews speaking the vernac- 
ular Hebrew or Aramaean. — Bible Dic- 
tionary of Tract Society. 

Greyhound, the translation in the 
text of the Authorized Version, Prov. 30 : 
31, of the Hebrew word zarzir mothnay in, 
i. e. "one girt about the loins." Various 
are the opinions as to what animal 
"comely in going" is here intended. 
Some think "a leopard," others "an 
eagle," or "a man girt with armor," or 
"a zebra," or "a war-horse girt with 
trappings." But perhaps the word means 
" a wrestler," when girt about the loins 
for a contest. 

Grinding. [Mill.] 

Grove. 1. A word used in the Au- 
thorized Version, with two exceptions, to 
translate the mysterious Hebrew term 
Asherah, which is not a grove, but prob- 
ably an idol or image of some kind. 
[Asherah.] It is also probable that 
224 



there was a connection between this sym- 
bol or image, whatever it was, and the 
sacred symbolic tree, the representation 
of which occurs so frequently on Assyrian 
sculptures. 

2. The two exceptions noticed above 
are Gen. 21 : 33 and 1 Sam. 22 : 6 (margin). 
In the religions of the ancient heathen 
world groves play a prominent part. In 
the old times altars only were erected to 
the gods. It was thought wrong to shut 
up the gods within walls, and hence trees 
were the first temples ; and from the ear- 
liest times groves are mentioned in con- 
nection with religious worship. Gen. 12 : 
6,7; Deut. 11:30; Authorized Version 
" plain." The groves were generally 
found connected with temples, and often 
had the right of affording an asvlum. 

Gud'godah. Deut. 10 : 7. LSee Hok- 

HAGIDGAD.] 

Guest. [Hospitality.] 

Gu'ni (painted). 1. A son of Naph- 
tali, Gen. 46:24; 1 Chron. 7:13, the 
founder of the family of the Gunites. 
Num. 26 : 48. 

2. A descendant of Gad. 1 Chron. 5 : 15. 

Gu'nites, The, descendants of Guni, 
son of Naphtali. Num. 26 : 48. 

Gur (abode), The going up to, an 
ascent or rising ground, at which Ahaziah 
received his death-blow while flying from 
Jehu after the slaughter of Joram. 2 
Kings 9 : 27. 

Gur-foa'al (abode of Baal), a place or 
district in which dwelt Arabians, as re- 
corded in 2 Chron. 26 : 7. It appears from 
the context to have been in the country 
lying between Palestine and the Arabian 
peninsula ; but this, although probable, 
cannot be proved. 



HAA 



HAD 



H. 



Ha-ahash'tari (the courier), a man 
or a family immediately descended from 
Ashur, " father of Tekoa," by his second 
wife Naarah. 1 Chron. 4 : 6. (B.C. after 
1450.) 

Habai'ah, or Habai'ah (whom Je- 
hovah hides). Bene-Habaiah were among 
the sons of the priests who returned from 
Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : (31 ; 
Neh. 7 : 63. (B.C. before 459. ) 

Hab'akkuk, or Habak'kuk (em- 
brace), the eighth in order of the minor 
prophets. Of the facts of the prophet's 
life we have no certain information. He 
probably lived about the twelfth or thir- 
teenth year of Josiah, B.C. 630 or 629. 

Hab'akkuk, Prophecy of, consists 
of three chapters, in the first of which he 
foreshadows the invasion of Judea by the 
Chaldeans, and in the second he foretells 
the doom of the Chaldeans. The whole 
concludes with the magnificent psalm in 
ch. 3, a composition unrivalled for bold- 
ness of conception, sublimity of thought 
and majesty of diction. 

Habazini/ah (light of Jehovah), ap- 
parently the head of one of the families 
of the Rechabites. Jer. 35 : 3. (B.C. be- 
fore 589.) 

Habergeon, a coat of mail covering 
the neck and breast. [Arms.J 

Ha'bor (beautiful banks), the "river 
of Gozan," 2 Kings 17 : 6 and 18 : 11, is 
identified beyond all reasonable doubt 
with the famous affluent of the Euphrates, 
which is called Aborrhas and Chaboras 
by ancient writers, and now Khabour. 

Hachali'ah (whom Jehovah enlight- 
ens), the father of Nehemiah. Neh. 1:1; 
10:1. 

Hach'ilah, The hill, a hill appar- 
ently situated in a wood in the wilderness 
or waste land in the neighborhood of 
Ziph, in Judah, in the fastnesses or passes 
of which David and his six hundred fol- 
lowers were lurking when the Ziphites 
informed Saul of his whereabouts. 1 Sam. 
23 : 19; comp. 14, 15, 18. 

Haeh'moni (wise), Son of, and The 
Hach'monite. 1 Chron. 11 : 11 ; 27 : 32. 
Hachmon or Hachmoni was no doubt the 
founder of a family to which these men 
belonged : the actual father of Jashobeam 
was Zabdiel, 1 Chron. 27 : 2, and he is 
15 



! also said to have belonged to the Kor- 
\ hites. 1 Chron. 12 : 6. (B.C. before 1046.) 

Ha'dad (mighty), originally the in- 
| digenous appellation of the sun among 
i the Syrians, and thence transferred to the 
king as the highest of earthly authorities. 
The title appears to have been an official 
one, like Pharaoh. It is found occasion- 
! ally in the altered form Hadar. Gen. 25 : 
J 15 ; 36 : 39, compared with 1 Chron. 1 : 30, 
| 50. 

1. Son of Ishmael. Gen. 25:15; 1 
Chron. 1 : 30. 

2. A king of Edom who gained an im- 
portant victory over the Midianites on 
the field of Moab. Gen. 36 : 35 ; 1 Chron. 
1 :46. 

3. Also a king of Edom, with Pan for 
his capital. 1 Chron. 1 : 50. 

4. A member of the royal house of 
Edom. 1 Kings 11 : 14 ff. In his child- 
hood he escaped the massacre under Joab, 
and fled with a band of followers into 
Egypt. Pharaoh, the predecessor of Sol- 
omon's father-in-law, treated him kindly, 
and gave him his sister-in-law in mar- 
riage. After David's death Hadad re- 
solved to attempt the recovery of his do- 
minion. He left Egyj)t and returned to 
his own country. 

Hadade'zer. 2 Sam. 8 : 3-12 ; 1 Kings 
11 : 23. [Hadarezer.] 

Ha'dad-rim'mon is, according to 
the ordinary interpretation of Zech. 12 : 
11, a place in the valley of Megiddo (a 
part of the plain of Esdraelon, six miles 
from Mount Carmel and eleven from 
Nazareth), where a national lamentation 
was held for the death of King Josiah. 
It was named after two Syrian idols. 
Ha'dar. [Hadad.] 
Hadare'zer (Hadad's help), son of 
Rehob, 2 Sam. 8 : 3, the king of the A ra- 
mi te state of Zobah, who was pursued by 
David and defeated with great loss. 1 
i Chron. 18 : 3, 4. (B.C. 1035.) After the 
| first repulse of the Ammonites and their 
Syrian allies by Joab, Hadarezer sent his 
j army to the assistance of his kindred the 
! people of Maachah, Rehob and Ishtob. 1 
i Chron. 19 : 16 ; 2 Sam. 10 : 15, comp. 8. 
j Under the command of Shophach or Sho- 
| bach, the captain of the host, they crossed 
the Euphrates, joined the other Syrians, 
225 



HAD 



HAG 



and encamped at a place called Helam. 
David himself came from Jerusalem to 
take the command of the Israelite army. 
As on the former occasion, the rout was 
complete. 

Had'ashah (new), one of the towns 
of Judah, in the maritime low country, 
Josh. 15 : 37 only, probably the Adasa 
of the Maccabean history. 

Had as 's ah (myrtle), probably the 
earlier name of Esther. Esther 2:7. 

Hadat'tah (new). According to the 
Authorized Version, one of the towns of 
Judah in the extreme south. Josh. 15 : 
25. 

Ha'des, in Eevised Version. [See 
Hell.] 

Ha'did (sharp), a place named, with 
Lod (Lydda) and Ono, only in the later 
books of the history. Ezra 2 : 33 ; Neh. 7 : 
37; 11:34. In the time of Eusebius a 
town called Aditha or Adatha existed to 
the east of Diospolis (Lydda). This was 
probably Had id. 

Had'la-i (rest of God), a man of 
Ephraim. 2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

Hado'rara (noble honor). 1. The 
fifth son of Joktan. Gen. 10 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 21. His settlements, unlike those of 
many of Joktan's sons, have not been 
identified. 

2. Son of Tou or Toi king of Hamath ; 
his father's ambassador to congratulate 
David on his victory over Hadarezer king 
of Zobah. 1 Chron. 18 : 10. (B.C. 1035.) 

3. The form assumed in Chronicles by 
the name of the intendant of taxes under 
David, Solomon and Eehoboam. 2 Chron. 
10 : 18. In Kings the name is given in 
the longer form of Adoniram, but in 
Samuel, 2 Sam. 20 : 24, as Adoram. 

Ha'drach (dwelling), a country of 
Syria, mentioned once only, by the pro- 
phet Zechariah. Zech. 9:1. The po- 
sition of the district, with its borders, is 
here generally stated ; but the name itself 
seems to have wholly disappeared. It 
still remains unknown. 

Ha' gab (locust). Bene-Hagab were 
among the Nethinim who returned from 
Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 46. 
(B.C. before 536.) 

Hag'aba (locust). Bene-Hagaba were 
among the Nethinim who came back 
from captivity with Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 
48. The name is slightly different in 
form from 

Hag 'a bah, under which it is found in 
the parallel list of Ezra 2 : 45. 

Ha'gar (flight), an Egyptian woman, 
226 



the handmaid or slave of Sarah, Gen. 16 : 
1, whom the latter gave as a concubine 
to Abraham, after he had dwelt ten years 
in the land of Canaan and had no chil- 
dren by Sarah, ch. 16 : 2, 3. (B.C. 1912.) 
When Hagar saw that she had conceived, 
" her mistress was despised in her eyes," 
v. 4, and Sarah, with the anger, we may 
suppose, of a free woman rather than of 
a wife, reproached Abraham for the re- 
sults of her own act. Hagar fled, turning 
her steps toward her native land through 
the great wilderness traversed by the 
Egyptian road. By the fountain in the 
way to Shur the angel of the Lord found 
her, charged her to return and submit 
herself under the hands of her mistress, 
and delivered the remarkable prophecy 
respecting her unborn child recorded in 
vs. 10-12. On her return she gave birth 
to Ishmael, and Abraham was then 
eighty-six years old. When Ishmael was 
about sixteen years old, he was caught 
by Sarah making sport of her young son 
Isaac at the festival of his weaning, and 
Sarah demanded the expulsion of Hagar 
and her son. She again fled toward 
Egypt, and when in despair at the want 
of water, an angel again appeared to her, 
pointed out a fountain close by, and re- 
newed the former promises to her. Gen. 
21 : 9-21. St. Paul, Gal. 4 : 25, refers to 
her as the type of the old covenant of the 
law. 

Hagarenes', Ha'garites (named 
after Hagar), a people dwelling to the 
east of Palestine, with whom the tribes 
of Reuben made war in the time of Saul. 
1 Chron. 5 : 10, 18-20. The same people, 
as confederate against Israel, are men- 
tioned in Ps. 83 : 6. It is generally be- 
lieved that they were named after Hagar, 
and that the important town and district 
of IJejer, on the borders of the Persian 
Gulf, represent them. 

Ha'gerite, The. Jaziz the Hager- 
ite, i. e. the descendant of Hagar, had 
the charge of David's sheep. 1 Chron. 
27 : 31. 

Hag'ga-i (festive), the tenth in order 
of the minor prophets, and first of those 
who prophesied after the captivity. With 
regard to his tribe and parentage history 
and tradition are alike silent. 

Hag'ga-i, Prophecy of. The style 
of Haggai is generally tame and prosaic, 
though at times it rises to the dignity of 
severe invective when the prophet re- 
bukes his countrymen for their selfish in- 
dolence and neglect of God's house. But 



HAG 



HAL 



the brevity of the prophecies is so great, 
and the poverty of expression which char- 
acterizes them so striking, as to give rise 
to a conjecture, not without reason, that 
in their present form they are but the 
outline or summary of the original 
discourses. They were delivered in 
the second year of Darius Hystaspes 
(.B.C. 520), at intervals from* the 1st 
day of the 6th month to the 24th day 
of the 9th month in the same year. 

Hag'geri {wanderer) was one of 
the mighty men of David's guard, ac- 
cording to 1 Chron. 11 : 38. The par- 
allel passage — 2 Sam. 23 : 36 — has 
" Bani the Gadite," which is prob- 
ably the correct reading. (B.C. 1046.) 

Hag'gi (festive), second son of 
Gad. Gen. 46 : 16 ; Num. 26 : 15. 

Haggi/ah {festival of Jehovah), 
a Merarite Levite. 1 Chron. 6 : 30. 

Hag'gites, The, a Gadite fam- 
ily sprung from Haggi. Num. 26 : 15. 

Hag'gith (festive; a dancer), one of 
David's wives, the mother of Adonijah. 
2 Sam. 3 : 4 ; 1 Kings 1 : 5. (B.C. 1053.) 

Ha'i. Same as Ai. 

Hair. The Hebrews were fully alive 
to the importance of the hair as an ele- 
ment of personal beauty. Long hair was 
admired in the case' of young men. 2 
Sam. 14 : 26. In times of affliction the 
hair was altogether cut off. Isa. 3 : 17, 
24 ; 15 : 2 ; Jer. 7 : 29. Tearing the hair, 
Ezra 9 : 3, and letting it go dishevelled 
were similar tokens of grief. The usual 
and favorite color of the hair was black, 
Cant. 5 : 11, as is indicated in the com- 
parisons in Cant. 1 : 5 ; 4 : 1 ; a similar 
hue is probably intended by the purple 
of Cant. 7 : 5. Pure white hair was 
deemed characteristic of the divine Maj- 
esty. Dan. 7:9; Rev. 1 : 14. The chief 
beauty of the hair consisted in curls, 
whether of a natural or an artificial char- 
acter. With regard to the mode of dress- 
ing the hair, we have no very precise in- 
formation ; the terms used are of a gen- 
eral character, as of Jezebel, 2 Kings 9 : 
30, and of Judith, ch. 10 : 3, and in the 
New Testament, 1 Tim. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3 : 
3. The arrangement of Samson's hair 
into seven locks, or more properly braids, 
Judges 16 : 13, 19, involves the practice 
of plaiting, which was also familiar to 
the Egyptians and Greeks. The locks 



were generally compounded of various 
aromatic ingredients, Ruth 3 : 3 ; 2 Sam. 
14:2; Ps. 23:5; 92:10; Eccles. 9:8, 
more especially on occasions of festivity 
or hospitality. Luke 7 : 46. It appears to 




Beards. Egyptian, from Wilkinson (top row). 
Of other nations, from Rosellini and Layard. 

have been the custom of the Jews in our 
Saviour's time to swear by the hair, 
Matt. 5 : 36, much as the Egyptian women 
still swear by the side-lock, and the men 
by their beards. 

Hak'katan (young). Johanan, son 
of Hakkatan, was the chief of the Bene- 
Azgad who returned from Babylon with 
Ezra. Ezra 8 : 12. 

Hak'koz (thorn), a priest, the chief 
of the seventh course in the service of the 
sanctuary, as appointed bv David. 1 
Chron. 24 : 10. In Ezra 2 : 61 and Neh. 
3:4, 21 the name occurs again as Koz 
in the Authorized Version. 

Hakn'pha (bent). Bene-Hakupha 
were among the Nethinim who returned 
from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
51 ; Neh. 7 : 53. 

Ha'lah is probably a different place 
from the Calah of Gen. 10 : 11. It may be 
identified with the Chalcitis of Ptolemy. 

Ha'lak (smooth), The mount, a 
mountain twice, and twice only, named, 
as the southern limit of Joshua's con- 
quests, Josh. 11 : 17 ; 12 : 7, but which has 
not yet been identified. 

Hal'hul (trembling), a town of Judah 
in the mountain district. Josh. 15 : 58. 
The name still remains unaltered, at- 
tached to a conspicuous hill a mile to 
the left of the road from Jerusalem to 



Hebron, between three and four miles 
were probably kept in their place by a ; from the latter. 



fillet, as in Egypt. The Hebrews, like 
other nations of antiquity, anointed the 
hair profusely with ointments, which 



Ha'li (necklace), a town on the bound- 
ary of Asher, named between Helkath 
and Beten. Josh. 19 : 25. 

227 • 



HAL 



HAM 



Hall, used of the court of the high 
priest's house. Luke 22 : 55. In Matt. 
27 : 27 and Mark 15 : 16 " hall" is synon- 
ymous with " prsetorium," which in John 
18 : 28 is in Authorized Version ''judg- 
ment hall." 

Hallelujah (praise ye the Lord). 
[Alleluia.] 

Hallo'hesh {enchanter), one of the 
chief of the people who sealed the cove- 
nant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 24. (B.C. 
410.) 

Halo'hesh. Shallum, son of Halo- 
hesh, was " ruler of the half part of Je- 
rusalem" at the time of the repair of the 
wall by Nehemiah. Neh. 3 : 12. (B.C. 
446.) 

Ham (hot; sunburnt). 1. The name 
of one of the three sons of Noah, appar- 
ently the second in age. (B.C. 2448.) 
Of the history of Ham nothing is related 
except his irreverence to his father and 
the curse which that patriarch pro- 
nounced. The sons of Ham are stated 
to have been " Cush and Mizraim and 
Phut and Canaan." Gen. 10 : 6 ; comp. 1 
Chron. 1 : 8. Ea:ypt is^ recognized as the 
" land of Ham " in the Bible. Ps. 78 : 51 ; 
105 : 23 ; 106 : 22. The other settlements 
of the sons of Ham are discussed under 
their respective names. The three most 
illustrious Hamite nations — the Cushites, 
the Phoenicians and the Egyptians — were 
greatly mixed with foreign peoples. 
Their architecture has a solid grandeur 
that we look for in vain elsewhere. 

2. According to the present text, Gen. 
14 : 5, Chedoriaomer and his allies smote 
the Zuzim in a place called Ham, prob- 
ably in the territory of the Ammonites 
(Gilead), east of the Jordan. 

Ha'man (magnificent), the chief min- 
ister or vizier of King Ahasuerus. Esther 
3:1. (B.C. 473.) After the failure of his 
attempt to cut off all the Jews in the 
Persian empire, he was hanged on the 
gallows which he had erected for Mor- 
decai. The Targum and Josephus inter- 
pret the description of him — the Agagite 
— as signifying that he was of Amalek- 
itish descent. The Jews hiss whenever 
his name is mentioned on the day of 
Purim. 

Ha'math (fortress), the principal city 
of upper Syria, was situated in the valley 
of the Orontes, which it commanded from 
the low screen of hills which forms the 
water-shed between the source of the 
Orontes and Antioch. The Hamathites 
were a Hamitic race, and are included 
228 



among the descendants of Canaan. Gen. 
10 : 18. Nothing appears of the power 
of Hamath until the time of David. 2 
Sam. 8 : 9. Hamath seems clearly to 
have been included in the dominions of 
Solomon. 1 Kings 4 : 21-24. The " store- 
cities" which Solomon "built in Ha- 
math," 2 Chron. 8 : 4, were perhaps sta- 
ples for trade. In the Assyrian inscrip- 
tions of the time of Ahab (B.C. 900) Ha- 
math appears as a separate power, in 
alliance with the Syrians of Damascus, 
the Hittites and the Phoenicians. About 
three-quarters of a century later Jero- 
boam the Second " recovered Hamath." 
2 Kings 14 : 28. Soon afterwards the As- 
syrians took it, 2 Kings 18 : 34 ; 19 : 13, 
etc., and from this time it ceased to be a 
place of much importance. Antiochus 
Epiphanes changed its name to Epiph- 
aneia. The natives, however, called it 
Hamath even in St. Jerome's time, and 
its present name, Hamah, is but slightly 
altered from the ancient form. 

Ha'math- z o'bah ( fortress of Zobah), 
2 Chron. 8 : 3, has been conjectured to be 
the same as Hamath. But the name 
Hamath-zobah would seem rather suited 
to another Hamath which was distin- 
guished from the " Great Hamath" by 
the suffix " Zobah. 4 ' 

Ham'attoite, The, one of the fam- 
ilies descended from Canaan, named last 
in the list. Gen. 10:18; 1 Chron. 1 : 16. 

Ham'math (warm springs), one of 
the fortified cities in the territory allotted 
to Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 35. It was near 
Tiberias, one mile distant, and had its 
name Chammath, "hot baths," because 
it contained those of Tiberias. In the 
list of Levitical cities given out of Naph- 
tali, Josh. 21 : 32, the name of this place 
seems to be given as Hammoth-doe. 

Hammed'atha (double), father of the 
infamous Hainan. Esther 3 : 1, 10 ; 8:5; 
9:24. 

Ham'melech, lit. " the king," un- 
necessarily rendered in the Authorized 
Version as a proper name. Jer. 36 : 26 ; 
38 : 6. 

Hammol'eketh (the queen), a daugh- 
ter of Machir and sister of Gilead. 1 
Chron. 7 : 17, 18. (B.C. between 1706 and 
1491.) 

II am 'num (warm springs). 1. A city 
in Asher, Josh. 19 : 28, apparently not far 
from Zidon-rabbah. 

2. A city allotted out of the tribe of 
Naphtali to the Levites, 1 Chron. 6 : 76, 
and answering to the somewhat similar 



HAM 



HAN 



names Hammath and Hammoth-dor 
in Joshua. 

Ham'moth-dor {dwelling of the 
warm springs) . [ Hammath. j 

Ham'onah (multitude), the name of 
a city mentioned in Ezekiel. Ezek. 39 : 
16. 

Ha'mon-gog (the multitude of Gog), 
The valley of, the name to be bestowed 
on a ravine or glen, previously known 
as " the ravine of the passengers on the 
east of the sea," after the burial there of 
" Gog and all his multitude." Ezek. 39 : 
11, 15. 

Ha'mor (an ass), a Hivite who at the 
time of the entrance of Jacob on Pales- 
tine was prince of the land and city of 
Shechem. Gen. 33 : 19 ; 34 : 2, 4, 6, 8, 13, 
18, 20, 24, 26. (B.C. 1737.) [Dinah.] 

Hamu'el (heat, i. e. wrath, of God), a 
man of Simeon, of the family of Shaul. 
1 Chron. 4 : 26. 

Ha'mul (pitied), the younger son of 
Pharez, Judah's son by Tamar. Gen. 46 : 
12; 1 Chron. 2:5. (B.C. between 1706- 
1688.) 

Ha'mul ites, The, the family of the 
preceding. Num. 26 : 21. 

Hamu'tal (akin to the dew), daughter 
of Jeremiah of Libnah ; one of the wives 
of King Josiah. 2 Kings 23 : 31 ; 24 : 18 ; 
Jer. 52 : 1. (B.C. 632-619.) 

Hanam'e-el (whom God graciously 
gave), son of Shallum and cousin of Jer- 
emiah. Jer. 32 : 7, 8, 9, 12 ; and comp. 44. 
(B.C. 589.) 

Ha'nan' (merciful). 1. One of the 
chief people of the tribe of Benjamin. 1 
Chron. 8': 23. 

2. The last of the six sons of Azel, a 
descendant of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 38 ; 9 : 44. 
(B.C. 588.) 

3. " Son of Maachah," i. e. possibly a 
Syrian of Aram-maachah, one of the he- 
roes of David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 43. 
(B.C. 1046.) 

4. The sons of Hanan were among the 
Nethinim who returned from Babylon 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 46 ; Neh. 7 : 49. 
(B.C. 536.) 

5. One of the Levites who assisted 
Ezra in his public exposition of the law. 
Neh. 8 : 7. (B.C. 446.) The same person 
is probably mentioned in ch. 10 : 10. 

6. One of the " heads" of " the people," 
who also sealed the covenant. Neh. 10 : 22. 
(B.C. 410.) 

7. Another of the chief laymen on the 
same occasion. Neh. 10 : 26. 

8. Son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, 



whom Nehemiah made one of the store- 
keepers of the provisions collected as 
tithes. Neh. 13 : 13. 

9. Son of Igdaliah. Jer. 35 : 4. (B.C. 
410.) 

Hanan'e-el (whom God graciously 
gave), The tower of, a tower which 
formed part of the wall of Jerusalem. 
Neh. 3:1; 12 : 39. From these two pas- 
sages, particularly from the former, it 
might almost be inferred that Hananeel 
was but another name for the tower of 
Mean; at any rate they were close to- 
gether, and stood between the sheep-gate 
and the fish-gate. This tower is further 
mentioned in Jer. 31 : 38. The remaining 
passage in which it is named, Zech. 14 : 
10, also connects this tower with the 
"corner-gate," which lay on the other 
side of the sheep-gate. 

Hana'ni (gracious). 1. One of the 
sons of Heman, and head of the eighteenth 
course of the service. 1 Chron. 25 : 4, 25. 

2. A seer who rebuked (B.C. 941) Asa 
king of Judah. 2 Chron. 16 : 7. For this 
he was imprisoned, ver. 10. He or an- 
other Hanani was the father of Jehu the 
seer, who testified against Baasha, 1 
Kings 16 : 1, 7, and Jehoshaphat. 2 
Chron. 19 : 2 ; 20 : 34. 

3. One of the priests who in the time 
of Ezra had taken strange wives. Ezra 
10 : 20. 

4. A brother of Nehemiah, Neh. 1 : 2, 
who was made governor of Jerusalem 
under Nehemiah. ch. 7 : 2. 

5. A priest mentioned in Neh. 12 : 36. 
Hanani'ah (gift of God). 1. One of 

the fourteen sons of Heman, and chief of 
the sixteenth course of singers. 1 Chron. 
25 : 4, 5, 23. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. A general in the army of King Uz- 
ziah. 2 Chron. 26 : 11. 

3. Father of Zedekiah, in the reign of 
Jehoiakim. (B.C. before 605.) 

4. Son of Azur, a Benjamite of Gibeon 
and a false prophet in the reign of Zede- 
kiah king of Judah. In the fourth year 
of his reign, B.C. 595, Hananiah with- 
stood Jeremiah the prophet, and publicly 
prophesied in the temple that within two 
years Jeconiah and all his fellow cap- 
tives, with the vessels of the Lord's house, 
should be brought back to Jerusalem. 
Jer. 28. Hananiah corroborated his 
prophecy by taking from off" the neck of 
Jeremiah the yoke which he wore by 
divine command, Jer. 27, and breaking 
it. But Jeremiah was bidden to go and 
tell Hananiah that for the wooden yokes 

229 



HAN 



HAN 



which he had broken he should make 
yokes of iron, so firm was the dominion 
of Babylon destined to be for seventy 
years. The prophet Jeremiah added to 
this rebuke the prediction of Hananiah's 
death, the fulfillment of which closes the 
history of this false prophet. 

5. Grandfather of Irijah, the captain 
of the ward at the gate of Benjamin who 
arrested Jeremiah on the charge of de- 
serting to the Chaldeans. Jer. 37 : 
13. (B.C. before 589.) 

6. Head of a Benjamite house. 1 
Chron. 8 : 24. 

7. The Hebrew name of Sha- 
drach. He was of the house of Da- 
vid, according to Jewish tradition. 
Dan. 1 :3, 6, 7, 11, 19; 2 : 17. 

8. Son of Zerubbabel, 1 Chron. 3 : 
19, from whom Christ derived his 
descent. He is the same person who 
is by St. Luke called Joanna. (B.C. 
after 536.) 

9. One of the sons of Bebai who 
returned with Ezra from Babylon. 
Ezra 10: 28. (B.C. 459.) 

10. A priest, one of the makers of 
the sacred ointments and incense, 
who built a portion of the wall of 
Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah. 
Neh. 3 : 8. 

11. Head of the priestly course of 
Jeremiah in the days of Joiakim. 
Neh. 12 : 12. (B.C. 610.) 

12. Ruler of the palace at Jeru- 
salem under Nehemiah. The arrange- 
ments for guarding the gates of Jerusa- 
lem were intrusted to him with Hanani, 
the Tirshatha's brother. Neh. 7:2, 3. 
(B.C. 446.) 

13. An Israelite. Neh. 10 : 23. 
Handicraft. Acts 18 : 3 ; 19 : 25 ; Rev. 

18 : 22. A trade was taught to all the 
Jewish boys, as a necessary part of their 
education. Even the greatest rabbis 
maintained themselves by trades {De- 
litzsch). Says Rabbi Jehuda, " He who 
does not teach his son a trade is much the 
same as if he taught him to be a thief." 
In the present article brief notices only 
can be given of such handicraft trades as 
are mentioned in Scripture. 

1. Smiths or metal-workers. — The prep- 
aration of iron for use either in war, in 
agriculture or for domestic purposes was 
doubtless one of the earliest applications 
of labor ; and together with iron, work- 
ing in brass, or rather copper alloyed 
with tin (bronze), is mentioned as prac- 
ticed in antediluvian times. Gen. 4 : 22. 
230 



After the establishment of the Jews in 
Canaan, the occupation of a smith became 
recognized as a distinct employment. 1 
Sam. 13 : 19. The smith's work and its 
results are often mentioned in Scripture. 
2 Sam. 12 : 31 ; 1 Kings 6 : 7 ; 2 Chron. 
26 : 14 ; Isa, 44 : 12 ; 54 : 16. The worker 
in gold and silver must have found em- 
ployment among both the Hebrews and 
the neighboring nations in very early 




Carpenter' 



Shop at Nazareth. 
Photograph.) 



(From an original 



times. Gen. 24 : 22, 53; 35 : 4; 38 : 18. 
Various processes of the goldsmith's work 
are illustrated by Egyptian monuments. 
After the conquest frequent notices are 
found of both moulded and wrought met- 
al, including soldering. 

2. Carpenters are often mentioned in 
Scripture. Gen. 6:14; Ex.37; Isa, 44: 
13. In the palace built by David for 
himself the workmen employed were 
chiefly foreigners. 2 Sam. 5 : 11. That 
the Jewish carpenters must have been 
able to carve with some skill is evident 
from Isa, 41 : 7 ; 44 : 13. In the New 
Testament the occupation of a carpenter 
is mentioned in connection with Joseph 
the husband of the Virgin Mary, and 
ascribed to our Lord himself. Matt. 13 : 
55 ; Mark 6 : 3. The trade included our 
cabinet work as well as carpentering. 

3. The masons employed by David and 
Solomon, at least the chief of them, were 
Phoenicians. 1 Kings 5 : 18 ; Ezek. 27 : 9. 
The large stones used in Solomon's tem- 
ple are said by Josephns to have been 



HAN 



HAR 



fitted together exactly without either 
mortar or clamps, but the foundation 
stones to have been fastened with lead. 
For ordinary building mortar was used ; 
sometimes, perhaps, bitumen, as was the 
case at Babylon. Gen. 11:3. The wall 
"daubed with unkmipered mortar" of 
Ezekiel 13 : 10 was periiaps a sort of cob- 
wall of mud or clay without lime, which 
would give way under heavy rain. The 
use of whitewash on tombs is remarked 
by our Lord. Matt. 23 : 27. 

4. Ship-building must have been ex- 
ercised to some extent for the fishing-ves- 
sels on the Lake of Gtmnesaret. Matt. 8 : 
23 ; 9:1; John 21 : 3, 8. Solomon built 
ships for his foreign trade. 1 Kings 9 : 26, 
27 ; 22 : 48 ; "2 Chron. 20 : 36, 37. 

5. Apothecaries or perfumers appear to 
have formed a guild or association. Ex. 
30 : 25, 35 ; 2 Chron. 16 : 14 ; Neh. 3:8; 
Eccles. 7:1; 10 : 1 ; Ecclus. 38 : 8. 

6. Weavers. — The arts of spinning and 
weaving both wool and linen were car- 
ried on in early times, as they usually 
are still among the Bedouins, by women. 
Ex. 35 : 25, 26 ; Lev. 19 : 19 ; Deut. 22 : 11 ; 
2 Kings 23 : 7 ; Ezek. 16 : 16 ; Prov. 31 : 
13, 24. The loom with its beam, 1 Sam. 
17 : 7, pin, Judges 16 : 14, and shuttle, 
Job 7 : 6, was perhaps introduced later, 
but as early as David's time. 1 Sam. 17:7. 

7. Dyeing and dressing cloth were prac- 
ticed in Palestine, as were also tanning 
and dressing leather. Josh. 2 : 15-18 ; 2 
Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4; Acts 9 : 43. 

8. Barbers. Num. 6 : 5, 19 ; Ezek. 5:1. 

9. Tent-makers are noticed in Acts 
18:3. 

10. Potters are frequently alluded to. 
Jer. 18 : 2-6. 

11. Bakers are noticed in Scripture, 
Jer. 37:21; Hos. 7:4; and the well- 
known valley Tyrqpceon probably de- 
rived its name from the occupation of the 
cheese-makers, its inhabitants. 

12. Butchers, not Jewish, are spoken 
of 1 Cor. 10 : 25. 

Shoemakers, tailors, glaziers and glass 
vessels, painters and gold-workers are 
mentioned in the Mishna. Chel. viii. 9 ; 
xxix. 3, 4 ; xxx. 1. 

Handkerchief, Napkin, Apron. 
Luke 19 : 20; John 11 : 44; 20 : 7 ; Acts 
19 : 12. These terms were used in much 
the same manner and having much the 
same significance as at the present. 

Ha'nes, a place in Egypt mentioned 
only in Isa. 30 : 4. We think that the 
Chald. Paraphr. is right in identifying it 



with Tahpanhes, a fortified town on the 
eastern frontier. 
Hanging, Hangings. 1. The 

"hanging" was a curtain or "covering" 
to close an entrance ; one was placed be- 
fore the door of the tabernacle. Ex. 26 : 
36, 37; 39:38. 2. The "hangings" 
were used for covering the walls of the 
court of the tabernacle, j ust as tapestry 
is used in modern times. Ex. 27:9; 35 : 
17 ; 38 : 9 ; Num. 3 : 26 ; 4 : 26. 

Han'iel (grace of God), one of the 
sons of Ulla of the tribe of Asher. 1 
Chron. 7 : 39. 

Han'nah (grace), one of the wives of 
Elkanah, and mother of Samuel. 1 Sam. 
1, 2. (B.C. 1141.) A hymn of thanks- 
giving for the birth of her son is in the 
highest order of prophetic poetry ; its re- 
semblance to that of the Virgin Mary, 
comp. 1 Sam. 2 : 1-10 with Luke 1 : 46-55, 
see also Ps. 113, has been noticed. 

Han'nathon (gracious), one of the 
cities of Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 14. 

Han'niel (the favor of God), son of 
Ephod and prince of Manasseh. Num. 
34 : 23. 

Ha'noch (dedicated). 1. The third 
in order of the children of Midian. Gen. 
25:4. 

2. Eldest son of Reuben, Gen. 46 : 9 ; 
Ex. 6:14; Num. 26 : 5 ; 1 Chron. 5 : 3, 
and founder of the family of the Ha- 
nochites. Num. 26 : 5. 

Ha'nun ( favored). 1. Son of Nahash, 
2 Sam. 10 : 1, 2; 1 Chron. 19 : 1, 2, king 
of Ammon, who dishonored the ambassa- 
dors of David, 2 Sam. 10 : 4, and involved 
the Ammonites in a disastrous war. 2 
Sam. 12 : 31 ; 1 Chron. 19:6. (B.C. 1035.) 

2. A man who, with the people of Za- 
noah, repaired the ravine gate in the wall 
of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 13. (B.C. 446.) 

3. The sixth son of Zalaph, who also as- 
sisted in the repair of the wall, apparent- 
ly on the east side. Neh. 3: 30. (B.C. 446.) 

Haphra'im (two pits), a city of Issa- 
char, mentioned next to Shunem. Josh. 
19 : 19. About six miles northeast of 
Lejjun, and two miles west of Solam (the 
ancient Shunem), stands the village of 
cl-Afuleh, which may possibly be the 
representative of Haphraim. 

Ha'ra (mountain land), 1 Chron. 5 : 26 
only, is either a place utterly unknown, 
or it must be regarded as identical with 
Haran or Charran. 

Har'adah (fear), a desert station of 
the Israelites, Num. 33 : 24, 25 ; its posi- 
tion is uncertain. 

231 



HAR 



HAR 



Ha'ran {a mountaineer). 1. The third 
son of Terah, and therefore youngest 
brother of Abram. Gen. 11 : 26. (B.C. 
1926.) Three children are ascribed to 
him — Lot, vs. 27, 31, and two daughters, 
viz., Milcah, who married her uncle Na- 
hor, ver. 29, and Iscah. ver. 29. Haran 
was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and he 
died there while his father was still liv- 
ing, ver. 28. 

2. A Gershonite Levite in the time of 
David, one of the family of Shimei. 1 
Chron. 23 : 9. 

3. A sou of the great Caleb by his con- 
cubine Ephah. 1 Chron. 2 : 46. 

4. Haran or Charran, Acts 7 : 2, 4, 
name of the place whither Abraham mi- 
grated with his family from Ur of the 
Chaldees, and where the descendants of 
his brother Nahor established themselves. 
Comp. Gen. 24 : 10 with 27 : 43. It is said 
to be in Mesopotamia, Gen. 24 : 10, or 
more definitely in Padan-aram, ch. 25 : 20, 
the cultivated district at the foot of the 
hills, a name well applying to the beau- 
tiful stretch of country which lies below 
Mount Masius between the Khabour and 
the Euphrates. Here, about midway in 
this district, is a small village still called 
LTarrdn. It was celebrated among the 
Romans, under the name of Charrse, as 
the scene of the defeat of Crassus. 

Ha'rarite {the mountaineer) , The. 
The designation of three of David's guard. 
1. Agee, a Hararite. 2 Sam. 23 : 11. 

2. Shammah the Hararite. 2 Sam. 23 : 
33. 

3. Sharar, 2 Sam. 23 : 33, or Sacar, 1 
Chron. 11 : 35, the Hararite, was the 
father of Ahiam, another member of 
the guard. 

Har'bona (ass-driver), the third of 
the seven chamberlains or eunuchs who 
served King Ahasuerus. Esther 1 : 10. 
(B.C. 483-475.) 

Har'bonah, Esther 7 : 9, the same 
as the preceding. 

Hare (Heb. arnebeth) occurs only 
in Lev. 11 : 6 and Deut. 14 : 7 amongst 
the animals disallowed as food by the 
Mosaic law. The hare is at this day 
called arnel by the Arabs in Palestine 
and Syria. It was erroneously thought 
by the ancient Jews to have chewed 
the cud. They were no doubt misled, 
as in the case of the shdphan (hyrax), 
by the habit these animals have of 
moving the jaw about. 

Harem. [House.] 

Ha'reph (a plucking off), a name oc- 
232 



curring in the genealogies of Judah as a 
son of Caleb and as " father of Beth- 
gader." 1 Chron. 2 : 51 only. 

Ha'reth (thicket), The forest of, 
in which David took refuge, after, at the 
instigation of the prophet Gad, he had 
quitted the " hold " or fastness of the 
cave of Adullam. 1 Sam. 22 : 5. 

Harhai'ah (the Lord is angry), father 
of Uzziel. Neh. 3 : 8. (B.C. before 446.) 

Har'has (very poor), an ancestor of 
Shallum the husband of Huldah. 2 Kings 
22 : 14. (B.C. before 623.) 

Har'hur (inflammation). The sons 
of Harhur were among the Nethinim 
who returned from Babylon with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 51 ; Neh. 7 : 53. (B.C. 536.) 

Ha'rim (flat-nosed). 1. A priest who 
had charge of the third division in the 
house of God. 1 Chron. 24:8. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. Bene-Ilarim, probably descendants 
of the above, to the number of 1017, came 
from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
39; Neh. 7 : 42. (B.C. 536.) 

3. It further occurs in a list of the 
families of priests " who went up with 
Zerubbabel and Jeshua," and of those 
who were their descendants in the next 
generation. Neh. 12 : 15. 

4. Another family of Bene-Harim, 320 
in number, came from the captivity in 
the same caravan. Ezra 2 : 32 ; Neh. 7 : 35. 
(B.C. 536.) They also appear among 
those who had married foreign wives, 
Ezra 10 : 31, as well as those who sealed 
the covenant. Neh. 10 : 27. (B.C. 410.) 




Hare of Mount Sinai. 

Ha'riph (a plucking off). A hundred 
and twelve of the Bene-Hariph returned 
from the captivity with Zerubbabel. 



HAR 



HAR 



Neh. 7 : 24. The name occurs again 
among the "heads of the people" who 
sealed the covenant, ch. 10 : 19. 

Harlot. That this class of persons 
existed in the earliest states of society is 
clear from Gen. 38 : 15. Rahab, Josh. 
2:1, is said by the Chald. Paraphr. to 
have been an innkeeper ; but if there were 
such persons, considering what we know 
of Canaanitish morals, Lev. 18 : 27, we 
may conclude that they would, if women, 
have been of this class. The " harlots " 
are classed with "publicans," as those 
who lay under the ban of society, in the 
New Testament. Matt. 21 : 32. 

Har'-magedon {Mil of Megiddo), 
Rev. 16 : 16 in the Revised Version for 
Armageddon. The change is chiefly 
Har, hill, in place of Ar, city. 

Har'nepher {panting), one of the 
sons of Zophah, of the tribe of Asher. 1 
Chron. 7 : 36. 

Ha'rod {fear), The well of, a spring 
by which Gideon and his great army en- 
camped on the morning of the day which 
ended in the rout of the Midianites, 
Judges 7:1, and where the trial of the 
people by their mode of drinking appar- 
ently took place. The A in Jalad is very 
suitable to the circumstances, as being at 
present the largest spring in the neigh- 
borhood. 

Ha'rodite, The, the designation of 
two of the thirty-seven warriors of David's 
guard, Shammah and Elika, 2 Sam. 23 : 
25, doubtless derived from a place named 
Harod. 

Har'oeh, a name occurring in the 
genealogical lists of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 
52. 

Ha'rorite (the same as Harodite), 
The, the title given to Shammoth, one 
of the warriors of David's guard. I Chron. 
11 : 27. 

Har'osheth {workmanship) " of the 
Gentiles" — so called from the mixed 
races that inhabited it — a city in the north 
of the land of Canaan, supposed to have 
stood on the west coast of the lake Merom, 
from which the Jordan issues forth in one 
unbroken stream. It was the residence 
of Sisera, captain of Jabin king of Ca- 
naan, Judges 4:2, and it was the point 
to which the victorious Israelites under 
Barak pursued the discomfited host and 
chariots of the second potentate of that 
name. Judges 4 : 16. 

Harp. The harp was the national in- 
strument of the Hebrews, and was well 
known throughout Asia. Moses assigns 



its invention to Jubal during the ante- 
diluvian period. Gen. 4 : 21. Josephus 
records that the harp had ten strings, and 




Egyptian Harp. 



that it was played on with the plectrum. 
Sometimes it was smaller, having only 
eight strings, and was usually played with 
the fingers. 

Harrow. The word so rendered, 2 
Sam. 12 : 31 ; 1 Chron. 20 : 3, is probably 
j a threshing-machine. The verb rendered 
"to harrow," Job 39 : 10; Isa. 28 : 24; 
I Hos. 10 : 11, expresses apparently the 
| breaking of the clods, and is so far anal- 
ogous to our harrowing ; but whether 
done by any such machine as we call a 
" harrow" is very doubtful. 

Har'sha {deaf). Bene-Harsha were 
among the families of Nethinim who 
came back from Babylon with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 52 ; Neh. 7 : 54. 

Hart, the male stag. The word de- 
notes some member of the deer tribe, 
either the fallow deer or the Barbary 
deer. The hart is reckoned among the 
clean animals, Deut. 12 : 15 ; 14 : 5 ; 15 : 22, 
and seems from the passages quoted, as 
well as from 1 Kings 4 : 23, to have been 
commonly killed for food. 

Ha'rum {lofty), father of Aharhel, in 
one of the most obscure genealogies of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 8. 

Haru'maph {slit-nosed), father or an- 
cestor of Jedaiah. Neh. 3 : 10. 

Haru'phite {native of Hariph), The, 
the designation of Shephatiah, one of the 
Korhites who repaired to David at Zik- 
I lag. 1 Chron. 12 : 5. (B.C. 1064.) 

Ha'ruz {zealous), a man of Jotbah, 
233 



HAR 



HAS 




father of Meshullemeth queen of Ma- 
nasseh. 2 Kings 21 : 19. (B.C. before 664.) 

Harvest. [Agriculture.] 

Hasadi'ah {loved by Jehovah), one 
of a group of five persons among the de- 
scendants of the royal line of Judah, 1 
Chron. 3 : 20, apparently sons of Zerub- 
babel. (B.C. about 536.) 

Haseim'ah {the hated), a Benjamite, 
of one of the chief families in the tribe. 
1 Chron. 9 : 7. 

Hashabi/ah {whom God regards). 1. 
A Merarite Levite. 1 Chron. 6 : 45. 

2. Another Merarite Levite. 1 Chron. 
9 : 14. 

3. The fourth of the six sons of Jed- 
uthun, 1 Chron. 25 : 3, who had charge of 
the twelfth course, ver. 19. (B.C. 1014.) 

4. One of the descendants of Hebron 
the son of Kohath. 1 Chron. 26 : 30. 

5. The son of Kemuel, who was prince 
of the tribe of Levi in the time of David. 
1 Chron. 27 : 17. (B.C. 1014.) 

6. A Levite, one of the " chiefs" of his 
tribe, who officiated for King Josiah at 
his great passover feast. 2 Chron. 35 : 9. 
(B.C. 623.) 

7. A Merarite Levite who accompanied 
Ezra from Babylon. Ezra 8 : 19. 

8. One of the chiefs of the priests who 
formed part of the same caravan. Ezra 
8:24. (B.C. 536.) 

9. Ruler of half the circuit or environs 
of Keilah ; he repaired a portion of the 
wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. Neh. 
3 : 17. (B.C. 446.) 

10. One of the Levites who sealed the 
covenant of reformation after the return 

234 



from the captivity. Neh. 10 : 11 ; 12 : 24 ; 
comp. 26. (B.C. 446-410.) 

11. Another Levite, son of Bunni. Neh. 
11 : 15. 

12. A Levite, son of Mattaniah. Neh. 
11 : 22. 

13. A priest of the family of Hilkiah 
in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua. 
Neh. 12 : 21. 

H a s h ab ' n ah ( w Aom «/ ehovah regards ) , 
one of the chief of the "people" who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:25. (B.C. 410.) 

Hashabmi'ah {whom Jehovah re- 
gards). 1. Father of Hattush. Neh. 3 : 
10. 

2. A Levite who was among those who 
officiated at the great fast under Ezra 
and Nehemiah when the covenant was 
sealed. Neh. 9 : 5. (B.C. 410.) 

Hashbad'ana {considerate judge), 
one of the men (probably Levites) who 
stood on Ezra's left hand while he read 
the law to the people in Jerusalem. Neh. 
8:4. (B.C. 410.) 

Ha'shem (fat). The sons of Hashem 
the Gizonite are named amongst the 
members of David's guard in 1 Chron. 
11:34. (B.C. before 1014.) 

Hashrao'nah {fatness), a station of 
the Israelites, mentioned Num. 33 : 29 as 
next before Moseroth. 

Ha'shub {intelligent). 1. A son of 
Pahath-moab, who assisted in the repair 
of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 11. 
(B.C. 446.) 

2. Another who assisted in the same 
work. Neh. 3 : 23. 

3. One of the heads of the people who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10: 23. (B.C. 410.) 

4. A Merarite Levite. Neh. 11 : 15. 
Hashu'bah {intelligent), the first of a 

group of five men, apparently the latter 
half of the family of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 
3:20. 

Ha'shum {rich). 1. Bene-Hashum, 
223 in number, came back from Babylon 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:19; 10:33; 
Neh. 7: 22. (B.C. before 536.) The chief 
man of the family was among those who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 18. (B.C. 410.) 

2. One of the priests or Levites who 
stood on Ezra's left hand while he read 
the law to the congregation. Neh. 8 : 4. 

(B.C. 410.) 

Hashu'pha {stripped), one of the 
families of Nethinim who returned from 
captivity in the first caravan. Neh. 7 : 46. 



HAS 



HAW 



Called Hasupha in Ezra 2:43. (B.C. 
536.) 

Has'rah {very poor), the form in which 
the name Harhas is given in 2 Chron. 
34 : 22 ; comp. 2 Kings 22 : 14. 

Hassena'ah. The Bene-Hassenaah 
rebuilt the fish-gate in the repair of the 
wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 3. (B.C. 446.) 

Has'shub. [See Hashub.] 

Hasu'pha. [See Hashupha.] 

Ha'tach {verily), one of the eunuchs 
in the court of Ahasuerus. Esther 4 : 5, 
6, 9, 10. (B.C. 474.) 

Ha'thath {fearful), one of the sons 
of Othniel the Kenazite. 1 Chron. 4 : 13. 

Hat/ipha {captive). Bene-Hatipha 
{i. e. sons of Hatipha) were among the 
Nethinim who returned from Babylon 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 54 ; Neh. 7 : 56. 
(B.C. 536.) 

Hat'ita {exploring). Bene-Hatita 
(i. e. sons of Hatita) were among the 
"porters" {i.e. the gate-keepers) 
who returned from the captivity with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 42 ; Neh. 7 : 45. 
(B.C. 536.) 

Hat/til {doubtful). Bene-Hattil 
were among the " children of Solo- 
mon's slaves" who came back from 
captivity with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
57; Neh. 7:59. (B.C. 536.) 

Hat/tush {assembled). 1. A de- 
scendant of the kings of Judah, ap- 
parently one of the sons of Shecha- 
niah, 1 Chron. 3 : 22, in the fourth 
or fifth generation from Zerubbabel. 
A person of the same name accom- 
panied Ezra from Babylon to Jeru- 
salem. Ezra 8:2. In another state- 
ment Hattush is said to have re- 
turned with Zerubbabel. Neh. 12:2. 

2. Son of Hashabniah ; one of 
those who assisted Nehemiah in the 
repair of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 
3:10. (B.C. 446.) 

Hau'ran {caverns), a province of 
Palestine twice mentioned by Eze- 
kiel. Ezek. 47 : 16, 18. There can be 
little doubt that it is identical with 
the well-known Greek province of 
Auranitis and the modern Haurdn, 
east of the Sea of Galilee, on the 
borders of the desert, in the tetrarchy of 
Philip. 

Hav'ilah {circle). 1. A son of Cush. 
Gen. 10 : 7. 

2. A son of Joktan. Gen. 10 : 29. 

Hav'ilah. Gen. 2 : 11. 1. A part of 
Eden through which flowed the river 
Pison (Araxes). It was probably the 



Grecian Colchis, in the northeast corner 
of Asia Minor, near the Caspian Sea. 

2. A district in Arabia Felix, Gen. 10 : 
7, named from the second son of Cush ; 
probably the district of Kualan, in the 
northwestern part of Yemen. 

Havoth-ja'ir {villages of Jair), cer- 
tain villages on the east of Jordan, in 
Gilead or Bashan, which were taken by 
Jair the son of Manasseh, and called 
after his name. Num. 32 : 41 ; Deut. 3 : 
14. In the records of Manasseh in Josh. 
13 : 30 and 1 Chron. 2 : 23, the Havoth- 
jair are reckoned with other districts as 
making up sixty " cities." Comp. 1 Kings 
4 : 13. There is apparently some con- 
fusion in these different statements as to 
what the sixty cities really consisted of. 
No less doubtful is the number of the 
Havoth-jair. In 1 Chron. 2 : 22 they are 




Kjestrel or Hawk. 

specified as twenty-three, but in Judges 
10 : 4 as thirty. 

Hawk. Lev. 11 : 16; Deut. 14 : 15; 
Job 39 : 26. The hawk includes various 
species of the Falconidw. With respect to 
the passage in Job {I.e.) which appears 
to allude to the migratory habits of ha wks, 
it is curious to observe that of the ten or 
235 



HAY 



HAZ 



twelve lesser raptors (hawk tribe) of Pal- 
estine, nearly all are summer migrants. 
The kestrel remains all the year, Tbut the 
others are all migrants from the south. 

Hay (Heb. chdtsir), the rendering of 
the Authorized Version in Prov. 27 : 25 
and Isa. 15 : 6 of the Hebrew term, which 
occurs frequently in the Old Testament, 
and denotes " grass " of any kind. It is 
quite probable that the modern Orientals 
do not make hay in our sense of the 
term ; but it is certain that the ancients 
did mow their grass, and probably made 
use of the dry material. See Ps. 37 : 2. 
We may remark that there is an express 
Hebrew term for " dry grass " or " hay," 
viz. chashash, which, in the only two 
places where the Avord occurs, Isa. 5 : 24, 
33 : 11, is rendered " chaff" in the Author- 
ized Version. 

Haz'a-el (ivhom God sees), a king of 
Damascus who reigned from about B.C. 
886 to B.C. 840. He appears to have been 
previously a person in a high position at 
the court of Ben-hadad, ani was sent by 
his master to Elisha to inquire if he 
would recover from the malady under 
which he was suffering. Elisha's answer 
led to the murder of Ben-hadad by his am- 
bitious servant, who forthwith mounted 
the throne. 2 Kings 8 : 7-15. He was 
soon engaged in war with the kings of 
Judah and Israel, for the possession of the 
city of Eamoth-gilead. Ibid. 8 : 28. To- 
wards the close of the reign of Jehu, 
Hazael led the Syrians against the Israel- 
ites (about B.C. 860), whom he "smote in 
all their coasts," 2 Kings 10 : 32, thus ac- 
complishing the prophecy of Elisha. Ib id. 
8 : 12. At the close of his life, having 
taken Gath, ibid. 12 : 17 ; conip. Amos 6 : 
2, he proceeded to attack Jerusalem, 2 
Chron. 24 : 24, and was about to assault 
the city when Joash bribed him to re- 
tire. 2 Kings 12 : 18. Hazael appears to 
have died about the year B.C. 840, 2 
Kings 13 : 24, having reigned forty-six 
years. 

Haza'iah (whom Jehovah sees), a 
man of Judah of the family of the Shi- 
lonites, or descendants of Shelah. Neh. 
11 : 5. 

Ha'zar-ad'ar, etc. [Hazee.] 
Hazarma'veth {court of death), the 
third in order of the sons of Joktan. 
Gen. 10 : 26. The name is preserved in 
the Arabic Hadramaivt and Hadrumdwt, 
the appellation of a province and an an- 
cient people of southern Arabia. Its cap- 
ital is Satham, a very ancient city, and 
236 



! its chief ports are Mirbat, Zafari and 
! Kisheem, from whence a great trade was 
carried on in ancient times with India 
and Africa. 

Hazel. The Hebrew term luz occurs 
! only in Gen. 30 : 37. Authorities are di- 
j vided between the hazel and the almond 
! tree as representing the luz. The latter 
is most probably correct. 

Hazelelpo'hi (shade coming upon 
me), the sister of the sons of Etam in the 
genealogies of Judah. 1 Chron. 4:3. 

Ha'zer, topographically, seems gener- 
ally employed for the villages of people. 
As a proper name it appears in the 
Authorized Version — 1. In the plural, 
Hazerim and Hazeroth, for which see 
below. 2. In the slightly different form 
of Hazok. 3. In composition with other 
words : 

1. Hazar-addar (village of Addar), a 
place named as one of the landmarks on 
the southern boundary of the land prom- 
ised to Israel. Num. 34 : 4 ; Adar, Josh. 
15 : 3. 

2. Hazar-enan (village of fountains), 
the place at which the northern boundary 
of the land promised to the children of 
Israel was to terminate. Num. 34 : 9, 10; 
comp. Ezek. 47 : 17 ; 48 : 1. 

3. Hazar-gaddah (village of fortune), 
one of the towns in the southern district 
of Judah, Josh. 15 : 27, named between 
Moladah and Heshmon. 

4. Hazar-shual (village of jackals), 
a town in the southern district of Judah, 
lying between Hazar-gaddah and Beer- 
sheba. Josh. 15 : 28 ; 19 : 3 ; 1 Chron. 4 : 
28. 

5. Hazar-susah (village of horses), 
one of the " cities" allotted to Simeon in 
the extreme south of the territory of 
Judah. Josh. 19 : 5. 

Haze'rim (villages). The Avim, or 
more accurately the Avvim, are said to 
have lived "in the villages (Authorized 
Version 'Hazerim') as far as Gaza," 
Deut. 2 : 23, before their expulsion by the 
Caphtorim. 

Haze'roth (villages), Num. 11:35; 
12 : 16 ; 33 : 17 ; Deut. 1 : 1, a station of 
the Israelites in the desert, and perhaps 
recognizable in the Arabic A in Hudhera, 
forty miles northeast of Sinai. 

Haz'ezon-ta'mar and Haz'azon- 
ta'mar (pruning of palm trees), the 
ancient name of Engedi. Gen. 14 : 7. The 
name occurs in the records of the reign 
of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 20 : 2. 

Ha'zi^el (vision of God), a Levite in 



HAZ 



HEB 



the time of David, of the family of Shi- | 
mei or Shimi, the younger branch of the 
Gershonites. 1 Chron. 23 : 9. (B.C. 1014.) j 

Ha'zo (vision), a son of Nahor, bv j 
Milcah his wife. Gen. 22 : 22. (B.C. 
about 1900.) 

Ha'zor (castle). 1. A fortified city, 
which on the occupation of the country 
was allotted to Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 3o. i 
Its position was apparently between Ra- j 
mah and Kedesh, ibid. 12 : 19, on the j 
high ground overlooking the Lake of j 
Merom. There is no reason for supposing 
it a different place from that of which 
Jabin was king. Josh. 11:1; Judges 4 : 
2, 17 ; 1 Sam. 12 : 9. It was the princi- 
pal city of the whole of north Palestine. 
Josh. 11 : 10. It was fortified by Solo- 
mon, 1 Kings 9 : 15, and its inhabitants 
were carried captive by Tiglath-pileser. 
2 Kings 15 : 29. The most probable site 
of Hazor is Tell Khuraibeh. 

2. One of the " cities " of Judah in the 
extreme south, named next in order to 
Kedesh. Josh. 15 : 23. 

3. Hazor-Hadattah = " new Hazor," 
another of the southern towns of Judah. 
Josh. 15 : 25. 

4. A place in which the Benjamites 
resided after their return from the cap- 
tivity. Neh. 11 : 33. 

Head-dress. The Hebrews do not 
appear to have regarded a covering for 
the head as an essential article of dress. 
Hats were unknown. The earliest notice 
we have of such a thing is in connection 
with the sacerdotal vestments. Ex. 28 : 
40. The tsdntph (something like a tur- 
ban) is noticed as being worn by nobles, 
Job 29 : 14, ladies, Isa. 3 : 23, and kings, 
Isa. 62 : 3 ; while the peer was an article 
of holiday dress, Isa. 61 : 3, Authorized 
Version " beauty ;" Ezek. 24 : 17, 23, and 
was worn at weddings. Isa. 61 : 10. The 
ordinary head-dress of the Bedouin con- 
sists of the keffieh, a square handkerchief, 
generally of red and yellow cotton or 
cotton and silk, folded so that three of 
the corners hang down over the back and 
shoulders, leaving the face exposed, and 
bound round the head by a cord. It is 
not improbable that a similar covering 
was used by the Hebrews on certain oc- 
casions. The Assyrian head-dress is de- 
scribed in Ezek. 23 : 15 under the terms 
"exceeding in dyed attire." The word 
rendered " hats" in Dan. 3 : 21 properly 
applies to a cloak. 

Hearth. One way of baking much 
practiced in the East is to place the dough 



on an iron plate, either laid on or sup- 
ported on legs above the vessel sunk in 
the ground, which forms the oven. The 
cakes baked " on the hearth," Gen. 18 : 
6, were probably baked in the existing 
Bedouin manner, on hot stones covered 
with ashes. The " hearth " of King Je- 
hoiakim's winter palace, Jer. 36 : 23, was 
possibly a pan or brazier of charcoal. 
Erom this we see that the significance 
of the Hebrew words translated hearth 
is not the same as with us. 

Heath, Jer. 17 : 6, was some species 
of juniper, probably the savin, a dwarf, 
stunted juniper which grows in the most 
sterile parts of the desert. 

Hea'then. [Gentiles.] 

Heaven. There are four Hebrew 
words thus rendered in the Old Testa- 
ment which we may briefly notice. 1. 
Hd/ci'a, Authorized Version, firmament. 
(Firmament.] 2. Shdmayim. This is 
the word used in the expression " the 
heaven and the earth," or " the upper 
and lower regions." Gen. 1:1. 3. Md- 
rom, used for heaven in Ps. 18 : 16 ; Isa. 
24 : 18; Jer. 25 : 30. Properly speaking 
it means a mountain, as in Ps. 102 : 19 ; 
Ezek. 17 : 23. 4. ShechdHm, " expanses," 
with reference to the extent of heaven. 
Deut, 33 : 26 ; Job 35 : 5. St. Paul's ex- 
pression " third heaven," 2 Cor. 12 : 2, 
has led to much conjecture. Grotius said 
that the Jews divided the heaven into 
three parts, viz., 1. The air or atmosphere, 
where clouds gather ; 2. The firmament, 
in which the sun, moon and stars are 
fixed ; 3. The upper heaven, the abode 
of God and his angels, the invisible realm 
of holiness and happiness, the home of 
the children of God. 

He'ber {alliance). 1. Grandson of 
the patriarch Asher, Gen. 46 : 17 ; Num. 
26 : 45 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 31, from whom came 
the Heberites. Num. 26 :45. 

2. The patriarch Eber. Luke 3:35. 
[Eber.] 

3. The father of Socho ; a Judite. 1 
Chron. 4 : 18. 

4. A Benjamite. 1 Chron. 8 : 17. 

5. A Benjamite. 1 Chron. 8 : 22. 

6. A Gadite. 1 Chron. 5 : 13. 

7. The husband of Jael, who slew Sis- 
era by driving a nail into his temple. 
Judges 4 : 21, 22. 

He'brew. This word first occurs as 
given to Abram by the Canaanites, Gen. 
I 14 : 13, because he had crossed the Eu- 
phrates. The name is also derived from 
j 'fiber, " beyond, on the other side," Abra- 
• 237 



HEB 



HEB 



ham and his posterity being called He- 
brews in order to express a distinction 
between the races east and west of the 
Euphrates. It may also be derived from 
Heber, one of the ancestors of Abraham. 
Gen. 10 : 24. The term Israelite was used 
by the Jews of themselves among them- 
selves ; the term Hebrew was the name 
by which they were known to foreigners. 
The latter was accepted by the Jews in 
their external relations; and after the 
general substitution of the word Jew, it 
still found a place in that marked and 
special feature of national con- 
tradistinction, the language. 

He'brew language. The 
books of the Old Testament 
are written almost entirely in 
the Hebrew language. It is a 
branch of the Shemitic lan- 
guage, one of the three great 
divisions into which all lan- 
guages have been reduced. It 
is one of the earliest of known 
languages, and some suppose 
that it was the original lan- 
guage of man. 

He'brews, Epistle to 
the. 1. The author. — There 
has been a wide difference of 
opinion respecting the author- 
ship of this epistle. The weight 
of evidence favors Paul as its 
author, though some think St. 
Luke, others Barnabas, and 
others still Apollos, may have 
written it. The thoughts are 
evidently St. Paul's, and he 
was doubtless the real author, 
whoever wrote it under him. 2. 
To whom written . — The epistle 
was probably addressed to the Jews in Je- 
rusalem and Palestine. The argument of 
the epistle is such as could be used with 
most effect to a church consisting exclu- 
sively of Jews by birth, personally fa- 
miliar with and attached to the temple 
service. 3. Date. — It was evidently written 
before the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 
70, probably about A.D. 62-64. 4. Place. 
— It was probably written in Italy, while 
Paul was a prisoner at Home. 5. Con- 
tents. — With respect to the scope of the 
epistle, it should be recollected that while 
the numerous Christian churches scat- 
tered throughout Judea, Acts 9 : 31 ; Gal. 
1 : 22, were continually exposed to perse- 
cution from the Jews, 1 Thess. 2 : 14, 
there was in Jerusalem one additional 
weapon in the hands of the predominant 
238 



oppressors of the Christians. The mag- 
nificent national temple might be shut 
against the Hebrew Christian ; and even 
if this affliction were not often laid upon 
him, yet there was a secret burden which 
he bore within him, the knowledge that 
the end of all the beauty and awfulness 
of Zion was rapidly approaching. The 
writer of this epistle meets the Hebrew 
Christians on their own ground, showing 
that the new faith gave them Christ the 
Son of God, more prevailing than the 
high priest as an intercessor; that his 




Hebron. 

Sabbath awaited them, his covenant, his 
atonement, his city heavenly not made 
with hands. Having him, believe in 
him with all your heart, with a faith 
in the unseen future strong as that of the 
saints of old, patient under present and 
prepared for coming woe, full of energy 
and hope and holiness and love. Such 
was the teaching of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews. 

He'bron (alliance). .1. The third 
son of Kohath, who was the second son 
of Levi. Ex. 6:18; Num. 3 : 19 ; 1 Chron. 
6 : 2, 18 ; 23 : 12. He was the founder of 
a family of Hebronites, Num. 3 : 27 ; 26 : 
58 ; 1 Chron. 26 : 23, 30, 31, or Bene- 
Hebron. 1 Chron. 15 : 9 ; 23 : 19. 

2. A city of Judah, Josh. 15 : 54, situ- 
ated among the mountains, Josh. 20 : 7, 



HEB 



HE! 



20 Roman miles south of Jerusalem, and 
the same distance north of Beersheba. 
Hebron is one of the most ancient cities 
in the world still existing; and in this 
respect it is the rival of Damascus. It 
was a well-known town when Abraham 
entered Canaan, 3800 years ago. Gen. 13 : 
18. Its original name was Kirjath-arba, 
Judges 1 : 10, " the city of Arba ;" so 
called from Arba the father of Anak. 
Josh. 15 : 13, 14 ; 21 : 13. Sarah died at 
Hebron ; and Abraham then bought from 



Ephron the Hittite the field and cave of 
Machpelah, to serve as a family tomb. 
Gen. 23 : 2-20. The cave is still there ; 
and the massive walls of the Haram or 
mosque, within which it lies, form the 
most remarkable object in the whole city. 
Abraham is called by Mohammedans el- 
Khultl, " the Friend,'' i. e. of God, and 
this is the modern name of Hebron. He- 
bron now contains about 5000 inhabitants, 
of whom some fifty families are Jews. 
It is picturesquely situated in a narrow 




Mosque at Hebron covering the Cave of Machpeluh. 



valley, surrounded by rocky hills. The 
valley runs from north to south ; and the 
main'quarter of the town, surmounted by 
the lofty walls of the venerable Haram, 
lies partly on the eastern slope. Gen. 37 : 
14; comp. 23:19. About a mile from 
the town, up the valley, is one of the 
largest oak trees in Palestine. This, say 
some, is the very tree beneath which 
Abraham pitched his tent, and it still 
bears the name of the patriarch. 

3. One of the towns in the territory of 
Asher, Josh. 19 : 28 ; probably Ebdon or 
Abdom. 

He'bronites, The. A family of 
Kohathite Levites, descendants of Hebron , 
the son of Kohath. Num. 3 : 27 ; 26 : 58 ; ! 
1 Chron. 26 : 23. 

Hedge. The Hebrew words thus 
rendered denote simply that which sur- 
rounds or encloses, whether it be a stone J 



j wall, geder, Prov. 24 : 31 ; Ezek. 42 : 10, 
j or a fence of other materials. The stone 
walls which surround the sheepfolds of 
modern Palestine are frequently crowned 
with sharp thorns. 

Hega'i (eunuch), one of the eunuchs 
of the court of Ahasuerus. Esther 2 : 8, 
15. (B.C. 474.) 

He'ge, another forrn of the preceding. 
Esther 2 : 3. 

Heifer. 1 Sam. 6 : 7-12 ; Job 21 : 10 ; 
Isa. 7 : 21. The heifer or young cow was 
not commonly used for ploughing, but 
only for treading out the corn. Hos. 10 : 
11; but see Judges 14:18, when it ran 
about without any headstall, DeuL 25 : 4 ; 
hence the expression an " unbroken 
heifer," Hosea 4 : 16 ; Authorized Ver- 
sion "backsliding," to which Israel is 
compared. 

Heir. The Hebrew institutions rela- 
239 



HEL 



HEL 



tive to inheritance were of a very simple 
character. Under the patriarchal system 
the property was divided among the sons 
of the legitimate wives. Gen. 21 : 10 ; 24 : 
36 ; 25 : 5, a larger portion being assigned 
to one, generally the eldest, on whom de- 
volved the duty of maintaining the fe- 
males of the family. The sons of concu- 
bines were portioned off' with presents. 
Gen. 25 : 6. At a later period the exclu- 
sion of the sons of concubines was rigidly 
enforced. Judges 11 : 1 ff*. Daughters 
had no share in the patrimony, Gen. 21 : 
14, but received a marriage portion. The 
Mosaic law regulated the succession to 
real property thus : it was to be divided 
among the sons, the eldest receiving a 
double portion, Deut. 21 : 17, the others 
equal shares; if there were no sons, it 
went to the daughters, Num. 27 : 8, on 
the condition that they did not marry 
out of their own tribe, Num. 36 : 6 ff . ; 
otherwise the patrimony was forfeited. 
If there were no daughters, it went to the 
brother of the deceased ; if no brother, to 
the paternal uncle ; and, failing these, to 
the next of kin. Num. 27 : 9-11. 

He'lah (rust), one of the two wives 
of Ashur, father of Tekoa. 1 Chron. 4 : 5. 

He'lam (stronghold), a place east of 
the Jordan, but west of the Euphrates, at 
which the Syrians were collected by Ha- 
darezer, and where David met and de- 
feated them. 2 Sam. 10 : 16, 17. 

Hel'bah (fertile), a town of Asher, 
probably on the plain of Phoenicia, not 
far from Sidon. Judges 1 : 31. 

Hel'bon (fertile), a place mentioned 
only in Ezek. 27 : 18. Geographers have 
hitherto represented Helbon as identical 
with the city of Aleppo, called Haleb by 
the Arabs ; but there are strong reasons 
against this, and the ancient city must 
be identified with a village within a few 
miles of Damascus, still bearing the an- 
cient name Helbon, and still celebrated 
as producing the finest grapes in the 
country. 

HcI'da-i (worldly). 1. The twelfth 
captain of the monthly courses for the 
temple service. 1 Chron. 27 : 15. (B.C. 
1014.) 

2. An Israelite who seems to have re- 
turned from the captivity. Zech. 6 : 10. 
(B.C. 520.) 

He'leb (milk), or He'led (transient), 
son of Baanah the Netophathite, one of 
the heroes of King David's guard. 2 Sam. 
23:29; 1 Chron. 11:30. 

He'lek (portion), one of the descend- 
240 



ants of Manasseh, and second son of Gil- 
ead, Num. 26 : 30, and founder of the 
Helekites. (B.C. 1445.) 

He'lem (strength). 1. A descendant 
of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 35. 

2. A man mentioned only in Zech. 6 : 
14. Apparently the same as Heldai. 

He'leph (exchange), the place from 
which the boundary of the tribe of Naph- 
tali started. Josh. 19 : 33. 

He'lez (strength). 1. One of "the 
thirty" of David's guard, 2 Sam. 23 : 26 ; 
1 Chron. 11 : 27 ; an Ephraimite, and 
captain of the seventh monthly course. 
1 Chron. 27 : 10. (B.C. 1016.) 

2. A man of Judah, son of Azariah. 1 
Chron. 2 : 39. 

He'li (ascending), the father of Joseph 
the husband of the Virgin Mary, Luke 
3 : 23 ; perhaps the grandfather of Mary 
herself. [See Genealogy of Jesus 
Christ.] 

Heliop'olis. [See On.] 

Hel'kath (portion), the town named 
as the starting-point for the boundary of 
the tribe of Asher, Josh. 19 : 25, and al- 
lotted with its " suburbs" to the Gershon- 
ite Levites. ch, 21 : 31. Perhaps Yerka, 
seven miles from Acre. 

Hel'kath-haz'zurim (field of rock), 
a smooth piece of ground, apparently 
close to the pool of Gibeon, where the 
combat took place between the two par- 
ties of Joab's men and Abner's men which 
ended in the death of the whole of the 
combatants, and brought on a general 
battle. 2 Sam. 2 : 16. 

Hell. In the Old Testament this is 
the word generally and unfortunately 
used by our translators to render the He- 
brew Sheol. It really means the place 
of the dead, the unseen world, without 
deciding whether it be the place of misery 
or of happiness. It is clear that in many 
passages of the Old Testament Sheol can 
only mean "the grave," and is so ren- 
dered in the Authorized Version ; see, for 
example, Gen. 37 : 35 ; 42 : 38 ; 1 Sam. 2 : 
6 ; Job 14 : 13. In other passages, how- 
ever, it seems to involve a notion of pun- 
ishment, and is therefore rendered in the 
Authorized Version by the word " hell." 
But in many cases this translation mis- 
leads the reader. In the New Testament 
" hell " is the translation of two words, 
Hades and Gehenna. The word Hades, 
like Sheol, sometimes means merely " the 
grave," Acts 2 : 31 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 55 ; Rev. 
20 : 13, or in general "the unseen world." 
It is in this sense that the creeds say of 



HEL 



HER 



our Lord, "He went down into hell," 
meaning the state of the dead in general, 
without any restriction of happiness or 
misery. Elsewhere in the New Testament 
Hades is used of a place of torment, Matt. 
11 r 23 ; Luke 16 : 23 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 4, etc. ; 
consequently it has been the prevalent, 
almost the universal, notion that Hades 
is an intermediate state between death 
and resurrection, divided into two parts, 
one the abode of the blest and the other 
of the lost. It is used eleven times in the 
New Testament, and only once translated 
"grave." 1 Cor. 15 : 55. The word most 
frequently used (occurring twelve times) 
in the New Testament for the place of 
future punishment is Gehenna or Gehen- 
na of fire. This was originally the val- 
ley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where 
the filth and dead animals of the city 
were cast out and burned ; a fit symbol 
of the wicked and their destruction. [See 
Hinnom.] 

Hel'lenist {Grecian), the term ap- 
plied in the New Testament to Greek- 
speaking or " Grecian " Jews. The Hel- 
lenists as a body included not only the 
proselytes of Greek (or foreign) parent- 
age, but also those Jews who, by settling 
in foreign countries, had adopted the 
prevalent form of the current Greek civ- 
ilization, and with it the use of the com- 
mon Greek dialect. Acts 6:1; 9 : 29. 

Helmet. [Arms.J 

He'lon {strong), father of Eliab, of the 
tribe of Zebulun. Num. 1 : 9 ; 2 : 7 ; 7 : 24, 
29; 10:16. (B.C. 1491.) 

Hem of garment. The importance 
which the later Jews, especially the Phar- 
isees, Matt. 23 : 5, attached to the hem or 
fringe of their garments was founded upon 
the regulation in Num. 15 : 38, 39, which 
gave a symbolical meaning to it. [See 
Dress.1 

He'mam {exterminating). Hori and 
Hemam were sons of Lotan, the eldest 
son of Seir. Gen. 36 : 22. 

He'man {faithful). 1. Son of Zerah. 
1 Chron. 2 : 6 ; 1 Kings 4 : 31. 

2. Son of Joel and grandson of Samuel 
the prophet, a Kohathite. He is called 
"the singer," rather the musician, 1 
Chron. 6 : 33, and was the first of the three 
Levites to whom was committed the vocal 
and instrumental music of the temple 
service in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 
15 : 16-22. The 88th Psalm is ascribed 
to him. (B.C. 1014.) 

He'math {heat), a person or place 
named in the genealogical lists of Judah, 
16 



as the origin of the Kenites, and the 
"father" of the house of Rechab. 1 
Chron. 2 : 55. (B.C. 1445.) 

Hem'dan {pleasant), the eldest son 
of Dishon, son of Anah the Horite. Gen. 
36 : 26. [Amram, 2.j (B.C. about 1500.) 

Hemlock, the common ground or 
dwarf hemlock, a bitter, poisonous plant. 
The Hebrew rash is rendered " hemlock " 
in two passages, Hos. 10 : 4 ; Amos 6 : 12, 
but elsewhere "gall." [Gall.] (It is 
possible that the plant is rather the poppy 
than an hemlock. — Cook.) 

Hen {rest), probably a son of Zeph- 
aniah, and apparently the same who is 
called Josiah in Zech. 6 : 10. 

Hen. The hen is nowhere noticed in 
the Bible except in Matt. 23 : 37 ; Luke 
13 : 34. That a bird so common in Pales- 
tine should receive such slight notice is 
certainly singular. 

He'na {troubling), a city the Assyrian 
kings had reduced shortly before the time 
of Sennacherib. 2 Kings 19 : 13 ; Isa. 37 : 
13. At no great distance from Sippara 
(now Mosaib) is an ancient town called 
Ana or Anah, which may be the same as 
Hena. It is 20 miles from Babylon, on 
the Euphrates. 

Hen'adad ( grace of Hadad), the head 
of a family of the Levites who took a 
prominent part in the rebuilding of the 
temple. Ezra 3 : 9. 

He'noch. 1. Enoch, 2. 1 Chron. 1:3. 

2. Hanoch, 1. 1 Chron. 1 : 33. 

He'pher {a well). 1. The youngest 
of the sons of Gilead, Num. 26 : 32, and 
head of the family of the Hepherites. 
(B.C. before 1450.) 

2. Son of Ashur, the " father of Tekoa." 
1 Chron. 4 : 6. (B.C. about 1445.) 

3. The Mecherathite, one of the heroes 
of David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 36. (B.C. 
1046.) 

He'pher, a place in ancient Canaan, 
which occurs in the list of conquered 
kings. Josh. 12 : 17. It was on the west 
I of Jordan. Comp. 7 and 1 Kings 4 : 10. 
I He'pherites, The, the family of 
! Hepher the son of Gilead. Num. 26 : 32. 
I Heph'zi-bah. 1. A name signifying 
! "my delight in her," which is to be borne 
j by the restored Jerusalem. Isa. 62 : 4. 
i 2. The queen of King Hezekiah and 
the mother of Manasseh. 2 Kings 21 : 1. 
(B.C. 709-696.) 

Herald, one who makes public proc- 
lamation. The only notice of this officer 
in the Old Testament occurs in Dan. 3 : 4. 
j The term "herald" might be substituted 

241 



HER 



HER 



for " preacher" in 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 
1 : 11 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 5. 

Herd (a collection of cattle), Herds- 
man. The herd was greatly regarded 
in both the patriarchal and the Mosaic 
period. The ox was the most precious 
stock next to horse and mule. The herd 
yielded the most esteemed sacrifice, 
Num. 7:3; Ps. 69 : 31 ; Isa. 66 : 3 ; also 
flesh meat, and milk, chiefly converted, 
probably, into butter and cheese. Deut. 
32 : 14 ; 2 Sam. 17 : 29. The agricul- 
tural and general usefulness of the ox in 
ploughing, threshing, and as a beast of j 
burden, 1 Chron. 12 : 40 ; Isa. 46 : 1, made 
a slaughtering of him seem wasteful. ! 
Herdsmen, etc., in Egypt were a low, J 
perhaps the lowest, caste ; but of the j 
abundance of cattle in Egypt, and of the 
care there bestowed on them, there is no 
doubt. Gen. 47 : 6, 17 ; Ex. 9 : 4, 20. So j 
the plague of hail was sent to smite es- 
pecially the cattle, Ps. 78 : 48, the first- ! 
born of which also were smitten. Ex. 12 : j 
29. The Israelites departing stipulated i 
for, Ex. 10 : 26, and took " much cattle" ! 
with them. ch. 12 : 38. Cattle formed 
thus one of the traditions of the Israel- \ 
itish nation in its greatest period, and \ 
became almost a part of that greatness, j 
The occupation of herdsman was honor- j 
able in early times. Gen. 47 : 6 ; 1 Sam. 
11:5; 1 Chron. 27 : 29; 28 : 1. Saul j 
himself resumed it in the interval of his j 
cares as king * also Doeg was certainly j 
high in his confidence. 1 Sam. 21 : 7. j 
Pharaoh made some of Joseph's brethren j 
" rulers over his cattle." David's herd- j 
masters were among his chief officers of | 
state. The prophet Amos at first followed 
this occupation. 

He'res {the sun), Judges 1 : 35, a city 
of Dan, in Mount Ephraim, near Ajalon ; 
possibly identical with Mount Jearim 
(Ir-shemesh, city of the sun). 

He'resh {artificer), a Levite attached 
to the tabernacle. 1 Chron. 9 : 15. (B.C. 
536.) 

Her'raas {Mercury), the name of a 
Christian resident at Rome to whom St. 
Paul sends greetings in his Epistle to the i 
Romans. Rom. 16 : 14. (A.D. 55.) Ire- j 
nseus, Tertullian and Origen agree in at- j 
tributing to him the work called The \ 
Shepherd. It was never received into ! 
the canon, but yet was generally cited I 
with respect only second to that which j 
was paid to the authoritative books of the j 
New Testament. 

Her'mes {Mercury), a Christian men- j 
242 



tioned in Rom. 16 : 14. According to 
tradition he was one of the seventy dis- 
ciples, and afterward bishop of Dalma- 
tia. (a.d. 55.) 

Hermog'enes, a person mentioned 
by St. Paul in the latest of all his epis- 
tles, 2 Tim. 1 : 15, when all in Asia had 
turned away from him. (a.d. 64.) 

Her'mon {a peak, summit), a mount- 
ain on the northeastern border of Pales- 
tine, Deut. 3:8; Josh. 12 : 1, over against 
Lebanon, Josh. 11 : 17, adjoining the pla- 
teau of Bashan. 1 Chron. 5 : 23. It stands 
at the southern end, and is the culminat- 
ing point of the anti-Libanus range; it 
towers high above the ancient border city 
of Dan and the fountains of the Jordan, 
and is the most conspicuous and beauti- 
ful mountain in Palestine or Syria. At 
the present day it is called Jebel esh- 
Sheikh, " the chief mountain," and Jebel 
eth-TJielj, "snowy mountain." When 
the whole country is parched with the 
summer sun, white lines of snow streak 
the head of Hermon. This mountain was 
the great landmark of the Israelites. It 
was associated with their northern border 
almost as intimately as the sea was with 
the western. Hermon has three sum- 
mits, situated like the angles of a tri- 
angle, and about a quarter of a mile from 
each other. In two passages of Scripture 
this mountain is called Baal-hermon, 
Judges 3:3; 1 Chron. 5 : 23, possibly 
because Baal was there worshipped. (It 
is more than probable that some part of 
Hermon was the scene of the transfigur- 
ation, as it stands near Cresarea Philippi, 
where we know Christ was just before 
that event. — Ed.) The height of Her- 
mon has never been measured, though 
it has often been estimated. It may 
safely be reckoned at 10,000 feet. 

Her'monites, The. Properly u the 
Hermans," with reference to the three 
summits of Mount Hermon. Ps. 42 : 6 
(7). 

Her'od {hero-like). This family, 
though of Idumean origin and thus alien 
by race, was Jewish in faith. I. Herod 
the Great was the second son of Anti- 
pater, an Idumean, who was appointed 
procurator of Judea by Julius Csesar, 
B.C. 47. Immediately after his father's 
elevation, when only fifteen years old, he 
received the government of Galilee, and 
shortly afterward that of Coele-Syria. 
(Though Josephus says he was 15 years 
old at this time, it is generally conceded 
that there must be some mistake, as he 




243 



HEE 



HER 



lived to be 69 or 70 years old, and died 
B.C. 4; hence he must have been 25 years 
old at this time. — Ed.) In B.C. 41 he 
was appointed by Antony tetrarch of 
Judea. Forced to abandon Judea the 
following year, he fled to Rome, and re- 
ceived the appointment of king of Judea. 
In the course of a few years, by the help 
of the Romans he took Jerusalem (B.C. 
37), and completely established his au- 
thority throughout his dominions. The 
terrible acts of bloodshed which Herod 
perpetrated in his own family were ac- 
companied by others among his subjects 
equally terrible, from the number who 
fell victims to them. According to the 
well-known story, he ordered the nobles 
whom he had called to him in his last 
moments to be executed immediately after 
his decease, that so at least his death 
might be attended by universal mourning. 
It was at the time of his fatal illness that 
he must have caused the slaughter of the 
infants at Bethlehem. Matt. 2 : 16-18. 
He adorned Jerusalem with many splen- 
did monuments of his taste and magnifi- 
cence. The temple, which he built with 
scrupulous care, was the greatest of these 
works. The restoration was begun B.C. 
20, and the temple itself was completed 
in a year and a half. But fresh additions 
were constantly made in succeeding years, 
so that it was' said that the temple was 
"built in forty and six years," John 2: 
20, the work continuing long after Herod's 
death. (Herod died of a terrible disease, 
at Jericho, in April, B.C. 4, at the age of 
69, after a long reign of 37 years. — Ed.) 




Coin of Herod Autipas. 



II. Herod Antipas was the son of 
Herod the Great by Malthake, a Samari- 
tan. He first married a daughter of 
Aretas, "king of Arabia Petrsea," but 
afterward Herodias, the wife of his half- 
brother, Herod Philip. Aretas, indig- 
nant at the insult offered to his daughter, 
found a pretext for invading the terri- 
tory of Herod, and defeated him with 
great loss. This defeat, according to the 
famous passage in Josephus, was attrib- 
uted by many to the murder of John the 
Baptist, which had been committed by 
Antipas shortly before, under the influ- 
244 



ence of Herodias. Matt. 14 : 4 ff. ; Mark 
6 : 17 ff. ; Luke 3 : 19. At a later time 
the ambition of Herodias proved the 
cause of her husband's ruin. She urged 
him to go to Rome to gain the title of 
king, cf. Mark 6 : 14 ; but he was opposed 
at the court of Caligula by the emissaries 
of Agrippa, and condemned to perpetual 
banishment at Lugdunum, a.D. 39. He- 
rodias voluntarily shared his punish- 
ment, and he died in exile. Pilate took 
occasion from our Lord's residence in 
Galilee to send him for examination, 
Luke 23 : 6 ff., to Herod Antipas, who 
came up to Jerusalem to celebrate the 
Passover. The city of Tiberias, which 
Antipas founded and named in honor of 
the emperor, was the most conspicuous 
monument of his long reign. 

III. Herod Philip I. (Philip, Mark 
6:17) was the son of Herod the Great 
and Mariamne. He married Herodias, 
the sister of Agrippa I., by whom he had 
a daughter, Salome. He was excluded 
from all share in his father's possessions 
in consequence of his mother's treachery, 
and lived afterward in a private sta- 
tion. 




Coin of Philip the Tetrarch. 



IV. Herod Philip II. was the son of 
Herod the Great and Cleopatra. He re- 
ceived as his own government Batanea, 
Trachonitis, Auranitis (Gaulanitis), and 
some parts about Jamnia, with the title 
of tetrarch. Luke 3:1. He built a new 
city on the site of Paneas, near the sources 
of the Jordan, which he called Csesarea 
Philippi, Matt. 16 : 13; Mark 8 : 27, and 
raised Bethsaida to the rank of a city 
under the title of Julias, and died there 
A.D. 34. He married Salome, the daugh- 
ter of Herod Philip I. and Herodias. 

V. Herod Agrippa I. was the son 
of Aristobulus and Berenice, and grand- 
son of Herod the Great. He was brought 
up at Rome, and was thrown into prison 
by Tiberius, where he remained till the 
accession of Caligula, who made him 
king, first of the tetrarchy of Philip and 
Lysanias; afterward the dominions of 



HEK 



HES 



Antipas were added, and finally Judea j picion. It was before him that Paul was 
and Samaria. Unlike his predecessors, i tried. Acts 26 : 28. 
Agrippa was a strict observer of the law, 1 





Coin of Herod Agrippa I. 

and he sought with success the favor of 
the Jews. It is probable that it was with 
this view he put to death James the son 
of Zebedee, and further imprisoned Peter. 
Acts 12 : 1 ff. But his sudden death in- 
terrupted his ambitious projects. Acts 
12 : 21, 23. 

VI. Herod Agrippa II. was the son 
of Herod Agrippa I. In A.D. 52 the em- 
peror gave him the tetrarchies formerly 
held by Philip and Lysanias, with the 
title of king. Acts 25 : 13. The relation 
in which he stood to his sister Berenice, 
Acts 25 : 13, was the cause of grave sus- 




Coin of Titus and Herod Agrippa II. 



Hero'dians (from Herod). Matt. 22 : 
15 If.; Mark 12 : 13 ff. Canon Cook de- 
scribes these persons as "that party 
among the Jews who were supporters of 
the Herodian family as the last hope of 
retaining for the Jews a fragment of na- 
tional government, as distinguished from 
absolute dependence upon Borne as a 
province of the empire. Supporters of 
the family of Herod, who held their do- 
minions by the grant of the Boman em- 
peror, would be in favor of paying tribute 
to the supreme power." Matt. 22 : 16. 



A Genealogical Table of Ihe Herodian Family, including those members of it who are 
mentioned in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. 



Herod the king (eh. 2:1,] 
1 Mariamne, 2. Mariamne, 

granddaughter of d. of Simon, a high priest. 
Hyrcanus, and so 
connected with 
the Maccabees. 



19) married ten wives, among whom were- 
3. Malthake, 
a Samaritan. 



4. Cleopatra 
of Jerusalem. 



Aristobulus. 
I 

Herodias. 
ch. 14: 3-11. 



Herod Philip I. = Herodias. 
ch. 14 : 3. | ch. 14 : 3-11. 
Salome, 
ch. 14 : G-ll. 



Hero'dias, daughter of Aristobulus, 
one of the sons of Mariamne and Herod 
the Great, and consequently sister of 
Agrippa I. She first married Herod Phil- 
ip I. ; then she eloped from him to marry 
Herod Antipas, her step-uncle. The head 
of John the Baptist was granted at the 
request of Herodias. Matt. 14 : 8-11 ; Mark 
6 : 24-28. (A.D. 29.) She accompanied 
Antipas into exile to Lugdunum. 

Hero'dion, a relative of St. Paul, to 
whom he sends his salutation amongst 
the Christians of the Boman church. 
Bom. 16 : 11. (a.d. 55.) 

Heron, Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18, a 
common large, wading, unclean bird. 
Nearly all of the species known in Eng- 
lish ornithology are found in the vicinity 
of Palestine. Canon Cook and others 
think the bird intended is the plover 



Archelaus. Antipas = 1. d. of Aretas. Herod Philip II. = Salome, 
ch. 2 : 22. = 2. Herodias. the tetrarch. ch. 14 : 6-11. 

ch. 14:3. ch. 16:13. 

Luke 3:1. 
Cambridge Bible for Schools. 

( Charadrius cedicnemus) , a greedy, thick- 
kneed, high-flying migratory bird, very 
common in the East, on the banks of riv- 
ers and shores of lakes. — Ed. 

He'sed {kindness), the son of Hesed 
or Ben-Chesed, was commissary for Sol- ' 
onion. 1 Kings 4 : 10. (B.C. about 995.) 

Hesh'bon (stronghold), the capital 
city of Sihon king of the Amorites. Num. 
21 : 26. It stood on the western border of 
the high plain — Mishor, Josh. 13 : 17 — 
and on the boundary line between the 
tribes of Beuben and Gad. The ruins of 
Hesbdn, 20 miles east of the Jordan, on the 
parallel of the northern end of the Dead 
Sea, mark the site, as they bear the name, 
of the ancient Heshbon. There are many 
cisterns among the ruins. Comp. Cant. 
7 : 4. 

Hesh'mon (rich soil), a place named, 
245 



II ES 



HEZ 



with others, as lying in the extreme south j 
of Judah. Josh. 15 : 27. 

Hes'ron, Hez'ron {enclosed), the son 
of Reuben, Num. 26 : 6, and ancestor of 
the Hezronites. (B.C. about 1700.) 

Heth {terror), the forefather of the 
nation of the Hittites. In the genealog- 
ical tables of Gen. 10 : 15 and 1 Chron. 1 : 
13 Heth is a son of Canaan. Gen. 24:3, 
4; 28:1, 2. 

Heth'lon {hiding-place), the name of 
a place on the northern border of Pales- 
tine. Ezek. 47 : 15; 48 : 1. In all prob- 
ability the "way of Hethlon" is the pass 
at the northern end of Lebanon, and is 
thus identical with "the entrance of Ha- 
inath" in Num. 34 : 8, etc. 

Hez'eki {strong), a Benjamite, one of 
the Bene-Elpaal, a descendant of Sliaa- 
raim. 1 Chron. 8 : 17. (B.C. 598.) 

Hezeki'ah {the might of Jehovah). 
1. Twelfth king of Judah, son of the 
apostate Ahaz and Abi or Abij ah, ascend- 
ed the throne at the age of 25, B.C. 726. 
Hezekiah was one of the three most per- 
fect kings of Judah. 2 Kings 18:5; Ecclus. 
49 : 4. His first act was to purge and re- 
pair and reopen with splendid sacrifices 
and perfect ceremonial the temple. He 
also destroyed a brazen serpent, said to 
have been the one used by Moses in the 
miraculous healing of the Israelites, Num. 
21 : 9, which had become an object of 
adoration. When the kingdom of Israel 
had fallen, Hezekiah invited the scattered 
inhabitants to a peculiar passover, which 
was continued for the unprecedented 
period of fourteen days. 2 Chron. 29 : 30, 
31. At the head of a repentant and united 
people, Hezekiah ventured to assume the 
aggressive against the Philistines; and 
in a series of victories not only rewon the 
cities which his father had lost, 2 Chron. 
28 : 18, but even dispossessed them of their 
own cities, except Gaza, 2 Kings 18:8, 
and Gath. He refused to acknowledge 
the supremacy of Assyria. 2 Kings 18 : 7. 
Instant war was imminent, and Hezekiah 
used every available means to strengthen 
himself. 2 Kings 20 : 20. It was probably 
at this dangerous crisis in his kingdom 
that we find him sick and sending for 
Isaiah, who prophesies death as the re- 
sult. 2 Kings 20 : 1. Hezekiah's prayer 
for longer life is heard. The prophet had 
hardly left the palace when he was or- 
dered to return and promise the king im- 
mediate recovery and fifteen years more 
of life. 2 Kings 20 : 4-6. An embassy 
coming from Babylon ostensibly to com- 
246 



pliment Hezekiah on his convalescence, 
but really to form an alliance between 
the two powers, is favorably received by 
the king, who shows them the treasures 
which he had accumulated. For this 
Isaiah foretells the punishment that shall 
befall his house. 2 Kings 20 : 17. The 
two invasions of Sennacherib occupy the 
greater part of the Scripture records con- 
cerning the reign of Hezekiah. The first 
of these took place in the third year of 
Sennacherib, B.C. 702, and occupies only 
three verses. 2 Kings 18 : 13-16. Respect- 
ing the commencement of the second in- 
vasion we have full details in 2 Kings 
18 : 17, seq. ; 2 Chron. 32 : 9, seq. ; Isa. 36. 
Sennacherib sent against Jerusalem an 
army under two officers and his cupbearer, 
the orator Rabshakeh, with a blasphem- 
ous and insulting summons to surrender ; 
but Isaiah assures the king he need not 
fear, promising to disperse the enemy. 2 
Kings 19 : 6, 7. Accordingly that night 
"the angel of the Lord went out, and 
smote in the camp of the Assyrians a 
hundred fourscore and five thousand." 
Hezekiah only lived to enjoy for about 
one year more his well-earned peace and 
glory. He slept with his fathers after a 
reign of twenty-nine years, in the 56th 
year of his age, B.C. 697. 

2. Son of Neariah, one of the descend- 
ants of the royal family of Judah. 1 
Chron. 3 : 23. 

3. The same name, though rendered 
in the Authorized Version Hizkiah, is 
found in Zeph. 1:1. 

4. Ater of Hezekiah. [Atee.] 
He'zion {vision), a king of Aram 

(Syria), father of Tabrimon and grand- 
father of Ben-hadad I. 1 Kings 15 : 18. 
He is probably identical with Rezon, 
the contemporary of Solomon, in 1 Kings 
11 : 23. (B.C. before 928.) 

He'zir {swine). 1. A priest in the 
time of David, leader of the seventeenth 
monthly course in the service. 1 Chron. 
24:15. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. One of the heads of the people (lay- 
men) who sealed the solemn covenant 
with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 20. (B.C. 410.) 

Hez'ra-i {enclosed), one of the thirty 
heroes of David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 35. 
(B.C. 1046.) In the parallel list, 1 Chron. 
11 : 37, the name appears as Hezro. 

Hez'ron {surrounded by a wall). 1. 
A son of Reuben. Gen. 46 : 9 ; Ex. 6 : 14. 

2. A son of Pharez. Gen. 46 : 12 ; Ruth 
4:18. 

Hez'ronites {descendants of Hezron), 



HID 



HIG 



The. 1. Descendants of Hezron the son 
of Reuben. Num. 26 : 6. 

2. A branch of the tribe of Judah, de- 
scendants of Hezron the son of Pharez. 
Num. 26 : 21. 

Hid'da-i (for the rejoicing of Jeho- 
vah), one of the thirty-seven heroes of ; 
David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 30. (B.C. 1046.) j 

Hid/dekel (rapid), one of the rivers 
of Eden, the river which " goeth eastward 
to Assyria," Gen. 2 : 14, and which Daniel j 
calls " the great river," Dan. 10 : 4, seems ; 
to have been rightly identified by the j 
LXX. with the Tigris. Dekel is clearly j 
an equivalent of Digla or Diglath, a ! 
name borne by the Tigris in all ages, j 
The name now in use among the inhab- j 
itants of Mesopotamia is Dijleh. 

Hi'el {God liveth), a native of Bethel, j 
who rebuilt Jericho in the reign of Ahab, i 
1 Kings 16 : 34 (B.C. after 915), and in ; 
whom was fulfilled the curse pronounced I 
by Joshua, Josh. 6 : 26, five hundred 
years before. 

Hi-erap'olis {holy city), a city of 
Phrygia, situated above the junction of 
the rivers Lycus and Mseander, near Co- 
lossal and Laodicea. Mentioned only in 
Col. 4 : 13 as the seat of a church probably 
founded by Epaphras. 

Higga'ion (meditation), a word which 
occurs three times in the book of Psalms 
— Ps. 9 : 16 ; 19 : 14; 92 : 3 (margin). The 
word has two meanings, one of a general 
character, implying thought, reflection, 
and another, in Ps. 9 : 16 and Ps. 92 : 3, 
of a technical nature, the precise meaning 
of which cannot at this distance of time 
be determined. (Canon Cook says that 
it probably means an interlude, giving 
musical expression to the feelings sug- 
gested by the preceding words. — Ed.) 

High places. From the earliest 
times it was the custom among all na- 
tions to erect altars and places of wor- 
ship on lofty and conspicuous spots. To 
this general custom Ave find constant al- 
lusion in the Bible, Isa. 65 : 7 ; Ezek. 6 : 
13, and it is especially attributed to the 
Moabites. Isa. 15 : 2 ; 16 : 12. Even Abra- 
ham built an altar to the Lord on a 
mountain near Bethel. Gen. 12 : 7, 8; cf. 
22 : 2-4; 31 : 54. Notwithstanding this 
we find that it was implicitly forbidden 
by the law of Moses, Deut. 12 : 11-14, 
which also gave the strictest injunction 
to destroy these monuments of Canaan- 
itish idolatry. Lev. 26. The command 
was a prospective one, and was not to 
come into force until such time as the 



tribes were settled in the promised land. 
Thus we find that both Gideon and Ma- 
noah built altars on high places by di- 
vine command. Judges 6 : 25, 26 ; 13 : 16- 
23. It is more surprising to find this law 
absolutely ignored at a much later period, 
when there was no intelligible reason for 
its violation — as by Samuel at Mizpeh, 1 
Sam. 7 : 10, and at Bethlehem, ch. 16 : 5 ; 
by Saul at Gilgal, ch. 13 : 9, and at Aja- 
lon,(?) ch. 14 : 35 ; by David, 1 Chron. 21 : 
26 ; by Elijah on Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 
18 : 30, and by other prophets. 1 Sam. 
10 : 5. The explanations which are given 
are sufficiently unsatisfactory ; but it is 
at any rate certain that the worship in 
high places was organized and all but 
universal throughout Judea, not only 
during, 1 Kings 3 : 2-4, but even after 
the time of Solomon. At last Hezekiah 
set himself in good earnest to the sup- 
pression of this prevalent corruption, 2 
Kings 18 : 4, 22, both in Judah and Is- 
rael, 2 Chron. 31 : 1 ; although so rapid 
was the growth of the evil that even his 
sweeping reformation required to be 
finally consummated by Josiah, 2 Kings 
23, and that too in Jerusalem and its 
immediate neighborhood. 2 Chron. 24 : 3. 
After the time of Josiah we find no fur- 
ther mention of these Jehovistic high 
places. 




High Priest. 



Priest. 



High priest. The first distinct sep- 
aration of Aaron to the office of the priest- 
hood, which previously belonged to the 
first-born, was that recorded Ex. 28. We 
find from the very first the following 
characteristic attributes of Aaron and 
the high priests his successors, as distin- 
•247 



HIG 



HIG 



guished from the other priests: Aaron 
alone was anointed, Lev. 8 : 12, whence 
one of the distinctive epithets of the high 
priest was " the anointed priest." Lev. 4 : 
3, 5, 16 ; 21:10; see Num. 35 : 25. The 
anointing of the sons of Aaron, i. e. the 
common priests, seems to have been con- 
fined to sprinkling their garments with 
the anointing oil. Ex. 29 : 21 ; 28 : 41, etc. 
The high priest had a peculiar dress, 
which passed to his successor at his 
death. This dress consisted of eight 




A Breastplate. 

parts : (a) The breastplate, or, as it is fur- 
ther named, vs. 15, 29, 30, the breastplate 
of judgment. The breastplate was orig- 
inally two spans long and one span broad, 
but when doubled it was square, the shape 
in which it was worn. On it were the 
twelve precious stones, set in four rows, 
three in a row, thus corresponding to the 
twelve tribes — each stone having the 
name of one of the children of Israel en- 
graved upon it. (b) The ephod. This 
consisted of two parts, of which one 
covered the back and the other the 
front, i. e. the breast and upper part of 
the body. These parts wei*e clasped to- 
gether on the shoulder with two large 
onyx stones, each having engraved on 
it six of the names of the tribes of 
Israel. They were further united by 
a "curious girdle" of gold, blue, pur- 
ple, scarlet and fine twined linen round 
the waist. [Ephod ; Girdle.] (c) The 
robe of the ephod. This was of inferior 
material to the ephod itself, being all 
of blue, ver. 31, which implied its 
being only of " woven work." ch. 39 : 
248 



22. It was worn immediately under the 
ephod, and was longer than it. The 
skirt of this robe had a remarkable trim- 
ming of pomegranates in blue, red and 
crimson, with a bell of gold between each 
pomegranate alternately. The bells were 
to give a sound when the high priest 
went in and came out of the holy place. 
{d) The mitre or upper turban, with 
its gold plate, engraved with " Holiness 
to the Lord," fastened to it by a ribbon 
of blue, (e) The broidered coat was a 
tunic or long skirt of linen with a tes- 
sellated or diaper pattern, like the set- 
ting of a stone. (/) The girdle, also of 
linen, was wound round the body sev- 
eral times from the breast downward, 
and the ends hung down to the ankles. 
{g) The breeches or drawers, of linen, 
covered the loins and thighs ; and (/i) The 
bonnet was a turban of linen, partially 
covering the head, but not in the form 
of a cone like that of the high priest when 
the mitre was added to it. These last 
four were common to all priests. The 
high priest alone was permitted to enter 
the -holy of holies, which he did once a 
year, on the great day of atonement, when 
he sprinkled the blood of the sin offering 
on the mercy seat, and burnt incense 
within the veil. Lev. 16. The man- 
slayer might not leave the city of refuge 
during the lifetime of the existing high 
priest. It was also forbidden to the high 
priest to follow a funeral, or rend his 
clothes for the dead. It does not appear 
by whose authority the high priests were 
appointed to their office before there 
were kings of Israel. After this the 
office seems to have been used for po- 
litical rather than religious purposes. 
Though at first chosen for life, we find 
that Solomon deposed Abiathar, 1 Kings 
2 : 35, and that Herod appointed a num- 
ber of high priests, which may account 
for there being at least two living in 
Christ's time, Annas and Caiaphas. 
Luke 3 : 2. The usual age for entering 
upon the functions of the priesthood, ac- 
cording to 2 Chron. 31 : 17, is considered 
to have been 20 years, though a priest or 
high priest was not actually incapaci- 
tated if he had attained to puberty. 
Again, according to Lev. 21 : 17-21, no 
one that had a blemish could officiate at 
the altar. 

The theological view of the high priest- 
hood does not fall within the scope of this 
work. It must suffice therefore to indi- 
cate that such a view would embrace the 



HIG 



HIN 



consideration of the office, dress, func- j 
tions and ministrations of the high priest, 
considered as typical of the priesthood j 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as setting j 
forth under shadows the truths which 
are openly taught under the gospel. 
This has been done to a great extent in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews. It would 
also embrace all the moral and spiritual 
teaching supposed to be intended by such 
symbols. 

Highways. Though during the sway 
of the Romans over Palestine they made 
a few substantial roads for their carts and 
chariots, yet for the most of the time, as 
to-day, the Jews had nothing such as we 
call roads, but only footpaths through 
Avhich animals walk in single file. These 
are never cared for ; no repairs are made 
or obstacles removed. This fact brings 
into striking prominence the figure of 
preparing a highway for the return of 
the captives, or the coming of the great 
King. On special occasions kings had 
roads prepared for the progress of their 
armies, or their own going from place to 
place. — Ed. 

Hi'len {place of caves), the name of a 
city of Judah allotted witli its suburbs to 
the priests. 1 Chron. 6 : 58. 

Hilki'ah {God is my portion). 1. 
Father of Eliakim. 2 Kings 18 : 37 ; Isa. 
22 : 20; 36: 22. [Eliakim.] 

2. High priest in the reign of Josiah. 
2 Kings 22 : 4, seq. ; 2 Chron. 34 : 9, seq. ; 
1 Esd. 1 : 8. (B.C. 623.) His high priest- 
hood was rendered particularly illus- 
trious by the great reformation effected 
under it by King Josiah, by the solemn 
Passover kept at Jerusalem in the 18th 
year of that king's reign, and above 
all by the discovery which he made of 
the book of the law of Moses in the 
temple. 

3. A Merarite Levite, son of Amzi. 1 
Chron. 6:45; hebr. 30. 

4. Another Merarite Levite, second son 
of Hosah. 1 Chron. 26 : 11. 

5. One of those who stood on the right 
hand of Ezra when he read the law to 
the people ; doubtless a Levite, and prob- 
ably a priest. Neh. 8 : 4. (B.C. 410.) 

6. A priest of Anathoth, father of the 
prophet Jeremiah. Jer. 1:1. (B.C. be- 
fore 628.) 

7. Father of Gemariah, who was one 
of Zedekiah's envoys to Babylon. Jer. 
29 : 3. (B.C. long before 587.) 

Hil'lel (praise), a native of Pirathon 
in Mount Ephraim, father of Abdon, one 



of the judges of Israel. Judges 12 ; 13, 
15. 

Hills. From the Hebrew gibeah, 
meaning a curved round hill. But our 
translators have also employed the same 
English word for the very different term 
har, which has a much more extended 
sense than gibeah, meaning a whole dis- 
trict. For instance, in Ex. 24 : 4 the 
" hill " is the same which is elsewhere in 
the same chapter, vs. 12, 13, 18, etc., and 
book consistently and accurately ren- 
dered "mount" and "mountain." The 
"country of the hills," in I)eut. 1:7; 
Josh. 9:1; 10 : 40 ; 11 : 16, is the elevated 
district of Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim, 
which is correctly called " the mountain " 
in the earliest descriptions of Palestine, 
Num. 13 : 29, and in many subsequent 
passages. 

Hin. [Weights and Measukes.] 

Hind, the female of the common stag 
or Cervus elaphus. It is frequently no- 
ticed in the poetical parts of Scripture 
as emblematic of activity, Gen. 49 : 21 ; 
Ps. 18 : 33, gentleness, Prov. 5 : 19, femi- 
nine modesty, Cant. 2:7; 3:5, earnest 
longing, Ps. 42 : 1, and maternal affec- 
tion. Jer. 14 : 5. Its shyness and remote- 
ness from the haunts of men are also al- 
luded to, Job 39:1, and its timidity, 
causing it to cast its young at the sound 
of thunder. Ps. 29 : 9. 

Hinge. Both ancient Egyptian and 
modern Oriental doors were and are 
hung by means of pivots turning in sock- 
ets on both the upper and lower sides. 1 
Kings 7:50. In Syria, and especially 
the Hauran, there are many ancient doors 
consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved 
out of the same piece, inserted in sockets 
above and below, and fixed during the 
building of the house. The allusion in 
Prov. 26 : 14 is thus clearly explained. 

Hin'nom {lamentation), Valley of, 
otherwise called " the valley of the son" 
or " children of Hinnom," a deep and 
narrow ravine, with steep, rocky sides, to 
the south and west of Jerusalem, sepa- 
rating Mount Zion to the north from the 
"hill of evil counsel," and the sloping 
rocky plateau of the " plain of Rephaim " 
to the south. The earliest mention of 
the valley of Hinnom is in Josh. 15 : 8; 
18 : 16, where the boundary line between 
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin is de- 
scribed as passing along the bed of the 
ravine. On the southern brow, overlook- 
ing the valley at its eastern extremity, 
Solomon erected high places for Molech, 



HIP 



HOD 



1 Kings 11:7, whose horrid rites were 
revived from time to time in the same 
vicinity by the later idolatrous kings. 
Ahaz and Manasseh made their children 
"pass through the fire" in this valley, 

2 Kings 16 : 3 ; 2 Chron. 28 : 3 ; 33 : 6, 
and the fiendish custom of infant sacrifice 
to the fire-gods seems to have been kept 
up in Tophet, which was another name 
for this place. To put an end to these 
abominations the place was polluted by 
Josiah, who rendered it ceremonially 
unclean by spreading over it human 
bones and other corruptions, 2 Kings 23 : 
10, 13, 14 ; 2 Chron. 34 : 4, 5, from which 
time it appears to have become the com- 
mon cesspool of the city, into which its 
sewage was conducted, to be carried off 
by the waters of the Kidron. From its 
ceremonial defilement, and from the de- 
tested and abominable fire of Molecb, if 
not from the supposed ever-burning fu- 
neral piles, the later Jews applied the 
name of this valley — Ge JJinnom, Ge- 
henna (land of Hinnom) — to denote the 
place of eternal torment. In this sense 
the word is used by our Lord. Matt. 5 : 
29; 10 : 28; 23 : 15; Mark 9 : 43 ; Luke 
12:5. 

Hippopotamus. [Behemoth.] 
Hi'rah {a noble race), an Adullamite, 
the friend of Judah. Gen. 38 : 1, 12 ; and 

see 20. 

Hi'ram,or Hu'ram {noble). 1. The 
king of Tyre who sent workmen and ma- 
terials to Jerusalem, first, 2 Sam. 5 : 11 ; 
1 Chron. 14 : 1, to build a palace for David 
(B.C. 1064), whom he ever loved, 1 Kings 
5 : 1, and again, 1 Kings 5 : 10 ; 7 : 13 ; 2 
Chron. 2, 16, to build the temple for Sol- 
omon, with whom he had a treaty of 
peace and commerce. 1 Kings 5 : 11, 12. 
He admitted Solomon's ships, issuing 
from Joppa, to a share in the profitable 
trade of the Mediterranean, 1 Kings 10 : 
22; and the Jewish sailors, under the 
guidance of Tyrians, were taught to bring 
the gold of India, 1 Kings 9 : 26, to Solo- 
mon's two harbors on the Red Sea. 

2. Hiram was the name of a man of 
mixed race, 1 Kings 7 : 13, 40, the prin- 
cipal architect and engineer sent by King 
Hiram to Solomon. 

Hit'tites {descendants of Heth), The, 
the nation descended from Cheth (Au- 
thorized Version Heth), the second son 
of Canaan. Abraham bought from the 
"children of Heth" the field and the 
cave of Machpelah, belonging to Ephron 
the Hittite. They were then settled at 
250 



I the town which was afterwards, under 
j its new name of Hebron, to become one 
' of the most famous cities of Palestine, 
j and which then bore the name of Kir- 
jath-arba. Gen. 23:19; 25:9. When 
the Israelites entered the promised land, 
we find the Hittites taking part against 
the invader, in equal alliance with the 
other Canaanite tribes. Josh. 9 : 1 ; 11 : 3, 
etc. Henceforward the notices of the 
Hittites are very few and faint. We 
meet with two individuals, both attached 
to the person of David — 1. " Ahimelech 
the Hittite," 1 Sam. 26:6; 2. "Uriah 
the Hittite," one of "the thirty" of 
David's body-guard. 2 Sam. 23:39; 1 
Chron. 11 : 41. 

Hi'vites {villagers). The, descend- 
ants — the sixth in order — of Canaan the 
son of Ham. Gen. 10 : 17 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 15. 
We first encounter the actual people of 
the Hivites at the time of Jacob's return 
to Canaan. Gen. 34:2. We next meet 
with the Hivites during the conquest of 
Canaan. Josh. 9:7; 11 : 19. The main 
body of the Hivites were at this time 
living on the northern confines of west- 
ern Palestine — " under Hermon, in the 
land of Mizpeh," Josh. 11 : 3—" in 
Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Her- 
mon to the entering in of Hamath." 
Judges 3:3; comp. 2 Sam. 24 : 7. 

Hizki'ah {might of Jehovah), an an- 
cestor of Zephaniah the prophet. Zeph. 
1 : 1. (B.C. before 635.) 

Hizki'jab {might of Jehovah), one of 
those who sealed the covenant with Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 10 : 17. (B.C. 410.) 

Ho'bab {beloved). This name is found 
in two places only — Num. 10 : 29; Judges 
4 : 11. Hobab was brother-in-law to 
Moses. (B.C. 1530.) 

Ho'bah {hiding-place), the place to 
which Abraham pursued the kings who 
had pillaged Sodom. Gen. 14 : 15. It 
was situated " to the north of Damas- 
cus." 

Hod {splendor), one of the sons of Zo- 
phah, among the descendants of Asher. 
1 Chron. 7 : 37. 

Hoda'iah {p>raise ye Jehovah), son 
of the royal line of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 
24. (B.C. about 406.) 

Hodavi'ah (jiraise ye Jehovah). 1. 
A man of Manasseh, one of the heads of 
the half tribe on the east of Jordan. 1 
Chron. 5 : 24. (B.C. 720.) 

2. A man of Benjamin, son of Has-sen- 
I uah. 1 Chron. 9 : 7. 

3. A Levite, who seems to have given 



HOD 



HOP 



his name to an important family in the j the term dSbash applies to a decoction of 
tribe. Ezra 2 : 40. (B.C. before 536.) I the juice of the grape, which is still called 

Ho'desh (new moon), a woman named | dibs, and which forms an article of corn- 
in the genealogies of Benjamin, 1 Chron. i merce in the East; it was this, and not 
8 : 9, as the wife of Shaharaim. ordinary bee-honey, which Jacob sent to 

Hode'vah (praise ye Jehovah). Neh. ! Joseph, Gen. 43 : 11, and which the Tyr- 
7:43. ("Hod avi ah.] j ians purchased from Palestine. Ezek. 

Hodi'ah (majesty of Jehovah), one of > 27 : 17. A third kind has been described 
the two wives of Ezra, a man of Judah. by some writers as " vegetable" honey, 
1 Chron.. 4 : 19. She is doubtless the j by which is meant the exudations of cer- 
same person as Jehudijah in ver. 18. tain trees and shrubs, such as the 2km- 

Hodi'jah (majesty of Jehovah). 1. A ! arix mannifera, found in the peninsula 
Levite in the time of Ezra and Nehe- I of Sinai, or the stunted oaks of Luristan 
miah. Neh. 8:7; and probably also 9 : | and Mesopotamia. The honey which 
5 ; 10 : 10. (B.C. 410.) Jonathan ate in the wood, 1 Sam. 14 : 25, 

2. Another Levite at the same time. ! and the "wild honey" which supported 
Neh. 10 : 13. John the Baptist, Matt. 3 : 4, have been 

3. A layman ; one of the " heads" of referred to this species. But it was prob- 
the people at the same time. Neh. 10 : j ably the honey of wild bees. 

18. Hook, Hooks. Various kinds of 

Hog'lah (partridge), the third of the hooks are noticed in the Bible, of which 
five daughters of Zelophehad. Num. 26 : the following are the most important: 
33 ; 27 : 1 ; 36 : 11 ; Josh. 17 : 3. (B.C. \ 1. Fishing hooks. Job 41 : 2 ; Isa. 19:8; 
1450.) | Hab. 1 : 15. 2. A ring, such as in our 

Ho'ham (whom Jehovah impels), king I country is placed through the nose of a 
of Hebron at the time of the conquest of j bull, and similarly used in the East for 
Canaan. Josh. 10 : 3. (B.C. 1450.) leading about lions — Ezek. 19 : 4, where 

Holofer'nes, or more correctly Olo- ; the Authorized Version has "with 
fernes, was, according to the book of chains" — camels and other animals. 
Judith, a general of Nebuchadnezzar ! Called "thorn" in Job 41 : 2. A similar 
king of the Assyrians, Judith 2 : 4, who method was adopted for leading prison- 
was slain by the Jewish heroine Judith j ers. 2 Chron. 33 : 11. 3. The hooks of 
during the siege of Bethulia. (B.C. 350.) i the pillars of the tabernacle. Ex. 26 : 32, 

Ho'lon (sandy). 1. A town in the 37; 27 : 10 ff. ; 38 : 13 ff. 4. A vine- 
mountains of Judah; one of the first I dresser's priming-hook. Isa. 2:4; 18: 
group, of which Debir was apparently I 
the most considerable. Josh. 15 : 51 ; 21 : \ 
15. [Hilen.] 

2. A city of Moab. Jer. 48 : 21 only. 
No identification of it has yet taken 
place. 

Ho'raam (destruction), the form under 
which, in 1 Chron. 1 : 39, an Edomite 
name appears, which in Gen. 36 : 22 is 
given Hemam. 

Homer. [Weights and Meas- 
ures.] 

Honey. The Hebrew debash in the j 
first place applies to the product of the j 
bee, to which exclusively we give the ! 
name of honey. All travellers agree in I 
describing Palestine as a land " flowing i 5 ; Micah 4:3; Joel 3 : 10. 5. A flesh- 
with milk and honey," Ex. 3:8; bees ! hook for getting up the joints of meat 
being abundant even in the remote parts j out of the boiling-pot. Ex. 27 : 3 ; 1 Sam. 
of the wilderness, where they deposit j 2: 13, 14. 6. Probably "hooks" used for 
their honey in the crevices of rocks or in j the purpose of hanging up animals to 
hollow trees. In some parts of northern flay them. Ezek. 40 : 43. 
Arabia the hills are so well stocked with j Hoph'ni (pugilist) and Phtnehas 
bees that no sooner are hives placed than j (brazen mouth), the two sons of Eli, who 
they are occupied. In the second place fulfilled their hereditary sacerdotal duties 

251 




Flesh-Hooks. 



HOE 



HOR 



at Shiloh. Their brutal rapacity and 
lust, 1 Sam. 2 : 12-17, 22, filled the peo- 
ple with disgust and indignation, and 
provoked the curse which was denounced 
against their father's house, first by an 
unknown prophet, 1 Sam. 2 : 27-36, and 
then by Samuel, ch. 3 : 11-14. They 
were both cut off in one day in the flower 
of their age, and the ark which they had 
accompanied to battle against the Philis- 
tines was lost on the same occasion. 1 
Sam. 4:10, 11. (B.C. 1130.) 




Mount Hor. 



II or (mountain'', Mount. 1. The 

mountain on which Aaron died. Num. 
20 : 25, 27. It was " on the boundary line," 
Num. 20 : 23, or " at the edge," ch. 33 : 
37, of the land of Edom. It was the 
halting-place of the people next after 
Kadesh, ch. 20 : 22 ; 33 : 37, and they 
quitted it for Zalmonah, ch. 33 : 41, in 
the road to the Red Sea. ch. 21 : 4. It 
was during the encampment at Kadesh 
that Aaron was gathered to his fathers. 
Mount Hor is situated on the eastern 
side of the great valley of the Arabah, 
the highest and most conspicuous of the 
whole range of the sandstone mountains 
of Edom, having close beneath it on its 
eastern side the mysterious city of Petra. 
It is now the Jebel Nebi-Harun, " the 
mountain of the prophet Aaron." Its 
height is 4800 feet above the Mediter- 
ranean ; that is to say, about 1700 feet 
above the town of Petra, 4000 above the 
level of the Arabah, and more than 6000 
252 



above the Dead Sea. The mountain is 
marked far and near by its double top, 
which rises like a huge castellated build- 
ing from a lower base, and is surmounted 
by a circular dome of the tomb of Aaron, 
a distinct white spot on the dark red 
surface of the mountain. The chief in- 
terest of Mount Hor consists in the pros- 
pect from its summit, the last view of 
Aaron — that view which was to him what 
Pisgah was to his brother. 

2. A mountain, entirely distinct from 
the preceding, named in Num. 34 : 7, 8 
only, as one of the marks of the northern 
boundary of the land which the children 
of Israel were about to conquer. This 
Mount Hor is the great chain of Lebanon 
itself. 

Ho'ram (mountainous), king of Gezer 
at the time of the conquest of the south- 
western part of Palestine. Josh. 10 : 33. 

Ho'reb (desert). [Sinai. 1 

Ho'rem (sacred), one of the fortified 
places in the territory of Naphtali ; named 
with Iron and Migdal-el. Josh. 19 : 38. 
Van de Velde suggests Hurah as the site 
of Horem. 

Hor-hagid'gad (conspicuous mount- 
ain), the name of the desert station 
where the Israelites encamped, Num. 33 : 
32 ; probably the same as Gudgodah. 
Deut. 10 : 7. 

Ho'ri (cave-dweller). 1. A Horite, son 
of Lotan the son of Seir. Gen. 36 : 22 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 39 ; Gen. 36 : 30. 

2. A man of Simeon, father of Shaphat. 
Num. 13:5. 

Ho'rim and Ho'rites (descendants 
of Hori), the aboriginal inhabitants of 
Mount Seir, Gen. 14 : 6, and probably 
allied to the Emim and Rephaim. The 
name Horite appears to have been de- 
rived from their habits as " cave-dwell- 
ers." Their excavated dwellings are 
still found in hundreds in the sandstone 
cliffs and mountains of Edom, and espe- 
cially in Petra. 

Hor'mah (a place laid waste'', or Ze- 
PHATH, Judges 1 : 17, was the chief town 
of a king of a Canaanitish tribe on the 
south of Palestine, which was reduced 
by Joshua, and became a city of the ter- 
ritory of Judah, Josh. 15 : 30 ; 1 Sam. 30 : 
30, but apparently belonged to Simeon. 
1 Chron. 4 : 30. 

Horn. The word "horn" is often 
used metaphorically to signify strength 
and honor, because horns are the chief 
weapons and ornaments of the animals 
j which possess them ; hence they are also 



HOR 



HOS 



used as a type of victory. Of strength 
the horn of the unicorn was the most fre- 
quent representative, Deut. 33 : 17, etc., 
but not always; comp. 1 Kings 22 : 11, 
where probably horns of iron, worn de- 
fiantly and symbolically on the head, 
are intended. Among the Druses upon j 




Horns worn as Head-ornanients by modern 
Orientals. 



Mount Lebanon the married women wear 
silver horns on their heads. In the sense 
of honor, the word horn stands for the ab- 
stract — " my horn," Job 16 : 15 ; " all the 
horn of Israel," Lam. 2 : 3 — and so for 
the supreme authority. It also stands 
for the concrete, whence it comes to mean 
king, kingdom. Dan. 8 : 2, etc. ; Zech. 1 : 
18. Out of either or both of these last 
two metaphors sprang the idea of repre- 
senting gods with horns. 

Hornet. The hornet bears a general 
resemblance to the common wasp, only 
it is larger. It is exceedingly fierce and 
voracious, especially in hot climates, and 
its sting is frequently dangerous. In 
Scripture the hornet is referred to only 
as the means which Jehovah employed 
for the extirpation of the Canaanites. 
Ex. 23 : 28; Deut. 7 : 20; Josh. 24 : 12; 
Wisd. 12 : 8. (It is said that the Phasel- 
itse, a Phoenician people, were driven 
from their locality by hornets ; and other 
examples are given in Paxton's " Illus- 
trations of Scripture," 1 : 303. — Ed.) 

Horona'im {two caverns), a town of 
Moab, possibly a sanctuary, named with 
Zoar and Luhith. Isa. 15 : 5 ; Jer. 48 : 3, 
5, 34. 



Hor/onite {native of Horonaim\ 
The, the designation of Sanballat. Neh. 
2 : 10, 19 ; 13 : 28. It is derived by Ge- 
senius from Horonaim. 

Horse. The most striking feature in 
the biblical notices of the horse is the 
exclusive application of it to warlike 
operations ; in no instance is that useful 
animal employed for the purposes of or- 
dinary locomotion or agriculture, if we 
except Isa. 28 : 28. The animated de- 
scription of the horse in Job 39 : 19-25 
applies solely to the war-horse. The He- 
brews in the patriarchal age, as a pastoral 
race, did not stand in need of the services 
of the horse, and for a long period after 
their settlement in Canaan they dispensed 
with it, partly in consequence of the 
hilly nature of the country, which only 
admitted of the use of chariots in certain 
localities, Judges 1 : 19, and partly in 
consequence of the prohibition in Deut. 
17 : 16, which would be held to apply at 
all periods. David first established a 
force of cavalry and chariots, 2 Sam. 
8:4; but the great supply of horses 
was subsequently effected by Solomon 
through his connection with Egypt. 1 
Kings 4 : 26. Solomon also established 
a very active trade in horses, which were 
brought by dealers out of Egypt and re- 
sold, at a profit, to the Hittites. With 
regard to the trappings and management 
of the horse we have little information. 
The bridle was placed over the horse's 
nose, Isa. 30 : 28, and a bit or curb is also 
mentioned. 2 Kings 19 : 28 ; Ps. 32 : 9 ; 
Prov. 26 : 3 ; Isa. 37 : 29. In the Author- 
ized Version it is incorrectly given " bri- 
dle," with the exception of Ps. 32. Sad- 
dles were not used until a late period. 
The horses were not shod, and therefore 
hoofs as hard "as flint," Isa. 5 : 28, were 
regarded as a great merit. The chariot- 
horses were covered with embroidered 
trappings. Ezek. 27 : 20. Horses and 
chariots were used also in idolatrous pro- 
cessions, as noticed in regard to the sun. 
2 Kings 23 : 11. 

Horse-leech, Heb. 'alukdh, occurs 
once only, viz. Prov. 30 : 15. There is 
little doubt that 'alukdh denotes some 
species of leech, or rather is the generic 
term for any blood-sucking annelid. 

Ho'sah {refuge), a city of Asher, Josh. 
19 : 29, the next landmark on the bound- 
ary to Tyre. 

Ho'sah, a Merarite Levite, 1 Chron. 
26 : 10, chosen by David to be one of the 
first doorkeepers to the ark after its 
253 



HOS 



HOS 



arrival in Jerusalem. 1 Chron. Id : 38. 

(B.C. 1014.) 

Hosamia (save now). "Save, we 
pray !" the cry of the multitudes as they 
thronged in our Lord's triumphal pro- 
cession into Jerusalem. Matt. 21 : 9, 15 ; 
Mark 11 : 9, 10 ; John 12 : 13. The Psalm 
from which it was taken, the 118th, was 
one with which they were familiar from 
being accustomed to recite the 25th and 
26th verses at the feast of tabernacles, 
forming a part of the great hallel. Ps. 
113-118. 

Hose'a (salvation), son of Beeri, and 
first of the minor prophets. Probably 
the life, or rather the prophetic career, 
of Hosea extended from B.C. 784 to 725, 
a period of fifty-nine years. The proph- 
ecies of Hosea were delivered in the king- 
dom of Israel. Jeroboam II. was on the 
throne, and Israel was at the height of 
its earthly splendor. Nothing is known 
of the prophet's life excepting what may 
be gained from his book. 

Hose'a, Prophecies of. This book 
consists of fourteen chapters. It is easy 
to recognize two great divisions in the 
book: (1) ch. 1 to 3; (2) ch. 4 to end. 
The subdivision of these several parts is 
a work of greater difficulty. 1. The first 
division should probably be subdivided 
into three separate poems, each originat- 
ing in a distinct aim, and each after its 
own fashion attempting to express the 
idolatry of Israel by imagery borrowed 
from the matrimonial relation. 2. At- 
tempts have been made to subdivide the 
second part of the book. These divisions 
are made either according to reigns of 
contemporary kings or according to the 
subject-matter of the poem. The proph- 
ecies were probably collected by Hosea 
himself toward the end of his career. 
Of his style Eichhorn says, " His dis- 
course is like a garland woven of a mul- 
tiplicity of flowers; images are woven 
upon images, metaphor strung upon meta- 
phor. Like a bee he flies from one flower- 
bed to another, that he may suck his 
honey from the most varied pieces. . . . 
Often he is prone to approach to allegory ; j 
often he sinks down in obscurity." 

Hoshai'ali (ivhom Jehovah aids). 1. 
A man who assisted in the dedication of 
the wall of Jerusalem after it had been 
rebuilt by Nehemiah. Neh. 12 : 32. (B.C. 
446.) 

2. The father of a certain Jezaniah or 
Azariah, who was a man of note after 
the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebu- 
254 



chadnezzar. Jer. 42 : 1 ; 43 : 2. (B.C. 
after 588.) 

Hosh'ama (ivhom Jehovah hears), one 
of the sons of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, 
J the last king but one of Judah. 1 Chron. 
3:18. 

Hoshe'a (salvation). 1. The nine- 
j teenth, last and best king of Israel. He 
| succeeded Pekah, whom he slew in a 
successful conspiracy, thereby fulfilling 
a prophecy of Isaiah. Isa. 7 : 16. In 
the third year of his reign (B.C. 726) 
Shalmaneser cruelly stormed the strong 
caves of Beth-arbel, Hos. 8 : 14, and 
made Israel tributary, 2 Kings 17 : 3, for 
three years. At the end of this period 
Hoshea entered into a secret alliance 
with So, king of Egypt, to throw ofl' the 
Assyrian yoke. The alliance did him 
no good ; it wa3 revealed to the court 
of Nineveh by the Assyrian party in 
Ephraim, and Hoshea was immediately 
seized as a rebellious vassal, shut up in 
prison, and apparently treated with the 
utmost indignity. Micah 5 : 1. Of the 
subsequent fortunes of Hoshea nothing 
is known. 

2. The son of Nun, i. e. Joshua, Deut. 
32 : 44 ; and also in Num. 13 : 8, though 
there the Authorized Version has 

OSHEA. 

3. Son of Azaziah, 1 Chron 27:20; 
like his great namesake, a man of 
Ephraim, ruler of his tribe in the time 
of King David. (B.C. 1019.) 

4. One of the heads of the people who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 23. (B.C. 410.) 

Hospitality. Hospitality was re- 
garded by most nations of the ancient 
world as one of the chief virtues. The 
Jewish laws respecting strangers, Lev. 
19 : 33, 34, and the poor, Lev. 25 : 14, 
seq. ; Deut. 15 : 7, and concerning re- 
demption, Lev. 25 : 23, seq., etc., are 
framed in accordance with the spirit of 
hospitality. In the law compassion to 
strangers is constantly enforced by the 
words " for ye were strangers in the land 
of Egypt." Lev. 19 : 34. And before the 
law, Abraham's entertainment of the 
angels, Gen. 18 : 1, seq., and Lot's, Gen. 
19 : 1, are in exact agreement with its 
precepts, and with modern usage. Comp. 
Ex. 2 : 20 ; Judges 13 : 15 ; 19 : 17, 20, 21. 
In the New Testament hospitality is yet 
more markedly enjoined ; and in the 
more civilized state of society which then 
prevailed, its exercise became more a 
social virtue than a necessity of patri- 



HOT 



HOU 



archal life. The good Samaritan stands 
for all ages as an example of Christian 
hospitality. The neglect of Christ is 
symbolized by inhospitality to our neigh- 
bors. Matt. 25 : 43. The apostles urged 
the Church to " follow after hospitality," 
Rom. 12 : 13 ; cf. 1 Tim. 5 : 10 ; to remem- 
ber Abraham's example, Heb. 13 : 2 ; to 
" use hospitality one to another without 
grudging," 1 Pet. 4:9; while a bishop 
must be a " lover of hospitality." Titus 
1 : 8, cf. 1 Tim. 3 : 2. The practice of the 
early Christians was in accord with these 
precepts. They had all things in com- 
mon, and their hospitality was a 
characteristic of their belief. In 
the patriarchal ages we may take 
Abraham's example as the most 
fitting, as we have of it the fullest 
account. " The account," says Mr. 
Lane, " of Abraham's entertaining 
the three angels, related in the 
Bible, presents a perfect picture of 
the manner in which a modern Be- 
dawee sheikh receives travellers 
arriving at his encampment." The 
Oriental respect for the covenant 
of bread and salt, or salt alone, 
certainly sprang from the high 
regard in which hospitality was 
held. 

Ho'tham {signet ring), a man of 
Asher, son of Heber, of the family of Be- 
riah. 1 Chron. 7 : 32. ( B.C. 1490.) 

Ho'than {signet ring), a man of Aroer, 
father of Shama and Jehiel. 1 Chron. 1 1 : 
44. (B.C. 1046.) 

Ho'thir {fullness), the thirteenth son 
of Heman, "the king's seer," 1 Chron. 
25 : 4, 28, and therefore a Kohathite Le- 
vite. (B.C. 1014.) 

Hour. The ancient Hebrews were 
probably unacquainted with the division 
of the natural day into twenty-four parts ; 
but they afterwards parcelled out the 
period between sunrise and sunset into a 
series of divisions distinguished by the 
sun's course. The early Jews appear to 
have divided the day into four parts, 
Neh. 9 : 3, and the night into three 
watches, Judges 7:19; and even in the 
New Testament we find a trace of this 
division in Matt. 20 : 1-5. At what period 
the Jews first became acquainted with 
the division of the day into twelve hours 
is unknown, but it is generally supposed 
they learned it from the Babylonians 
during the captivity. It was known to 
the Egyptians at a very early period. 
They had twelve hours of the day and 



of the night. There are two kinds of 
hours, viz. (1) the astronomical or equi- 
noctial hour, i. e. the 24th part of a civil 
day, and (2) the natural hour, i. e. the 12th 
part of the natural day, or of the time be- 
tween sunrise and sunset. These are the 
hours meant in the New Testament, John 
11 : 9, etc., and it must be remembered 
that they perpetually vary in length, so 
as to be very different at different times of 
the year. For the purpose of prayer the 
old division of the day into four portions 
was continued in the temple service, as 
we see from Acts 2 : 15 ; 3:1; 10:9. 




Upper Room. 

House. The houses of the rural poor 
in Egypt, as well as in most parts of 
Syria, Arabia and Persia, are generally 
mere huts of mud or sunburnt bricks. In 
some parts of Palestine and Arabia stone 
is used, and in certain districts caves in 
the rocks are used as dwellings. Amos 5 : 
11. The houses are usually of one story 
only, viz., the ground floor, and often 
contain only one apartment. Sometimes 
a small court for the cattle is attached ; 
and in some cases the cattle are housed 
in the same building, or the people live 
on a raised platform, and the cattle round 
them on the ground. 1 Sam. 28 : 24. The 
windows are small apertures high up in 
the walls, sometimes grated with wood. 
The roofs are commonly but not always 
flat, and are usually formed of a plaster 
of mud and straw laid upon boughs or 
rafters ; and upon the flat roofs, tents or 
"booths" of boughs or rushes are often 
raised to be used as sleeping-places in 
summer. The difference between the 
poorest houses and those of the class next 
above them is greater than between these 
and the houses of the first rank. The 
prevailing plan of eastern houses of this 
class presents, as was the case in ancient 
255 



HOU 



HOU 



Egypt, a front of wall, whose blank and haps belonged to an upper chamber of 
mean appearance is usually relieved this kind, 2 Kings 1 : 2, as also the " third 
only by the door and a few latticed and 
projecting windows. Within this is a 



court or courts with apartments opening 




Court of an Eastern House. 

into them. Over the door is a projecting 
window with a lattice more or less elab- 
orately wrought, which, except in times 
of public celebrations, is usually closed, 
2 Kings 9 : 30. An awning is sometimes 
drawn over the court, and the floor 
strewed with carpets on festive occasions. 
The stairs to the upper apartments 
are in Syria usually in a corner 
of the court. Around part, if not 
the whole, of the court is a ve- 
randa, often nine or ten feet deep, 
over which, when there is more 
than one floor, runs a second gal- 
lery of like depth, with a balus- 
trade. When there is no second 
floor, but more than one court, the 
women's apartments — hareem, ha- 
rem or haram — are usually in the 
second court ; otherwise they form 
a separate building within the 
general enclosure, or are above on 
the first floor. When there is an 
upper story, the ka'ah forms the 
most important apartment, and 
thus probably answers to the " up- 
per room," which was often the 
guest-chamber. Luke 22 : 12 ; 
Acts 1 : 13 ; 9 : 37; 20 : 8. The windows of 
the upper rooms often project one or two 
feet, and form a kiosk or latticed cham- 
ber. Such may have been " the chamber 
in the wall." 2 Kings 4 : 10, 11. The " lat- 
tice," through which Ahaziah fell, per- 
256 



loft," from which Eutychus fell. Acts 20 : 
9 ; comp. Jer. 22 : 13. Paul preached in 
such a room on account of its superior 
size and retired position. The outer 
h, circle in an audience in such a room 

I sat upon a dais, or upon cushions 

II elevated so as to be as high as the 
window-sill. From such a position 
Eutychus could easily fall. 

There are usually no special bed- 
rooms in eastern houses. The outer 
doors are closed with a wooden 
lock, but in some cases the apart- 
ments are divided from each other 
by curtains only. There are no 
chimneys, but fire is made when 
required with charcoal in a chafing- 
dish ; or a fire of wood might be 
kindled in the open court of the 
house. Luke 22 : 55. Some houses 
in Cairo have an apartment open 
n front to the court, with two or 
more arches and a railing, and a 
pillar to support the wall above. 
It was in a chamber of this kind, prob- 
ably one of the largest size to be found 
in a palace, that our Lord was being 
arraigned before the high priest at the 
time when the denial of him by St. Peter 
took place. He " turned and looked " 
on Peter as he stood by the fire in the 




Outer Staircase of an Eastern House. 

court, Luke 22 : 56, 61 ; John 18 : 24. 
whilst he himself was in the " hall of 
judgment." 

In no point do Oriental domestic habits 
differ more from European than in the 
use of the roof. Its flat surface is made 



HUK 



HUE 



useful for various household purposes, as 
drying corn, hanging up linen, and pre- 
paring figs and raisins. The roofs are 
used as places of recreation in the even- 
ing, and often as sleeping-places at night. 
1 Sam. 9 : 25, 26 ; 2 Sam. 11:2; 16 : 22 ; 
Job 27 : 18 ; Pro v. 21 : 9 ; Dan. 4 : 29. They 
were also used as places for devotion and 
even idolatrous worship. 2 Kings 23 : 12 ; 
Jer. 19 : 13 ; 32 : 29 ; Zeph. 1:5; Acts 
10 : 9. At the time of the feast of tab- 
ernacles booths were erected by the Jews 
on the tops of their houses. Protection 




Eastern Battlemented House. 

of the roof by parapets was enjoined by 
the law. Deut. 22 : 8. Special apart- 
ments were devoted in larger houses to 
winter and summer uses. Jer. 36 : 22 ; 
Amos 3 : 15. The ivory house of Ahab 
was probably a palace largely orna- 
mented with inlaid ivory. The circum- 
stance of Samson's pulling down the 
house by means of the pillars may be ex- 
plained by the fact of the company being 
assembled on tiers of balconies above 
each other, supported by central pillars 
on the basement ; when these were pulled 
down the whole of the upper floors would 
fall also. Judges 16 : 26. 

Huk'kok (incised), a place on the 
boundary of Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 34. It 
has been recovered in Yakuk, a village 
in the mountains of Naphtali, west of the 
upper end of the Sea of Galilee. 

Hu'kok, a name which in 1 Chron. 
6 : 75 is erroneously used for Helkath, 
which see. 

Hul (circle), the second son of Aram, 
17 



and grandson of Shem. Gen. 10 : 23. The 
sti-ongest evidence is in favor of the dis- 
trict about the roots of Lebanon. 

Hul'dah (weasel), a prophetess, whose 
husband, Shallum, was keeper of the 
wardrobe in the time of King Josiah. 
It was to her that Josiah had recourse, 
when Hilkiah found a book of the law, 
to procure an authoritative opinion on it. 
2 Kings 22 : 14 : 2 Chron. 34 : 22. (B.C. 
623.) 

Hum'tah (place of lizards), a city of 
Judah, one of those in the mountain dis- 
trict, the next to Hebron. Josh. 
15:54. 

Hunting. Hunting, as a mat- 
ter of necessity, whether for the 
extermination of dangerous beasts 
or for procuring sustenance, be- 
tokens a rude and semi-civilized 
state ; as an amusement, it betokens 
an advanced state. The Hebrews, 
as a pastoral and agricultural 
people, were not given to the sports 
of the field ; the density of the pop- 
ulation, the earnestness of their 
character, and the tendency of 
their ritual regulations, particu- 
larly those affecting food, all com- 
bined to discourage the practice of 
hunting. The manner of catching 
animals was, first, either by dig- 
ging a pitfall, or, secondly, by a 
trap which was set under ground, 
Job 18 : 10, in the run of the ani- 
mal, Prov. 22 : 5, and caught it by 
the leg, Job 18 : 9 ; or lastly by the use 
of the net, of which there were various 
kinds, as for the gazelle, Isa. 51 : 20, Au- 
thorized Version, " wild bull," and other 
animals of that class. 

Hu'phara (coast-man), a son of Ben- 
jamin, founder of the family of the Hu- 
phamites. Num. 26 : 39. (B.C. 1688.) 

Hu'phamites, The, descendants of 
Hupham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Num. 
26 : 39. 

Hup'pah (protected), a priest in the 
time of David. 1 Chron. 24 : 13. 

Hup'pim (protected), head of a Ben- 
jamite family. Gen. 46 : 21 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 
12. 

Hur (hole). 1. A man who is men- 
tioned with Moses and Aaron on the oc- 
casion of the battle with Amalek at Reph- 
idim, Ex. 17 : 10, when with Aaron he 
stayed up the hands of Moses, ver. 12. 
(B.C. 1491.) He is mentioned again in 
ch. 24 : 14 as being, with Aaron, left in 
charge of the people by Moses during his 
257' 



HUR 



HUZ 



ascent of Sinai. The Jewish tradition is 
that he was the husband of Miriam, and 
that he was identical with 

2. The grandfather of Bezaleel, the 
chief artificer of the tabernacle. Ex. 31 : 
2 • 35 : 30 • 38 : 22. 

'3. The fourth of the five kings of Mid- 
ian who were slain with Balaam after the 
"matter of Peor." Num. 31:8. (B.C. 
1451.) In a later mention of them, Josh. 
13 : 21, they are called princes of Midian 
and dukes. 

4. Father of Rephaiah, who was ruler 
of half of the environs of Jerusalem, and 
assisted Nehemiah in the repair of the 
wall. Neh. 3 : 9. (B.C. before 416.) 

5. The "son of Hur"— Ben-Hur 
— was commissariat officer for Sol- 
omon in Mount Ephraim. 1 Kings 
4 : 8. (B.C. 995.) 

Hu'ra-i, or Hura'i {linen- 
weaver), one of David's guard — 
Hurai of the torrents of Gaash, 
according to the list of 1 Chron. 
11 : 32. [Hiddai.] 

Hu'ram (noble born). 1. A Ben- 
jamite ; son of Bela, the first-born 
of the patriarch. 1 Chron. 8 : 5. 

2. The form in which the name 
of the king of Tyre in alliance with 
David and Solomon — and elsewhere 
given as Hiram— appears in Chron- 
icles. 1 Chron. 14 : 1 ; 2 Chron. 2 : 3, 
11, 12; 8:2, 18; 9:10, 21. 

3. The same change occurs in 
Chronicles in the name of Hiram 
the artificer, which is given as Hu- 
eam in 2 Chron. 2 : 13; 4 : 11, 16. 
[Hiram.] 

Hu'ri {linen-weaver), a Gadite; 
father of Abihail. 1 Chron. 5 : 14. 

Husband. [Marriage.] 

Hu'shah {haste), a name which occurs 
in the genealogies of the tribe of Judah. 
1 Chron. 4 : 4. 

Hu'sha-i, or Ilusha'i (hasting), an 
Archite, i. e. possiblv an inhabitant of a 
place called Erec. 2 Sam. 15 : 32 fif. ; 16 : 16 
ff. He is called the " friend " of David. 2 
Sam. 15 : 37; comp. 1 Chron. 27 : 33. To him 
David confided the delicate and dangerous 
part of a pretended adherence to the cause 
of Absalom. (B.C. about 1023.) He was 
probably the father of Baana. 1 Kgs. 4:16. 

Hu'sham {haste), one of the early 
kings of Edom. Gen. 36 : 34, 35 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 45, 46. 

Hu'shathite (inhabitant of Hushah), 
The, the designation of two of the heroes 
of David's guard. 1. Sibbechai. 2 Sam. 
258 



21:18; 1 Chron. 11 : 29 ; 20:4; 27:11. 
Josephus, however, calls him a Hittite. 

2. Mebunnai, 2 Sam. 23 : 27, a mere 
corruption of SiBBECHAl. 

Hu'shim (who makes haste). 1. In 
Gen. 46 : 23 "the children of Dan" are 
said to have been Hushim. The name is 
plural, as if of a tribe rather than an 
individual. In Num. 26 ; 42 the name 
is changed to Shuham. 

2. A Benjamite, 1 Chron. 7:12; and 
here again apparently the plural nature 
of the name is recognized, and Hushim 
are stated to be " the sons of Aher." 

3. One of the two wives of Shaharaim. 
1 Chron. 8 : 8. (B.C. 1450.) 




Husks of Swine — Carob Beans. 

Husks. This word in Luke 15 : 16 
describes really the fruit of a particular 
kind of tree, viz. the carob or Ceratonia 
siliqua of botanists. It belongs to the 
locust family. This tree is very com- 
monly met with in Syria and Egypt ; it 
produces pods, shaped like a horn, vary- 
ing in length from six to ten inches, and 
about a finger's breadth, or rather more ; 
it is dark-brown, glossy, filled with seeds, 
and has a sweetish taste. It is used much 
for food by the poor, and for the feeding 
of swine. 

Huz (light, sandy soil), the eldest son 
of Nahor and Milcah. Gen. 22 : 21. (B.C. 
about 1900.) 

Huz'zab (fixed), according to the 
general opinion of the Jews, was the 
queen of Nineveh at the time when Na- 



HYA 



HYS 



hum delivered his prophecy. Nah. 2 : 7. 
(B.C. about 700.) The moderns follow 
the rendering in the margin of our Eng- 
lish Bible — "that which was established." 
Still it is not improbable that after all 
Huzzab may really be a proper name. 
It may mean "the Zab country," or the 
fertile tract east of the Tigris, watered by 
the upper and lower Zab rivers. 

Hyacinth, used in the Revised Ver- 
sion for jacinth in Rev. 9 : 17. It is 
simply another English spelling of the 
same Greek word. 




Hysena. 

Hyaena. Authorities differ as to 
whether the term tzdbu'a in Jer. 12:9 
means a " hysena" or a " speckled bird." 
The only other instance in which it oc- 
curs is as a proper name, Zeboim, 1 Sam. 
13 : 18, "the valley of hysenas," Aquila; 
Neh. 11 : 34. The striped hysena {Hycena 
striata) is found in Africa, Asia Minor, 
Arabia and Persia, and is more common 
in Palestine than any other carnivorous 
animal, except perhaps the jackal. The 
hyaena is among the mammals what the 
vulture is among birds, — the scavenger 
of the wilderness, the woods and the 
shore. It often attacks animals, and 
sometimes digs up the dead bodies of men 
and beasts. From this last habit the 
hysena has been regarded as a horrible 



and mysterious creature. Its teeth are 
so powerful that they can crack the bones 
of an ox with ease. — Appleton's JEncyc. 
The hysena was common in ancient as in 
modern Egypt, and is constantly depicted 
upon monuments ; it must therefore have 
been well known to the Jews. 

Hymense'us {belonging to marriage), 
the name of a person occurring twice in 
the correspondence between St. Paul and 
Timothy; the first time classed with 
Alexander, 1 Tim. 1 : 20, and the second 
time classed with Philetus. 2 Tim. 2 : 17, 
18. (A.D. 65-7.) He denied the true 
doctrine of the resurrection. 

Hymn, a religious song or psalm. Eph. 
5 : 19 ; Col. 3 : 16. Our Lord and his 
apostles sung a hymn after the last sup- 
per. In the jail at Philippi, Paul and 
Silas " sang hymns " (Authorized Version 
"praises") unto God, and so loud was 
their song that their fellow prisoners 
heard them. 

Hyssop. (Heb. ezob.) The ezob was 
used for sprinkling in some of the sacri- 
fices and purifications 
of the Jews. In conse- 
quence of its detergent 
qualities, or from its be- 
ing associated with the 
purificatory services, the 
Psalmist makes use of 
the expression, "Purge 
me with ezob." Ps. 51 : 7. 
It is described in 1 Kings 
4 : 33 as growing on 
or near walls. (Besides 
being thus fit for sprink- 
ling, having cleansing 
properties, and growing 
on walls, the true hyssop 
should be a plant com- 
mon to Egypt, Sinai and 
Palestine, and capable 
of producing a stick 
three or four feet long, 
since on a stalk of hys- 
sop the sponge of vine- 
gar was held up to Christ 
on the cross. John 19 : 
29. It is impossible to 
precisely identify the 
plant, probably because 
the name was given not 
to a particular plant but 
to a family of plants 
associated together by 
qualities easily noticed rather than by 
close botanical affinities. Different spe- 
cies of the family may have been used at 
259 



Hyssop. 



HYS 



HYS 



different times. The hyssop of the Bible 
is probably one (or all) of three plants : — 
1. The common hyssop is "a shrub with 
low, bushy stalks li feet high, small pear- 
shaped, close-setting opposite leaves, all 
the stalks and branches terminated by 
erect whorled spikes of flowers of differ- 
ent colors in the varieties. It is a hardy 
plant, with an aromatic smell and a 
warm, pungent taste ; a native of the 
south of Europe and the East." — Ed.) 

2. Bochart decides in favor of mar- 
joram, or some plant like it, and to this 
conclusion, it must be admitted, all an- 
cient tradition points. (This is the Ori- 
ganum maru, the z'atar of the Arabs. 
The French consul at Sidon exhibited to 
Dr. Thomson (" The Land and the Book," 
i. 161) a specimen of this "having the 
fragrance of thyme, with a hot, pungent 
260 



taste, and long slender stems." Dr. Post 
of Beirut, in the American edition of 
Smith's large Dictionary, favors this 
view. — Ed.) 

3. But Dr. Royle, after a careful inves- 
tigation of the subject, arrives at the con- 
clusion that the hyssop is no other than 
the caper-plant, or Capparis spinosa of 
Linnaeus. The Ai'abic name of this 
plant, asuf, by which it is sometimes, 
though not commonly, described, bears 
considerable resemblance to the Hebrew. 
" It is a bright-green creeper, which 
climbs from the fissures of the rocks, is 
supposed to possess cleansing properties, 
and is capable of yielding a stick to 
which a sponge might be attached." — 
Stanley, " Sinai and Palestine," 23. It 
produces a fruit the size of a walnut, 
called the mountain pepper. 



IBH 



IDD 



I. 



Ib'har {whom God chooses), one of the 
sons of David, 2 Sam. 5 : 15 ; 1 Chron. 3 : 
6 ; 14 : 5, born in Jerusalem. (B.C. after 
1044.) 

Ib'le-am (devouring the people), a 
city of Manasseh, with villages or towns 
dependent on it. Judges 1 : 27. It ap- 
pears to have been situated in the terri- 
tory of either Issachar or Asher. Josh. 
17 : 11. The ascent of Gur was " at Ib- 
leam," 2 Kings 9 : 27, somewhere near 
the present Jenin, probably to the north 
of it. 

Ibne'iah (whom Jehovah will build 



I up), son of Jehoram, a Benjamite. 1 
Chron. 9 : 8. 

Ibni'jah (ivhom Jehovah will build 
up), a Benjamite. 1 Chron. 9 : 8. 

Ib'ri (Hebrew), a Merarite Levite of 
the family of Jaaziah, 1 Chron. 24: 27, 
in the time of David. (B.C. 1014.) 

Ib'zan (illustrious), & native of Beth- 
lehem of Zebulun, who judged Israel for 
seven years after Jephthah. Judges 12 : 
8, 10. (B.C. 1137.) 

Ich'abod (inglorious), the son of 
Phinehas and grandson of Eli. 1 Sam. 
4 : 21. (B.C. about 1100.) 




Iconium. 



Ico'nium (little image), the modern 
Konieh, was the capital of Lycaonia, in 
Asia Minor. It was a large and rich 
city, 120 miles north from the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, at the foot of the Taurus 
mountains, and on the great line of com- 
munication between Ephesus and the 
western coast of the peninsula on one 
side, and Tarsus, Antioch and the Eu- 
phrates on the other. Iconium was a 
well-chosen place for missionary opera- 
tions. Acts 14 : 1, 3, 21, 22 ; 16 : 1, 2 ; 18 : 
23. Paul's first visit here was on his 
first circuit, in company with Barnabas ; 
and on this occasion he approached it 



from Antioch in Pisidia, which lay to the 
west. The modern Konieh is between 
two and three miles in circumference, 
and contains over 30,000 inhabitants. It 
contains manufactories of carpets and 
leather. 

Id'alah (memorial of God), one of the 
cities of the tribe of Zebulun, named 
between Shimron and Bethlehem. Josh. 
19 : 15. 

Id'bash (stout), one of the three sons 
of Abi-Etam, among the families of Ju- 
dah. 1 Chron. 4 : 3. 

Id'do (timely or lovely). 1. The father 
of Abinadab. 1 Kings 4:14. 

261 



IDO 



IDO 



2. A descendant of Gershom, son of 
Levi. 1 Chron. 6 : 21. 

3. Son of Zechariah, ruler of the tribe 
of Manasseh east of Jordan in the time 
of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 21. (B.C. 1014.) 

4. A seer whose " visions" against Jer- 
oboam incidentally contained some of the 
acts of Solomon. 2 Chron. 9 : 29. He ap- 
pears to have written a chronicle or story 
relating to the life and reign of Abijah. 
2 Chron. 13 : 22. (B.C. 961.) 

5. The grandfather of the prophet 
Zechariah. Zech. 1 : 1, 7. 

6. The chief of those who assembled at 
Casiphia at the time of the second cara- 
van from Babylon. He was one of the 
Nethinim. Ezra 8:17; comp. 20. (B.C. 
536.) 

Idol. An image or anything used as 
an object of worship in place of the true 




Epist. Jer. 12, 19; Wisd. 13 : 15; 1 Cor. 
8 : 10. From these temples the idols 
were sometimes carried in procession, 
Epist. Jer. 4, 26, on festival days. Their 




Egyptian Idols. 

God. Among the earliest objects of wor- 
ship, regarded as symbols of deity, were 
the meteoric stones, which the ancients 
believed to have been images of the gods 
sent down from heaven. From these j 
they transferred their regard to rough 
unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pil- i 
lars of wood, in which the divinity wor- j 
shipped was supposed to dwell, and 
which were consecrated, like the sacred J 
stone at Delphi, by being anointed with I 
oil and crowned with wool on solemn 
days. Of the forms assumed by the idol- 
atrous images we have not many traces 
in the Bible. Dagon, the fish-god of the 
Philistines, was a human figure termi- 
nating in a fish; and that the Syrian 
deities were represented in later times in 
a symbolical human shape we know for 
certainty. When the process of adorning 
the image was completed, it was placed 
in a temple or shrine appointed for it. 
262 



The Idol Juggernaut. 

priests were maintained from the idol 
treasury, and feasted upon the meats 
which were appointed for the idols' use. 
Bel and the Dragon 3, 13. 

Idolatry, strictly speaking, denotes 
the worship of deity in a visible form, 
whether the images to which homage is 
paid are symbolical representations of the 
true God or of the false divinities which 
have been made the objects of worship in 
his stead. 

I. History of idolatry among the Jews. 
— The first undoubted allusion to idol- 
atry or idolatrous customs in the Bible 
is in the account of Rachel's stealing her 
father's teraphim. Gen. 31 : 19. During 
their long residence in Egypt the Israel- 
ites defiled themselves with the idols of 
the land, and it was long before the taint 
was removed. Josh. 24 : 14; Ezek. 20 : 7. 
In the wilderness they clamored for some 
visible shape in which they might wor- 
ship the God who had brought them out 
of Egypt, Ex. 32, until Aaron made the 
calf, the embodiment of Apis and em- 
blem of the productive power of nature. 
During the lives of Joshua and the elders 
who outlived him they kept true to their 
allegiance ; but the generation following, 
who knew not Jehovah nor the works he 
had done for Israel, swerved from the 
plain path of their fathers, and were 



IDO 



I DO 



caught in the toils of the foreigner. 
Judges 2. From this time forth then- 
history becomes little more than a chron- 
icle of the inevitable sequence of offence 
and punishment. Judges 2 : 12, 14. By 
turns each conquering nation strove to 
establish the worship of its national god. 
In later times the practice of secret idol- 
atry was carried to greater lengths. Im- 
ages were set up on the corn-floors, in 
the wine-vats, and behind the doors of 
private houses, Isa. 57 : 8 ; Hos. 9:1,2; 
and to check this tendency the statute in 
Deut. 27 : 15 was originally promulgated. 
Under Samuel's administration idolatry 
was publicly renounced, 1 Sam. 7 : 3-6 ; 
but in the reign of Solomon all this was 
forgotten, even Solomon's own heart be- 
ing turned after other gods. 1 Kings 11 : 
14. Rehoboam perpetuated the worst 
features of Solomon's idolatry, 1 Kings 
14 : 22-24, erected golden calves at Beth- 
el and at Dan, and by this crafty state 
policy severed forever the kingdoms of 
Judah and Israel. 1 Kings 12 : 26-33. 
The successors of Jeroboam followed in 
his steps, till Ahab. The conquest of 
the ten tribes by Shalmaneser was for 
them the last scene of the drama of 
abominations which had been enacted 
uninterruptedly for upwards of 250 years. 
Under Hezekiah a great reform was in- 
augurated, that was not confined to Ju- 
dah and Benjamin, but spread through- 
out Ephraim and Manasseh, 2 Chron. 
31 : 1, and to all external appearance 
idolatry was extirpated. But the reform 
extended little below the surface. Isa. 
29 : 13. With the death of Josiah ended 
the last effort to revive among the people 
a purer ritual, if not a purer faith. The 
lamp of David, which had long shed but 
a struggling ray, flickered for a while 
and then went out in the darkness of 
Babylonian captivity. Though the con- 
quests of Alexander caused Greek in- 
fluence to be felt, yet after the captivity 
a better condition of things prevailed, 
and the Jews never again fell into idol- 
atry. The erection of synagogues has 
been assigned as a reason for the com- 
parative purity of the Jewish worship 
after the captivity, while another cause 
has been discovered in the hatred for 
images acquired by the Jews in their in- 
tercourse with the Persians. 

II. Objects of idolatry. — The sun and 
moon were early selected as outward sym- 
bols of all-pervading power, and the wor- 
ship of the heavenly bodies was not only 



the most ancient but the most prevalent 
system of idolatry. Taking its rise in 
the plains of Chaldea, it spread through 
Egypt, Greece, Scythia, and even Mex- 
ico and Ceylon. Comp. Deut. 4 • 19 ; 17 • 
3 ; Job 31 : 20-28. In the later times of 
the monarchy, the planets or the zodiacal 
signs received, next to the sun and moon, 
their share of popular adoration. 2 Kings 
23 : 5. Beast-worship, as exemplified in 




The Hindoo Idol Pulliar. 

the calves of Jeroboam, has already been 
alluded to. Of pure hero-worship among 
the Semitic races we find no trace. The 
singular reverence with which trees have 
been honored is not without example in 
the history of the Hebrews. The tere- 
binth (oak) at Mamre, beneath which 
Abraham built an altar, Gen. 12 : 7 ; 13 ? 
18, and the memorial grove planted by 
him at Beersheba, Gen. 21 : 33, were in- 
timately connected with patriarchal wor- 
ship. Mountains and high places were 
chosen spots for offering sacrifice and in- 
cense to idols, 1 Kings 11:7; 14 : 23 ; and 
the retirement of gardens and the thick 
shade of woods offered great attractions 
to their worshippers. 2 Kings 16:4; Isa. 
1 : 29 ; Hos. 4 : 13. The host of heaven 
was worshipped on the house-top. 2 Kings 
23 : 12 ; Jer. 19 : 3 ; 32 : 29; Zeph. 1 : 5. 
(The modern objects of idolatry are less 
gross than the ancient, but are none the 
less idols. Whatever of wealth or honor 
263 



IDU 



1MB, 



or pleasure is loved and sought before 
God and righteousness becomes an object 
of idolatry. — Ed.) 

III. Punishment of idolatry. — Idolatry 
to an Israelite was a state offence, 1 Sam. 
15 : 23, a political crime of the greatest 
character, high treason against the maj- 
esty of his king. The first and second 
commandments are directed against idol- 
atry of every form. Individuals and 
communities were equally amenable to 
the rigorous code. The individual of- 
fender was devoted to destruction, Ex. 
22 : 20 ; his nearest relatives were not only 
bound to denounce him and deliver him 
up to punishment, Deut. 13 : 2-10, but 
their hands were to strike the first blow, 
when, on the evidence of two witnesses 
at least, he was stoned. Deut. 17 : 2-5. 
To attempt to seduce others to false wor- 
ship was a crime of equal enormity. Deut. 
13 : 6-10. 

(IV. Attractions of idolatry. — Many 
have wondered why the Israelites were 
so easily led away from the true God, 
into the worship of idols. (1) Visible, 
outward signs, with shows, pageants, pa- 
rades, have an attraction to the natural 
heart, which often fails to perceive the 
unseen spiritual realities. (2) But the 
greatest attraction seems to have been in 
licentious revelries and obscene orgies 
with which the worship of the Oriental 
idols was observed. This worship, ap- 
pealing to every sensual passion, joined 
with the attractions of wealth and fash- 
ion and luxury, naturally was a great 
temptation to a simple, restrained, agri- 
cultural people, whose worship and laws 
demanded the greatest purity of heart 
and of life. — Ed.) 

Idume'a {red). [Edom.] 

Fgal {whom God will avenge). 1. One 
of the spies, son of Joseph, of the tribe 
of Issachar. Num. 13 : 7. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. One of the heroes of David's guard, 
son of Nathan of Zobah. 2 Sam. 23 : 36. 
(B.C. 1046.) 

Igdali'ah {whom Jehovah makes 
great), a prophet or holy man — " the man 
of God" — named once only, Jer. 35:4, 
as the father of Hanan. (B.C. before 
406.) 

Ig'e-al {whom God will avenge), a son 
of Shemaiah ; a descendant of the royal 
house of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 22. (B.C. 
406.) 

Fim {ruins). 1. The partial or con- 
tracted form of the name Ije-ABAKIM. 
Num. 33 : 45. 

264 



2. A town in the extreme south of Ju- 
dah, Josh. 15 : 29. 

Fje-ab'arim {ruins of Abarim), one 
of the later halting-places of the children , 
of Israel. Num. 21 : 11; 33 : 44. It was 
on the boundary — the southeast boundary 
— of the territory of Moab ; in the waste 
uncultivated "wilderness" on its skirts, 
ch. 21 : 11. 

Fjon {a ruin),^ a town in the north of 
Palestine, belonging to the tribe of Naph- 
tali. It was taken and plundered by the 
captains of Ben-hadad, 1 Kings 15 • 20; 2 
Chron. 16 : 4, and a second time by Tig- 
lath-pileser. 2 Kings 15 : 29. It was sit- 
uated a few miles northwest of the site 
of Dan, in a fertile and beautiful little 
plain called Merj 'Ayun. 

Ik'kesh {perverse), the father of Ira 
the Tekoite. 2 Sam. 23 : 26 ; 1 Chron. 
11 : 28 ; 27 : 9. (B.C. before 1046.) 

Fla-i {exalted), an Ahohite, one of the 
heroes of David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 29. 
(B.C. 1046.) 

Illyr'icum, an extensive district lying 
along the eastern coast of the Adriatic, 
from the boundary of Italy on the north 
to Epirus on the south, and contiguous to 
Moesia and Macedonia on the east. Bom. 
15 : 19. 

Image. [Idol.] 

Im'la {whom God will fill up), father 
or progenitor of Micaiah the prophet. 2 
Chron. 18 : 7, 8. The form Imlah is em- 
ployed in the parallel narrative. 1 Kings 
22:8,9. (B.C. before 896.) 

Imman'uel, that is, God with us, the 
title applied by the apostle Matthew to 
the Messiah, born of the Virgin, Matt. 1 : 
23 ; Isa. 7 : 14, because Jesus was God 
united with man, and showed that God 
was dwelling with men. 

Ira'mer {talkative). 1. The founder 
of an important family of priests. 1 Chron. 
9 : 12 ; Neh. 11 : 13. This family had 
charge of, and gave its name to, the six- 
teenth course of the service. 1 Chron. 
24 : 14. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. Apparently the name of a place in 
Babylonia. Ezra 2 : 59 ; Neh. 7 : 61. 

Iiii'na {holding back), a descendant 
of Asher, son of Helem. 1 Chron. 7 : 35 ; 
comp. 40. (B.C. about 1451.) 

Im'nah {holding back). 1. The first- 
born of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 30. (B.C. 
1706.) 

2. Kore ben-Imnah, the Levite, assisted 
in the reforms of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 31 : 
14. (B.C. 726.) 

Im'rah {stubborn), a descendant of 



IMR 



INN 



Asher, of the family of Zophah. 1 Chron. 
7:36. (B.C. after 1445.) 

lm'ri {eloquent). 1. A man of Judah, 
of the great family of Pharez. 1 Chron. 
9 : 4. (B.C. much before 536.) 

2. Father or progenitor of Zaccur. 
Neh. 3 : 2. (B.C. before 446.) 

Incense, from the Latin " to burn," 
" a mixture of gums or spices and the 
like, used for the purpose of producing a 
perfume when burned ;" or the perfume 




Altar of Incense. 

itself of the spices, etc., burned in wor- 
ship. The incense employed in the serv- 
ice of the tabernacle was compounded of 
the perfumes stacte, onycha, galbanum 
and pure frankincense. All incense 
which was not made of these ingredients 
was forbidden to be offered. Ex. 30 : 9. 
Aaron, as high priest, was originally ap- 
pointed to olFer incense each morning 
and evening. The times of offering in- 
cense were specified in the instructions 
first given to Moses. Ex. 30 : 7, 8. When 
the priest entered the holy place with 
the incense, all the people were removed 
from the temple, and from between the 
porch and the altar. Cf. Luke 1 : 10. 
Profound silence was observed among 
the congregation who were praying with- 
out, cf. Rev. 8:1, and at a signal from 
the prefect the priest cast the incense on 
the fire, and, bowing reverently toward 
the holy of holies, retired slowly back- 



ward. The offering of incense has formed 
a part of the religious ceremonies of most 
ancient nations. It was an element in 
the idolatrous worship of the Israelites. 
2 Chron. 34 : 25; Jer. 11 : 12, 17 ; 48 : 35. 
It would seem to be symbolical, not of 
prayer itself, but of that which makes 
prayer acceptable, the intercession of 
Christ. In Rev. 8 • 3, 4 the incense is 
spoken of as something distinct from, 
though offered with the prayers of, all 
the saints, cf. Luke 1 : 10; 
and in Rev. 5:8 it is the 
golden vials, and not the 
odors or incense, which are 
said to be the prayers of 
saints. 

In'dia. The name of 
India does not occur in the 
Bible before the book of 
Esther, where it is noticed 
as the limit of the territories 
of Ahasuerus in the east, as 
Ethiopia was in the west. 
Esther 1 : 1 ; 8 : 9. The India 
of the book of Esther is not 
the peninsula of Hindostan, 
but the country surrounding 
the Indus, the Punjab and 
perhaps Scinde. The people 
and productions of that coun- 
try must have been tolerably 
well known to the Jews. An 
active trade was carried on 
between India and western 
Asia. The trade opened by 
Solomon with Ophir through 
the Red Sea consisted chiefly 
| of Indian articles. 

Inheritance. [Heir.] 
Ink, Inkhorn. [Writing.] 
Inn. The Hebrew word {mdl-dn) thus 
rendered literally signifies " a lodging- 
place for the night." Inns, in our sense 
of the term, were, as they still are, un- 
known in the East, where hospitality is 
religiously practiced. The khans or 
caravanserais are the representatives of 
European inns, and these were estab- 
lished but gradually. The halting-place 
of a caravan was selected originally on 
account of its proximity to water or pas- 
ture, by which the travellers pitched 
their tents and passed the night. Such 
was undoubtedly the " inn " at which oc- 
curred the incident in the life of Moses 
narrated in Ex. 4 : 24 ; comp. Gen. 42 : 
27. On the more frequented routes, re- 
mote from towns, Jer. 9 : 2, caravanse- 
rais were in course of time erected, 
265 



INS 



IRO 



often at the expense of the wealthy. " A 
caravanserai is a large and substantial 
square building. . . . Passing through a 
strong gateway, the guest enters a large 
court, in the centre of which is a spacious 
raised platform, used for sleeping upon 
at night or for the devotions of the faith- 
ful during the day. Around this court 
are arranged the rooms of the building." 



Inspiration. Dr. Knapp gives as 
the definition of inspiration, " an extra- 
ordinary divine agency upon teachers 
while giving instruction, whether oral 
or written, by which they were taught 
what and how they should write or 
speak." Without deciding on any of the 
various theories of inspiration, the gen- 
eral doctrine of Christians is that the 




Eastern Khan or Inn. 



Bible is so inspired by God that it is the 
infallible guide of men, and is perfectly 
trustworthy in all its parts, as given by 
God. 

Instant, Instantly, in the Author- 
ized Version, means urgent, urgently or 
fervently, as will be seen from the fol- 
lowing passages : Luke 7:4; 23 : 23 ; 
Acts 26:7; Rom. 12 : 12. 

Iphede'iah {whom Jehovah frees), a 
descendant of Benjamin, one of the Bene- 
Shashak. 1 Chron. 8 : 25. 

Ir {city). 1 Chron. 7 : 12. [Iri.] 

Fra {watchful of a city). 1. "The 
Jairite," named in the catalogue of 
David's great officers. 2 Sam. 20 : 26. 

2. One of the heroes of David's guard. 
2 Sam. 23 : 38 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 40. 

3. Another of David's guard, a Teko- 
ite, son of Ikkesh. 2 Sam. 23 : 26 ; 1 
Chron. 11 : 28. (B.C. 1046-1014.) 

Frad {fleet), son of Enoch; grandson 
of Cain, and father of Mehujael. Gen. 
4:18. 

I'ram {belonging to a city), a leader 
of the Edomites, Gen. 36 : 43 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 54, i. e. the chief of a family or tribe. 
No identification of him has been found. 

Fri, or Ir {belonging to a city), a Ben- 
jamite, son of Bela. 1 Chron. 7 : 7, 12. 

Iri'jah {seen by the Lord), son of 
Shelemiah, a captain in the ward, who ! 
266 



met Jeremiah in the gate of Jerusalem, 
called the " gate of Benjamin," accused 
him of being about to desert to the Chal- 
deans, and led him back to the princes. 
Jer. 37 : 13, 14. (B.C. 589.) 

Ir'nahash {serpent city), a name 
which, like many other names of places, 
occurs in the genealogical lists of Judah. 
1 Chron. 4 : 12. 

Fron {pious), one of the cities of 
Naphtali, Josh. 19 : 38, hitherto totally 
unknown. 

Iron is mentioned with brass as the 
eaidiest of known metals. Gen. 4 : 22. 
The natural wealth in iron of the soil of 
Canaan is indicated by describing it as 
" a land whose stones are iron." Deut. 
8 : 9. (Recent explorations have shown 
that iron ore is abundant in the northern 
part of Palestine.— Ed.) The book of 
Job contains passages which indicate 
that iron was a metal well known. Sheet- 
iron was used for cooking utensils. Ezek. 
4:3; cf. Lev. 7 : 9. That it was plenti- 
ful in the time of David appears from 1 
Chron. 22 : 3. The market of Tyre was 
supplied with bright or polished iron by 
the merchants of Dan and Javan. Ezek. 
27 : 19. The Chalybes of the Pontus 
were celebrated as workers in iron in 
very ancient times. The product of 
their labor is supposed to be alluded to 



IRP 



ISA 



in Jer. 15 : 12 as being of superior quality. 
Specimens of Assyrian iron-work over- 
laid with bronze were discovered by Mr. 
Layard, and are now in the British Mu- 
seum. Iron weapons of various kinds 
were found at Nirnroud, but fell to 
pieces on exposure to the air. 

Ir'pe-el {God heals), one of the cities 
of Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 27. No trace 
has yet been discovered of its situation. 

Ir-she'mesh (city of the sun), a 
city of the Danites, Josh. 19 : 41, prob- 
ably identical with Beth-shemesh. 

Fru {watch), the eldest son of the 
great Caleb son of Jephunneh. 1 Chron. 
4 : 15. (B.C. 1451.) 

I'saac {laughter), the son whom Sarah 
bore to Abraham, in the hundredth year 
of his age, at Gerar. (B.C. 1897.) In his 
infancy he became the object of Ishmael's 
jealousy ; and in his youth the victim, 
in intention, of Abraham's great sacrifi- 
cial act of faith. When forty years old 
he married Bebekah his cousin, by whom, 
when he was sixty, he had two sons, Esau 
and Jacob. Driven by famine to Gerar, 
he acquired great wealth by his flocks, 
but was repeatedly dispossessed by the 
Philistines of the wells which he sunk at 
convenient stations. After the deceit by 
which Jacob acquired his father's bless- 
ing, Isaac sent his son to seek a wife in 
Padan-aram ; and all that we know of 
him during the last forty-three years of 
his life is that he saw that son, with a 
large and prosperous family, return to 
him at Hebron, Gen. 35 : 27, before he 
died there, at the age of 180 years. He 
was buried by his two sons in the cave 
of Machpelah. In the New Testament 
reference is made to the offering of 
Isaac, Heb. 11 : 17 ; James 2 : 21, and to 
his blessing his sons. Heb. 11 : 20. In 
Gal. 4 : 28-31 he is contrasted with Ish- 
mael. In reference to the offering up of 
Isaac by Abraham, the primary doctrines 
taught are those of sacrifice and substitu- 
tion, as the means appointed by God for 
taking away sin; and, as co-ordinate 
with these, the need of the obedience of 
faith, on the part of man, to receive the 
benefit. Heb. 11 : 17. The animal which 
God provided and Abraham offered was 
in the whole history of sacrifice the rec- 
ognized type of " the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sins of the world." 
Isaac is the type of humanity itself, de- 
voted to death for sin. 

Isa'iah, the prophet, son of Amoz. 
The Hebrew name signifies Salvation of 



! Jahu (a shortened form of Jehovah). He 
\ prophesied concerning Judah and Jeru- 
salem in the days of Uzziah, Jothain, 
i Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, Isa. 
1:1, covering probably 758 to 698 B.C. 
; He was married and had two sons. Rab- 
| binical tradition says that Isaiah, when 
90 years old, was sawn asunder in the 
j trunk of a carob tree by order of Manas- 
j seh, to which it is supposed that reference 
[ is made in Heb. 11 : 37. 

Isa'iah, Book of. I. Chapters 1-5 
contain Isaiah's prophecies in the reigns 
of Uzziah and Jotham, foretelling that 
the present prosperity of Judah should 
be destroyed, and that Israel should be 
brought to desolation. In chs. 6, 7 he 
announces the birth of the child Imman- 
uel, which in ch. 9 is more positively 
predicted. Chs. 9-12 contain additional 
prophecies against Israel, chs. 10 : 5-12 : 
6 being the most highly-wrought pas- 
sages in the whole book. Chs. 13-23 
contain chiefly a collection of utterances, 
each of which* is styled a " burden," fore- 
telling the doom of Babylon, Philistia, 
Moab, Ethiopia, Egypt and Tyre. The 
ode of triumph in ch. 14 : 3-23 is among 
the most poetical passages in all litera- 
ture. Chs. 24-27 form one prophecy, es- 
sentially connected with the preceding 
ten "burdens," chs. 13-23, of which it is 
in effect a general summary. Chs. 23- 
35 predict the Assyrian invasion, and 
chs. 36-39 have reference to this inva- 
sion; prophecies that were so soon ful- 
filled. 2 Kings 19 : 35. 

II. The last 27 chapters form a separate 
prophecy, and are supposed by many 
critics to have been written in the time 
of the Babylonian captivity, and are 
therefore ascribed to a "later Isaiah;" 
but the best reasons are in favor of but 
one Isaiah. This second part falls into 
three sections, each consisting of nine 
chapters : — 1. The first section, chs. 40-48, 
has for its main topic the comforting as- 
surance of the deliverance from Babylon 
bv Koresh (Cvrus), who is even named 
twice, ch. 41 : 2, 3, 25 ; 44 : 28 ; 45 : 1-4, 
13; 46 : 11 ; 48 : 14, 15. 2. The second 
section, chs. 49-56, is distinguished from 
the first by several features. The person 
of Cyrus, as well as his name and the 
specification of Babylon, disappear alto- 
gether. Return from exile is indeed 
spoken of repeatedly and at length, ch. 
49 : 9-26 ; 51 : 9-52 : 12 ; 55 : 12, 13; 57 : 14, 
but in such general terms as admit of 
being applied to the spiritual and Mes- 
267 



ISC 



ISH 



sianic as well as to the literal restoration. 
3. This section is mainly occupied with j 
various practical exhortations founded 
upon the views of the future already set i 
forth. In favor of the authenticity of | 
the last 27 chapters the following reasons ' 
may be advanced: — (a) The unanimous 
testimony of Jewish and Christian tradi- ! 
tion, comp. Ecclus. 48 : 24, and the evi- I 
dence of the New Testament quotations. 
Matt. 3:3; Luke 4 : 17 ; Acts 8 : 28 ; Eom. 
10 : 16, 20. {b) The unity of design which 
connects these last 27 chapters with the 
preceding ; the oneness of diction which 
pervades the whole book ; the peculiar 
elevation and grandeur of style which 
characterize the second part as well as 
the first; the absence of any other name 
than Isaiah's claiming the authorship ; 
lastly, the Messianic predictions which 
mark its inspiration, and remove the chief 
ground of objection against its having 
been written by Isaiah. In point of style 
we can find no difficulty in recognizing in 
the second part the presence of the same 
plastic genius as we discover in the first. 

Is'cah {one who looks forth), daughter 
of Haran the brother of Abram, and sister 
of Milcah and of Lot. Gen. 11 : 29. In 
the Jewish traditions she is identified 
with Sarai. (B.C. about 1920.) 

Iscar'iot {man of Kerioth). [Judas 
ISCARIOT.] 

Ish'bah {praising), a man in the line 
of Judah, commemorated as the "father 
of Eshtemoa." 1 Chron. 4 : 17. 

Ish'bak {left behind), a son of Abra- 
ham and Keturah, Gen. 25 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 32, and the progenitor of a tribe of 
northern Arabia. (B.C. after 1856.) 

Ish'bi-be'nob {he that dwells at Nob), 
son of Rapha, one of the race of Philistine 
giants, who attacked David in battle, but 
was slain by Abishai. 2 Sam. 21 : 16, 17. 
(B.C. 1018.) 

Ish-bo'sheth {man of shame), the 
youngest of Saul's four sons, and his legit- 
imate successor. (B.C. 1058.) Ish-bosheth 
was " forty years old when he began to 
reign over Israel, and reigned two years." 
2 Sam. 3 : 10. During these two years he 
reigned at Mahanaim, though only in 
name. The wars and negotiations with 
David were entirely carried on by Abner. 
2 Sam. 2 : 12 ; 3 : 6, 12. The death of 
Abner deprived the house of Saul of its 
last remaining support. When Ish-bo- 
sheth heard of it, " his hands were feeble, 
and all the Israelites were troubled." 
He was murdered in his bed. 
268 



I'shi {salutary). 1. A man of the de- 
scendants of Judah, son of Appaim, 1 
Chron. 2 : 31 ; one of the great house of 
Hezron. 

2. In a subsequent genealogy of Judah 
we find another Ishi, with a son Zoheth. 
1 Chron. 4 : 20. 

3. Head of a family of the tribe of 
Simeon. 1 Chron. 4 : 42. 

4. One of the heads of the tribe of 
Manasseh on the east of Jordan. 1 Chron. 
5:24. 

I'shi {my husband). This word occurs 
in Hos. 2 : 16. It is the Israelite term, 
in opposition to Baali, the Canaanite 
term, with the same meaning, though 
with a significance of its own. 

Ishi'ah {whom Jehovah lends), the 
fifth of the five sons of Izrahiah ; one 
of the heads of the tribe of Issachar in 
the time of David. 1 Chron. 7 : 3. (B.C. 
1046.) m 

Ishi'jah {whom Jehovah lends), a lay 
Israelite of the Bene-Harim who had 
married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 31. (B. 
C. 459.) 

Ish'ma {desolation), a name in the 
genealogy of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 3. 

Ish'mael {whom God hears). 1. The 
son of Abraham by Hagar the Egyptian, 
his concubine ; born when Abraham was 
fourscore and six years old. Gen. 16 : 15, 
16. (B.C. 1910.) Ishmael was the first- 
born of his father. He was born in Abra- 
ham's house when he dwelt in the plain 
of Mam re ; and on the institution of the 
covenant of circumcision, was circum- 
cised, he being then thirteen years old. 
Gen. 17 : 25. With the institution of the 
covenant, God renewed his promise re- 
specting Ishmael. He does not again ap- 
pear in the narrative until the weaning 
of Isaac. At the great feast made in cele- 
bration of the weaning, " Sarah saw the 
son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she 
had borne unto Abraham, mocking," and 
urged Abraham to cast him and his moth- 
er out. Comforted by the renewal of 
God's promise to make of Ishmael a great 
nation, Abraham sent them away, and 
they departed and wandered in the wilder- 
ness of Beersheba. His mother took Ish- 
mael "a wife out of the land of Egypt." 
Gen. 21 : 9-21. This wife of Ishmael was 
the mother of his twelve sons and one 
daughter. Of the later life of Ishmael 
we know little. He was present with 
Isaac at the burial of Abraham. He died 
at the age of 137 years. Gen. 25 : 17, 18. 
The sons of Ishmael peopled the north 



ISH 



ISM 



and west of the Arabian peninsula, and 
eventually formed the chief element ot 
the Arab nation, the wandering Bedouin 
tribes. They are now mostly Moham- 
medans, who look to him as their spirit- 
ual father, as the Jews look to Abraham. 
Their language, which is generally ac- 
knowledged to have been the Arabic 
commonly so called, has been adopted 
with insignificant exceptions throughout 
Arabia. The term " Ishmaelite " occurs 
on three occasions : Gen. 37 : 25, 27, 28 ; 
39 : 1 ; Judges 8 : 24 ; Ps. 83 : 6. 

2. One of the sons of Azel, a descend- 
ant of Saul through Meribbaal or Me- 
phibosheth. 1 Chron. 8 : 38 ; 9 : 44. 

3. A man of Judah, father of Zebadiah. 
2 Chron. 19 : 11. 

4. Another man of Judah, son of Jeho- 
hanan ; one of the captains of hundreds 
who assisted Jehoiada in restoring Joash 
to the throne. 2 Chron. 23 : 1. 

5. A priest of the Bene-Pashur, who 
was forced by Ezra to relinquish his for- 
eign wife. Ezra 10 : 22. 

6. The son of Nethaniah ; a perfect 
marvel of craft and villainy, whose treach- 
ery forms one of the chief episodes of the 
history of the period immediately suc- 
ceeding the first fall of Jerusalem. His 
exploits are related in Jer. 40 : 7-41 : 15, 
with a short summary. During the siege 
of the city he had fled across the Jordan, 
where he found a refuge at the court of 
Baalis. After the departure of the Chal- 
deans, Ishmael made no secret of his in- 
tention to kill the superintendent left by 
the king of Babylon and usurp his posi- 
tion. Of this Gedaliah was warned in 
express terms by Johanan and his com- 
panions, but notwithstanding entertained 
Ishmael and his followers at a feast, Jer. 
41 : 1, during which Ishmael murdered 
Gedaliah and all his attendants. The 
same night he killed all Gedaliah's estab- 
lishment, including some Chaldean sol- 
diers who were there. For two days the 
massacre remained entirely unknown to 
the people of the town. On the second 
day eighty devotees were bringing incense 
and offerings to the ruins of the temple. 
At his invitation they turned aside to the 
residence of the superintendent, and there 
Ishmael and his band butchered nearly 
the whole number : ten only escaped by 
offering a heavy ransom for their lives. 
This clone he descended to the town, sur- 
prised and carried off the daughters of 
King Zedekiah, who had been sent there 
by Nebuchadnezzar for safety, with their 



eunuchs and their Chaldean guard, Jer. 
41 : 10, 16, and all the people of the town, 
and made oil* with his prisoners to the 
country of the Ammonites. The news of 
the massacre had by this time got abroad, 
and Ishmael was quickly pursued by Jo- 
hanan and his companions. He was at- 
tacked, two of his bravos slain, the whole 
of the prey recovered ; and Ishmael him- 
self, with the remaining eight of his peo- 
ple, escaped to the Ammonites. 

Ish'maelite (descendant of Ishmael). 
[Ishmael.] 

Ishma'iah (Jehovah hears), son of 
Obadiah ; the ruler of the tribe of Zebu- 
lun in the time of King David. 1 Chron. 
27 : 19. (B.C. 1046.) 

Ish'me-elite, 1 Chron. 2 : 17, and 
Ish'me-elites (descendants of Ishmael), 
Gen. 37 : 25, 27, 28; 39 : 1, the form in 
which the descendants of Ishmael are 
given in a few places in the Authorized 
Version. 

Ish'mera-i (whom Jehovah keeps), a 
Benjamite, one of the family of Elpaal. 
1 Chron. 8 : 18. (B.C. before 538.) 

I'shod (man of glory), one of the tribe 
of Manasseh on the east of Jordan, son of 
Hammoleketh. 1 Chron. 7: 18. (B.C.1491.) 

Ish'pan (bald), a Benjamite, one of 
the family of Shashak. 1 Chron. 8 : 22. 
(B.C. before 588.) 

Ish'tob (men of Tob), apparently one 
of the small kingdoms or states which 
formed part of the general country of 
Aram, named with Zobah, Rehob'and 
Maacah. 2 Sam. 10 : 6, 8. 

Ish'uah (quiet), the second son of 
Asher. Gen. 46 : 17. (B.C. 1706.) 

Ish'ua-i (quiet), the third son of 
Asher, 1 Chron. 7 : 30, founder of a fam- 
ily bearing his name. Num. 26 : 44 ; Au- 
thorized Version " Jesuites." (B.C. 1706.) 

Ish/ui (quiet), the second son of Saul 
by his wife Ahinoam. 1 Sam. 14 : 49, 
comp. 50. (Died B.C. 1053.) 

Isle. The radical sense of the Hebrew 
word seems to be " habitable places," as 
opposed to water, and in this sense it oc- 
curs in Isa. 42 : 15. Hence it means sec- 
ondarily any maritime district, whether 
belonging to a continent or to an island : 
thus it is used of the shore of the Med- 
iterranean, Isa. 20 : 6 ; 23 : 2, 6, and of 
the coasts of Elishah, Ezek. 27 : 7, i. e. 
of Greece and Asia Minor. 

Ismachi'ah (whom Jehovah upholds), 
a Levite who was one of the overseers of 
offerings during the revival under King 
Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 31 : 13. (B.C. 776.) 

269 



ISM 



ISR 



Isma'iah (Jehovah hears), a Gibeon- 
ite, one of the chiefs of those warriors 
who joined David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 
12:4. (B.C. 1064.) 

Is'pah (bald), a Benjamite of the fam- 
ily of Beriah ; one of the heads of his 
tribe. 1 Chron. 8 : 16. (B.C. before 588.) 

Is'rael (the prince that prevails with 
God). 1. The name given, Gen. 32 : 28, 
to Jacob after his wrestling with the an- 
gel, Hos. 12 : 4, at Peniel. Gesenins in- 
terprets Israel "soldier of God." 

2. It became the national name of the 
twelve tribes collectively. They are so 
called in Ex. 3 : 16 and afterward. 

3. It is used in a narrower sense, ex- 
cluding Judah, in 1 Sam. 11 : 8; 2 Sam. 
20 : 1 ; 1 Kings 12 : 16. Thenceforth it 
was assumed and accepted as the name 
of the northern kingdom. 

4. After the Babylonian captivity, the 
returned exiles resumed the name Israel 
as the designation of their nation. The 
name Israel is also used to denote lay- 
men, as distinguished from priests, Le- 
vites and other ministers. Ezra 6 : 16 ; 
9:1; 10 : 25 ; Neh. 11 : 3, etc. 

Is'rael, Kingdom of. I. The king- 
dom. — The prophet Ahijah of Shiloh, 
who was commissioned in the latter days 
of Solomon to announce the division of 
the kingdom, left one tribe (Judah) to 
the house of David, and assigned ten to 
Jeroboam. 1 Kings 11 : 31, 35. These 
were probably Joseph (= Ephraim and 
Manasseh), lssachar, Zebulun, Asher, 
Naphtali, Benjamin, Dan, Simeon, Gad 
and Reuben ; Levi being intentionally 
omitted. Eventually the greater part of 
Benjamin, and probably the whole of 
Simeon and Dan, were included as if by 
common consent in the kingdom of Ju- 
dah. With respect to the conquests of 
David, Moab appears to have been at- 
tached to the kingdom of Israel, 2 Kings 
3:4; so much of Syria as remained sub- 
ject to Solomon, see 1 Kings 11 : 24, would 
probably be claimed by his successor in 
the northern kingdom ; and Amnion was 
at one time allied, 2 Chron. 20 : 1, we 
know not how closely or how early, with 
Moab. The seacoast between Accho and 
Japho remained in the possession of Is- 
rael. The whole population may per- 
haps have amounted to at least three and 
a half millions. 

II. The capitals. — Shechem was the 
first capital of the new kingdom. 1 Kings 
12 : 25. Subsequently Tirzah became the 
royal residence, if not the capital, of Jer- 
270 



oboam, 1 Kings 14 : 17, and of his succes- 
sors, ch. 15 : 33 ; 16 : 8, 17, 23. Samaria 
was chosen by Omri. 1 Kings 16 : 24. 
Jezreel was probably only a royal resi- 
dence of some of the Israelitish kings. 

III. History. — The kingdom of Israel 
lasted 254 years, from B.C. 975 to B.C. 721. 
The detailed history of the kingdom will 
be found under the names of its nineteen 
kings. See chart of the kings of Judah 
and Israel, at the end of the work. A 
summary view may be taken in four pe- 
riods: (a) B.C. 975-929. Jeroboam had 
not sufficient force of character in him- 
self to make a lasting impression on his 
people. A king, but not a founder of a 
dynasty, he aimed at nothing beyond se- 
curing his present elevation. Baasha, in 
the midst of the army at Gibbethon, slew 
the son and successor of Jeroboam ; Zim- 
ri, a captain of chariots, slew the son and 
successor of Baasha; Omri, the captain 
of the host, was chosen to punish Zimri ; 
and after a civil war of four years he pre- 
vailed over Tibni, the choice of half the 
people, (b) B.C. 929-884. For forty-five 
years Israel was governed by the house 
of Omri. The princes of his house culti- 
vated an alliance with the kings of Judah, 
which was cemented by the marriage of 
Jehoram and Athaliah. The adoption 
of Baal-worship led to a reaction in the 
nation, to the moral triumph of the 
prophets in the person of Elijah, and 
to the extinction of the house of Ahab 
in obedience to the bidding of Elisha. 
(c) B.C. 884-772. Unparalleled triumphs, 
but deeper humiliation, awaited the king- 
dom of Israel under the dynasty of Jehu. 
Hazael, the ablest king of Damascus, 
reduced Jehoahaz to the condition of a 
vassal, and triumphed for a time over 
both the disunited Hebrew kingdoms. 
Almost the first sign of the restoration 
of their strength was a war between them ; 
and Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu, en- 
tered Jerusalem as the conqueror of Am- 
aziah. Jehoash also turned the tide of 
war against the Syrians ; and Jeroboam 
II., the most powerful of all the kings 
of Israel, captured Damascus, and recov- 
ered the whole ancient frontier from 
Hamath to the Dead Sea. This short- 
lived greatness expired with the last 
king of Jehu's line, (d) B.C. 772-721. 
Military violence, it would seem, broke 
off the hereditary succession after the 
obscure and probably convulsed reign 
of Zachariah. An unsuccessful usurper, 
Shallum, is followed by the cruel Men- 



ISK 



ITH 



ahem, who, being unable to make head 
against the first attack of Assyria under 
Pul, became the agent of that monarch 
for the oppressive taxation of his subjects. 
Yet his power at home was sufficient to 
insure for his son and successor Pekahiah 
a ten-years reign, cut short by a bold 
usurper, Pekah. Abandoning the north- 
ern and transjordanic regions to the en- 
croaching power of Assyria under Tiglath- 
pileser, he was very near subjugating 
Judah, with the help of Damascus, now 
the coequal ally of Israel. But Assyria 
interposing summarily put an end to the 
independence of Damascus, and perhaps 
was the indirect cause of the assassination 
of the baffled Pekah. The irresolute Ho- 
shea, the next and last usurper, became 
tributary to his invader, Shalmaneser, be- 
trayed the Assyrian to the rival monarchy 
of Egypt, and' was punished by the loss 
of his liberty, and by the capture, after a 
three-years siege, of his strong capital, 
Samaria. Some gleanings of the ten 
tribes yet remained in the land after so 
many years of religious decline, moral 
debasement, national degradation, an- 
archy, bloodshed and deportation. Even 
these were gathered up by the conqueror 
and carried to Assyria, never again, as a 
distinct people, to occupy their portion 
of that goodly and pleasant land which 
their forefathers won under Joshua from 
the heathen. (Schaff (Bib. Die.) adds to 
this summary that " after the destruction 
of the kingdom of Israel, B.C. 721, the 
name ' Israel ' began to be applied to the 
whole surviving people." No doubt 
many of the kingdom of Israel joined 
the later kingdom of the Jews after the 
captivity, and became part of that king- 
dom.— Ed.) 

Israelite {descendant of Israel). In 
2 Sam. 17 : 25, lthra, the father of Amasa, 
is called " an Israelite," while in 1 Chron. 
2 : 17 he appears as " Jether the Ishmael- 
ite." The latter is undoubtedly the true 
reading. 

Is'sachar (reward), i. The ninth 
son of Jacob and the fifth of Leah. Gen. 
30:17, 18. (B.C. 1753-45.) At the de- 
scent into Egypt four sons are ascribed to 
him, who founded the four chief families 
of the tribe. Gen. 46 : 13 ; Num. 26 : 23, 
25; 1 Chron. 7 : 1. The number of the 
fighting men of Issachar, when taken in 
the census at Sinai, was 54,400. During 
the journey they seem to have steadily 
increased. The allotment of Issachar 
lay above that of Manasseh. Josh. 19 : 



17-23. In the words of Josephus, " it ex- 
tended in length from Carmel to the Jor- 
dan, in breadth to Mount Tabor." This 
territory was, as it still is, among the rich- 
est land in Palestine. It is this aspect of 
the territory of Issachar which appears to 
be alluded to in the blessing of Jacob. 

2. A Korhite Levite, one of the door- 
keepers of the house of Jehovah, seventh 
son of Obed-edom. 1 Chron. 26 : 5. 

Isshi'ah (whom Jehovah lends). 1. A 
descendant of Moses bv his younger son 
Eliezer. 1 Chron. 24 : 21 ; comp. 23 : 17 ; 
26:25. (B.C. after 1451.) 

2. A Levite of the house of Kohath and 
family of Uzziel. 1 Chron. 24 : 25. (Un- 
certain date.) 

Issue, Running. Lev. 15 : 2, 3 ; 22 : 
, 4 ; Num. 5:2; 2 Sam. 3 : 29. In Lev. 
| 15 : 3 a distinction is introduced, which 
merely means that the cessation of the 
actual flux does not constitute ceremonial 
cleanness, but that the patient must bide 
the legal time, seven days, ver. 13, and 
perform the prescribed purifications and 
sacrifice, ver. 14. 

Is'uah (quiet), second son of Asher. 1 
! Chron. 7 : 30. (B.C. 1706.) 

Is'ui (quiet), third son of Asher, Gen. 
46 : 17, founder of a family called after 
him, though in the Authorized Version 
appearing as the Jesuites. Num. 26 : 
44. (B.C. 1706.) 
Ital'ian band. [Aemy.] 
It'aly. This word is used in the New 
; Testament, Acts 18 : 2 ; 27 : 1 ; Heb. 13 : 
! 24, in the usual sense of the period, i. e. 
in its true geographical sense, as denoting 
' the whole natural peninsula between the 
' Alps and the Straits of Messina. 

Ith'a-i (with the Lord), a Benjamite, 
son of Eibai of Gibeah, one of the heroes of 
David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 :31. (B.C. 1046.) 

Ith/amar (land of palms), the young- 
est son of Aaron. Ex. 6 : 23. (B.c* 1491.) 
After the death of Nadab and Abihu, 
Lev. 10 : 1, Eleazar and Ithamar were 
| appointed to succeed to their places in 
! the priestly office. Ex. 28 : 1, 40, 43 ; 
I Num. 3 : 3, 4; 1 Chron. 24 : 2. In the 
distribution of services belonging to the 
tabernacle, and its transport on the march 
of the Israelites, the Gershonites and the 
' Merarites were placed under the superin- 
tendence of Ithamar. Ex. 38 : 21 ; Num. 
4 : 21-33. The high priesthood passed into 
the family of Ithamar in the person of Eli, 
i but for what reason we are not informed. 
Ith'i-el (God is with me). 1. A Ben- 
jamite, son of Jesaiah. Neh. 11 : 7. 

271 



ITH 



IZR 



2. One of two persons — Ithiel and Ucal 
— to whom Agur ben- J akeh delivered his 
discourse. Prov. 30 : 1. (B.C. about 900.) 

Ith'mah {bereavedne^ss), a Moabite, 
one of the heroes of David's guard. 1 
Chron. 11 : 46. 

Ith'nan {given), one of the towns in 
the extreme south of Judah. Josh. 15 : 23. 
No trace of its existence has yet been 
discovered. 

Ith'ra {excellence), an Israelite, 2 Sam. 
17 : 25, or Ishmaelite, 1 Chron. 2 : 17, the 
father of Amasa by Abigail, David's sis- 
ter. (B.C. before 1023.) 

Ith'ran {excellence). 1. A son of Di- 
shon, a Horite, Gen. 36 : 26 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 
41, and probably a phylarch of a tribe of 
the Horim. Gen. 36 : 30. (B.C. about 1800.) 

2. A descendant of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 
30-40. 

Ith're-am {abundance of people), son 
of David, born to him in Hebron, and 
distinctly specified as the sixth, and as 
the child of Eglah, David's wife. 2 Sam. 
3 : 5 ; 1 Chron. 3 : 3. 

Ith'rite {belonging to Jether), The, 
the designation of two of the members of 
David's guard, Ira and Gareb. 2 Sam. 
23 : 38 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 40. They may have 
come from Jattir, in the mountains of 
Judah. (B.C. 1046.) 

It'tah-ka'zin {time of the judge^, one 
of the landmarks of the boundary of 
Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 13. It has not been 
identified. 

It'ta-i {with the Lord). 1. " Ittai the 
Gittite," i. e. the native of Gath, a Phi- 
listine in the army of King David. He 
appears only during the revolution of j 
Absalom. (B.C. 1023.) We first discern 
him on the morning of David's flight, I 
The king urges him to return. 2 Sam. J 
15 : 18, 19, comp. 1 Sam. 23 : 13 ; 27 : 2 ; 30 : 
9, 10, 19, 20. But Ittai is firm ; he is the j 
king's slave, and wherever his master ; 
goes he will go. Accordingly he is al- ■ 
lowed by David to proceed. When the ; 
army was numbered and organized by i 
David at Mahanaim, Ittai again appears, 
now in command of a third part of the 
force. 2 Sam. 18 : 2, 5, 12. 

2. Son of Pibai, from Gibeah of Ben- 
jamin ; one of the thirty heroes of David's 
guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 29. 

Iturre'a {land of Jether), a small prov- 
ince on the northwestern border of Pal- 
estine, lying along the base of Mount 
Hermon, only mentioned in Luke 3:1. 
Jetur the son of Ishmael gave his name, 
like the rest of his brethren, to the little 
272 



province he colonized. Gen. 25 : 15, 16. 
It adjoined Trachonitis, and lay along the 
base of Libanus between Tiberias and Da- 
mascus. At the place indicated is situated 
the modern province of Jedur, which is 
the Arabic form of the Hebrew Jetur. 

I'vah {ruined), or A'va, which is 
mentioned in Scripture twice, 2 Kings 
18 : 34 ; 19 : 13 ; comp. Isa. 37 : 13, in con- 
nection with Hena and Sepharvaim, and 
once, 2 Kings 17 : 24, in connection with 
Babylon and Cuthah, must be sought in 
Babylonia, and is probably identical 
with the modern Hit, on the Euphrates. 

Ivory. The word translated " ivory " 
literally signifies the " tooth " of any 
animal, and hence more especially de- 
notes the substance of the projecting 
tusks of elephants. The skilled work- 
men of Hiram, king of Tyre, fashioned 
the great ivory throne of Solomon, and 
overlaid it with pure gold. 1 Kings 10 : 
18 ; 2 Chron. 9 : 17. The ivory thus em- 
ployed was supplied by the caravans of 
Dedan, Isa. 21 : 13 ; Ezek. 27 : 15, or was 
brought, with apes and peacocks, by the 
navy of Tarshish. 1 Kings 10 : 22. The 
" ivory house " of Ahab, 1 Kings 22 : 39, 
was probably a palace, the walls of which 
were panelled with ivory, like the palace 
of Menelaus, described by Homer. Odys. 
iv. 73. Beds inlaid or veneered with ivory 
were in use among the Hebrews. Amos 6 : 4. 

Iz'ehar [oil), the form in which the 
name Izhar is given in the Authorized 
Version of Num. 3 : 19 only. 

Iz'eliarites {descendants of Izhar), 
The. A family of Kohathite Levites, 
descended from Izhar the son of Kohath, 
Num. 3 : 27 ; called also " Izharites." 1 
Chron. 26 : 23, 29. 

Iz'har {oil), son of Kohath, grandson 
of Levi, uncle of Aaron and Moses and 
father of Korah. Ex. 6 : 18, 21 ; Num. 3 : 
19 ; 16 : 1 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 2, 18. (B.C. after 
1490.) Izhar was the head of the family 
of the Izharites, 1 Chron. 24 : 22 ; 26 : 23, 
or Izeharites. Num. 3 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 26 : 
23, 29. 

Iz'rahiah {whom Jehovah causes to 
sparkle), a chieftain of Issachar. 1 Chron. 
7:3. 

Iz'rahite {descendant ofZerah) , The, 
the designation of Shamhuth. 1 Chron. 27: 
8. Its real force is probably Zerahite, that 
is, from the great Judaic family of Zerah. 

Iz'ri {crea.tor), a Levite leader of the 
fourth course or ward in the service of 
the house of God. 1 Chron. 25 : 11. In 
ver. 3 he is called Zeri. (b.c. 1014.) 



JAA 



JAB 



J. 



Ja'akan {he shall surround), the 
same as Jakan, the forefather of Bene- 
Jaakan. Deut. 10 : 6. 

Ja-ak'obah {supplanter), one of the 
princes of the families of Simeon. 1 
Chron. 4 : 36. (B.C. about 710.) 

Ja-a'la {wild she-goat). Bene-Jaala 
were among the descendants of " Solo- 
mon's slaves " who returned from Baby- 
lon with Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 58. (B.C. 
before 536.) The name also occurs as 

Ja-a'Iah {wild goat). Ezra 2 : 56. 

Ja-a'lam {whom God hides), a son of 
Esau, Gen. 36 : 5, 14, 18 ; comp. 1 Chron. 
1 : 35, and a head of a tribe of Edom. 
(B.C. 1790.) 

Ja'ana-i {whom Jehovah ansicers), a 
chief man in the tribe of Gad. 1 Chron. 
5 : 12. 

Ja'are-or'egim {forests of the 
weavers), 2 Sam. 21 : 19, a Bethle- 
hemite, and the father of Elhanan 
who slew Goliath. In the parallel 
passage, 1 Chron. 20 : 5, Jair is 
found instead of Jaare, and Oregim 
is omitted. (B.C. 1063.) 

J a - a's a u {whom Jehovah 
made), one of the Bene-Bani who 
had married a foreign wife. Ezra 
10:37. (B.C. 459.) 

Ja-a'si-el (whom God com- 
forts), son of the great Abner. 1 
Chron. 27 : 21. (B.C. 1046-1014.) 

Ja-azani'ah {whom Jehovah 
hears). 1. One of the captains of 
the forces who accompanied Joha- 
nan ben-Kareah to pay his respects 
to Gedaliah at Mizpah, 2 Kings 25 : 
23, and who appears afterwards to 
have assisted in recovering Ishma- 
ePs prey from his clutches. Comp. 
Jer. 41 : 11; 43 : 4, 5. (B.C. 587.) 

2. Son of Shaphan. Ezek. 8 : 11. 
possible that he is identical with 

3. Son of Azur ; one of the princes of 
the people against whom Ezekiel was di- 
rected to prophesy. Ezek. 11:1. (B.C. 593.) 

4. A Rechabite, son of Jeremiah. Jer. 
35:3. (B.C. 606.) 

Ja-a'zer, or Ja'zer {Jehovah helps), 
a town on the east of Jordan, in or near 
to Gilead. Num. 32 : 1, 3; 1 Chron. 26 : 
31. We first hear of it in possession of 
the Amorites, and as taken by Israel 
18 



after Heshbon, and on their way from 
thence to Bashan. Num. 21 : 32. It seems 
to have given its name to a district of 
dependent or "daughter" towns, Num. 
21 : 32, Authorized Version " villages ;" 
1 Mace. 5 : 8, the " land of Jazer." Num. 
32 : 1. 

Ja-azi'ah {whom Jehovah comforts), 
apparently a third son, or a descendant, 
of Merari the Levite. 1 Chron. 24 : 26, 
27. (B.C. before 1014.) 

Ja-a'zi-el (w horn Jehovah comfo rts ) , 
one of the Levites appointed by David to 
perform the musical service before the 
ark. 1 Chron. 15 : 18. (B.C. 1014.) 

Ja'bal {stream), the son of Lamech 
and Adah, Gen. 4 : 20, and brother of 
Jubal. He is described as the father of 
such as dwell in tents and have cattle. 




It is 



Jabbok (Wady Zurka). 

Jab'bok {emptying), a stream which 
intersects the mountain range of Gilead, 
comp. Josh. 12 : 2, 5, and falls into the 
Jordan on the east about midway be- 
tween the Sea of Galilee and the Dead 
Sea. It was anciently the border of the 
children of Ammon. Num. 21 : 24 ; Deut. 
2 : 37 ; 3 : 16. It was on the south bank 
of the Jabbok that the interview took 
place between Jacob and Esau, Gen. 32 : 
22 ; and this river afterward became, to- 
ward its western part, the boundary be- 
273 



JAB 



JAC 



tween the kingdoms of Sihon and Og. ! 
Josh. 12:2, 5. Its modern name is Wady 
Zurka. 

Ja'besh {dry). 1. Father of Shallum, 
the fifteenth king of Israel. 2 Kings 15 : 
10, 13, 14. (B.C. before 770.) 

2. Jabesh-gilead, or Jabesh in the ter- 
ritory of Gilead. In its widest sense 
Gilead included the half tribe of Manas- 
seh, 1 Chron. 27 : 21, as well as the tribes 
of Gad and Reuben, Num. 32 : 1-42, east 
of the Jordan ; and of the cities of Gil- 
ead, Jabesh was the chief. It is first 
mentioned in Judges 21 : 8-14. Being 
attacked subsequently by Nahash the 
Ammonite, it gave Saul an opportunity 
of displaying his prowess in its defence. 
1 Sam. 11 : 1-15. Eusebius places it be- 
yond the Jordan, six miles from Bella on 
the mountain road to Gerasa ; where its 
name is probably preserved in the Wady 
Yabes. 

Ja'bez (sorrotv). 1. Apparently a 
place at which the families of the scribes 
resided who belonged to the families of 
the Kenites. 1 Chron. 2 : 55. 

2. The name occurs again in the gene- 
alogies of Judah, 1 Chron. 4 : 9, 10, in a 
passage of remarkable detail inserted in 
a genealogy again connected with Beth- 
lehem, ver. 4. 

Ja'bin (whom God observes). 1. King 
of Hazor, who organized a confederacy 
of the northern princes against the Israel- 
ites. Josh. 11 : 1-3. Joshua surprised the 
allied forces by the waters of Merom, ver. 
7, and utterly routed them. (B.C. 1448.) 
During the ensuing wars Joshua again 
attacked Jabin, and burnt his city. Josh. 
11 : 1-14. 

2. A king of Hazor, whose general, 
Sisera, was defeated by Barak. Judges 
4:2, 13. (B.C. 1316.) 

Jab'ne-el {building of God). 1. One 
of the points on the northern boundary 
of Judah, not quite at the sea, though 
near it. Josh. 15 : 11. There is no sign, 
however, of its ever having been occu- 
pied by Judah. Josephus attributes it 
to the Danites. There was a constant 
struggle going on between that tribe and 
the Philistines for the possession of all 
the places in the lowland plains, and it 
is not surprising that the next time we 
meet with Jabneel it should be in the 
hands of the latter. 2 Chron. 26 : 6. Uz- 
ziah dispossessed them of it and demol- 
ished its fortifications. Called also Jab- 
neh. At the time of the fall of Jerusa- 
lem, Jabneh was one of the most popu- 
274 



lous places of Judea. The modern vil- 
lage of Yebna, more accurately Ibna, 
stands about two miles from the sea, on 
a slight eminence just south of theNahr 
Rubin. 

2. One of the landmarks on the bound- 
ary of Naphtali, Josh. 19 : 33, in upper 
Galilee. 

Jab'neh {building of God). 2 Chron. 
26 : 6. [Jabneel.] 

Ja'chan (affliction), one of seven 
chief men of the tribe of Gad. 1 Chron. 
5 : 13. 

Ja'chin (he shall establish). 1. One 
of the two pillars which were set up " in 
the porch," 1 Kings 7 : 21, or before the 
temple, 2 Chron. 3 : 17, of Solomon. 
[BOAZ.] 

2. Fourth son of Simeon, Gen. 46 : 10 ; 
Ex. 6 : 15 ; founder of the family of the 
Jachinites. Num. 26 : 12. 

3. Head of the twenty-first course of 
priests in the time of David. 1 Chron. 9 : 
10 ; 24 : 17 ; Neh. 11 : 10. 

Jacinth, a precious stone, forming one 
of the foundations of the walls of the 
new Jerusalem. Rev. 21 : 20. Called hy- 
acinth in the Revised Version. This is 
simply a different English rendering of 
the same Greek original. It is probably 
identical with the ligure of Ex. 28 : 19. 
The jacinth or hyacinth is a red variety 
of zircon, which is found in square prisms 
of a white, gray, red, reddish-brown, yel- 
low or pale-green color. The expression 
in Rev. 9 : iz, "of jacinth," is descrip- 
tive simply of a dark-purple color. 

Ja'cob (supplanter), the second son of 
Isaac and Rebekah. He was born with 
Esau, probably at the well of Lahai-roi, 
about B.C. 1837. His history is related 
in the latter half of the book of Genesis. 
He bought the birthright from his brother 
Esau, and afterward acquired the bless- 
ing intended for Esau, by practicing a 
well-known deceit on Isaac. (Jacob did 
not obtain the blessing because of his de- 
ceit, but in spite of it. That which was 
promised he would have received in some 
good way; but Jacob and his mother, 
distrusting God's promise, sought the 
promised blessing in a wrong way, and 
received with it trouble and sorrow. — 
Ed.) Jacob, in his 78th year, was sent 
from the family home to avoid his 
brother, and to seek a wife among his 
kindred in Padan-aram. As he passed 
through Bethel, God appeared to him. 
After the lapse of twenty-one years he 
I returned from Padan-aram with two 



J AC 



JAE 



wives, two concubines, eleven sons and 
a daughter, and large property. He es- 
caped from the angry pursuit of Laban, 
from a meeting with Esau, and from the 
vengeance of the Canaanites provoked 
by the murder of Shechem ; and in each 
of these three emergencies he was aided 
and strengthened by the interposition of 
God, and in sign of the grace won by a 
night of wrestling with God his name 
was changed at Jabbok into Israel. Deb- 
orah and Rachel died before he reached 
Hebron ; Joseph, the favorite son of Ja- 
cob, was sold into Egypt eleven years 
before the death of Isaac ; and Jacob had 
probably exceeded his 130th year when 
he went thither. He was presented to 
Pharaoh, and dwelt for seventeen years 
in Raineses and Goshen, and died in his 
147th year. His body was embalmed, 
cariied with great care and pomp into 
the land of Canaan, and deposited with 
his fathers, and his wife Leah, in the 
cave of Machpelah. 

The example of Jacob is quoted by the 
first and the last of the minor prophets. 
Besides the frequent mention of his name 
in conjunction with the names of the 
other two patriarchs, there are distinct 
references to the events in the life of Ja- 
cob in four books of the New Testament 
—John 1 : 51 ; 4 : 5, 12 ; Acts 7 : 12, 16 ; 
Rom. 9 : 11-13; Heb. 11 : 21 ; 12 : 16. 




Jacob's Well at Shechem. 



Ja'cob's Well, a deep spring in the 
vicinity of Shechem (called Sychar in | ration. 



I Christ's time and Nablus at the present 
, day). It was probably dug by Jacob, 
1 whose name it bears. On the curb of 
the well Jesus sat and discoursed with 
the Samaritan woman. John 4 : 5-26. It 
is situated about half a mile southeast of 
Nablus, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. 
| It is about nine feet in diameter and 75 
; feet deep. At some seasons it is dry ; at 
! others it contains a few feet of water. 

Ja'da (wise), Svjn of Onam and brother 
of Shammai, in the genealogy of the sons 
i of Jerahmeel by his wife Atarah. 1 
j Chron. 2 : 28, 32. (B.C. after 1445.) 

Jada'u (loving), one of the Bene-Nebo 
who had taken a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 
! 43. (B.C. 459.) 

Jaddu'a (known), 1. Son and suc- 
cessor in the high priesthood of Jonathan 
or Johanan. He is the last of the high 
j priests mentioned in the Old Testament, 
and probably altogether the latest name 
in the canon. Neh. 12 : 11, 22. (B.C. 
406-332.) 

2. One of the chief of the people who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:21. (B.C. 410.) 

Ja'don (judge), the Meronothite, who 
assisted to repair the wall of Jerusalem. 
Neh. 3:7. (B.C. 446.) 

Ja'el (mountain goat), the wife of 
Heber the Kenite. (B.C. 1316.) In the 
; headlong rout which followed the defeat 
[ of the Canaanites by Barak, at Megiddo 
j on the plain of Esdraelon, Sisera, their 
j general, fled to the tent of the Kenite 
chieftainess, at Kedesh in Naphtali, four 
J miles northwest of Lake Merom. He ac- 
cepted Jael's invitation to enter, and she 
flung a mantle over him as he lay wear- 
I ily on the floor. "When thirst prevented 
sleep, and he asked for water, she brought 
him buttermilk in her choicest vessel. 
| At last, with a feeling of perfect security, 
he fell into a deep sleep. Then it was 
that Jael took one of the great wooden 
pins which fastened down the cords of 
the tent, and with one terrible blow with 
a mallet dashed it through Sisera's tem- 
ples deep into the earth. Judges 5 : 27. 
She then waited to meet the pursuing 
I Barak, and led him into her tent that 
she might in his presence claim the glory 
of the deed ! Many have supposed that 
by this act she fulfilled the saying of 
Deborah, Judges 4:9; and hence they 
have supposed that Jael was actuated by- 
some divine and hidden influence. But 
the Bible gives no hint of such an inspi- 



275 



JAG 



JAK 



Ja'gur {lodging), a town of Judah, 
one of those farthest to the south, on the 
frontier of Edom. Josh. 15 : 21. 

Jah {Jehovah), the abbreviated form 
of Jehovah, used only in poetry. It oc- 
curs frequently in the Hebrew, but with 
a single exception, Ps. 68 : 4, is rendered 
" Lord " in the Authorized Version. The 
identity of Jah and Jehovah is strongly 
marked in two passages of Isaiah — 12 : 2 ; 
26 : 4. [Jehovah. j 

Ja'hath (union). 1. Son of Libni, 
the son of Gershom, the son of Levi. 1 
Chron. 6 : 20. (B.C. after 1706.) 

2. Head of a later house in the family 
of Gershom, being the eldest son of Shi- 
mei, the son of Laadan. 1 Chron. 23 : 10, 
11. 

3. A man in the genealogy of Judah, 1 
Chron. 4 : 2, son of Reaiah ben-Shobal. 

4. A Levite, son of Shelomoth. 1 Chron. 
24 : 22. 

5. A Merarite Levite in the reign of 
Josiah. 2 Chron. 34 : 12. (B.C. 623.) 

Ja'haz, also Jaha'za, Jaha'zah 
and Jab/zah ( trodden down). Under 
these four forms is given in the Au- 
thorized Version the name of a place 
which in the Hebrew appears as Yahats 
and Yahtsah. At Jahaz the decisive 
battle was fought between the children 
of Israel and Sihon king of the Amorites. 
Num. 21 : 23 ; Deut. 2 : 32 ; Judges 11 : 
20. It was in the allotment of Reuben. 
Josh. 13 : 18. Like many others relating 
to the places east of the Dead Sea, the 
question of its site must await further 
research. 

Jaha'za {trodden down). Josh. 13 : 18. 
[Jahaz.] 

Jaha'zah (trodden down). Josh. 21 : 
36 ; Jer. 48 : 21. [Jahaz.] 

Jahazi'ah (whom Jehovah watches \ 
over), son of Tikvah, apparently a priest. 
Ezra 10 : 15. 

Jaha'zi-el (whom God ivatches over). J 
1. One of the heroes of Benjamin who j 
joined David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 4. 
(B.C. 1055.) 

2. A priest in the reign of David. 1 
Chron. 16 : 6. 

3. A Kohathite Levite, third son of 
Hebron. 1 Chron. 23 : 19 ; 24 : 23. 

4. Son of Zechariah, a Levite of the 
Bene-Asaph in the reign of Jehoshaphat. 
2 Chron. 20 : 14. (B.C. 896.) 

5. The "son of Jahaziel" was the 
chief of the Bene-Shecaniah who re- 
turned from Babylon with Ezra. Ezra 
8:5. (B.C. before 459.) 

276 



Jah'da-i (whom Jehovah directs), a 
man who appears to be thrust abruptly 
into the genealogy of Caleb, as the father 
of six sons. 1 Chron. 2 : 47. 

Jah'di-el (whom Jehovah makes joy- 
ful ), a chieftain of Manasseh on the east 
of Jordan. 1 Chron. 5 : 24. (B.C. 320.) 

Jah'do (united), a Gadite, 1 Chron. 
5 : 14, son of Buz and father of Jeshishai. 

Jah'Se-el (hoping in Jehovah), the 
third of the three sons of Zebulun, Gen. 
46 : 14; Num. 26 : 26; founder of the 
family of Jahleelites. (B.C. 1706.) 

Jah'ma-i [whom Jehovah guards), a 
man of Issachar, one of the heads of the 
house of Tolah. 1 Chron. 7 : 2. (B.C. 
1491.) 

Jah'zah (trodden down). 1 Chron. 6: 
78. [Jahaz.] 

Jah'ze-el (whom God allots), the first 
of the four sons of Naphtali, Gen. 46 : 
24 ; founder of the family of the Jahze- 
elites. Num. 26 : 48. (B.C. 1306.) 

Jahze'rah (tchom God leads back), a 
priest of the house of Immer. 1 Chron. 
9 : 12. 

Jah'zi-el (whom God allots), the same 
as Jahzeel. 1 Chron. 7 : 13. 

Ja'ir (enlightener). 1. A man who 
on his father's side was descended from 
Judah, and on his mother's from Manas- 
seh. (B.C. 1451.) During the conquest 
he took the whole of the tract of Argob, 
Deut. 3 : 14, and in addition possessed 
himself of some nomad villages in Gil- 
ead, which he called after his own name 
Havoth-jair. Num. 32:41; 1 Chron. 2: 
23. 

2. Jair the Gileadite, who judged 
Israel for two-and-twenty years. Judges 
10:3-5. (B.C. 1160.) He had thirty 
sons, and possessed thirty cities in the 
land of Gilead, which, like those of their 
namesake, were called Havoth-jair. 

3. A Benjamite, son of Kish and father 
of Mordecai. Esther 2 : 5. (B.C. before 
598.) 

4. The father of Elhanan, one of the 
heroes of David's army. 1 Chron. 20 : 5. 

Ja'irite (descendant of Jair), The. 
Ira the Jairite was a priest (Author- 
ized Version "chief ruler") to David. 2 
Sam. 20 : 26. 

Ja'irus (whom God enlightens^. 1. A 
ruler of a synagogue, probably in some 
town near the western shore of the Sea 
of Galilee. Matt. 9:18; Mark 5 : 22 ; 
Luke 8 : 41. (a.d. 28.) 

2. Esther 11:2. [Jair, 3.] 

Ja'kan (sagacious), son of Ezer the 



JAK 



JAM 



Horite. 1 Chron. 1:42. The same as 
Jaakan. [And see Akan.J 

Ja'keh {pious). LP^overbs, Book 
of.] 

Ja'kim (whom God sets up). 1. Head 
of the twelfth course of priests in the reign 
of David. 1 Chron. 24 : 12. (B.C. 1014.; 

2. A Benjamite, one of the Bene- 
Shimhi. 1 Chron. 8 : 19. (B.C. 588.) 

Ja'lon (abiding), one of the sons of 
Ezra. 1 Chron. 4 : 17. 

Jam'fores. [Jannes and Jambres.] 

James (the Greek form of Jacob, svp- 
planter). 1. James the son of Zebedee, 
one of the twelve apostles. He was elder 
brother of the evangelist John. His 
mother's name was Salome. We first 
hear of him in a.d. 27, Mark 1 : 20, when 
at the call of the Master he left all, and 
became, once and forever, his disciple, in 
the spring of 28. Matt. 10 : 2 ; Mark 3 : 
14 ; Luke 6 : 13; Acts 1 : 13. It would 
seem to have been at the time of the ap- 
pointment of the twelve apostles that the 
name of Boanerges was given to the sons 
of Zebedee. The " sons of thunder " 
had a burning and impetuous spirit, 
which twice exhibits itself. Mark 10 : 37 ; 
Luke 9 : 54. On the night before the 
crucifixion James was present at the 
agony in the garden. On the day of the 
ascension he is mentioned as persever- 
ing, with the rest of the apostles and dis- 
ciples, in prayer. Acts 1 : 13. Shortly 
before the day of the passover, in the 
year 44, he was put to death by Herod 
Agrippa I. Acts 12 : 1, 2. 

2. James the son of Alphseus, one of 
the twelve apostles. Matt. 10 : 3. Whether 
or not this James is to be identified with 
James the Less, the son of Alphseus, the 
brother of our Lord, is one of the most 
difficult questions in the gospel history. 
By comparing Matt. 27 : 56 and Mark 15 : 
40 with John 19 : 25, we find that the 
Virgin Mary had a sister named, like 
herself, Mary, who was the wife of Clopas 
or Alphseus (varieties of the same name), 
and who had two sons, James the Less 
and Joses. By referring to Matt. 13 : 55 
and Mark 6 : 3 we find that a James and 
a Joses, with two other brethren called 
Jude and Simon, and at least three sis- 
ters, were living with the Virgin Mary at 
Nazareth. By referring to Luke 6 : 16 
and Acts 1 : 13 Ave find that there were 
two brethren named James and Jude 
among the apostles. It would certainly 
be natural to think that we had here but 
one family of four brothers and three or 



more sisters, the children of Clopas and 
j Maiy, nephews and nieces of the Virgin 
Mary. There are difficulties, however, 
j in the way of this conclusion into which 
I we cannot here enter ; but in reply to 
the objection that the four brethren in 
Matt. 13 : 55 are described as the brothers 
of Jesus, not as his cousins, it must be 
recollected that iSek^oi, which is here 
translated " brethren," may also signify 
cousins. 

James the Less, called the Less be- 
cause younger or smaller in stature than 
James the son of Zebedee. He was the 
j son of Alphseus or Clopas and brother of 
; our Lord (see above); was called to the 
apostolate, together with his younger 
! brother Jude, in the spring of the year 
i 28. At some time in the forty days that 
I intervened between the resurrection and 
the ascension the Lord appeared to him. 
1 Cor. 15 : 7. Ten years after we find 
I James on a level with Peter, and with 
j him deciding on the admission of St. 
Paul into fellowship with the Church at 
Jerusalem ; and from henceforth we al- 
ways find him equal, or in his own de- 
partment superior, to the very chiefest 
apostles, Peter, John and Paul. Acts 9 : 
I 27 ; Gal. 1 : 18, 19. This pre-eminence is 
evident throughout the after history of 
the apostles, whether we read it in the 
Acts, in the epistles or in ecclesiastical 
j writers. Acts 12 : 17 ; 15 : 13, 19 ; 21 : 18 ; 
Gal. 2 : 9. According to tradition, James 
was thrown down from the temple by 
the scribes and Pharisees ; he was then 
I stoned, and his brains dashed out with 
a fuller's club. 

James, The General Epistle of. 
The author of this epistle was in all prob- 
ability James the son of Alphseus, and 
our Lord's brother. It was written from 
Jerusalem, which St. James does not 
seem to have ever left. It was probably 
written about a.d. 62, during the interval 
between Paul's two imprisonments. Its 
main object is not to teach doctrine, but 
to improve morality. St. James is the 
moral teacher of the New Testament. 
He wrote for the Jewish Christians, 
whether in Jerusalem or abroad, to warn 
them against the sins to which as Jews 
they were most liable, and to console and 
exhort them under the sufferings to which 
as Christians they were most exposed. 

Ja'min (right hand). 1. Second son 
of Simeon, Gen. 46 : 10 ; Ex. 6 : 15 ; 1 
Chron. 4 : 24, founder of the family of the 
Jaminites. Num. 26 : 12. (B.C. 1706.) 

277 



JAM 



JAR 



2. A man of Judah, second son of Ram 
the Jerahmeelite. 1 Chron. 2 : 27. 

3. One of the Levites who expounded 
the law to the people. Neh. 8 : 7. (B.C. 
410.) 

Jam'lech (whom God makes king), 
one of the chief men of the tribe of 
Simeon. 1 Chron. 4 : 34. 

J am 'nia. [Jabneel.] 

Jan'na (flourishing), son of Joseph, 
and father of Melchi, in the genealogy 
of Christ. Luke 3 : 24. In the Revised 
Version written Jannai. 

Jan'nes and Jam/bres, the names 
of two Egyptian magicians who opposed 
Moses. Ex. 7 : 9-13 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 8, 9. (B.C. 
1492.) 

Jano'ah (rest), a place apparently in 
the north of Galilee, or the " land of 
Naphtali," — one of those taken by Tig- 
lath-pileser in his first incursion into 
Palestine. 2 Kings 15 : 29. No trace of 
it appears elsewhere. 

Jano'hah (rest), a place on the bound- 
ary of Ephraim, Josh. 16 : 6, 7, east of 
Neapolis. A little less than twelve miles 
from Nablus, and about southeast in di- 
rection, two miles from Akrabeh, is the 
village of Yanun, doubtless identical 
with the ancient Janohah. 

Ja'num (slumber), a town of Judah 
in the mountain district, apparently not 
far from Hebron. Josh. 15 : 53. 

Ja'pheth (enlargement), one of the 
three sons of Noah. The descendants of 
Japheth occupied the " isles of the Gen- 
tiles," Gen. 10 : 5 — i. e. the coast lands of 
the Mediterranean Sea in Europe and 
Asia Minor — whence they spread north- 
ward over the whole continent of Europe 
and a considerable portion of Asia. 

Japhi'a {splendid). The boundary of 
Zebulun ascended from Daberath to Ja- 
phia, and thence passed to Gath-hepher. 
Josh. 19 : 12. Ydfa, two miles south of* 
Nazareth, is not unlikely to be identical 
with Japhia. 

Japhi'a (splendid). 1. King of Lachish 
at the time of the conquest of Canaan by 
the Israelites. Josh. 10:3. (B.C. 1450.) 

2. One of the sons of David born to 
him in Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 5:15; 1 Chron. 
'6:7; 14 : 6. (B.C. 1046.) 

Japh'Iet (whom God delivers), a de- 
scendant of Asher through Beriah. 1 
Chron. 7 : 32, 33. 

Japh'leti (theJaphletite). The bound- 
ary of the " Japhletite " is one of the 
landmarks on the south boundary line 
of Ephraim. Josh. 16 : 3. 
278 



Ja'pho (beauty). Josh. 19 : 46. The 
Hebrew form for the better-known J op- 
pa. 2 Chron. 2:16; Ezra 3:7; Jonah 1 : 
3. In its modern garb it is Ydfa. 

Ja'rah (honey), a descendant of Saul ; 
son of Micah and great-grandson of 
Mephibosheth. 1 Chron. 9 : 42, comp. 40. 

Ja'reb (adversary) is to be explained 
either as the proper name of a country or 
person, as a noun in apposition, or as a 
verb from a root, rub, "to contend, 
plead." All these senses are represented 
in the Authorized Version and the mar- 
ginal readings, Hos. 5 : 13 ; 10 : 6, and the 
least preferable has been inserted in the 
text. Jareb is most probably the name 
of some city of Assyria, or another name 
of the country itself. 

Ja'red (descent), one of the antedilu- 
vian patriarchs, and father of Enoch. 
Gen. 5 : 15, 16, 18-20 ; Luke 3 : 37. In 
the lists of Chronicles the name is given 
in the Authorized Version Jered. 

Jaresi'ah (whom Jehovah nourishes), 
a Benjamite, one of the Bene-Jehoram. 
1 Chron. 8 : 27. 

Jar'ha, the Egyptian servant of She- 
shan, about the time of Eli, to whom his 
master ga ve his daughter and heir in mar- 
riage. 1 Chron. 2:34, 35. (B.C. before 
1491.) 

Ja'rib (adversary). 1. Named in the 
list of 1 Chron. 4 : 24 only, as a son of 
Simeon. Perhaps the same as Jachin. 
Gen. 46; Ex. 6; Num. 26. 

2. One of the " chief men" who accom- 
panied Ezra on his journey from Babylon 
to Jerusalem. Ezra 8 : 16. (B.C. 459.) 

3. A priest of the house of Jeshua the 
son of Jozadak, who had married a for- 
eign wife, and was compelled by Ezra to 
put her away. Ezra 10:18. (B.C. 459.) 

4. 1 Mace. 14 : 29. A contraction or 
corruption of the name Joarib. ch. 2 : 1. 

Jar'imoth (heights). 1 Esd. 9 : 28. 
[Jeremoth.] 

Jar'muth (high). 1. A town in the 
low country of Judah. Josh. 15 : 35. Its 
king, Piram, was one of the five who 
consjoired to punish Gibeon for having 
made alliance with Israel, Josh. 10 : 3, 5, 
and who were routed at Beth-horon and 
put to death by Joshua at Makkedah. 
ver. 33. Its site is probably the modern 
Yarmuk. 

2. A city of Issachar, allotted with its 
suburbs to the Gershonite Levites. Josh. 
21 : 29. 

Jaro'ah (moon), a chief man of the 
tribe of Gad. 1 Chron. 5 : 14. 



JAS 



JEB 



Ja'shen (sleeping). Bene-Jashen — 
" sons of Jashen ,; — are named in the cat- 
alogue of the heroes of David's guard in 
2 Sam. 23 : 32. (B.C. 1046.) 

Ja'sher (upright), Book of ( " the book 
of the upright"), alluded to in two passages 
only of the Old Testament. Josh. 10 : 13 
and 2 Sam. 1 : 18. It was probably writ- 
ten in verse ; and it has been conjectured 
that it was a collection of ancient records 
of honored men or noble deeds. It is 
wholly lost. 

Jasho'be-am (to whom the people 
turn), named first among the chief of the 
mighty men of David. 1 Chron. 11 : 11. 
(B.C. 1046.) He came to David at Zik- 
lag. His distinguishing exploit was that 
he slew 300 (or bOO, 2 Sam. 23 : 8) men at 
one time. 

Ja'shub (he tmms). 1. The third son 
of Issachar, and founder of the family 
of the Jashubites. Num. 26 : 24; 1 Chron. 
7 : 1. (B.C. 1706.) 

2. One of the sons of Bani, who had to 
put away his foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 29. 
(B.C. 459.) 

Jash/ubi-le'hem (turner back for 
food), a person or a place named among 
the descendants of Shelah, the son of 
Judah by Bath-shua the Canaanitess. 1 
Chron. 4 : 22. 

Ja'si-el (whom God made), the last 
named on the list of David's heroes in 1 
Chron. 11 : 47. 

Ja'son (one who will heal), called the 
Thessalonian, entertained Paul and Silas, 
and was in consequence attacked by the 
Jewish mob. Acts 17 : 5, 6, 7, 9. (A.D. j 
48.) He is probably the same as the Ja- j 
son mentioned in Rom. 16 : 21. It is con- j 
jectured that Jason and Secundus, Acts i 
20 : 4, were the same. 

Jasper, a precious stone frequently j 
noticed in Scripture. It was the last of j 
the twelve inserted in the high priest's j 
breastplate, Ex. 28 : 20 ; 39 : 13, and the 
first of the twelve used in the foundations | 
of the new Jerusalem. Rev. 21 : 19. The j 
characteristics of the stone as far as they 
are specified in Scripture, Rev. 21 : 11, 
are that it " was most precious," and ; 
" like crystal ;" we may also infer from 
Rev. 4 : 3 that it was a stone of brilliant 
and transparent light. The stone which 
we name "jasper" does not accord with 
this description. There can be no doubt 
that the diamond would more adequately 
answer to the description in the book of 
Revelation. 

Jath/ni-el (whom God gives), a Kor- 



hite Levite, the fourth of the family of Me- 
shelemiah. 1 Chron. 26 : 2. (B.C. 1014.) 

Jat/tir (pre-eminent), a town of Judah 
in the mountain districts, Josh. 15 : 48, 
one of the group containing Socho, Esh- 
temoa, etc. See also Josh. 21 : 14; 1 Sam. 
30 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 57. By Robinson it 
is identified with 'Attir, six miles north 
of Molada and ten miles south of He- 
bron. 

Ja'van (clay). 1. A son of Japheth. 
Gen. 10 : 2, 4. Javan was regarded as 
the representative of the Greek race. 
The name was probably introduced into 
Asia by the Phoenicians, to whom the 
Ionians were naturally better known than 
any other of the Hellenic races, on ac- 
count of their commercial activity and 
the high prosperity of their towns on the 
western coast of Asia Minor. 

2. A town in the southern part of Ara- 
bia (Yemen), whither the Phoenicians 
traded. Ezek. 27 : 19. 

Javelin. [Arms.] 

Ja'zer (Jehovah helps). [Jaazer.] 

Ja'ziz (whom God moves), a Hagarite 
who had charge of the flocks of King 
David. 1 Chron. 27 : 31. (B.C. 1046.) 

Je'arim (forests), Mount, a place 
named in specifying the northern bound- 
ary of Judah. Josh. 15 : 10. The boundary 
ran from Mount Seir to "the shoulder of 
Mount Jearim, which is Cesalon" — that 
is, Cesalon was the landmark on the 
mountain. Kesla, seven miles due west 
of Jerusalem, stands on a high point on 
the north slope of a lofty ridge, which is 
probably Mount Jearim. 

Je-at'era-i (whom Jehovah leads), a 
Gershonite Levite, son of Zerah. 1 Chron. 
6 : 21. 

Jeberechi'ah (whom Jehovah blesses), 
father of a certain Zechariah, in the reign 
of Ahaz, mentioned Isa. 8 : 2. (B.C. about 
739.) 

Je'buS (threshing-floor), one of the 
names of Jerusalem, the city of the Jeb- 
usites, also called Jebusi. Josh. 15:8; 
18 : 16, 28 ; Judges 19 : 10, 11 ; 1 Chron. 
11 : 4, 5. [Jerusalem.] 

Jebu'si (from Jebus), the name em- 
ployed for the city of Jebus. Josh. 15 : 
8; 18:16, 28. 

Jeb'usites (descendants of Jebus), 
The, were descended from the third son 
of Canaan. Gen. 10 : 16 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 14. 
The actual people first appear in the in- 
valuable report of the spies. Num. 13 : 29. 
When Jabin organized his rising against 
Joshua, the Jebusites joined him. Josh. 

279 



JEC 



JEH 



11:3. "Jebus, which is Jerusalem," 
lost its king in the slaughter of Beth- 
horon, Josh. 10 : 1, 5, 26 ; comp. 12 : 10, 
was sacked and burned by the men of 
Judah, Judges 1 : 21, and its citadel final- 
ly scaled and occupied by David. 2 Sam. 
5 : 6. After this they emerge from the 
darkness but once, in the person of 
Araunah the Jebusite, "Araunah the 
king," who appears before us in true 
kingly dignity in his well-known trans- 
action with David. 2 Sam. 24 : 23 ; 1 
Chron. 21 : 24, 25. 

Jecami'ah (whom Jehovah gathers), 
one of seven who were introduced into 
the royal line, on the failure of it in the 
person of Jehoiachin. 1 Chron. 3 : 18. 

Jecholi'ah {strong through Jehovah), 
wife of Amaziah king of Judah, and 
mother of Azariah or Uzziah his succes- 
sor. 2 Kings 15 : 2. (B.C. 824-807.) 

Jeconi'as, the Greek form of Jeconi- 
ah, an altered form of Jehoiachin. [Je- 
hoiachin.] 

Jecoli'ah. The same as Jecholiah. 
2 Chron. 26 : 3. 

Jeconi'ah (whom Jehovah establi 
[See Jehoiachin.] 

Jedai'ah ( praise Jehovah). 1. Head 
of the second course of priests, as they 
were divided in the time of David. 1 j 
Chron. 24 : 7. (B.C. 1014.) Some of them | 
survived to return to J erusalem after the j 
Babylonish captivitv, as appears from 
Ezra 2 : 36 ; Neh. 7 :39. 

2. A priest in the time of Jeshua the 
high priest. Zech. 6 : 10, 14. (B.C. 536.) 

Jeda'iah. 1. A Simeonite, forefather 
of Ziza. 1 Chron. 4 : 37. 

2. Son of Harumaph ; a man who did 
his part in the rebuilding of the wall of 
Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 10. (B.C. 446.) 

Jedi'a-el (known of God). 1. A chief 
patriarch of the tribe of Benjamin. 1 
Chron. 7 : 6, 11. It is usually assumed 
that Jediael is the same as Ashbel, Gen. 
46 : 21 ; Num. 26 : 38 ; 1 Chron. 8:1; but j 
this is not certain. 

2. Second son of Meshelemiah, a Le- 
vite. 1 Chron. 26 : 1, 2. 

3. Son of Shimri ; one of the heroes of I 
David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 45. (B.C. ' 
1046.) 

4. One of the chiefs of the thousands 
of Manasseh who joined David on his 
march to Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 20 ; comp. 
1 Sam. 30 : 9, 10. (B.C. 1053.) 

Jed'idah (one beloved), queen of 
Amon and mother of the good king Jo- 
siah. 2 Kings 22 : 1. (B.C. 648.) 
280 



Jedidi'ah (beloved of Jehovah) 9 Je- 
did-jah (darling of Jehovah), the name 
bestowed, through Nathan the prophet, 
on David's son Solomon. 2 Sam. 12 : 25. 

Jed'uthun (praising), & Levite of the 
family of Merarj, is probably the same as 
Ethau. Comp. 1 Chron. 15 : 17, 19 with 1 
Chron. 16 : 41, 42 ; 25 : 1, 3, 6 ; 2 Chron. 
35 : 15. His ofiice was generally to pre- 
side over the music of the temple service. 
Jeduthun's name stands at the head of 
the 39th, 62d and 77th Psalms, indicating 
probably that they were to be sung by his 
choir. (B.C. 1014.) 

Je-e'zer (father of help), Num. 26 : 
30, the name of a descendant of Manasseh 
and founder of the family of the Jeezer- 
ites. In parallel lists the name is given 
as Abi-ezer. 

Je'gar-sahadu'tha (heap of testi- 
mony), the Aramaean name given by La- 
ban the Syrian to the heap of stones 
which he erected as a memorial of the 
compact between Jacob and himself. Gen. 
31 : 47. Galeed, a " witness heap," which 
is given as the Hebrew equivalent, does 
not exactly represent Jegar-sahadutha. 

Jehal'ele-el (who praises God). Four 
men of the Bene-Jehaleleel are introduced 
abruptly into the genealogies of Judah. 

1 Chron. 4 : 16. 

Jehal'elel (who praises God), a Merar- 
ite Levite, father of Azariah. 2 Chron. 
29 : 12. 

Jehde'iah (tvhom Jehovah makes 
glad). 1. The representative of the Bene- 
Shubael, in the time of David. 1 Chron. 
24 : 20. 

2. A Meronothite who had charge of 
the she-asses of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 30. 
(B.C. 1046.) 

Jehez'ekel (whom God makes strong), 
a priest to whom was given by David the 
charge of the twentieth of the twenty-four 
courses in the service of the house of Je- 
hovah. 1 Chron. 24 : 16. (B.C. 1014.) 

Jehi'ah (Jehovah lives), "doorkeeper 
for the ark" at the time of its establish- 
ment in Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 15 : 24. 
(B.C. 1043.) 

Jehi'el (God lives). 1. One of the Le- 
vites appointed by David to assist in the 
service of the house of God. 1 Chron. 15 : 
18, 20; 16 : 5.. 

2. One of the sons of Jehoshaphat king 
of Judah, put to death by his brother Je- 
horam. 2 Chron. 21 : 2, 4. (B.C. 887.) 

3. One of the rulers of the house of 
God at the time of the reforms of Josiah. 

2 Chron. 35 : 8. (B.C. 623.) 



JEH 



J EH 



4. A Gershonite Levite, 1 Chron. 23 : 8, 
who had charge of the treasures, ch. 
29:8. 

5. A son of Hachmoni named in the 
list of David's officers, 1 Chron. 27 : 32, 
as "with the king's sons," whatever that 
may mean. 

6. A Levite who took part in the res- 
torations of King Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 
29 : 14. (B.C. 726.) 

7. Another Levite at the same period. 
2 Chron. 31 : 13. 

8. Father of Obadiah, of the Bene-Joab. 
Ezra 8 : 9. (B.C. before 459.) 

9. One of the Bene-Elam, father of 
Shechaniah. Ezra 10 : 2. 

10. A member of the same family, who 
himself had to part with his wife. Ezra 
10 : 26. 

11. A priest, one of the Bene-Harim, 
who also nad to put away his foreign wife. 
Ezra 10 : 21. (B.C. 459.) 

Jehi'el {treasured of God), a perfectly 
distinct name from the last. 1. A man 
described as father of Gibeon; a fore- 
father of King Saul. 1 Chron. 9 : 35. 

2. One of the sons of Hotham the Aro- 
erite; a member of David's guard. 1 
Chron. 11 : 44. (B.C. 1046.) 

Jehi'eli (a Jehielite), according to the 
Authorized Version a Gershonite Levite 
of the family of Laadan. 1 Chron. 26 : 
21, 22. 

Jehizki/ah {Jehovah strengthens), son 
of Shallum, one of the heads of the tribe 
of Ephraim in the time of Ahaz. 2 Chron. 
28 : 12 ; comp. 8, 13, 15. (B.C. 738.) 

Jeho'adah {whom Jehovah adorns), 
one of the descendants of Saul. 1 Chron. 
8:36. 

J eho-ad' dan {whom Jehovah adorns), 
queen to King Joash, and mother of 
Amaziah of Judah. 2 Kings 14 : 2 ; 2 
Chron. 25 : 1. (B.C. 862-837.) 

Jeho'ahaz {whom the Lord sustains). 
1. The son and successor of Jehu, reigned 
17 years* B.C. 856-840, over Israel in Sa- 
maria. His inglorious histoiy is given 
in 2 Kings 13 : 1-9. Throughout his 
reign, ver. 22, he was kept in subjection 
by Hazael king of Damascus. Jehoahaz 
maintained the idolatry of Jeroboam; 
but in the extremity of his humiliation 
he besought Jehovah, and Jehovah gave 
Israel a deliverer — probably either Jeho- 
ash, vs. 23 and 25, or Jeroboam II., 2 
Kings 14 : 24, 25. 

2. Jehoahaz, otherwise called Shallum, 
son of Josiah, w T hom he succeeded as king 
of Judah. He was chosen by the people 



in preference to his elder (comp. 2 Kings 
23 : 31 and 36) brother, B.C. 610, and he 
reigned three months in Jerusalem. 
Pharaoh-necho sent to Jerusalem to de- 

! pose him and to fetch him to Riblah. 

i There he was cast into chains, and from 

| thence he was taken into Egypt, where 

; he died. 

3. The name given, 2 Chron. 21 : 17, to 
j Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram 
! king of Judah. 

Jeho'ash {given by the Lord), the un- 
contracted form of Joash. 1. The eighth 
! king of Judah ; son of Ahaziah. 2 Kings 
11 : 21 ; 12 : 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 18 ; 14 : 13. [Jo- 
ash, 1.] 

2. The twelfth kins: of Israel ; son of 
Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 13:10, 25; 14:8,9, 
11, 13, 15, 16, 17. [Joash, 2.] 

Jeho'hanaii {whom Jehovah gave), a 
name of which John is the contraction. 

I. A Korhite Levite, one of the door- 
keepers to the tabernacle. 1 Chron. 26 : 3 ; 
comp. 25:1. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. One of the principal men of Judah 
under King Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 17 : 
15; comp. 13 and 19. (B.C. 910.) 

3. Father of Ishmael, one of the " cap- 
tains of hundreds" whom Jehoiada the 
priest took into his confidence about the 
restoration of the line of Judah. 2 Chron. 
23 : 1. (B.C. 910.) 

4. One of the Bene-Bebai who was 
forced to put away his foreign wife. Ezra 
10 : 28. (B.C. 459.) 

5. A priest, Neh. 12 : 13, during the 
high priesthood of Joiakim. ver. 12. (B. 
C. 406.) 

6. A priest who took part in the dedi- 
cation of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 
12:42. (B.C. 446.) 

Jeho-i'achin {whom, Jehovah has ap- 
pointed,), son of Jehoiakim, and for three 
months and ten days king of Judah. (b. 
O. 597.) At his accession Jerusalem was 
quite defenceless, and unable to offer any 
resistance to the army which Nebuchad- 
nezzar sent to besiege it. 2 Kings 24 : 10, 

II. In a very short time Jehoiachin sur- 
rendered at discretion ; and he, and the 
queen-mother, and all his servants, cap- 
tains and officers, came out and gave 
themselves up to Nebuchadnezzar, who 
carried them, with the harem and the 
eunuchs, to Babylon. Jer. 29 : 2 ; Ezek. 
17 : 12 ; 19 : 9. There he remained a pris- 
oner, actually in prison and wearing pris- 
on garments, for thirty-six years, viz., till 
the death of Nebuchadnezzar, when Evil* 
merodach, succeeding to the throne of 

281 



JEH 



JEH 



Babylon, brought him out of prison, and 
made him sit at his own table. The time 
of his death is uncertain. 

Jeho-i'ada {Jehovah knows). 1. Fa- 
ther of Benaiah, David's well-known 
warrior. 2 Sam. 8 : 18; 1 Kings 1 and 2 
passim; 1 Chron. 18 : 17, etc. (B.C. be- 
fore 1046.) 

2. Leader of the Aaronites, i. e. the 
priests ; who joined David at Hebron. 1 
Chron. 12 : 27. (B.C. 1053-46.) 

3. According to 1 Chron. 27 : 34, son of 
Benaiah ; but in all probability Benaiah 
the son of Jehoinda is meant. Probably 
an error in copying. 1 Chron. 18 : 17 ; 2 
Sam. 8 : 18. 

4. Kigh priest at the time of Athaliah's 
usurpation of the throne of Judah, B.C. 
884-878, and during the greater portion 
of the forty-years reign of Joash. He 
married Jehosheba ; and when Athaliah 
slew all the seed royal of Judah after 
Ahaziah had been put to death by Jehu, 
he and his wife stole Joash from among 
the king's sons and hid him for six years 
in the temple, and eventually replaced 
him on the throne of his ancestors. 
[Athaliah.] The destruction of Baal- 
worship and the restoration of the temple 
were among the great works effected by 
Jehoiada. He died B.C. 834. 

5. Second priest, or sagan, to Serai ah 
the high priest. Jer. 29 : 25-29 ; 2 Kmgs 
25 : 18. 

6. Son of Paseach, who assisted to re- 
pair the old gate of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 6. 

Jeho-i'akim {whom Jehovah setsup)., 
called Eliakim, son of Josiah and king 
of Judah. After deposing Jehoahaz, 
Pharaoh-necho set Eliakim, his elder 
brother, upon the throne, and changed 
his name to Jehoiakim, B.C. 608-597. 
For four years Jehoiakim was subject to 
Egypt, when Nebuchadnezzar, after a 
short siege, entered Jerusalem, took the 
king prisoner, bound him in fetters to 
carry him to Babylon, and took also some 
of the precious vessels of the temple and 
carried them to the land of Shinar. Je- 
hoiakim became tributary to Nebuchad- 
nezzar after his invasion of Judah, and 
continued so for three years, but at the 
end of that time broke his oath of alle- 
giance and rebelled against him. 2 Kings 
24 : 1. Nebuchadnezzar sent against him 
numerous bands of Chaldeans, with Syr- 
ians, Moabites and Ammonites, 2 Kings 
24 : 7, and w r ho cruelly harassed the whole 
country. Either in an engagement with 
some of these forces or else by the hand 
282 



of his own oppressed subjects Jehoiakim 
came to a violent end in the eleventh 
year of his reign. His body was cast out 
ignominiously on the ground, and then 
was dragged away and buried "with the 

| burial of an ass," without pomp or lamen- 
tation, "beyond the gates of Jerusalem." 

j Jer. 22 : 18, 19 ; 36 : 30. All the accounts 
we have of Jehoiakim concur in ascrib- 
ing to him a vicious and irreligious char- 
acter. 2 Kings 23 : 37 ; 24 : 9 ; 2 Chron. 
36 : 5. The reign of Jehoiakim extends 
from B.C. 609 to B.C. 598, or, as some reck- 
on, 599. 

Jeho=»i'arib {tvhom Jehovah defends), 
head of the first of the twenty-four courses 
of priests. 1 Chron. 24:7. 

Jehon'adab {ivhom Jehovah impels) 
and Jon'adab, the son of Rechab, 
founder of the Rechabites, an Arab 
chief. When Jehu was advancing, after 
the slaughter of Betheked, on the city of 
Samaria, he was suddenly met by Jehon- 
adab, who joined with him in "slaying 
all that remained unto Ahab." 2 Kings 
10 : 15-17. 

Jehon'athan {whom Jehovah gave). 
1. Son of Uzziah ; superintendent of cer- 
tain of King David's storehouses. 1 
Chron. 27 : 25. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. One of the Levites who were sent by 
Jehoshaphat through the cities of Judah, 
with a book of the law, to teach the peo- 
ple. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. (B.C. 910.) 

3. A priest, Neh. 12 : 18, the represent- 
ative of the family of Shemaiah, ver. 6, 
when Joiakim was high priest. (B.C. 
after 536.) 

Jeho'ram {whom Jehovah has ex- 
alted). 1. Son of Ahab king of Israel, 
who succeeded his brother Ahaziah B.C. 
896, and died B.C. 884. The alliance be- 
tween the kingdoms of Israel and .ludah, 
commenced by his father and Jehosha- 
phat, was very close throughout his reign. 
We first find him associated with Je- 
hoshaphat and the king of Edom in a 
war against the Moabites. The three 
armies were in the utmost danger of 
perishing for want of water. The piety 
of Jehoshaphat suggested an inquiry of 
Jehovah, through Elisha. After reprov- 
ing Jehoram, Elisha, for Jehoshaphat's 
sake, inquired of Jehovah, and received 
the promise of an abundant supply of 
water, and of a great victory over the 
Moabites ; a promise which was imme- 
diately fulfilled. The allies pursued 
them with great slaughter into their own 
land, which they utterly ravaged and 



JEH 



JEH 



destroyed most of its cities. Kirharaseth 
alone remained, and there the king of 
Moab made his last stand. An attempt 
to break through the besieging army 
having failed, he resorted to the desperate 
expedient of offering up his eldest son, as 
a burnt offering, upon the wall of the 
city, in the sight of the enemy. Upon 
this the Israelites retired and returned to 
their own land. 2 Kings 3. A little later, 
when war broke out between Syria and 
Israel, we find Elisha befriending Jeho- 
ram ; but when the terrible famine in 
Samaria arose, the king immediately at- 
tributed the evil to Elisha, and deter- 
mined to take away his life. The provi- 
dential interposition by which both Eli- 
sha's life was saved and the city delivered 
is narrated 2 Kings 7, and Jehoram ap- 
pears to have returned to friendly feeling 
toward Elisha. 2 Kings 8:4. It was 
soon after these events that the revolu- 
tion in Syria predicted by Elisha took 
place, giving Jehoram a good opportun- 
ity of recovering Ramoth-gilead from the 
Syrians. He accordingly made an alli- 
ance with his nephew Ahaziah, who had 
just succeeded Jorani on the throne of 
Judah, and the two kings proceeded to 
occupy Ramoth-gilead by force. The 
expedition was an unfortunate one. Je- 
horam was wounded in battle, and obliged 
to return to Jezreel to be healed of his 
wounds. 2 Kings 8 : 29 ; 9 : 14, 15. Jehu 
and the army under his command re- 
volted from their allegiance to Jehoram, 
2 Kings 9, and hastily marching to Jez- 
reel, surprised Jehoram, wounded and 
defenceless as he was. Jehoram, going 
out to meet him, fell pierced by an arrow 
from Jehu's bow on the very plot of 
ground which Ahab had wrested from 
Naboth the Jezreelite ; thus fulfilling to 
the letter the prophecy of Elijah. 1 Kings 
21 : 29. With the life of Jehoram ended 
the dynasty of Omri. 

2. Eldest son of Jehoshaphat, succeeded 
his father on the throne of Judah at the 
age of 32, and reigned eight years, from 
B.C. 893-2 to 885^. As soon as he was 
fixed on the throne, he put his six broth- 
ers to death, with many of the chief nobles 
of the land. He then, probably at the 
instance of his wife Athaliah the daugh- 
ter of Ahab, proceeded to establish the 
worship of Baal. A prophetic writing I 
from the aged prophet Elijah, 2 Chron. 
21 : 12, failed to produce any good effect ! 
upon him. The remainder of his reign . 
was a series of calamities. First the ! 



! Edomites, who had been tributary to Je- 
hoshaphat, revolted from his dominion 
and established their permanent inde- 
pendence. Next Libnah, 2 Kings 19 : 8, 
rebelled against him. Then followed in- 
vasion by armed bands of Philistines and 
of Arabians, who stormed the king's pal- 
j ace, put his wives and all his children, 
! except his youngest son Ahaziah, to death, 
j 2 Chron. 22 : 1, or carried them into cap- 
tivity, and plundered all his treasures. 
He died of a terrible disease. 2 Chron. 
21 : 19, 20. 

Jehoshat>'e=ath {whose oath is Jeho- 
vah). 2 Chron. 22:11. [See Jehosh- 

EBA.] 

Jehosh'aphat (whom Jehovah 
judges). 1. King of Judah, son of Asa, 
succeeded to the throne B.C. 914, when 
he was 35 years old, and reigned 25 years. 
His history is to be found among the 
events recorded in 1 Kings 15:24; 2 
Kings 8 : 16, or in a continuous narrative 
in 2 Chron. 17 : 1-21 : 3. He was con- 
temporary with Ahab, Ahaziah and Je- 
horam. He was one of the best, most 
pious and prosperous kings of Judah, 
the greatest since Solomon. At firs;, he 
strengthened himself against Israel ; but 
soon afterward the two Hebrew kings 
formed an alliance. In his own kingdom 
Jehoshaphat ever showed himself a zeal- 
ous follower of the commandments of 
God : he tried to put down the high 
places and groves in which the people of 
Judah burnt incense, and sent the wisest 
Levites through the cities and towns to 
instruct the people in true morality and 
religion. Riches and honors increased 
around him. He received tribute from 
the Philistines and Arabians, and kept 
up a large standing army in Jerusalem. 
It was probably about the 16th year of 
his reign, B.C. 898, when he became 
Ahab's ally in the great battle of Ramoth- 
gilead, for which he was severelv reproved 
by Jehu. 2 Chron. 19 : 2. He built at 
Ezion-geber, with the help of Ahaziah, a 
navy designed to go to Tarshish ; but it 
was wrecked at Ezion-geber. Before the 
close of his reign he was engaged in two 
additional wars. He was miraculously 
delivered from a threatened attack of the 
people of Amnion, Moab and Seir. After 
this, perhaps, must be dated the war 
which Jehoshaphat, in conjunction with 
Jehoram king of Israel and the king of 
Edom, carried on against the rebellious 
king of Moab. 2 Kings 3. In his de- 
clining years the administration of affairs 
283 



J EH 



JEH 



was placed, probably B.C. 891, in tbe 
hands of his son Jehoram. 

2. Son of Ahilud, who filled the office 
of recorder or annalist in the courts of 
David, 2 Sam. 8 : 16, etc., and Solomon. 
1 Kings 4 : 3. 

3. One of the priests in David's time. 
1 Chron. 15 : 24. 

4. Son of Paruah ; one of the twelve 
purveyors of King Solomon. 1 Kings 4 : 
17. 

5. Son of Nimshi and father of King 
Jehu. 2 Kings 9 : 2, 14. 

Jehosh'aphat, VaHey of {valley of 
the judgment of Jehovah), a valley men- 
tioned by Joel only, as the spot in which, 
after the return of Judah and Jerusalem 
from captivity, Jehovah would gather all 
the heathen, Joel 3 : 2, and would there 
sit to judge them for their misdeeds to 
Israel, ch. 3 : 12. The scene of " Jeho- 
vah's judgment" has been localized, and 
the name has come down to us attached 
to that deep ravine which separates Je- 
rusalem from the Mount of Olives, 
through which at one time the Kedron 
forced its stream. At what period the 
name " valley of Jehoshaphat" was first 
applied to this spot is unknown. It is 
not mentioned in the Bible or Josephus, 
but is first encountered in the middle of 
the fourth century. Both Moslems and 
Jews b3lieve that the last judgment is to 
take place there. The steep sides of the 
ravine, wherever a level strip affords 
the opportunity, are crowded — in places 
almost paved — by the sepulchres of the 
Moslems, or the simpler slabs of the Jew- 
ish tombs, alike awaiting the assembly 
of the last judgment. The name is gen- 
erally confined by travellers to the upper 
part of the glen. (Others suppose that 
the name is only an imaginary one, " the 
valley of the judgment of Jehovah " re- 
ferring to some great victories of God's 
people in which j udgment was executed 
upon the heathen ; or perhaps, as Keil, 
etc., to the end of the world. — Ed.) 

Jehosh'eba (Jehovah's oath), daugh- 
ter of Joram king of Israel, and wife of 
Jehoiada the high priest. 2 Kings 11:2. 
Her name in the Chronicles is given 
Jehoshabeath. (b.c. 882.) As she 
is called, 2 Kings 11 : 2, "the daughter 
of Joram, sister of Ahaziah," it has been 
conjectured that she was the daughter, 
not of Athaliah, but of Joram by another 
wife. She is the only recorded instance 
of the marriage of a princess of the royal 
house with a high priest. 
284 



Jehosh/ua (tvhose help is Jehovah; 
help of Jehovah or saviour). In this 
form is given the name of Joshua in 
Num. 13 : 16. Once more only the name 
appears, — as 

Jehosh'uah, in the genealogy of 
Ephraim. 1 Chron. 7 : 27. 

Jeho'vah (/ am; the eternal living 
one). The Scripture appellation of the 
supreme Being, usually interpreted as 
signifying self-derived and permanent ex- 
istence. The Jews scrupulously avoided 
every mention of this name of God, sub- 
stituting in its stead one or other of the 
words with whose proper vowel-points it 
may happen to be written. This custom, 
which had its origin in reverence, was 
founded upon an erroneous rendering of 
Lev. 24 : 16, from which it was inferred 
that the mere utterance of the name con- 
stituted a capital offence. According to 
Jewish tradition, it was pronounced but 
once a year, by the high priest on the day 
of atonement when he entered the holy 
of holies ; but on this point there is some 
doubt. When Moses received his com- 
mission to be the deliverer of Israel, the 
Almighty, who appeared in the burning 
bush, communicated to him the name 
which he should give as the credentials 
of his mission : " And God said unto 

Moses, I am that I am JTnK n.TJR 

(ehyeh asher ehyeh) ; and he said, Thus 
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
I am hath sent me unto you." That this 
passage is intended to indicate the ety- 
mology of Jehovah, as understood by the 
Hebrews, no one has ventured to doubt. 
While Elohim exhibits God displayed in 
his power as the creator and governor of 
the physical universe, the name Jehovah 
designates his nature as he stands in re- 
lation to man, as the only almighty, true, 
personal, holy Being, a spirit and " the 
father of spirits," Num 16:22; comp. 
John 4 : 24, who revealed himself to his 
people, made a covenant with them, and 
became their lawgiver, and to whom all 
honor and worship are due. 

Jeho'vah-ji'reh (Jehovah will see or 
provide), the name given by Abraham 
to the place on which he had been com- 
manded to offer Isaac, to commemorate 
the interposition of the angel of Jeho- 
vah, who appeared to prevent the sacri- 
fice, Gen. 22 : 14, and provided another 
victim. 

Jeho'vah-nis'si (Jehovah my ban- 
ner), the name given by Moses to the 



JEH 



JEH 



altar which he built in commemoration 
of the discomfiture of the Amalekites. 
Ex. 17 : 15. 

Jeho'vah-sha'lom {Jehovah {is) 
peace), or, with an ellipsis, " Jehovah 
the God of peace." The altar erected by 
Gideon in Ophrah was so called in mem- 
ory of the salutation addressed to him by 
the angel of Jehovah, " Peace be unto i 
thee." Judges 6 : 24. 

Jehoz'afoad {whom Jehovah gave). 1. i 
A Korhite Levite, second son of Obed- 
edom, and one of the porters of the south 
gate of the temple and of the storehouse 
there in the time of David. 1 Chron. 26 : 
4, 15, compared with Neh. 12 : 25. (B.C. 
1014.) 

2. A Benjamite, captain of 180,000 
armed men, in the days of King Jehosh- 
aphat. 2 Chron. 17 : 18. (B.C. 910.) 

3. Son of Shomer or Shimrith, a Mo- 
abitish woman, who with another con- 
spired against King Joash and slew him 
in his bed. 2 Kings 12 : 21 ; 2 Chron. 24 : 
26. (B.C. 837.) 

Jehoz'adak {Jehovah justifies), usu- 
ally called Jozadak or Josedech. He 
was the son of the high priest Seraiah. 1 
Chron. 6 : 14, 15. When his father was 
slain at Biblah by order of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, 2 Kings 25 : 18, 21, Jehozadak 
was led away captive to Babylon. 1 
Chron. 6 : 15. (B.C. 588.) He himself 
never attained the high priesthood, but 
he was the father of Jeshua the high 
priest, and of all his successors till the 
pontificate of Alcimus. Ezra 3:2; Neh. 
12 : 26, etc. 

Je'hu {the living). 1. The founder of 
the fifth dynasty of the kingdom of Israel, 
son of Jehoshaphat. 2 Kings 9:2. He 
reigned over Israel 28 years, B.C. 884-856. 
His first appearance iu history is when he 
heard the warning of Elijah against the 
murderer of Naboth. 2 Kings 9 : 25. In 
the reigns of Ahaziah and Jehoram, 
J ehu rose to importance. He was, under 
the last-named king, captain of the host j 
in the siege of Ramoth-gilead. During | 
this siege he was anointed by Elisha's 
servant, and told that he was appointed 
to be king of Israel and destroyer of the 
house of Ahab. 2 Kings 9 : 12. The army 
at once ordained him king, and he set off 
full speed for Jezreel. Jehoram, who 
was lying ill in Jezreel, came out to meet 
him, as it happened on the fatal field of 
Naboth. 2 Kings 9 : 21-24. Jehu seized his 
opportunity, and shot him through the 
heart. 2 Kings 9 : 24. Jehu himself ad- 
286 



vanced to the gates of Jezreel and ful- 
filled the divine warning on Jezebel as 
already on Jehoram. He then entered 
on a work of extermination hitherto un- 
paralleled in the history of the Jewish 
monarchy. All the descendants of Ahab 
that remained in Jezreel, together with 
the officers of the court and the hierarchy 
of Astarte, were swept away. His next 
step was to secure Samaria. For the 
pretended purpose of inaugurating anew 
the worship of Baal, he called all the 
Baalites together at Samaria. The vast 
temple raised by Ahab, 1 Kings 16 : 32, 
was crowded from end to end. The chief 




The Black Obelisk, inscribed with the names 
of Jehu and Hazael. 

sacrifice was offered, as if in the excess 
of his zeal, by Jehu himself. As soon 
as it was ascertained that all, and none 
but, the idolaters were there, the signal 
was given to eighty trusted guards, and a 
sweeping massacre removed at one blow 
the whole heathen population of the 
kingdom of Israel. This is the last pub- 
lic act recorded of Jehu. The remaining 
twenty-seven years of his long reign are 
passed over in a few words, in which two 
points only are material : — He did not 
destroy the calf-worship of Jeroboam : — 
The transjordanic tribes suffered much 
from the ravages of Hazael. 2 Kinsrs 10 : 



JEH 



JEP 



29-33. He was buried in state in Sama- 
ria, and was succeeded by his son Jehoa- 
haz. 2 Kings 10 : 35. His name is the 
first of the Israelite kings which appears 
in the Assyrian monuments. 

2. Jehu son of Hanani ; a prophet of 
Judah, but whose ministrations were 
chiefly directed to Israel. His father 
was probably the seer who attacked Asa. 
2 Chron. 16 : 7. He must have begun his 
career as a prophet when very young. 
He first denounced Baasha, 1 Kings 16 : 
1, 7, and then, after an interval of thirty 
years, reappeared to denounce Jehosha- 
phat for his alliance with Ahab. 2 Chron. 
19 : 2, 3. He survived Jehoshaphat and 
wrote his life. ch. 20 : 34. 

3. A man of Judah of the house of 
Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 38. 

4. A Simeonite, son of Josibiah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 35. 

5. Jehu the Antothite was one of the 
chief of the heroes of Benjamin who 
joined David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 3. 

Jehufo'foah ( protected), a man of 
Asher, son of Shamer or Shorner, of the 
house of Beriah. 1 Chron. 7 : 34. (B.C. 
perhaps about 1450.) 

Je'hucal (able), son of Shelemiah ; 
one of two persons sent by King Zedekiah 
to Jeremiah to entreat his prayers and 
advice. Jer. 37 : 3. (B.C. 589.) 

Je'hud (praised), one of the towns of 
the tribe of Dan, Josh. 19 : 45, named 
between Baalath and Bene-berak. 

Jehu'di (a Jew), son of Nethaniah, a 
man employed by the princes of Jehoi- 
akim's court to fetch Baruch to read Jer- 
emiah's denunciation, Jer. 36 : 14, and 
then by the king to fetch the volume it- 
self and read it to him. vs. 21, 23. (B.C. 
605.) 

Jehudi'jah (the Jewess). There is 
really no such name in the Hebrew Bible 
as that which our Authorized Version ex- 
hibits at 1 Chron. 4 : 18. If it is a proper 
name at all, it is Ha-jehudijah, like Ham- 
melech, Hak-koz, etc. ; and it seems to be 
rather an appellative, " the Jewess." 

Je'hush (to whom God hastens), son 
of Eshek, a remote descendant of Saul. 
1 Chron. 8 : 39. 

Je-i'el (treasured of God). 1. A Reu- 
benite of the house of Joel. 1 Chron. 
5:7. 

2. A Merarite Levite, one of the gate- 
keepers to the sacred tent. 1 Chron. 15 : 
18. His duty was also to play the harp, 
ver. 21, or the psaltery and harp, 16 : 5, 
in the service before the ark. (B.C. 1043.) 



3. A Gershonite Levite, one of the 
Bene-Asaph, forefather of Jahaziel in 
the time of King Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 
20:14. (B.C. 910.) 

4. The scribe who kept the account of 
the numbers of King Uzziah's irregular 
predatory warriors. 2 Chron. 26 : 11. 
(B.C. 803.) 

5. A Gershonite Levite, one of the 
Bene-Elizaphan. 2 Chron. 29 : 13. 

6. One of the chiefs of the Levites in 
the time of Josiah. 2 Chron. 35 : 9. (B.C. 
623.) 

7. One of the Bene-Adonikam who 
formed part of the caravan of Ezra from 
Babylon to Jerusalem. Ezra 8 : 13. (B.C. 
459.) 

8. A layman of the Bene-Nebo, who 
had taken a foreign wife and had to re- 
linquish her. Ezra 10 : 43. (B.C. 459.) 

Jekab'ze-el (what God gathers), a 
fuller form of the name of Kabzeel, 
the most remote city of Judah on the 
southern frontier. Neh. 11 : 25. 

Jekame'am (who gathers the people 
together), a Levite in the time of King 
David ; fourth of the sons of Hebron, the 
son of Kohath. 1 Chron. 23 : 19 ; 24 : 23. 
(B.C. 1014.) 

Jekami'ah (whom Jehovah gathers), 
son of Shallum, in the line of Ahlai. 1 
Chron. 2 : 41. (B.C. about 588.) 

Jeku'thi^el, a man recorded in the 
genealogies of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 18. 

Jemi'ma (dove), the eldest of the 
three daughters born to Job after the 
restoration of his prosperity. Job 42 : 14. 

Jemu'el (day of God ), the eldest son 
of Simeon. Gen. 46 : 10 ; Ex. 6 : 15. (B.C. 
1706.) 

Jeph/thae (whom God sets free), Heb. 
11 : 32, the Greek form of the name 
Jephthah. 

Jeph'thah (zvhom God sets free), a 
judge about B.C. 1143-1137. His history 
is contained in Judges 11 : 1-12 : 8. He 
was a Gileadite, the son of Gilead and a 
concubine. Driven by the legitimate 
sons from his father's inheritance, he 
went to Tob and became the head of a 
company of freebooters in a debatable 
land probably belonging to Ammon. 2 
Sam. 10 : 6. (This land was Cast of the 
Jordan and southeast of Gilead, and bor- 
dered on the desert of Arabia. — Ed.) His 
fame as a bold and successful captain was 
carried back to his native Gilead ; and 
when the time was ripe for throwing off 
the yoke of Ammon, Jephthah consented 
to become the captain of the Gileadite 



JEP 



JER 



bands, on the condition, solemnly ratified 
before the Lord in Mizpeh, that in the 
event of his success against Amnion he 
should still remain as their acknowledged 
head. Vowing his vow unto God, Judges 
11 : 31, that he would oiler up as a burnt 
offering whatsoever should come out to 
meet him if successful, he went forth to 
battle. The Ammonites were routed 
with great slaughter; but as the con- 
queror returned to Mizpeh there came 
out to meet him his daughter, his only 
child, with timbrels and dancing. The 
father is heart-stricken ; but the maiden 
asks only for a respite of two months in 
which to prepare for death. When that 
time was ended she returned to her 
father, who " did with her according to 
his vow." The tribe of Ephraim chal- 
lenged Jephthah's right to go to war as 
he had done, without their concurrence, 
against Amnion. He first defeated them, 
then intercepted the fugitives at the fords 
of Jordan, and there put forty-two thou- 
sand men to the sword. He judged Israel 
six years, and died. It is generally conjec- 
tured that his jurisdiction was limited to 
the transjordanic region. That the daugh- 
ter of Jephthah was really offered up to 
God in sacrifice is a conclusion which it 
seems impossible to avoid. (But there is 
no word of approval, as if such a sacrifice 
was acceptable to God. Josephus well 
says that " the sacrifice was neither sanc- 
tioned by the Mosaic ritual nor accept- 
able to God." The vow and the fulfill- 
ment were the mistaken conceptions of a 
rude chieftain, not acts pleasing to God. 
—Ed.) 

Jephun'neh (for whom a way is pre- 
pared ). 1. Father of Caleb the spy, ap- 
pears to have belonged to an Edomitish 
tribe called Kenezites, from Kenaz their 
founder. See Num. 13:6, etc.; 32:12, 
etc. ; Josh. 14 : 14, etc. ; 1 Chron. 4 : 15. 
(B.C. 1530.) 

2. A descendant of Asher, eldest of the 
three sons of J ether. 1 Chron. 7 : 38. 
(B.C. 1017.) 

Je'rah (the moon), the fourth in order 
of the sons of Joktan, Gen. 10 : 26 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 20, and the progenitor of a tribe 
of southern Arabia. 

Jerah'me-el {mercy of God). 1. 
First-born son of Hezron, the son of Pha- 
rez, the son of Judah, 1 Chron. 2 : 9, 25- 
27, 33, 42, and founder of the family of 
Jerahmeelites. 1 Sam. 27 : 10. (B.C. be- 
fore 1491.) 

2. A Merarite Levite, the representa- 
288 



tive of the family of Kish, the son of 
Mahli. 1 Chron. 24:29; comp. 23:21. 
(B.C. 1014.) 

3. Son of Hammelech, who was em- 
ployed by Jehoiakim to make Jeremiah 
and Baruch prisoners, after he had burnt 
the roll of Jeremiah's prophecy. Jer. 36 : 
26. (B.C. 505.) 

Jerah'me-elites {descendants of Je- 
rahmeel ), The, the tribe descended from 
the first of the foregoing persons. 1 Sam. 
27 : 10. They dwelt in the south of Ju- 
dah. 

Je'red (descent). 1. Son of Mahala- 
leel and father of Enoch. 1 Chron. 1 : 2. 

2. One of the descendants of Judah 
signalized as the "father" — i. e. the 
founder— " of Gedor." 1 Chron. 4 : 18. 

Jer'eraa-i (dwelling in heights), a 
layman, one of the Bene-Hashum, who 
was compelled by Ezra to put away his 
foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 33. (B.C. 459.) 

Jeremi'ah (whom Jehovah has ap- 
pointed) was "the son of Hilkiah of 
the priests that were in Anathoth." Jer. 
1 : 1. 

1. History. — He was called very young 
(B.C. 626) to the prophetic office, and 
prophesied forty -two years ; but we have 
hardly any mention of him during the 
eighteen years between his call and Jo- 
siah's death, or during the short reign of 
Jehoahaz. During the reigns of Jehoia- 
kim and Jehoiachin, B.C. 607-598, he op- 
posed the Egyptian party, then dominant 
in Jerusalem, and maintained that the 
only way of safety lay in accepting the 
supremacy of the Chaldeans. He was 
accordingly accused of treachery, and 
men claiming to be prophets had their 
"word of Jehovah" to set against his. 
Jer. 14 : 13 ; 23 : 7. As the danger from 
the Chaldeans became more threatening, 
the persecution against Jeremiah grew 
hotter, ch. 18. The people sought his 
life ; then follows the scene in Jer. 19 : 
10-13. He was set, however, " as a 
fenced brazen wall," ch. 15 : 20, and went 
on with his work, reproving king and 
nobles and people. The danger which 
Jeremiah had so long foretold at last 
came near. First Jehoiakim, and after- 
wards his successor Jehoiachin, were car- 
ried into exile, 2 Kings 24; but Zede- 
kiah, B.C. 597-586, who was appointed 
by Nebuchadnezzar, was more friendly 
to the prophet, though powerless to help 
him. The approach of an Egyptian 
army, and the consequent departure of 
the Chaldeans, made the position of Jere- 



JER 



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miah full of danger, and he sought to 
effect his escape from the city; but he 
was seized and finally thrown into a 
prison-pit to die, but was rescued. On 
the return of the Chaldean army he 
showed his faith in God's promises, and 
sought to encourage the people by pur- 
chasing the field at Anathoth which his 
kinsman Hanameel wished to get rid of. 
Jer. 32 : 6-9. At last the blow came. 
The city was taken, the temple burnt. 
The king and his princes shared the fate 
of Jehoiachin. The prophet gave utter- 
ance to his .sorrow in the Lamentations. 
After the capture of Jerusalem, B.C. 586, 
by the Chaldeans, we find Jeremiah re- 
ceiving better treatment; but after the 
death of Gedaliah, the people, disregard- 
ing his warnings, took refuge in Egypt, 
carrying the prophet with them. In 
captivity his words were sharper and 
stronger than ever.. He did not shrink, 
even there, from speaking of the Chal- 
dean king once more as " the servant of 
Jehovah." Jer. 43 : 10. After this all is 
uncertain, but he probably died in 
Egypt. 

2. Character. — Canon Cook says of Jer- 
emiah, " His character is most interest- 
ing. We find him sensitive to a most 
painful degree, timid, shy, hopeless, de- 
sponding, constantly complaining and 
dissatisfied with the course of events, but 
never flinching from duty. . . . Timid 
in resolve, he was unflinching in execu- 
tion ; as fearless when he had to face the 
whole world as he was dispirited and 
prone to murmuring when alone with 
God. Judged by his own estimate of 
himself, he was feeble, and his mission a 
failure ; really, in the hour of action and 
when duty called him, he was in very 
truth ' a defenced city, and an iron pil- 
lar, and brazen walls against the whole 
land.' ch. 1 : 18. He was a noble ex- 
ample of the triumph of the moral over 
the physical nature." 

(It is not strange that he was despond- 
ing when we consider his circumstances. 
He saw the nation going straight to ir- 
remediable ruin, and turning a deaf ear to 
all warnings. " A reign of terror had com- 
menced (in the preceding reign), during 
which not only the prophets but all who 
were distinguished for religion and virtue 
were cruelly mm-dered." " The nation 
tried to extirpate the religion of Jeho- 
vah ;" " Idolatry was openly established," 
" and such was the universal dishonesty 
that no man trusted another, and society 
19 



I was utterly disorganized." How could 
one who saw the nation about to reap the 
awful harvest they had been sowing, and 

| yet had a vision of what they might have 

j been and might yet be, help indulging 
in " Lamentations " ? — Ed.) 

Jeremi'ah. Seven other persons bear- 
ing the same name as the prophet are 

i mentioned in the Old Testament: — 1. 
Jeremiah of Libnah, father of Hamutal 
wife of Josiah. 2 Kings 23 : 31. (B.C. 
before 632.) 

2, 3, 4. Three warriors — two of the tribe 
of Gad — in David's army. 1 Chrcn. 12 : 
4, 10, 13. (B.C. 1061-53.) 

5. One of the " mighty men of valor " 
of the transjordanic half-tribe of Manas- 

| seh. 1 Chron. 5 : 24. (B.C. 782.) 

6. A priest of high rank, head of the 
second or third of the twenty-one courses 

■ which are apparently enumerated in Neh. 
| 10 : 2-8 ; 12 : 1, 12. (B.C. 446-410.) 

7. The father of Jazaniah the Eeehab- 
j ite. Jer. 35 : 3. (B.C. before 606.) 

Jeremi'ah, Book of. " There can 
j be little doubt that the book of Jeremiah 
I grew out of the roll which Baruch wrote 
j down at the prophet's mouth in the fourth 
I year of Jehoiakim. ch. 36 : 2. Appar- 
ently the prophets kept written records 
i of their predictions, and collected into 
larger volumes such of them as were in- 
tended for permanent use." — Canon Cook. 

In the present order we have two great 
divisions: — I. Chs. 1-45. Prophecies de- 
livered at various times, directed mainly 
to Judah, or connected with Jeremiah's 
personal history. II. Chs. 46-51. Proph- 
j ecies connected with other nations. Look- 
ing more closely into each of these divis- 
ions, we have the following sections : 1. 
Chs. 1-21, including prophecies from the 
thirteenth year of josiah to the fourth 
of Jehoiakim ; ch. 21 belongs to the later 
period. 2. Chs. 22-25. Shorter prophecies, 
delivered at different times, against the 
kings of Judah and the false prophets. 
Ch. 25 : 13, 14 evidently marks the con- 
clusion of a series of prophecies ; and that 
\ which follows, ch. 25 : 15-38, the germ of 
! the fuller predictions in chs. 46-49, has 
been placed here as a kind of completion 
to the prophecy of the seventy years and 
1 the subsequent fall of Babylon. 3. Chs. 
26-28. The two great prophecies of the 
fall of Jerusalem, and the history con- 
] nected with them. 4. Chs. 29-31. The 
| message of comfort for the exiles in Bab- 
! ylon. 5. Chs. 32-44. The history of the 
last two years before the capture of Je- 
289 " 



JER 



JER 



rusalem, and of Jeremiah's work in them 
and in the period that followed. 6. Chs. 
46-51. The prophecies against foreign 
nations, ending with the great prediction 
against Babylon. 7. The supple- 
mentary narrative of ch. 52. 

Jeremi'as, the Greek form of 
the name of Jeremiah the prophet. 
Matt. 16 : 14. 

Jer'emoth {heights). 1. A Ben- 
jamite chief, a son of the house of 
Beriah of Elpaal. 1 Chron. 8 : 14 ; 
comp. 12 to 18. (B.C. about 588.) 

2. A Merarite Levite, son of 
Mushi. 1 Chron. 23 : 23. 

3. Son of Heman ; head of the 
thirteenth course of musicians in 
the divine service. 1 Chron. 25 : 
22. (B.C. 1014.) 

4. One of the sons of Elam, and, 

5. One of the sons of Zattu, who 
had taken strange wives. Ezra 10 : 
26, 27. (B.C. 459.) 

6. The name which appears in 
the same list as " and Ramoth," 
ver. 29. 

Jer'emy, the prophet Jere- 
miah. Matt, 2 : 17 ; 27 : 9. 

Jeri'ah, a Kohathite Levite, 
chief of the great house of Hebron when 
David organized the service. 1 Chron. 
23 : 19 ; 24 : 23. B.C. 1014. The same 
man is mentioned again as Jerijah. 1 
Chron. 26 : 31. 

Jer'iba-i {whom Jehovah defends), 
one of the Bene-Elnaan, named among 
the heroes of David's guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 
46. 

Jer'icho { place of fragrance) , a city 
of high antiquity, situated in a plain 
traversed by the Jordan, and exactly over 
against where that river was crossed by 
the Israelites under Joshua. Josh. 3 : 16. 
It was five miles west of the Jordan and 
seven miles northwest of the Dead Sea. 
It had a king. Its walls were so consider- 
able that houses were built upon them, 
ch. 2 : 15. The spoil that was found in 
it betokened its affluence. Jericho is 
first mentioned as the city to which the 
two spies were sent by Joshua from Shit- 
tim. Josh. 2 : 1-21. It was bestowed by 
him upon the tribe of Benjamin, ch. 18 : 
21, and from this time a long interval 
elapses before Jericho appears again upon 
the scene. Its second foundation under 
Hiel the Bethelite is recorded in 1 Kings 
16 : 34. Once rebuilt, Jericho rose again 
slowly into consequence. In its imme- 
diate vicinitv the sons of the prophets 
290 



sought retirement from the world ; Elisha 
" healed the spring of the waters ;" and 
over against it, beyond Jordan, Elijah 
" went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 




Jericho. 

2 Kings 2 : 1-22. In its plains Zedekiah 
fell into the hands of the Chaldeans. 2 
Kings 25 : 5 ; Jer. 39 : 5. In the return 
under Zerubbabel the " children of Jeri- 




Fountain of Elisha at Jericho. 

cho," 345 in number, are comprised. Ezra 
2 : 34 ; Neh. 7 : 36. Under Herod the 
Great it again became an important place. 
He fortified it and built a number of new 



JER 



JER 



palaces, which he named after his friends, j 
If he did not make Jericho his habitual 
residence, he at last retired thither to 
die, and it was in the amphitheatre of j 
Jericho that the news of his death was j 
announced to the assembled soldiers and 
people by Salome. Soon afterward the j 
palace was burnt and the town plundered 
by one Simon, slave to Herod ; but Arche- j 
laus rebuilt the former sumptuously, and j 
founded a new town on the plain, that 
bore his own name ; and, most important i 
of all, diverted water from a village ! 
called Nesera to irrigate the plain which 
he had planted with palms. Thus Jeri- | 
cho was once more "a city of palms'' 
when our Lord visited it. Here he re- | 
stored sight to the blind. Matt. 20 : 30 ; 
Mark 10 : 46 ; Luke 18 : 35. Here the 
descendant of Rahab did not disdain the 
hospitality of Zacchseus the publican. 
Finally, between Jerusalem and .Jericho 
was laid the scene of his story of the 
good Samaritan. The city was destroyed 
by Vespasian. The site of ancient (the 
first) Jericho is placed by Dr. Robinson 
in the immediate neighborhood of the 
fountain of Elisha ; and that of the 
second (the city of the New Testament 
and of Joseph us) at the opening of the 
Wady Kelt (Cherith), half an hour from 
the fountain. (The village identified 
with Jericho lies a mile and a half from 
the ancient site, and is called Hi ha. It 
contains probably 200 inhabitants, indo- 
lent and licentious, and about 40 houses. 
Dr. Olin says it is the " meanest and foul- 
est village of Palestine;" yet the soil of 
the plain is of unsurpassed fertility. — 
Ed.) 

Je'ri-el {people of God), a man of 
Issachar, one of the six heads of the house 
of Tola. 1 Chron. 7 : 2. 

Jeri'jah {people of Jehovah). [See 
Jeriah.] 

Jer'imoth {heights). 1. Son or de- 
scendant of Bela. 1 Chron. 7 : 7. He is 
perhaps the same as 

2. who joined David at Ziklag. 1 
Chron. 12 : 5. (B.C. 1055.) 

3. A son of Becher, 1 Chron. 7 : 8, and 
head of a Benjamite house. 

4. Son of Mushi, the son of Merari. 1 
Chron. 24: 30. 

5. Son of Heman, head of the fifteenth 
ward of musicians. 1 Chron. 25 : 4, 22. 
(B.C. 1014.) 

6. Son of Azriel, ruler of the tribe of 
Naphtali in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 
27 : 19. 



7. Son of King David, whose daughter 
Mahalath was one of the wives of Reho- 
boam, her cousin Abihail being the other. 
2 Chron. 11 : 18. (B.C. before 1014.) 

8. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 
2 Chron. 31 : 13. (B.C. 726.) 

Jer'ioth {curtains), one of the elder 
Caleb's wives. 1 Chron. 2 : 18. 

Jerofoo'am {whose people are many). 
1. The first king of the divided kingdom 
of Israel, B.C. 975-954, was the son of an 
Ephraimite of the name of Nebat. He 
was raised by Solomon to the rank of 
superintendent over the taxes and labors 
exacted from the tribe of Ephraim. 1 
Kings 11 : 28. He made the most of his 
position, and at last was perceived by 
Solomon to be aiming at the monarchy. 
He was leaving Jerusalem, when he was 
met by Ahijah the prophet, who gave 
him the assurance that, on condition of 
obedience to his laws, God would estab- 
lish for him a kingdom and dynasty 
equal to that of David. 1 Kings 11 : 29- 
40. The attempts of Solomon to cut 
short Jeroboam's designs occasioned his 
flight into Egypt. There he remained 
until Solomon's death. After a year's 
longer stay in Egypt, during which Jero- 
boam married Ano, the elder sister of the 
Egyptian queen Tahpenes, he returned 
to Shechem, where took place the con- 
ference with Rehoboam |RehoboamJ, 
and the final revolt wdiich ended in the 
elevation of Jeroboam to the throne of the 
northern kingdom. Now occurred the 
fatal error of his policy. Fearing that 
the yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem 
would undo all the work which he ef- 
fected, he took the bold step of rending 
the religious unity of the nation, which 
was as yet unimpaired, asunder. He 
caused two golden figures of Mnevis, the 
sacred calf, to be made and set up at the 
two extremities of his kingdom, one at 
Dan and the other at Bethel. It was 
while dedicating the altar at Bethel that 
a prophet from Judah suddenly appeared, 
who denounced the altar, and foretold its 
desecration by Josiah, and violent over- 
throw. The king, stretching out his 
hand to arrest the prophet, felt it Avith- 
ered and paralyzed, and only at the 
prophet's prayer saw it restored, and 
acknowledged his divine mission. Jero- 
boam was at constant war with the house 
of Judah, but the only act distinctly re- 
corded is a battle with Abijah, son of 
Rehoboam, in which he was defeated. 
The calamity was severely felt ; he never 
291- 



JER 



JER 



recovered the blow, and soon after died, i 
in the 22d year of his reign, 2 Chron. 13 : j 
20, and was buried in his ancestral sepul- 
chre. 1 Kings 14 : 20. 

2. Jeroboam II., the son of Joash, the 
fourth of the dynasty of Jehu. (B.C 825- 
784.) The most prosperous of the kings 
of Israel. He repelled the Syrian invad- 
ers, took their capital city Damascus, 2 
Kings 14 : 28, and recovered the whole 
of the ancient dominion from Hamah to 
the Dead Sea. ch. 14 : 25. Amnion and 
Moab were reconquered, and the trans- 
jordanic tribes were restored to their ter- 
ritory, 2 Kings 13 : 5; 1 Chron. 5 : 17-22; 
but it was merely an outward restora- 
tion. 

Jer'oham {cherished). 1. Father of 
Elkanah, the father of Samuel, of the 
house of Kohath. 1 Sam. 1 : 1 ; 1 Chron. 
6:27, 34. (B.C. before 1142.) 

2. A Benjamite, and the founder of a 
family of Bene-Jeroham. 1 Chron. 8 : 27. 
Probably the same as 

3. Father (or progenitor) of Ibneiah. 1 
Chron. 9:8; comp. 3 and 9. (B.C. be- 
fore 588.) 

4. A descendant of Aaron, of the house 
of Immer, the leader of the sixteenth 
course of priests ; son of Pashur, and 
father of Adaiah. 1 Chron. 9 : 12. He 
appears to be mentioned again in Neh. 

11 : 12. (B.C. before 586.) 

5. Jeroham of Gedor, some of whose 
sons joined David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 

12 : 7. (B.C. before 1055.) 

6. A Danite, whose son or descendant 
Azareel was head of his tribe in the time 
of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 22. 

7. Father of Azariah, one of the " cap- 
tains of hundreds " in the time of Atha- 
liah. 2 Chron. 23 : 1. (B.C. before 876.) 

Jerubba'al, or Jerub'ba-al {con- 
tender with Baal), the surname of Gid- 
eon, which he acquired in consequence 
of destroying the altar of Baal, when his 
father defended him from the vengeance 
of the Abiezrites. Judges 6 : 32. 

Jemb'besheth {contender ivith the 
shame), a name of Gideon. 2 Sam. 11 : 
21. 

Jer'uel {founded by God ), The wil- 
derness of, the place in which Jehosh- 
aphat was informed by Jahaziel the Le- 
vite that he should encounter the hordes 
of Ammon, Moab and the Mehunims. 2 
Chron. 20 : 16. The name has not been 
met with. 

Jeru'salem {the habitation of peace). 
Jerusalem stands in latitude 31° 46' 35" 
292 



north and longitude 35° 18' 30" east of 
Greenwich. It is 32 miles distant from 
the sea and 18 from the Jordan, 20 from 
Hebron and 36 from Samaria. " In sev- 
erar respects," says Dean Stanley, "its 
situation is singular among the cities of 
Palestine. Its elevation is remarkable; 
occasioned not from its being on the sum- 
mit of one of the numerous hills of Judea, 
like most of the towns and villages, but 
because it is on the edge of one of the 
highest table-lands of the country. He- 
bron indeed is higher still by some hun- 
dred feet, and from the south, accordingly 
(even from Bethlehem), the approach to 
Jerusalem is by a slight descent. But 
from any other side the ascent is per- 
petual ; and to the traveller approaching 
the city from the east or west it must 
always have presented the appearance 
beyond any other capital of the then 
known world — we may say beyond any 
important city that has ever existed on 
the earth — of a mountain city ; breath- 
ing, as compared with the sultry plains 
of Jordan, a mountain air ; enthroned, 
as compared with Jericho or Damascus, 
Gaza or Tyre, on a mountain fastness." — 
S. & P. 170, 1. Jerusalem, if not actually 
in the centre of Palestine, was yet virtu- 
ally so. " It was on the ridge, the broad- 
est and most strongly-marked ridge of 
the backbone of the complicated hills 
which extend through the whole country 
from the plain of Esdraelon to the desert." 

Roads. — There appear to have been 
but two main approaches to the city : — 1. 
From the Jordan valley by Jericho and 
the Mount of Olives. This was the route 
commonly taken frc m the north and east 
of the country. 2. From the great mari- 
time plain of Philistia and Sharon. This 
road led by the two Beth-horons up to 
the high ground at Gibeon, whence it 
turned south, and came to Jerusalem by 
Eamah and Gibeah, and over the ridge 
north of the city. 

Topography. — To convey an idea of 
the position of Jerusalem, we may say, 
roughly, that the city occupies the south- 
ern termination of a table-land which is 
cut off from the country round it on its 
west, south and east sides by ravines more 
than usually deep and precipitous. These 
l-avines leave the level of the table-land, 
the one on the west and the other on the 
northeast of the city, and fall rapidly 
until they form a junction below its 
southeast corner. The eastern one — the 
valley of the Kedron, commonly called 




Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. 




General View ot Modern Jerusalem. (From an original Photograph.) 

293 



JER 



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Plan of Jerusalem at the time of King Herod. 



1. Temple of Solomon. ) 

•I Palace of Solomon. > Herod's Temple. 

3. Added by Herod. ) 

4. Exhedra. 

5. Antonia. 

6. Cloisters joining Antonia to Temple. 

7. Xystus. 



8. Agrippa's Palace. 

9. Zion. 

10. Lower Pool of Gihon. 

11. Herod's Palace. 

12. Bethesda. 

13. Bridge built by Herod. 

14. The Lower City. 



the valley of Jehoshaphat— runs nearly 
straight from north to south. But the 
western one — the valley of Hinnom — 
runs south for a time, and then takes a 
sudden bend to the east until it meets the 
valley of Jehoshaphat, after which the 
two rush oif as one to the Dead Sea. 
How sudden is their descent may be 
gathered from the fact that the level at 
294 



the point of junction— about a mile and a 
quarter from the starting-point of each— 
is more than 600 feet below that of the 
upper plateau from which they began 
their descent. So steep is the fall of the 
ravines, so trench-like their character, 
and so close do they keep to the promon- 
tory at whose feet they run, as to leave 
on the beholder almost' the impression of 



JER 



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iiithe time of Christ. 




the ditch at the foot of a fortress rather 
than of valleys formed by nature. The 
promontory thus encircled is itself di- 
vided by a longitudinal ravine running 
up it from south to north, called the val- 
ley of the Tyropoeon, rising gradually 



from the south, like the external ones, 
till at last it arrives at the level of the 
upper plateau, dividing the central mass 
into two unequal portions. Of these 
two, that on the west is the higher and 
more massive, on which the city of Jeru- 
295 



JER 



JER 



salem now stands, and in fact always 
stood. The hill on the east is consider- 
ably lower and smaller, so that to a 
spectator from the south the city appears 
to slope sharply toward the east. Here 
was the temple, and here stands now the 
great Mohammedan sanctuary with its 
mosques and domes. The name of Mount 
Zion has been applied to the western 
hill from the time of Constantine to the 




Zion. 

present day. The eastern hill, called 
Mount Moriah in 2 Chron. 3 : 1, was, 
as already remarked, the site of the tem- 
ple. It was situated in the southwest 
angle of the area, now known as the Ha- 
ram area, and was, as we learn from Jo- 
sephus, an exact square of a stadium, or 
600 Greek feet, on each side. (Conder 
(" Bible Handbook," 1879) states that by 
the latest surveys the Haram area is a 
quadrangle with unequal sides. The 
west wall measures 1601 feet, the south 
922, the east 1530, the north 1042. It is 
thus nearly a mile in circumference, and 
contains 35 acres. — Ed.) Attached to 
the northwest angle of the temple was 
the Antonia, a tower or fortress. North of 
the side of the temple is the building now 
known to Christians as the Mosque of 
Omar, but by Moslems called the Dome 
of the Rock. The southern continuation 
of the eastern hill was named Ophel, 
which gradually came to a point at the 
junction of the valleys Tyropoeon and 
Jehoshaphat; and the northern Beze- 
THA, " the new city," fii*st noticed by Jo- 
sephus, which was separated from Moriah 
by an artificial ditch, and overlooked the 
296 



valley of Kedron on the east; this hill 
was enclosed within the walls of Herod 
Agrippa. Lastly, Acra lay westward 
of Moriah and northward of Zion, and 
formed the " lower city " in the time of 
Josephus. 

Walls. — These are described by Jose- 
phus. The first or old wall was built by 
David and Solomon, and enclosed Zion 
and part of Mount Moriah. (The second 
wall enclosed a portion of the city 
called Acra or Millo, on the north 
of the city, from the tower of Mari- 
amne to the tower of Antonia. It 
was built as the city enlarged in 
size; begun by Uzziah 140 years 
after the first wall was finished, 
continued by Jotham 50 years later, 
and by Manasseh 100 years later 
still. It was restored by Nehemiah. 
Even the latest explorations have 
failed to decide exactly what was 
its course. (See Conder's Hand- 
book of the Bible, art. Jerusalem.) 
The third wall was built by King 
Herod Agrippa, and was intended 
to enclose the suburbs which had 
grown out on the northern sides of 
the city, which before this had been 
left exposed. After describing these 
walls, Josephus adds that the whole 
circumference of the city was 33 
stadia, or nearly four English miles, 
which is as near as may be the extent in- 
dicated by the localities. He then adds 
that the number of towers in the old wall 
was 60, the middle wall 40, and the new 
wall 99. 

Water supply. — (Jerusalem had no nat- 
ural water supply, unless we so consider 
the "Fountain of the Virgin," which 
wells up with an intermittent action from 
under Ophel. The private citizens had 
cisterns, which were supplied by the rain 
from the roofs ; and the city had a water 
supply " perhaps the most complete and 
extensive ever undertaken by a city," and 
which would enable it to endure a long 
siege. There were three aqueducts, a 
number of pools and fountains, and the 
temple area was honeycombed with great 
reservoirs, whose total capacity is esti- 
mated at 10,000,000 gallons. Thirty of 
these reservoirs are described, varying 
from 25 to 50 feet in depth ; and one, called 
the great Sea, would hold 2,000,000 gal- 
lons. These reservoirs and the pools 
were supplied with water by the rainfall 
and by the aqueducts. One of these, con- 
structed by Pilate, has been traced for 40 



297 



JER 



JER 



miles, though in a straight line the d's- 
tance is but 13 miles. It brought water 
from the spring Elam, on the south, be- 
yond Bethlehem, into the reservoirs un- 
der the temple enclosure. — Ed.) 

Pools and fotmtains. — A part of the 
system of water supply. Outside the walls 
on the west side were the Upper and 
Lower Pools of Gihon, the latter close 
under Zion, the former more to the north- 
west on the Jaffa road. At the junction 
of the valleys of Hinnom and Jehosha- 
phat was Enrogel, the "Well of Job," 
in the midst of the king's gardens. 




Pool of Hezekiah, inside the Jaffa Gate. 

Within the walls, immediately north of 
Zion, was the "Pool of Hezekiah." A 
large pool existing beneath the temple 
(referred to in Ecclus. 1 : 3) was probably 
supplied by some subterranean aqueduct. 
The "King's Pool" was probably iden- 
tical with the "Fountain of the Virgin," 
at the southern angle of Moriah. It pos- 
sesses the peculiarity that it rises and falls 
at irregular periods ; it is supposed to be 
fed from the cistern below the temple. 
From this a subterranean channel cut 
through the solid rock leads the water to 
the pool of Siloah or Siloam, which 
has also acquired the character of being 
an intermittent fountain. The pool to 
which tradition has assigned the name of 
Bethesda is situated on the north side 
of Moriah ; it is now named Birket Is- 
rail. 

Burial-grounds. — The main cemetery 
of the city seems from an early date to 
have been where it is still — on the steep 
slopes of the valley of the Kedron. The 
tombs of the kings were in the city of 
David, that is, Mount Zion. The royal 
298 



sepulchres were probably chambers con- 
taining separate recesses for the succes- 
sive kings. 

Gardens. — The king's gardens of David 
and Solomon seem to have been in the 
bottom formed by the confluence of the 
Kedron and Hinnom. Neh. S : 15. The 
Mount of Olives, as its name and tin- 
names of various places upon it seem to 
imply, was a fruitful spot. At its foot 
was situated the garden of Gethsemane. 
At the time of the final siege the space 
north of the wall of Agrippa was covered 
with gardens, groves and plantations of 
fruit trees, enclosed by hedges andw&lk ; 
and to level these was one of Titus' first 
operations. We know that the gate Gen- 
nath (i. e. "of gardens") opened on this 
side of the city. 

Gates. — The following is a complete 
list of the gates named in the Bible and 
by Josephus, with the references to their 




The Golden Gate of Jerusalem. 

occurrence: — 1. Gate of Ephraim. 2 
Chron. 25 : 23 ; Neh. 8 : 16 ; 12 : 39. This 
is probably the same as the— 2. Gate of 
Benjamin. Jer. 20 : 2 ; 37 : 13 ; Zech. 14 : 
10. If so, it was 400 cubits distant from 
the— 3. Corner gate. 2 Chron. 25 : 23 ; 
26 : 9; Jer. 31 : 38 ; Zech. 14 : 10. 4. Gate 
of Joshua, governor of the city. 2 Kings 
23 : 8. 5. Gate between the two walls. 2 
Kings 25 : 4 ; Jer. 39 : 4. 6. Horse gate. 
Neh. 3 : 28 ; 2 Chron. 23 : 15 ; Jer. 31 : 40. 
7. Ravine gate (i. e. opening on ravine of 
Hinnom). 2 Chron. 26 : 9; Neh. 2 : 13, 15; 



JER 



JER 



3 : 13. 8. Fish gate. 2 
Chron. 33 : 14 ; Neli. 
3 : 13 ; Zeph. 1 : 10. 9. 
Dung gate. Neh. 2 : 
13 ; 3 : 13. 10. Sheep 
gate. Neh. 3 : 1, 32 ; 
12 : 39. 11. East gate. 
Neh. 3:29. 12. Miph- 
kad. Neh. 3 : 31. 13. 
Fountain gate (Silo- 
am?). Neh. 12 : 37. 
14. Water gate. Neh. 
12 : 37. 15. Old gate. 
Neh. 12:39. 16. Pris- 
on gate. Neh. 12 : 39. 
17. Gate Harsith (per- 
haps the Sun; Au- 
thorized Version East 
gate). Jer. 19 : 2. 18. 
First gate. Zech. 14: 
10. 19. Gate Gennath 
(gardens). Jos. B. J. 
v. 4, I 4. 20. Essenes' 
gate. Jos. B.J. 4, § 2. 
To these should be 
added the following 
gates of the temple : — 
Gate Sur, 2 Kings 11: 
6; called also gate of 
foundation. 2 Chron. 
23 : 5. Gate of the 
guard, or behind the 




Jaffa Gate and David's Tower, Jerusalem. 




St. Stephen's Gate, Jerusalem. 



299 



JER 



JER 



guard, 2 Kins^s 11 : 6, 19 ; called the high 
gate. 2 Kings 15 : 35 ; 2 Chron. 23 : 20 ; 27 : 
3. Gate Shallecheth. 1 Chron. 26 : 16. 
At present the chief gates are — 1. The 
Zion's gate and the dung gate, in the 
south wall ; 2. St. Stephen's gate and the 




Street in Jerusalem. 

golden gate (now walled up), in the east 
wall ; 3. The Damascus gate and 4. Her- 
od's gate, in the north wall ; and 5. The 
Jaffa gate, in the west wall. 

Population— Taking the area of the 
city enclosed by the two old wails at 
750,000 yards, and that enclosed by the 
wall of Agrippa at 1,500,000 yards, we 
have 2,250,000 yards for the whole. 
Taking the population of the old city at 
the probable number of one person to 
50 yards, we have 15,000 and at the ex- 
treme limit of 30 yards we should have 
25,000 inhabitants for the old city, and 
at 100 vards to each individual in the 
300 



new city about 15,000 more ; so that the 
population of Jerusalem, in its days of 
greatest prosperity, may have amounted 
to from 30,000 to 45,000 souls, but could 
hardly ever have reached 50,000 ; and as- 
suming that in times of festival one-half 
was added to this 
amount, which is an 
extreme estimate, 
there may have been 
60,000 or 70,000 in the 
city when Titus came 
up against it. (Jo- 
sephus says that at 
the siege of Jerusalem 
the population was 
3,000,000; but Taci- 
tus' statement that it 
was 600,000 is nearer 
the truth. This last 
is certainly within the 
limits of possibility. 
—Ed.) 

Streets, houses, etc. 
— Of the nature of 
these in the ancient 
city we have only 
the most scattered 
notices. The " east 
street," 2 Chron. 29 : 
4; the "street of the 
city," i. e. the city of 
David, 2 Chron. 32: 
6; the "street facing 
the water gate," Neh. 
8 : 1, 3, or, according 
to the parallel ac- 
count in 1 Esdr. 9 : 
38, the " broad place 
of the temple towards 
the east the " street 
of the house of God," 
Ezra 10:9; the " street 
of the gate of Ephra- 
im," Neh. 8 : 16; and 
the " open place of the first gate toward 
the east," must have been not " streets," 
in our sense of the word, so much as the 
open spaces found in eastern towns round 
the inside of the gates. Streets, properly 
so called, there were, Jer. 5 : 1 ; 11 : 13, etc.; 
but the name of only one, " the bakers' 
street," Jer. 37 : 21, is preserved to us. The 
Via Dolorosa, or street of sorrows, is a 
part of the street through which Christ is 
supposed to have been led on his way to 
his crucifixion. To the houses we have 
even less clue ; but there is no reason to 
suppose that in either houses or streets 
the ancient Jerusalem differed very ma- 



JER 



JER 



The Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa), Jerusalem. 



terially from the modern. No doubt the 
ancient city did not exhibit that air of 
mouldering dilapidation which is now so 
prominent there. The whole of the slopes 
south of the Haram area (the ancient 
Ophel), and the modern Zion, and the 
west side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, 
presents the appearance of gigantic 
mounds of rubbish. In this point at 
least the ancient city stood in favorable 
contrast with the modern, but in many 
others the resemblance must have been 
strong. 

Annals of the city— If, as is possible, 
Salem is the same with Jerusalem, the 
first mention of Jerusalem is in Gen. 14 : 
18, about B.C. 2080. It is next mentioned 
in Josh. 10 : 1, B.C. 1451. The first siege 
302 



appears to have taken place almost im- 
mediately after the death of Joshua— 
cir. 1400 B.C. Judah and Simeon " fought 
against it and took it, and smote it with 
the edge of the sword, and set the city on 
fire." Judges 1:8. In the fifteen cen- 
turies which elapsed between this siege 
and the siege and destruction of the city 
bv Titus, a.d. 70, the city was besieged 
no fewer than seventeen times ; twice it 
was razed to the ground, and on two other 
occasions its walls were levelled. In this 
respect it stands without a parallel in 
any citv, ancient or modern. David 
captured the citv B.C. 1046, and made it 
his capital, fortified and enlarged it. 
Solomon adorned the city with beautiful 
buildings, including the temple, but made 



JEK 



JER 



no additions to its walls. The city was 
taken by the Philistines and Arabians in 
the reign of Jehoram, B.C. 886, and by 
the Israelites in the reign of Amaziah, 
B.C. 826. It was thrice taken by Neb- 
uchadnezzar, in the years B.C. 607, 597 
and 586, in the last of which it was ut- 




Coin to Commemorate the Capture of Judea, a.d. 70, 

terly destroyed. Its restoration com- 
menced under Cyrus, B.C. 538, and Avas 
completed under Artaxerxes I., who is- 
sued commissions for this purpose to 
Ezra, B.C. 457, and Nehemiah, B.C. 445. 
In B.C. 332 it was captured by Alexander j 151 
the Great. Under the Ptolemies and the 
Seleucidse the town was prosperous, until 
Antiochus Epiphanes sacked it, B.C. 170. 
In consequence of his tyranny, the Jews 
rose under the Maccabees, and Jerusalem 
became again independent, and retained 
its position until its capture by the Ro- 
mans under Pompey, B.C. 63. The temple 
was subsequently plundered by Crassus, 
B.C. 54, and the city by the Parthians, 

B.C. 40. Herod took up his residence there , feet deep around the temple wall 
as soon as he was appointed sovereign, ! feet deep on the hill of Zion 
and restored the temple with great mag 



supposed site of the holy sepulchre, A.D. 
336. Justinian added several churches 
and hospitals about A.D. 532. It was 
taken by the Persians under Chosroes II. 
in A.D. 614. The dominion of the Chris- 
tians in the holy city was now rapidly 
drawing to a close. In a.d. 637 the pa- 
triarch Sophronius sur- 
rendered to the khalif 
Omar in person. With 
the fall of the Abas- 
sides the holy city 
passed into the hands 
of the Fatimite dynas- 
ty, under whom the suf- 
ferings of the Chris- 
tians in Jerusalem 
reached their height. 
About the year 1084 it 
was bestowed upon Or- 
tok, chief of a Turk- 
man horde. It was 
taken by the Crusaders 
in 1099, and for eighty- 
eight years Jerusalem remained in the 
hands of the Christians. In 1187 it was 
retaken by Saladin after a siege of several 
weeks. In 1277 Jerusalem was nominally 
annexed to the kingdom of Sicily. In 
it passed under the sway of the Ot- 
toman sultan Selim I., whose successor 
Suliman built the present walls of the 
city in 1542. Mohammed Aly, the pasha 
of Egypt, took possession of it in 1832 ; 
and in 1840, after the bombardment of 
Acre, it was again restored to the sultan. 

(Modern Jerusalem, called by the Arabs 
el-Xhuds, is built upon the ruins of an- 
cient Jerusalem. The accumulated rub- 
bish of centuries is very great, being 100 

and 40 
The mod- 



ern wall, built in 1542, forms an irregular 
nificence. On the death of Herod it be- \ quadrangle about 2i miles in circuit, with 



came the residence of the Roman proc- 
urators, who occupied the fortress of 
Antonia. The greatest siege that it sus- 
tained, however, was at the hands of the 



seven gates and 34 towers. It varies in 
height from 20 to 60 feet. The streets 
within are narrow, ungraded, crooked, 
and often filthy. The houses are of hewn 



Romans under Titus, when it held out stone, with flat roofs and frequent domes. 



nearly five months, and when the town 
was completely destroyed, A.D. 70. Ha- 
drian restored it as a Roman colony, A.D. 
135, and among other buildings erected 
a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the 
site of the temple. He gave to it the 
name of iElia Capitolina, thus combin- 
ing his own family name with that of the 
Capitoline Jupiter. The emperor Con- 



There are few windows toward the street. 

The most beautiful part of modern Je- 
rusalem is the former temple area (Mount 
Moriah), "with its lawns and cypress 
trees, and its noble dome rising high 
above the wall." This enclosure, now 
called Haram csJi-Sherif, is 35 acres in 
extent, and is nearly a mile in circuit. 
On the site of the ancient temple stands 



stantine established the Christian char- j the Mosque of Omar, "perhaps the very 
acter bv the erection of a church on the : noblest specimen of building-art in Asia." 

303. 



JER 



JES 



" It is the most prominent as well as the 
most beautiful building in the whole 
city." The mosque is an octagonal build- 



ing, each side measuring 66 feet. It is 
surmounted by a dome, whose top is 170 
feet from the ground. 




The Mosque of Omar— Site of Solomon's Temple. 



The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
which is claimed, but without sufficient 
reason, to be upon the site of Calvary, is 
"a collection of chapels and altars of dif- 




View in the Court of the Mosque of Omar. 
20 



I ferent ages and a unique museum of re- 
ligious curiosities from Adam to Christ." 

The present number of inhabitants in 
Jerusalem is variously estimated. Prob- 
ably Pierotti's estimate is very near the 
truth,— 20,330 ; of whom 5068 'are Chris- 
tians, 7556 Mohammedans (Arabs and 
Turks), and 7706 Jews. — Ed.) 

Jeru'sha (possessed), daughter of Za- 
dok and queen of Uzziah. 2 Kings 15 : 33. 
(B.C. 806.) 

Jeru'shah (possessed). 2 Chron. 27 : 1. 
The same as the preceding. 

Jesa'iah (salvation of Jehovah). 1. 
i Soft of Hananiah, brother of Pelatiah and 
i grandson of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 3 : 21. 
(B.C. after 536.) 

2. A Benjamite. Keh. 11 : 7. 

Jesha'iah (salvation of Jehovah). 1. 
One of the six sons of Jeduthun. 1 Chron. 
25 : 3, 15. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. A Levite in the reign of David, eld- 
est son of Eehabiah, a descendant of Am- 
ram through Moses. 1 Chron. 26 : 25. 
[Isshiah.] (B.C. before 1014.) 

3. The son of Athaliah, and chief of 
the house of the Bene-Elam who returned 

I with Ezra. Ezra 8: 7. [JosiAS.] (B.C. 459.) 

305 



JES 



JES 



4. A Merarite who returned with Ezra. 
Ezra 8 : 19. 

Jesh/anah (old), a town which, with 
its dependent villages, was one of the 
three taken from Jeroboam by Abijah. 2 
Chron. 13 : 19. 

Jeshar'elah (right before God), son 
of Asaph, and head of the seventh of the 
twenty-four wards into which the musi- 
cians of the Levites were divided. 1 
Chron. 25 : 14. [ASARELAH.] (B.C. 1014.) 

Jesheb'e-ab (father's seat), head of 
the fourteenth course of priests. 1 Chron. 
24 : 13. [Jehoiarib.] 

Je'sher (uprightness), one of the sons 
of Caleb the son of Hezron by his wife 
Azubah. 1 Chron. 2 : 18. (B.C. before 1491.) 

Jesh'imon (a wilderness), a name 
which occurs in Num. 21 : 20 and 23 : 28, 
in designating the position of Pisgah and 
Peor ; both described as " facing the Jesh- 
imon." Perhaps the dreary, barren waste 
of hills lying immediately on the west of 
the Dead Sea. 

Jeshish'a-i (descended from an old 
man), one of the ancestors of the Gadites 
who dwelt in Gilead. 1 Chron. 5 : 14. 

Jeshoha'iah (whom Jehovah casts 
down), a chief of the Simeonites, descend- 
ed from Shimei. 1 Chron. 4 : 36. (B.C. 
about 711.) 

Jesh'ua (a saviour), another form of 
the name Joshua or Jesus. 1. Joshua 
the son of Nun. Neh. 8 : 17. [Joshua.] 

2. A priest in the reign of David, to 
whom the ninth course fell by lot. 1 
Chron. 24:11. (B.C. 1014.) 

3. One of the Levites in the reign of 
Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 31 : 15. (B.C. 726.) 

4. Son of Jehozadak, first high priest 
after the Babylonish captivity, B.C. 536. 
Jeshua was probably born in Babylon, 
whither his father Jehozadak had been 
taken captive while young. 1 Chron. 6 : 
15, Authorized Version. He came up 
from Babylon in the first year of Cyrus, 
with Zerubbabel, and took a leading part 
with him in the rebuilding of the temple 
and the restoration of the Jewish com- 
monwealth. The two prophecies con- 
cerning him in Zech. 3 and 6 : 9-15 point 
him out as an eminent type of Christ. 

5. Head of a Levitical house, one of 
those which returned from the Babylon- 
ish captivity. Ezra 2 : 40 ; 3:9; Neh. 3 : 
19; 8:7; 9 :4, 5; 12 : 8, etc. 

6. A branch of the family of Pahath- 
moab, one of the chief families, probably, 
of the tribe of Judah. Neh. 10 : 14 ; 7 : 1*1, 
etc. ; Ezra 10 : 30. 

306 



Jesh'ua (whom Jehovah helps), one of 
the towns reinhabited by the people of Ju- 
dah after the return from captivity. Neh. 
11 : 26. It is not mentioned elsewhere. 

Jesh'uah, a priest in the reign of Da- 
vid, 1 Chron. 24 : 11, the same as Jeshua, 
No. 2. (B.C. 1014.) 

Jesh'urun (supremely happy), and 
once by mistake in Authorized Version 
Jesurun, Isa. 44 : 2, a symbolical name 
for Israel in Deut. 32 ■ 15 ; 33 : 5, 26 ; Isa. 
44 : 2. It is most probably derived from 
a root signifying " to be blessed." With 
the intensive termination Jeshurun would 
then denote Israel as supremely happy 
or prosperous, and to this signification 
the context in Deut. 32 : 15 points. 

Jesi'ah (whom Jehovah lends). 1. A 
Korhite, one of the mighty men who 
joined David's standard at Ziklag. 1 
Chron. 12 : 6. (B.C. 1055.) 

2. The second son of Uzziel, the son of 
Kohath. 1 Chron. 23 : 20. 

Jesim'i-el (whom God makes), a Sim- 
eonite chief of the family of Shimei. 1 
Chron. 4 : 36. (B.C. about 711.) 

Jes'se (wealthy), the father of David, 
was the son of Obed, who again was the 
fruit of the union of Boaz and the Moab- 
itess Ruth. His great-grandmother was 
Rahab the Canaanite, of Jericho. Matt. 
1 : 5. Jesse's genealogy is twice given in 
full in the Old Testament, viz., Ruth 4 : 
18-22 and 1 Chron. 2 : 5-12. He is com- 
monly designated as "Jesse the Bethle- 
hemite," 1 Sam. 16:1,18; 17:58; but 
his full title is "the Ephrathite of Beth- 
lehem Judah." ch. 17 : 12. He is an 
" old man " when we first meet with him, 
1 Sam. 17 : 12, with eight sons, ch. 16 : 10; 
17 : 12, residing at Bethlehem, ch. 16 : 4, 
5. Jesse's wealth seems to have consisted 
of a flock of sheep and goats, which were 
under the care of David, ch. 16 : 11 ; 17 : 
34, 35. After David's rupture Avith Saul 
he took his father and his mother into 
I the country of Moab and deposited them 
with the king, and there they disappear 
| from our view in the records of Scripture, 
j (B.C. 1068-61.) Who the wife of Jesse 
was we are not told. 

Jes'ui (even, level), the son of Asher, 
whose descendants the Jesuites were num- 
bered in the plains of Moab at the Jordan 
of Jericho. Num. 26: 44. (B.C. 1451.) He 
is elsewhere called Isui, Gen. 46 : 17, and 
Ishuai. 1 Chron. 7 : 30. 

Jes'uites (the posterity of Jesui), 
The, a family of the tribe of Asher. 
Num. 26 : 44. 



JES 



JES 



Jes'urun. [Jeshurun.] 

Je'sus {saviour). 1. The Greek form 
of the name Joshua or Jeshua, a contrac- 
tion of Jehoshua, that is, " help of Je- 
hovah " or " saviour." Num. 13 : 16. 

2. Joshua the son of Nun. Num. 27 : 
18 ; Heb. 4 : 8. [Jehoshua.] 

Je'sus the son of Sirach. [Eo 

CLESIASTICUS.] 

Je'sus, called Justus, a Christian 
who was with St. Paul at Home. Col. 4 : 
11. (a.d. 57.) 

Je'sus Christ. "The life and char- 
acter of Jesus Christ," says Dr. Schaff, 
" is the holy of holies in the history of 
the world." I. Name. — The name Jesus 
signifies saviour. It is the Greek form 
of Jehoshua (Joshua). The name 
Christ signifies anointed. Jesus was 
both priest and king. Among the Jews 
priests were anointed, as their inaugura- 
tion to their office. 1 Chron. 16 : 22. In 
the New Testament the name Christ is 
used as equivalent to the Hebrew Mes- 
siah {anointed), John 1 : 41, the name 
given to the long-promised Prophet and 
King whom the J ews had been taught by 
their prophets to expect. Matt. 11 : 3; 
Acts 19 : 4. The use of this name, as ap- 
plied to the Lord, has always a reference 
to the promises of the prophets. The 
name of Jesus is the proper name of our 
Lord, and that of Christ is added to iden- 
tify him with the promised Messiah. 
Other names are sometimes added to the 
names Jesus Christ, thus, " Lord," " a 
king," " King of Israel," " Emmanuel," 
" Son of David," " chosen of God." 

II. Birth. — Jesus Christ was born of 
the Virgin Mary, God being his father, at 
Bethlehem of Judea, six miles south of 
Jerusalem. The date of his birth was 
most probably in December, B.C. 5, four 
years before the era from which we count 
our years. That era was not used till 
several hundred years after Christ. The 
calculations were made by a learned 
monk, Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth 
century, who made an error of four 
years ; so that to get the exact date from 
the birth of Christ we must add four 
years to our usual dates; i. e. a.d. 1882 
is really 1886 years since the birth of 
Christ. It is also more than likely that 
our usual date for Christmas, December 
25, is not far from the real date of 
Christ's birth. Since the 25th of De- 
cember comes when the longest night 
gives way to the returning sun on his tri- 
umphant march, it makes an appropriate 



anniversary to mark the birth of him 
who appeared in the darkest night of 
error and sin as the true Light of the 
world. At the time of Christ's birth 
Augustus Caesar was emperor of Borne, 
and Herod the Great king of Judea, but 
subject to Rome. God's providence had 
prepared the world for the coming of 
Christ, and this was the fittest time in all 
its history. 1. All the world was subject 
to one government, so that the apostles 
could travel everywhere : the door of 
every land was open for the gospel. 2. 
The world was at peace, so that the gos- 
pel could have free course. 3. The Greek 
language was spoken everywhere with 
their other languages. 4. The Jews were 
scattered everywhere with synagogues 
and Bibles. 

III. Early life. — Jesus, having a 
manger at Bethlehem for his cradle, re- 
ceived a visit of adoration from the three 
wise men of the East. At forty days old 
he was taken to the temple at Jerusalem ; 
and returning to Bethlehem, was soon 
taken to Egypt to escape Herod's massa- 
cre of the infants there. After a few 
months stay there, Herod having died in 
April, B.C. 4, the family returned to their 
Nazareth home, where Jesus lived till 
he was about thirty years old, subject to 
I his parents, and increasing " in wisdom 
I and stature, and in favor with God and 
I man." The only incident recorded of 
| his earty life is his going up to Jerusalem 
to attend the passover when he was 
twelve years old, and his conversation 
with the learned men in the temple. 
! But we can understand the childhood and 
\ youth of Jesus better when we remember 
j the surrounding influences amid which 
, he grew. 1. The natural scenery was 
i rugged and mountainous, but full of 
j beauty. He breathed the pure air. He 
j lived in a village, not in a city. 2. The 
j Roman dominion was irksome and gall- 
ing. The people of God were subject to 
a foreign yoke. The taxes were heavy. 
Roman soldiers, laws, money, ever re- 
minded them of their subjection, when 
they ought to be free and themselves the 
rulers of the world. When Jesus was 
ten years old, there was a great insurrec- 
tion, Acts 5 : 37, in Galilee. He who was 
to be King of the Jews heard and felt all 
I this. 3. The Jewish hopes of a Redeemer, 
I of throwing off' their bondage, of becom- 
j ing the glorious nation promised in the 
j prophets, were in the very air he breathed, 
j The conversation at home and in the 

307 



JET 



JET 



streets was full of them. 4. Within his j 
view, and his boyish excursions, were 
many remarkable historic places, — rivers, 
hills, cities, plains, — that would keep in 
mind the history of his people and God's 
dealings with them. 5. His school train- 
ing. Mr. Deutsch, in the Quarterly Re- 
view, says, " Eighty years before Christ, 
schools flourished throughout the length 
and the breadth of the land : education 
had been made compulsory. While there 
is not a single term for ' school ' to be 
found before the captivity, there were by 
that time about a dozen in common usage. 
Here are a few of the innumerable pop- 
ular sayings of the period : ' Jerusalem 
was destroyed because the instruction of 
the young was neglected.' 'The world 
is only saved by the breath of the school- 
children.' 'Even for the rebuilding of 
the temple the schools must not be inter- 
rupted.' " 6. His home training. Ac- 
cording to Ellicott, the stages of Jewish 
childhood were marked as follows : " At 
three the boy was weaned, and Avore for 
the first time the fringed or tasselled gar- 
ment prescribed by Num. 15 : 38-41 and 
Deut. 22 : 12. His education began at 
first under the mother's care. At five he 
was to learn the law, at first by extracts 
written on scrolls of the more important 
passages, the Shema or creed of Deut. 2 : 
4, the Hallel or festival psalms, Ps. 114, 
118, 136, and by catechetical teaching in 
school. At twelve he became more di- 
rectly responsible for his obedience to 
the law ; and on the day when he attained 
the age of thirteen, put on for the first 
time the phylacteries which were worn 
at the recital of his daily prayer." In 
addition to this, Jesus no doubt learned 
the carpenter's trade of his reputed father 
Joseph, and, as Joseph probably died be- 
fore Jesus began his public ministry, he 
may have contributed to the support of 
his mother. 

(IV. Public ministry. — All the lead- 
ing events recorded of Jesus' life are 
given at the end of this volume in the 
Chronological Chart and in the Chro- j 
nological Table of the life of Christ ; so j 
that here will be given only a general 
survey. 

Jesus began to enter upon his ministry 
when he was "about thirty years old;" 
that is, he was not very far from thirty, 
older or younger. He is regarded as nearly 
thirty-one by Andrews (in the tables of 
chronology referred to above) and by 
most others. Having been baptized by 
308 



| John early in the winter of 26-27, he 
spent the larger portion of his first year 
in Judea and about the lower Jordan, 
till in December he went northward to 
Galilee through Samaria. The next year 
and a half, from December, a.d. 27, to 
October or November, a.d. 29, was spent 
in Galilee and northern Palestine, chiefly 
in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. In 
November, 29, Jesus made his final de- 
parture from Galilee, and the rest of his 
ministry was in Judea and Perea, beyond 
Jordan, till his crucifixion, April 7, A.D. 
30. After three days he proved his di- 
vinity by rising from the dead ; and after 
appearing on eleven different occasions 
to his disciples during forty days, he 
finally ascended to heaven, where he 
is the living, ever-present, all-powerful 
Saviour of his people. 

Jesus Christ, being both human and 
divine, is fitted to be the true Saviour of 
men. In this, as in every action and 
character, he is shown to be " the wisdom 
and power of God unto salvation." As 
human, he reaches down to our natures, 
sympathizes with us, shows us that God 
knows all our feelings and weaknesses 
and sorrows and sins, brings God near to 
us, who otherwise could not realize the 
Infinite and Eternal as a father and 
friend. He is divine, in order that he 
may be an all-powerful, all-loving Sav- 
iour, able and willing to defend us from 
every enemy, to subdue all temptations, 
to deliver from all sin, and to bring each 
of his people, and the whole Church, 
into complete and final victory. 

Jesus Christ is the centre of the world's 
historv, as he is the centre of the Bible. 
—Ed/) 

Je'ther (his excellence). 1. Jethro, 
the father-in-law of Moses. Ex. 4 : 18. 
(B.C. 1530.) 

2. The first-born of Gideon's seventy 
sons. Judges 8 : 20. (B.C. 1256.) 

3. The father of Amasa, captain-general 
of Absalom's army. (B.C. 1023.) J ether 
is another form of Ithra. 2 Sam. 17 : 25. 

[ He is described in 1 Chron. 2 : 17 as an 
S Ishmaelite, which again is more likely 
to be correct than the " Israelite " of the 
Hebrew in 2 Sam. 17. 

4. The son of Jada, a descendant of 
Hezron, of the tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 
2 : 32. 

5. The son of Ezra. 1 Chron. 4 : 17. 

6. The chief of a family of warriors 
of the line of Asher, and father of Je- 
phunneh, 1 Chron, 7 : 38. He is prob- 



JET 



JEZ 



ably the same as Ithean in the preced- 
ing verse. 

Je'theth (a nail), one of the " dukes" 
who came of Esau. Gen. 36 : 40 ; 1 Chron. 
1:51. 

Jeth'Iah {height), one of the cities of 
the tribe of Dan. Josh. 19 : 42. 

Je'thro (his excellence) was priest or 
prince of Midian. Moses married his 
daughter Zipporah. (B.C. 1530.) On ac- 
count of his local knowledge he was en- 
treated to remain with the Israelites 
throughout their journey to Canaan. 
Num. 10 : 31, 33. (He is called Reuel 
in Ex. 2 : 18, and Raguel in Num. 10 : 
29 (the same word in the original for 
both). Reuel is probably his proper 
name, and Jethro his official title. — Ed.) 

Je'tur (an enclosure). Gen. 25:15; 1 
Chron. 1 : 31 ; 5 : 19. [Ituejsa.] 

Je'uel, a chief man of Judah, one of 
the Bene-Zerah. 1 Chron. 9:6; comp. 2. 
[Jeiel.] 

Je'ush (assembler). 1. Son of Esau 
by Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, 
the son of Zebeon the Hivite. Gen. 36 : 
6, 14, 18 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 35. (B.C. after 
1797.) 

2. A Benjamite, son of Bilhan. 1 
Chron. 7 : 10, 11. 

3. A Gershonite Levite, of the house 
of Shimei. 1 Chron. 23 : 10, 11. (B.C. 
1014.) 

4. Son of Rehoboam king of Judah. 
2 Chron. 11 : 18, 19. (B.C. after 97.) 

Je'uz (counsellor), head of a Benja- 
mite house. 1 Chron. 8 : 10. 

Jew (a man of Judea). This name 
was properly applied to a member of the 
kingdom of Judah after the separation 
of the ten tribes. The term first makes 
its appearance just before the captivity 
of the ten tribes. 2 Kinars 16 : 6. After 
the return the word received a larger ap- 
plication. Partly from the predominance I 
of the members of the old kingdom of 
Judah among those who returned to I 
Palestine, partly from the identification 
of Judah with the religious ideas and 
hopes of the people, all the members of 
the new state were called Jews (Judeans\ 
and the name was extended to the rem- 
nants of the race scattered throughout 
the nations. Under the name of " Ju- 
deans " the people of Israel were known 
to classical writers. (Tac. H. v. 2, etc.) \ 
The force of the title " Jew " is seen par- 
ticularly in the Gospel of St. John, who 
very rarely uses any other term to de- 
scribe the opponents of our Lord. At 



j an earlier stage of the progress of the 
faith it was contrasted with Greek as im- 
plving an outward covenant with God, 

! Rom. 1 : 16; 2:9, 10; Col. 3 : 11, etc., 
which was the correlative of Hellenist 
[Hellenist], and marked a division of 
language subsisting within the entire 
body, and at the same time less expressive 
than Israelite, which brought out with 
especial clearness the privileges and 
hopes of the children of Jacob. 2 Cor. 
11 : 22; John 1 : 47. 
Jewel. [Stones, Peecious.] 
Jew'ess, a woman of Hebrew birth, 
without distinction of tribe. Acts 16:1; 
24 : 24. 

Jewish, of or belonging to Jews; an 
epithet applied to their rabbinical legends. 
Titus 1 : 14. 

Jew'ry (the country of Judea), the 
same word elsewhere rendered Judah 
and Judea. It occurs several times in 
the Apocalypse and the New Testament, 
but once only in the Old Testament — 
Dan. 5 : 13. Jewry comes to us through 
the Norman-French, and is of frequent 
occurrence in Old English. 

Jezani'ah (whom Jehovah hears), the 
son of Hoshaiah the Maachathite, and 
one of the captains of the forces who had 
escaped from Jerusalem during the final 
attack of the beleaguering army of the 
Chaldeans. (B.C. 588.) When the Baby- 
lonians had departed, Jezaniah, with the 
men under his command, was one of the 
first who returned to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 
In the events which followed the assas- 
sination of that officer Jezaniah took a 
prominent part. 2 Kings 25 : 23 ; Jer. 40 : 
8 ; 42 : 1 ; 43 : 2. 

Jez'ebel (chaste), wife of Ahab king 
of Israel. (B.C. 883.) She was a Phoeni- 
cian princess, daughter of Ethbaal king 
of the Zidonians. In her hands her hus- 
band became a mere puppet. 1 Kings 
21 : 25. The first effect of her influence 
was the immediate establishment of the 
Phoenician worship on a grand scale in 
the court of Ahab. At her table Were 
supported no less than 450 prophets of 
Baal and 400 of Astarte. 1 Kings 16 : 31, 
32 ; 18 : 19. The prophets of Jehovah 
were attacked by her orders and put to 
the sword. 1 Kings 18 : 13 ; 2 Kings 9 : 7. 
At last the people, at the instigation of 
Elijah, rose against her ministers and 
slaughtered them at the foot of Carmel. 
When she found her husband cast down 
by his disappointment at being thwarted 
by Naboth, 1 Kings 21 : 7, she wrote a 
309 



JEZ 



JOA 



warrant in Ahab's name, and sealed it 
with his seal. To her, and not to Ahab, 
was sent the announcement that the royal 
wishes were accomplished, 1 Kings 21 : 
14, and on her accordingly fell the proph- 
et's curse, as well as on her husband, 1 
Kings 21 : 23 ; a curse fulfilled so literally 
by Jehu, whose chariot-horses trampled 
out her life. The body was left in that 
open space called in modern eastern lan- 
guage " the mounds," where offal is 
thrown from the city walls. 2 Kings 9 : 
30-37. 

Je'zer {power), the third son of Naph- 
tali, Gen. 4(j : 24 ; Num. 26 : 49 ; 1 Chron. 

7 : 13, and father of the family of Jezerites. 
Jezi'ah {whom Jehovah expiates), a 

descendant of Parosh, who had married 
a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 25. 

Je'zi^el {the assembly of God), a Ben- 
jamite who joined David at Ziklag. 1 
Chron. 12 : 3. (B.C. 1055.) 

Jezli'ah {whom God will preserve), a 
Benjamite of the sons of Elpaal. 1 Chron. 

8 : 18. (B.C. 588.) 

Jez'o-ar {whiteness), the son of He- 
lah, one of the wives of Asher. 1 Chron. 
4:7. 

Jezrahi'ah {produced by Jehovah), a 
Levite, the leader of the choristers at the 
solemn dedication of the wall of Jerusa- 
lem under Nehemiah. Neh. 12 : 42. (B.C. 
446.) 

Jez're-el {seed of God), a descendant 
of the father or founder of Etam, of the 
line of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 3. (B.C. about 
1445.) 

Jez're-el. 1. A city situated in the 
plain of the same name between Gilboa 
and Little Hermon, now generally called 
Esdraelon. [Esdraelon.] It appears 
in Josh. 19 : 18, but its historical import- 
ance dates from the reign of Ahab, B.C. 
918-897, who chose it for his chief resi- 
dence. The situation of the modern vil- 
lage of Zerin still remains to show the 
fitness of his choice. In the neighbor- 
hood, or within the town probably, were 
a temple and grove of Astarte, with an 
establishment of 400 priests supported by 
Jezebel. 1 Kings 16 : 33 ; 2 Kings 10 : 11. 
The palace of Ahab, 1 Kings 21 : 1 ; 18 : 
46, probably containing his " ivory 
house," 1 Kings 22 : 39, was on the east- 
ern side of the city, forming part of the 
citv wall. Comp. 1 Kings 21 : 1 ; 2 Kinc^s 

9 : 25, 30, 33. Whether the vineyard of 
Naboth was here or at Samaria is a doubt- 
ful question. Still in the same eastern 
direction are two springs, one 12 minutes 

310 



' from the town, the other 20 minutes. The 
! latter, probably from both its size and its 
' situation, was known as " the spring of 
j Jezreel." With the fall of the house of 
| Ahab the glory of Jezreel departed, 
i 2. A town in Judah, in the neighbor- 
■ hood of the southern Carmel. Josh. 15 : 
j 56. Here David in his wanderings took 

Ahinoam the Israelitess for his first wife. 

1 Sam. 27 : 3 ; 30 : 5. 
I 3. The eldest son of the prophet Hosea. 
j Hos. 1 : 4. 

j Jez're-elitess, a woman of Jezreel. 
I 1 Sam. 27:3; 30:5; 2 Sam. 2:2; 3:2; 
j 1 Chron. 3:1. 

Jib'sam (pleasant^ , one of the sons of 
j Tola, the son of Issachar. 1 Chron. 7 : 2. 
(B.C. 1017.) 

Jid'laph {weeping), a son of Nahor. 
Gen. 22 : 22. 

Jim/na {prosperity), the first-born of 
Asher. Num. 26 : 44. He is elsewhere 
called in the Authorized Version Jim- 
nah, Gen. 46 : 17, and Imnah. 1 Chron. 
7:30. 

J i m'n ah = Jumna = Imnah. Gen. 
46 : 17. 

Jim/nites, The, descendants of the 
preceding. Num. 26 : 44. 

Jiph'tah {whom God- sets free), one of 
the cities of Judah in the maritime low- 
land, or Shefelah. Josh. 15 : 43. It has 
not yet been met with. 

Jiph'thah-el {which God opens), 
The valley of, a valley which served 
as one of the landmarks for the boundary 
of both Zebulun, Josh. 19 : 14, and Asher. 
Josh. 19 : 27. Dr. Robinson suggests that 
Jiphthah-el was identical with Jotapata, 
and that they survive in the modern Jefat, 
a village in the mountains of Galilee, 
halfway between the Bay of Acre and the 
Lake of Gennesareth. 

Jo'ab (vvhose father is Jehovah), the 
most remarkable of the three nephews of 
David, the children of Zeruiah, David's 
sister. (B.C. 1053-1012.) Joab first ap- 
pears after David's accession to the throne 
at Hebron. Abner slew in battle Asahel, 
the youngest brother of Joab ; and when 
David afterward received Abner into 
favor, Joab treacherously murdered him. 
[Abner.] There was now no rival left 
in the way of Joab's advancement, and 
at the siege of Jebus he was appointed 
for his prowess commander-in-chief— 
" captain of the host." In the wide range 
of wars which David undertook, Joab 
was the acting general. He was called 
by the almost regal title of " lord," 2 



JOA 



JOA 



Saui. 11:11, "the prince of the king's 
array." 1 Chron. 27 : 3-4. In the entangled 
relations which grew up in David's do- 
mestic life he bore an important part, 
successfully reinstating Absalom in Da- 
vid's favor after the murder of Aninon. 
2 Sam. 14 : 1-20. When the relations be- 
tween father and son were reversed by 
the revolt of Absalom, Joab remained 
true to the king, taking the rebel prince's 
dangerous life in spite of David's injunc- 
tion to spare him, and when no one else 
had courage to act so decisive a part. 2 
Sam. 18 : 2, 11-15. (B.C. 1023.) The king 
transferred the command to Amasa, wiiich 
so enraged Joab that he adroitly assas- 
sinated Amasa when pretending to wel- 
come him as a friend. 2 Sam. 20 : 10. 
Friendly relations between himself and 
David seem to have existed afterward, 2 
Sam. 2-4:2; but at the close of his long 
life, his loyalty, so long unshaken, at 
last wavered. " Though he had not 
turned after Absalom, he turned after 
Adonijah." 1 Kings 2 : 28. This prob- 
ably filled up the measure of the king's 
long-cherished resentment. The revival 
of the pretensions of Adonijah after Da- 
vid's death was sufficient to awaken the 
suspicions of Solomon. Joab fled to the 
shelter of the altar at Gibeon, and was 
there slain by Benaiah. (B.C. about 1012.) 

2. One of Kenaz's descendants. 1 
Chron. 4 : 14. 

3. Ezra 2: 6; 8:9; Neh. 7 : 11. 
Jo'ah (ivhose brother (i. e. helper) is 

Jehovah). 1. The son of Asaph, and 
chronicler or keeper of the records to 
Hezekiah. Isa. 36 : 3, 11, 22. (B.C. 776.) 

2. The son or grandson of Zimmah, a 
Gershonite. 1 Chron. 6 : 21. 

3. The third son of Obed-edom, 1 
Chron. 26 : 4, a Korhite, and one of the 
doorkeepers appointed bv David. (B.C. 
1014.) 

4. A Gershonite, the son of Zimmah 
and father of Eden. 2 Chron. 29 : 12. 

5. The son of Joahaz, and annalist or 
keeper of the records to Josiah. 2 Chron. 
34:8. (B.C. 623.) ' 

Jo'ahaz (tvhom Jehovah holds), the 
father of Joah, the chronicler or keeper 
of the records to King Josiah. 2 Chron. 
34:8. (B.C. before 623.) 

Jo-a'nan. In Revised Version for 
Joanna, 1. Luke 3 : 27. 

Jo-an'na (grace or gift of God) (in 
Revised Version spelled Joanan). 1. 
Son of Rhesa, according to the text of 
Luke 3 : 27, and one of the ancestors of 



Christ; but according to the view ex- 
plained in a previous article, son of Ze- 
rubbabel, and the same as Hanaxiah in 
1 Chron. 3 : 19. 

2. The name of a woman, occurring 
twice in Luke (8:3; 24:10), but evi- 
dently denoting the same person, (a.d. 
28-30. ) In the first passage she is express- 
ly stated to have been "wife of Chuza, 
steward of Herod," that is, Antipas, tet- 
rarch of Galilee. 

Jo'ash {to whom Jehovah hastens, i. e. 
to help), contracted from Jehoash. 1. 
j Son of Ahaziah king of Judah (B.C. 884), 
i and the only one of his children who es- 
j caped the murderous hand of Athaliah. 
j After his father's sister Jehoshabeath, the 
| wife of Jehoiada the high priest, had 
stolen him from among the king's sons, 
he was hidden for six years in the cham- 
bers of the temple. In the seventh year 
of his age and of his concealment, a'suc- 
cessful revolution, conducted by Jehoiada, 
placed him on the throne of his ancestors, 
and freed the country from the tyranny 
and idolatries of Athaliah. For at least 
twenty-three years, while Jehoiada lived, 
his reign was very prosperous ; but after 
the death of Jehoiada, Joash fell into the 
hands of bad advisers, at whose sugges- 
tion he revived the worship of Baal and 
Ashtaroth. When he was rebuked for 
this by Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, 
Joash caused him to be stoned to death 
in the very court of the Lord's house. 
Matt. 23:35. That very year Hazael 
king of Syria came up against Jerusalem, 
and carried oft* a vast booty as the price 
of his departure. Joash had scarcely es- 
caped this danger when he fell into an- 
other and fatal one. Two of his servants 
conspired against him and slew him in his 
bed in the fortress of Millo. Joash's reign 
lasted forty years, from 878 to 838 B.C. 

2. Son and successor of Jehoahaz. on 
the throne of Israel from B.C. 840 to 825, 
and for two full years a contemporary 
sovereign with the preceding. 2 Kings 
14 : 1, comp. with 12 : 1 ; 13 : 10. When 
he succeeded to the crown the kingdom 
was in a deplorable state from the devas- 
tations of Hazael and Ben-hadad, kings 
of Syria. On occasion of a friendly visit 
paid by Joash to Elisha on his death-bed, 
the prophet promised him deliverance 
\ from the Syrian yoke in Aphek. 1 Kings 
20 : 26-30. He then bade him smite upon 
the ground, and the king smote thrice 
and then stayed. The prophet rebuked 
him for staving, and limited to three his 
311 



JOA 



JOB 



victories over Syria. Accordingly Joash 
did defeat Ben-hadad three times on the 
field of battle, and recovered from him 
the cities which Hazael had taken from 
Jehoahaz. The other great military 
event of Joash's reign was the successful 
war with Amaziah king of Judah. He 
died in the fifteenth year of Amaziah 
king of Judah. 

3. The father of Gideon, and a wealthy 
man among the Abiezrites. Judges 6 : 
11. (B.C. before 1256.) 

4. Apparently a younger son of Ahab, 
who held a subordinate jurisdiction in 
the lifetime of his father. 1 Kings 22 : 
26 ; 2 Chron. 18 : 25. (B.C. 896.) 

5. A descendant of Shelah the son of 
Judah, but whether his son or the son of 
Jokim is not clear. 1 Chron. 4 : 22. 

6. A Benjamite, son of Shernaah of 
Gibeah, 1 Chron. 12 : 3, who resorted to 
David at Ziklag. 

7. One of the officers of David's house- 
hold. 1 Chron. 27 : 28. 

8. Son of Becher and head of a Ben- 
jamite house. 1 Chron. 7 : 8. 

Jo'atham == Jotham the son of Uz- 
ziah. Matt. 1 : 9. 

Job {persecuted), the third son of Is- 
sachar, Gen. 46 : 13, called in another 
genealogy Jasiiub. 1 Chron. 7:1. 

Job, the patriarch, from whom one of 
the books of the Old Testament is named. 
His residence in the land of Uz marks 
him as belonging to a branch of the 
Aramean race, which had settled in the 
lower part of Mesopotamia (probably to 
the south or southeast of Palestine, in 
Iclumean Arabia), adjacent to the Sa- 
beans and Chaldeans. The opinions of 
Job and his friends are thus peculiarly 
interesting as exhibiting an aspect of the 
patriarchal religion outside of the family 
of Abraham, and as yet uninfluenced by 
the legislation of Moses. The form of 
worship belongs essentially to the early 
patriarchal type ; with little of ceremo- 
nial ritual, without a separate priesthood, j 
it is thoroughly domestic in form and j 
spirit. Job is represented as a chieftain 
of immense wealth and high rank, blame- 
less in all the relations of life. What | 
we know of his history is given in the j 
book that bears his name. 

Job, Book of. This book has given 
rise to much discussion and criticism, 
some believing the book to be strictly 
historical ; others a religious fiction ; 
others a composition based upon facts. 
By some the authorship of the work was 
312 



attributed to Moses, but it is very uncer- 
tain. Luther first suggested the theory 
which, in some form or other, is now 
most generally received. He says, " I 
look upon the book of Job as a true his- 
tory, yet I do not believe that all took 
place just as it is written, but that an in- 
genious, pious and learned man brought 
it into its present form." The date of the 
book is doubtful, and there have been 
many theories upon the subject. It may 
be regarded as a settled point that the 
book was written long before the exile, 
probably between the birth of Abraham 
and the exodus of the Israelites from 
Egypt— B.C. 2000-1800. If by Moses, it 
was probably written during his sojourn 
in Midian. " The book of Job is not only 
one of the most remarkable in the Bible, 
but in literature. As was said of Goliath's 
sword, 4 There is none like it none in 
ancient or in modern literature." — Kitto. 
" A book which will one day, perhaps, 
be seen towering up alone far above all 
the poetry of the world." — J. A. Froude. 
" The book of Job is a drama, and yet 
subjectively true. The two ideas are 
perfectly consistent. It may have the 
dramatic form, the dramatic interest, the 
dramatic emotion, and yet be substan- 
tially a truthful narrative. The author 
may have received it in one of three 
ways : the writer may have been an eye- 
witness; or have received it from near 
contemporary testimony ; or it may have 
reached him through a tradition of whose 
substantial truthfulness he has no doubt. 
There is abundant internal evidence that 
the scenes and events recorded were real 
scenes and real events to the writer. He 
gives the discussions either as he had 
heard them or as they had been repeated 
over and over in many an ancient con- 
sensus. The very modes of transmission 
show the deep impression it had made in 
all the East, as a veritable as well as 
marvellous event." — Tayler Leivis. 

The design of the book. — Stanley says 
that " The whole book is a discussion of 
that great problem of human life : what 
is the intention of Divine Providence in 
allowing the good to suffer?" " The di- 
rect object is to show that, although 
goodness has a natural tendency to secure 
a full measure of temporal happiness, 
yet that in its essence it is independent 
of such a result. Selfishness in some 
form is declared to be the basis on which 
all apparent goodness rests. That ques- 
tion is tried in the case of Job." — Cook. 



JOB 



JOE 



Structure of the book. — The book con- 
sists of five parts :— I. Chs. 1-3. The his- 
torical facts. II. Chs. 4-31. The discus- 
sions between Job and his three friends. 
III. Chs. 32-37. Job's discussion with 
Elihu. IV. Chs. 38^1. The theophany, 
■ — God speaking out of the storm. V. 
Ch. 42. The successful termination of 
the trial. It is all in poetry except the 
introduction and the close. 

The argument. — 1. One question could 
be raised by envy : may not the goodness 
which secures such direct and tangible 
rewards be a refined form of selfishness ? 
Satan, the accusing angel, suggests the 
doubt, " Doth Job fear God for nought ?" 
and asserts boldly that if those external 
blessings were withdrawn, Job would 
cast olf his allegiance — " he will curse 
thee to thy face." The problem is thus 
distinctly propounded which this book 
is intended to discuss and solve : can 
goodness exist irrespective of reward? 
The accuser receives permission to make 
the trial. He destroys Job's property, 
then his children; and afterward, to 
leave no possible opening for a cavil, is 
allowed to inflict upon him the most ter- 
rible disease known in the East. Job's 
wife breaks down entirely under the trial. 
Job remains steadfast. The question 
raised by Satan is answered. 

2. " Then follows a discussion which 
arises in the most natural manner from a 
visit of condolence on the part of three 
men who represent the wisdom and ex- 
perience of the age. Job's friends hold 
the theory that there is an exact and in- 
variable correlation between sin and suf- 
fering. The fact of suffering proves the 
commission of some special sin. They 
apply this to Job, but he disavows all 
special guilt. He denies that punish- 
ment in this life inevitably follows upon 
guilt, or proves its commission. He ap- 
peals to facts. Bad men do sometimes 
prosper. Here, at ch. 14, there is a pause. 
In the second colloquy the three friends 
take more advanced ground. They as- 
sume that Job has been actually guilty 
of sins, and that the sufferings and losses 
of Job are but an inadequate retribution 
for former sins. This series of accusa- 
tions brings out the inmost thoughts of 
Job. He recognizes God's hand in his 
afflictions, but denies they are brought 
on by wrong-doing; and becomes still 
clearer in the view that only the future 
life can vindicate God's justice. In 
his last two discourses, chs. 26-31, he 



states with incomparable force and el- 
oquence his opinion of the chief points 
of the controversy : man cannot com- 
prehend God's ways ; destruction sooner 
or later awaits the* wicked ; wisdom con- 
sists wholly in the fear of the Lord, and 
departing from evil." — Cook. 

3. Elihu sums up the argument. "The 
leading principle of Elihu's statement is 
that calamity, in the shape of trial, is 
inflicted on comparatively the best of 
men; but that God allows a favorable 
turn to take place as soon as its object 
has been realized." The last woi'ds are 
evidently spoken while a violent storm 
is coming on. 

4. It is obvious that many weighty 
truths have been developed in the course 
of the discussion: nearly every theory 
of the objects and uses of suffering has 
been reviewed, while a great advance has 
been made toward the apprehension of 
doctrines hereafter to be revealed, such 
as were known only to God. But the 
mystery is not as yet really cleared up ; 
hence the necessity for the theophany. 
ch. 38 : 41. From the midst of the storm 
Jehovah speaks. In language of incom- 
parable grandeur he reproves and silences 
the murmurs of Job. God does not con- 
descend, strictly speaking, to argue with 
his creatures. The speculative questions 
discussed in the colloquy are unnoticed, 
but the declaration of God's absolute 
power is illustrated by a marvellously 
beautiful and comprehensive survey of 
the glory of creation and his all-embrac- 
ing providence. A second address com- 
pletes the work. It proves that a charge 
of* injustice against God involves the con- 
sequence that the accuser is more com- 
petent that he to rule the universe. 

Jo'oab (a desert). 1. The last in 
order of the sons of Joktan. Gen. 10 : 29 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 23. 

2. One of the "kings" of Edom. Gen. 
36 : 33, 34 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 44, 45. 

3. King of Madon ; one of the northern 
chieftains who attempted to oppose Josh- 

i ua's conquest, and were routed by him at 
! Meron. Josh. 11 : 1 only. 

4. Head of a Benjamite house. 1 
Chron. 8 : 9. 

Joch'ebed {ivhose glory is Jehovah), 
the wife and at the same time the aunt 
of Amram and the mother of Moses and 
Aaron. Ex. 2 : 1 ; 6 : 20; Num. 26 : 59. 

Jo 'da, in Revised Version for Juda. 
Luke 3 : 26. 

Jo'ed ( for whom Jehovah is witness), 
313 



JOE 



JOH 



a Benjamite, the son of Pedaiah. Neh. 
11 : 7. 

Jo'el {to whom Jehovah is God). 1. 
Eldest son of Samuel the prophet, 1 
Sam. 8:2; 1 Chron. 6 : 33 ; 15 : 17, and 
father of Heman the singei*. (B.C. 1094.) 

2. In 1 Chron. 6 : 36, Authorized Ver- 
sion, Joel seems to be merely a corruption 
of Shaul in ver. 24. 

3. A Simeonite chief. 1 Chron. 4 : 35. 

4. A descendant of Reuben. Junius 
and Tremellius make him the son of 
Hanoch, while others trace his descent 
through Carmi. 1 Chron. 5 : 4. (B.C. be- 
fore 1092.) 

5. Chief of the Gadites, who dwelt in 
the land of Bashan. 1 Chron. 5 : 12. (B.C. 
782.) 

6. The son of Izrahiah, of the tribe of 
Issachar. 1 Chron. 7 : 3. 

7. The brother of Nathan of Zobah, 
1 Chron. 11 : 38, and one of David's 
guard. 

8. The chief of the Gershomites in the 
reign of David. 1 Chron. 15 : 7, 11. 

9. A Gershonite Levite in the reign of 
David, son of Jehiel, a descendant of 
Laadan, and probably the same as the 
preceding. 1 Chron. 23 : 8 ; 26 : 22. (B.C. 
1014.) 

10. The son of Pedaiah, and a chief of 
the half-tribe of Manasseh west of Jor- 
dan, in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 
20. (B.C. 1014.) 

11. A Kohathite Levite in the reign of 
Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 12. (B.C. 726.) 

12. One of the sons of Nebo, who re- 
turned with Ezra, and had married a 
foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 43. (B.C. 459.) 

13. The son of Zichri, a Benjamite. 
Neh. 11 : 9. 

14. The second of the twelve minor 
prophets, the son of Pethuel, probably 
prophesied in Judah in the reign of Uz- 
ziah, about B.C. 800. The book of Joel 
contains a grand outline of the whole 
terrible scene, which was to be depicted 
more and more in detail by subsequent 
prophets. The proximate event to which 
the prophecy related was a public calam- 
ity, then impending on Judah, of a two- 
fold character — want of water, and a 
plague of locusts — and continuing for 
several years. The prophet exhorts the 
people to turn to God with penitence, 
fasting and prayer; and then, he says, 
the plague shall cease, and the rain de- 
scend in its season, and the land yield her 
accustomed fruit. Nay, the time will be 
a most joyful one; for God, by the out- 

314" 



pouring of his Spirit, will extend the 
blessings of true religion to heathen 
lands. The prophecy is referred to in 
Acts 2. 

Jo-e'lah {Jehovah helps), son of Jero- 
ham of Gedor. 1 Chron. 12 : 7. 

Jo-e'zer {whose help is Jehovah), a 
Korhite, one of David's captains. 1 
Chron. 12 : 6. (B.C. 1155.) 

Jog'behah {lofty), one of the cities on 
the east of Jordan which were built and 
fortified by the tribe of Gad when they 
took possession of their territory. Num. 
32 : 35. 

Jog'li {led into exile), the father of 
Bukki, a Danite chief. Num. 34 : 22. 

Jo'ha {Jehovah gives life). 1. One of 
the sons of Beriah the Benjamite. 1 
Chron. 8 : 16. (B.C. 588 or 536.) 

2. The Tizite, one of David's guard. 1 
Chron. 11:45. (B.C. 1046.) 

Joha'nan {gift or grace of God). 1. 
Son of Azariah and grandson of Ahimaaz 
the son of Zadok, and father of Azariah, 
3. 1 Chron. 6 : 9, 10, Authorized Version. 

2. Son of Elioenai, the son of Neariah, 
the son of Shemaiah, in the line of Zerub- 
babel's heirs. 1 Chron. 3 : 24. (B.C. after 
406.) 

3. The son of Kareah, and one of the 
captains of the scattered remnants of the 
army of Judah, who escaped in the final 
attack upon Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. 
(B.C. 588.) After the murder of Gedaliah, 
Johanan was one of the foremost in the 
pursuit of his assassin, and rescued the 
captives he had carried off from Mizpah. 
Jer. 41 : 11-16. Fearing the vengeance 
of the Chaldeans, the captains, with Jo- 
hanan at their head, notwithstanding the 
warnings of Jeremiah, retired into Egypt. 

4. The first-born son of Josiah king of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 15. (B.C. 638-610.) 

5. A valiant Benjamite who joined 
David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12:4. (B.C. 
1055.) 

6. A Gadite warrior who followed 
David. 1 Chron. 12 : 12. 

7. The father of Azariah, an Ephraim- 
ite in the time of Ahaz. 2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

8. The son of Hakkatan, and chief of 
the Bene-Azgad who returned with Ezra. 
Ezra 8 : 12. 

9. The son of Eliashib, one of the chief 
Levites. Ezra 10 : 6 ; Neh. 12 : 23. 

10. The son of Tobiah the Ammonite. 
Neh. 6 : 18. 

John, the same name as Johanan, a 
contraction of Jehohanan, Jehovah's gift. 
1. One of the high priest's family, who, 



JOH 



JOH 



with Annas and Caiaphas, sat in judg- 
ment upon the apostles Peter and John. 
Acts 6:6. 

2. The Hebrew name of the evangelist 
Mark. Acts 12 : 12, 25; 13 : 5, 13 ; 15 : 
37. 

John the apostle was the son of 

Zebedee, a fisherman on the Lake of 
Galilee, and of Salome, and brother of 
James, also an apostle. Peter and James 
and John come within the innermost 
circle of their Lord's friends ; but to 
John belongs the distinction of being the 
disciple whom Jesus loved. He hardly 
sustains the popular notion, fostered by 
the received types of Christian art, of a 
nature gentle, yielding, feminine. The 
name Boanerges, Mark 3 : 17, implies a 
vehemence, zeal, intensity, which gave 
to those who had it the might of sons of 
thunder. [James.] The three are with 
our Lord when none else are, in the 
chamber of death, Mark 5 : 37 ; in the 
glory of the transfiguration, Matt. 17 : 1 ; 
when he forewarns them of the destruc- 
tion of the holy city, Mark 13:3; in the 
agony of Gethsemane. When the be- 
trayal is accomplished, Peter and John 
follow afar oft'. John 18 : 15. The per- 
sonal acquaintance which existed be- 
tween John and Caiaphas enables him 
to gain access to the council chamber, 
and he follows Jesus thence, even to the 
prsetorium of the Roman procurator. 
John 18 : 16, 19, 28. Thence he follows 
to the place of crucifixion, and the 
Teacher leaves to him the duty of be- 
coming a son to the mother who is left 
desolate. John 19 : 26, 27. It is to Peter 
and John that Mary Magdalene first 
runs with the tidings of the emptied 
sepulchre, John 20 : 2 ; they are the first 
to go together to see what the strange 
words meant, John running on most 
eagerly to the rock -tomb ; Peter, the j 
least restrained by awe, the first to enter 
in and look. John 20 : 4-6. For at least 
eight days they continue in Jerusalem. 
John 20 : 26. Later, on the Sea of Gali- 
lee, John is the first to recognize in the 
dim form seen in the morning twilight 
the presence of his risen Lord ; Peter the 
first to plunge into the water and swim 
toward the shore where he stood calling 
to them. John 21 : 7. The last words of 
John's Gospel reveal to us the deep af- 
fection which united the two friends. 
The history of the Acts shows the same 
union. They are together at the ascen- 
sion and on the day of Pentecost. To- 



gether they enter the temple as worship- 
j pers, Acts 3:1, and protest against the 
j threats of the Sanhedrin. ch. 4 : 13. The 
persecution which was pushed on by 
Saul of Tarsus did not drive John from 
! his post. ch. 8:1. Fifteen years after 
St. Paul's first visit he was still at Jeru- 
salem, and helped to take part in the 
I settlement of the great controversy be- 
tween the Jewish and the Gentile Chris- 
tians. Acts 15 : 6. His subsequent his- 
tory we know only by tradition. There 
can be no doubt that he removed from 
Jerusalem and settled at Ephesus, though 
at what time is uncertain. Tradition 
goes on to relate that in the persecution 
under Domitian he is taken to Rome, 
and there, by his boldness, though not by 
death, gains the crown of martyrdom. 
The boiling oil into which he is thrown 
has no power to hurt him. He is then 
sent to labor in the mines, and Patmos is 
the place of his exile. The accession of 
Nerva frees him from danger, and he re- 
turns to Ephesus. Heresies continue to 
show themselves, but he meets them with 
the strongest possible protest. The very 
time of his death lies within the region 
of conjecture rather than of history, and 
the dates that have been assigned for it 
range from a.d. 89 to A.D. 120. 

John the Baptist was of the priestly 
race by both parents, for his father, Zach- 
arias, was himself a priest of the course 
of Abia or Abijah, 1 Chron. 24 : 10, and 
Elisabeth was of the daughters of Aaron. 
Luke 1 : 5. His birth was foretold by an 
angel sent from God, and is related at 
length in Luke 1. The birth of John 
preceded by six months that of our Lord. 
John was ordained to be a Nazarite from 
his birth. Luke 1 : 15. Dwelling by him- 
self in the wild and thinly-peopled region 
westward of the Dead Sea, he prepared 
himself for the wonderful oftice to which 
he had been divinely called. His dress 
was that of the old prophets— a garment 
woven of camel's hair, 2 Kings 1 : 8, at- 
tached to the body by a leathern girdle. 
His food was such as the desert afforded 
— locusts, Lev. 11 : 22, and wild honey. 
Ps. 81 : 16. And now the long-secluded 
hermit came forth to the discharge of his 
oftice. His supernatural birth, his life, 
and the general expectation that some 
great one was about to appear, were suffi- 
cient to attract to him a great multitude 
from " every quarter." Matt. 3 : 5. Many 
of every class pressed forward to confess 
their sins and to be baptized. Jesus him- 
315 



JOH 



JOH 



self came from Galilee to Jordan to be 
baptized of John. [Jesus.] From inci- I 
dental notices we learn that John and 
his disciples continued to baptize some 
time after our Lord entered upon his 
ministry. See John 3 : 23 ; 4:1; Acts j 
19:3. We gather also that John in- 
structed his disciples in certain moral \ 
and religious duties, as fasting, Matt. 9 : j 
14 ; Luke 5 : 33, and prayer. Luke 11:1. 
But shortly after he had given his testi- 
mony to the Messiah, John's public min- 
istry was brought to a close. In daring 
disregard of the divine laws, Herod An- 
tipas had taken to himself Herodias, the 
wife of his brother Philip; and when 
John reproved him for this, as well as for 
other sins, Luke 3 : 19, Herod cast him 
into prison. (March, a.d. 28.) The place 
of his confinement was the castle of Ma- 
chaerus, a fortress on the eastern shore 
of the Dead Sea. It was here that reports 
reached him of the miracles which our 
Lord was working in Judea. Nothing 
but the death of the Baptist would satisfy 
the resentment of Herodias. A court 
festival was kept at Machaerus in honor 
of the king's birthday. After supper the 
daughter of Herodias came in and danced 
before the company, and so charmed was 
the king by her grace that he promised 
with an oath to give her whatsoever she 
should ask. Salome, prompted by her 
abandoned mother, demanded the head 
of John the Baptist. Herod gave in- 
structions to an officer of his guard, who 
went and executed John in the prison, 
and his head was brought to feast the 
eyes of the adulteress whose sins he had 
denounced. His death is supposed to have 
occurred just before the third passover, 
in the course of the Lord's ministry. 
(March, A.D. 29.) 

John, Gospel of. This Gospel was 
probably written at Ephesus about A.D. 
78. (Canon Cook places it toward the 
close of John's life, a.d. 90-100.— Ed.) 
The Gospel was obviously addressed pri- 
marily to Christians, not to heathen. 
There can be little doubt that the main 
object of St. John, who wrote after the 
other evangelists, is to supplement their 
narratives, which were almost confined 
to our Lord's life in Galilee. (It was 
the Gospel for the Church, to cultivate 
and cherish the spiritual life of Chris- 
tians, and bring them into the closest re- 
lations to the divine Saviour. It gives 
the inner life and teachings of Christ as 
revealed to his disciples. Nearly two- 
316 



thirds of the whole book belong to the 
last six months of our Lord's life, and 
one-third is the record of the last week. 
— Ed.) The following is an abridgment 
of its contents : A. The Prologue, ch. 1 : 
1-18. B. The History, ch. 1 : 19-20 : 29. 
(a) Various events relating to our Lord's 
\ ministry, narrated in connection with 
j seven journeys, ch. 1 : 19-12 : 50 : 1. First 
| journey, into Judea, and beginning of 
j his ministry, ch. 1 : 19-2 : 12. 2. Second 
; journey, at the passover in the first year 
! of his ministry, ch. 2 : 13-4. 3. Third 
journey, in the second year of his minis- 
! try, about the passover, ch. 5. 4. Fourth 
journey, about the passover, in the third 
I year of his ministry, beyond Jordan, ch. 
h. 5. Fifth journey, six months before 
his death, begun at the feast of taber- 
nacles, chs. 7-10 : 21. 6. Sixth journey, 
about the feast of dedication, ch. 10 : 22- 
42. 7. Seventh journey, in Judea to- 
wards Bethany, ch. 11 : 1-54. 8. Eighth 
journey, before his last passover, chs. 11 : 
55-12. (6) History of the death of Christ, 
chs. 13-20:29: 1. Preparation for his 
passion, chs. 13-17. 2. The circumstances 
of his passion and death, chs. 18, 19. 3. 
His resurrection, and the proofs of it, 
ch. 20 : 1-29. C. The Conclusion, ch. 
20 : 30-21 : 1. Scope of the foregoing his- 
tory, ch. 20 : 30, 31. 2. Confirmation of 
the authority of the evangelist by addi- 
tional historical facts, and by the testi- 
mony of the elders of the Church, ch. 
21 : 1-24. 3. Eeason of the termination 
of the history, ch. 21 : 25. 

John, The First Epistle General 
of. There can be no doubt that the 
apostle John was the author of this epis- 
tle. It was probably written from Ephe- 
sus, and most likely at the close of the 
first century. In the introduction, ch. 
1 : 1-4, the apostle states the purpose of 
I his epistle : it is to declare the word of 
| life to those whom he is addressing, in 
order that he and they might be united 
j in true communion with each other, and 
j with God the Father and his Son Jesus 
I Christ. His lesson throughout is that 
the means of union with God are, on the 
part of Christ, his atoning blood, ch. 1 : 
7, 2 : 2, 3 : 5, 4 : 10, 14, 5 : 6, and advocacy, 
ch. 2:1; on the part of man, holiness, 
ch. 1 : 6, obedience, ch. 2 : 3, purity, ch. 
i 3 : 3, faith, ch. 3 : 23 ; 4:3; 5 : 5, and 
| above all love. ch. 2:7; 3: 14; 4:7; 
5:1. 

John, The Second and Third 
Epistles of. The second epistle is ad- 



JOT 



JON 



dressed to an individual woman. One 
who had children, and a sister and nieces, 
is clearly indicated. According to one 
interpretation she is " the Lady Electa," 
to another, "the elect Kyria," to a third, 
" the elect Lady." The third epistle is 
addressed to Caius or Gaius. He was 
probably a convert of St. John, Epist. 3 : 
4, and a layman of wealth and distinc- 
tion, Epist. 3 : 5, in some city near Eph- 
esus. The object of St. John in writing 
the second epistle was to warn the lady 
to whom he wrote against abetting the 
teaching known as that of Basilides and 
his followers, by perhaps an undue kind- 
ness displayed by her toward the preach- 
ers of the false doctrine. The third 
epistle was written for the purpose of 
commending to the kindness and hospi- 
tality of Caius some Christians who were 
strangers in the place where he lived. 
It is probable that these Christians car- 
ried this letter with them to Caius as 
their introduction. 

Jo-i'ada {whom Jehovah favors), high 
priest after his father Eliashib. Neh. 13 : 
28. (B.C. after 44G.) 

Jo-i'akim { whom Jehovah sets up), a 
high priest, son of the renowned Jeshua. 
Neh. 12 : 10. (B.C. before 446.) 

Jo-i'arib (whom Jehovah defends). 
1. A layman who returned from Babylon 
with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 16. (B.C. 459.) 

2. The founder of one of the courses 
of priests, elsewhere called in full Je- 
hoiarib. Neh. 12 : 6, 19. 

3. A Shilonite — i. e. probably a de- 
scendant of Shelah the son of Judah. 
Neh. 11 : 5. (B.C. before 536.) 

Jok'de-an (possessed by the people), a 
city of Judah, in the mountains, Josh. 
15 : 56, apparently south of Hebron. 

Jo'kim (whom Jehovah has set up), 
one of the sons of Shelah the son of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 22. 

Jok'me-am (gathered by the people), 
a city of Ephraim, given with its suburbs 
to the Kohathite Levites. 1 Chron. 6 : 68. 
The situation of Jokmeam (in Author- 
ized Version Jokneam) is to a certain 
extent indicated in 1 Kings 4 : 12, where 
it is named with places which we know 
to have been in the Jordan valley at the 
extreme east boundary of the tribe. 

Jok'ne-am (possessed by the people), 
a city of the tribe of Zebulun, allotted 
with its suburbs to the Merarite Levites. 
Josh. 21 : 34. Its modern site is Tell 
Kaimon, an eminence which stands just 
below the eastern termination of Carmel. 



Jok'shan (fowler), a son of Abraham 
and Keturah, Gen. 25 : 2, 3 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 
32, whose sons were Sheba and Dedan. 

Jok'tan (small), son of Eber, Gen. 10 : 
25 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 19, and the father of the 
Joktanite Arabs. Gen. 10 : 30. (B.C. 
about 2200.) 

Jok'the-el (subdued by God). 1. A 
city in the low country of Judah, Josh. 
15 : 38, named next to Lachish. 

2. " God-subdued," the title given by 
Amaziah to the cliff ( Authorized Version 
Selah) — the stronghold of the Edomites 
— after he had captured it from them. 2 
Kings 14 : 7. The parallel narrative of 
2 Chron. 25 : 11-13 supplies fuller details. 

Jo'na (a dove) (Greek form of Jonah), 
the father of the apostle Peter, John 1 : 
42, who is hence addressed as Simon Bar- 
jona (i. e. son of Jona) in Matt. 16 : 17. 

Jon'adab (ivhom Jehovah impels). 1. 
Son of Shimeah and nephew of David. 
(B.C. 1033.) He is described as "very 
subtile." 2 Sam. 13 : 3. His age naturally 
made him the friend of his cousin Am- 
j non, heir to the throne. 2 Sam. 13 : 3. 
j He gave him the fatal advice for ensnar- 
| ing his sister Tamar. ch. 13 : 5, 6. Again, 
when, in a later stage of the same trag- 
edy, Amnon was murdered by Absalom, 
and the exaggerated report reached 
\ David that all the princes were slaugh- 
j tered, Jonadab was already aware of the 
real state of the case. 2 Sam. 13 : 32, 33. 

2. Jer. 35 : 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 19. [Je- 
HONADAB.] 

Jo'nah (dove), the fifth of the minor 
prophets, was the son of Amittai, and a 
native of Gath-hepher. 2 Kings 14 : 25. 
He flourished in or before the reign of 
Jeroboam II., about B.C. 820. Having 
already, as it seems, prophesied to Israel, 
he was sent to Nineveh. The time was 
one of political revival in Israel ; but 
ere long the Assyrians were to be em- 
ployed by God as a scourge upon them. 
The prophet shrank from a commission 
which he felt sure would result, Jonah 
4 : 2, in the sparing of a hostile city. He 
attempted therefore to escape to Tar- 
shish. The providence of God, however, 
watched over him, first in a storm, and 
then in his being swallowed by a large 
fish (a sea monster, probably the white 
shark) for the space of three days and 
three nights. [On this subject see article 
Whale.] After his deliverance, Jonah 
: executed his commission ; and the king, 
| " believing him to be a minister from the 
supreme deity of the nation," and having 
317 



JON 



JOP 



heard of his miraculous deliverance, or- 
dered a general fast, and averted the 
threatened judgment. But the prophet, 
not from personal but national feelings, 
grudged the mercy shown to a heathen 
nation. He was therefore taught by the 
significant lesson of the " gourd," whose 
growth and decay brought the truth at 
once home to him, that he was sent to 
testify by deed, as other prophets would 
afterward testify by word, the capacity 
of Gentiles for salvation, and the design 
of God to make them partakers of it. 
This was " the sign of the prophet Jonas." 
Luke 11 : 29, 30. But the resurrection 
of Christ itself was also shadowed forth 
in the history of the prophet. Matt. 12 : 
39, 41 ; 16 : 4. The mission of Jonah was 
highly symbolical. The facts contained 
a concealed prophecy. The old tradi- 
tion made the burial-place of Jonah to 
be Gath-hepher ; the modern tradition 
places it at Nebi-Yunus, opposite Mosul. 

Jo'nam (gift or grace of God), the 
form given to Jonan in the Bevised 
Version of Luke 3 : 30. 

Jo 'nan (perhaps a contraction of Jo- 
hanan, gift or grace of God), son of i 
Eliakim, in the genealogy of Christ. 
Luke 3 : 30. (B.C. before 876.) 

Jo'nas (a dove). 1. The prophet Jo- 
nah. Matt. 12 : 39, 40, 41 ; 16:4. 

2. Father of Peter. John 21 : 15-17. 

[JONA.] 

Jon'athan, that is, " the gift of Je- 
hovah," the eldest son of King Saul. 
(B.C. about 1095-1056.) He was a man 
of great strength and activity. 2 Sam. 1 : 
23. He was also famous as a warrior, 1 
Chron. 12 : 2, as is shown by the courage 
he showed in attacking the garrison of 
the Philistines, in company with his ar- 
mor-bearer only, slaying twenty men and 
putting an army to flight. 1 Sam. 14 : 
6-16. During the pursuit, Jonathan, 
who had not heard of the rash curse, ch. 
14 : 24, which Saul invoked on any one 
who ate before the evening, tasted the 
honey which lay on the ground. Saul 
would have sacrificed him ; but the people 
interposed in behalf of the hero of that 
great day, and Jonathan was saved, ch. 
14 : 24-45. The chief interest of Jon- 
athan's career is derived from the friend- 
ship with David, which began on the 
day of David's return from the victory 
over the champion of Gath, and con- 
tinued till his death. Their last meeting 
was in the forest of Ziph, during Saul's 
pursuit of David. 1 Sam. 23 : 16-18. 
318 



From this time forth we hear no more 
till the battle of Gil boa. In that battle 
he fell. 1 Sam. 31 : 2, 8. (B.C. 1056.) 
His ashes were buried first at Jabesh- 
gilead, ch. 31 : 13, but were afterward re- 
moved with those of his father to Zelah 
in Benjamin. 2 Sam. 21 : 12. The news 
of his death occasioned the celebrated 
elegy of David. He left a son, Mephib- 
osheth. LM EPHIB OSHETH.] 

2. A nephew of David. 2 Sam. 21 : 21 ; 
1 Chron. 20 : 7. He engaged in single 
combat with and slew a gigantic Philis- 
tine of Gath. 2 Sam. 21 : 21. (B.C. 1018.) 

3. The son of Abiathar, the high priest, 
is the last descendant of Eli of whom 
we hear anything. 2 Sam. 15 : 36 ; 17 : 
15-21 ; 1 Kings 1 : 42, 43. (B.C. 1023.) 

4. One of David's heroes. 2 Sam. 23 : 
32; 1 Chron. 11 : 34. 

5. The son or descendant of Gershom 
the son of Moses. Judges 18 : 30. [Mi- 
CAH.] (B.C. about 1425.) 

6. One of the Bene-Adin. Ezra 8 : 6. 

7. A priest, the son of Asahel, in the 
time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 15. (B.C. 459.) 

8. A priest of the family of Melicu. 
Neh. 12 : 14. 

9. One of the sons of Kareah, and 
brother of Johanan. Jer. 40 : 8. (B.C. 
587.) 

10. Son of Joiada, and his successor in 
the high priesthood. Neh. 12 : 11, 22, 23. 
(B.C. before 332.) 

11. Father of Zechariah, a priest who 
blew the trumpet at the dedication of the 
wall. Neh. 12 : 35. 

12. 1 Esdr. 8 : 32. [See No. 6.] (B.C. 
446.) 

Jonath-elem-rechokim (a dumb 
love of (in) distant places), a phrase 
found once only in the Bible, as a head- 
ing to the 56th psalm. Aben Ezra, who 
regards Jonath-elem-rechokim as merely 
indicating the modulation or the rhythm 
of the psalm, appears to come the near- 
est to the meaning of the passage. 

Jop'pa 9 or Japho (beauty), now Jaffa, 
a town on the southwest coast of Pales- 
tine, in the portion of Dan. Josh. 19 : 
46. Having a harbor attached to it — 
though always, as still, a dangerous one 
— it became the port of Jerusalem in the 
days of Solomon, and has been ever 
since. Here Jonah " took ship to flee 
from the presence of his Maker." Here, 
on the house-top of Simon the tanner, 
" by the seaside," St. Peter had his vision 
of tolerance. Acts 11 : 5. The existing 
town contains about 4000 inhabitants. 



JOR JOR 



Jo'rah (the early rain), the ancestor] Neh. 7: 24 he appears under the name Ha- 
of a family of 112 who returned from I riph, or more correctly the same family 
Babylon with Ezra. Ezra 2 : 18. In I are represented as the Bene-Hariph. 




Jaffa, the modern Joppa. 



Jor'a-i [whom Jehovah teaches), one 
of the Gadites dwelling at Gilead in Ba- 
shan, in the reign of Jothan king of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 5 : 13. 

Jo'ram {whom Jehovah has exalted). 
1. Son of Ahab king of Israel. 2 Kings 8 : 
16, 25, 28, 29 ; 9 : 14, 17, 21-23, 29. [Je- 
IIORAM, 1.] 

2. Son of Jehoshaphat ; king of Judah. 
2 Kings 8 : 21, 23, 24; 1 Chron. 3 : 11 ; 2 
Chron. 22 : 5, 7 ; Matt. 1 : S. [Jehoram, 
2-] 

3. A priest in the reign of Jehosha- 
phat. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. 

4. A Levite, ancestor of Shelomith, in 
the time of David. 1 Chron. 26 : 25. 

5. Son of Toi king of Hamath. 2 Sam. 
8:10. [Hadoram.i 

6. 1 Esd. 1 : 9. [Jozabad, 3.] 
Jor'dan [the descender), the one river 

of Palestine, has a course of little more 
than 200 miles, from the roots of Anti- 
Lebanon to the head of the Dead Sea. 
(136 miles in a straight line. — Schaff.) 
It is the river of the "great plain" of 



Palestine — the " descender," if not " the 
river of God " in the book of Psalms, at 
least that of his chosen people through- 
out their history. There were fords over 
against Jericho, to which point the men 
of Jericho pursued the spies. Josh. 2:7; 
comp. Judges 3 : 28. Higher up were the 
fords or passages of Bethbarah, where 
Gideon lay in wait for the Midianites, 
Judges 7 : 24, and where the men of 
Gilead slew the Ephraimites. ch. 12 : 6. 
These fords undoubtedly witnessed the 
first recorded passage of the Jordan in 
the Old Testament. Gen. 32 : 10. Jordan 
was next crossed, over against Jei'icho, 
by Joshua. Josh. 4 : 12, 13. From their 
vicinity to Jerusalem the lower fords 
were much used. David, it is probable, 
passed over them in one instance to fight 
the Syrians. 2 Sam. 10 : 17 ; 17 : 22. 
Thus there were two customary places 
at which the Jordan was fordable ; and 
it must have been at one of these, if not 
at both, that baptism was afterward ad- 
ministered by St. John and by the dis- 
319 




320 



JOE 



JOS 



ciples of our Lord. Where our Lord was 
baptized is not stated expressly, but it 
was probably at the upper ford. These 
fords were rendered so much more pre- 
cious in those days from two circum- 
stances. First, it does not appear that 
there were then any bridges thrown over 
or boats regularly established on the 
Jordan ; and secondly, because " Jordan 
overflowed all his banks all the time of 
harvest." Josh. 3 : 15. The channel or 
bed of the river became brimful, so that 
the level of the water and of the banks 
was then the same. (Dr. Selah Merrill, 
in his book " Galilee in the Time of 
Christ" (1881), says, "Near Tarichsea, 
just below the point where the Jordan 
leaves the lake (of Galilee), there was 
(in Christ's time) a splendid bridge across 
the river, supported by ten piers." — Ed.) 
The last feature which remains to be 
noticed in the scriptural account of the 
Jordan is its frequent mention as a 
boundary: "over Jordan," "this" and 
" the other side," or " beyond Jordan," 
were expressions as familiar to the Is- 
raelites as " across the water," " this " 
and " the other side of the Channel " are 
to English ears. In one sense indeed, 
that is, in so far as it was the eastern 
boundary of the land of Canaan, it was 
the eastern boundary of the promised 
land. Num. 34 : 12. The Jordan rises 
from several sources near Panium (Bl- 
nids), and passes through the lakes of 
Merom (Huleh) and Gennesaret. The 
two principal features in its course are 
its descent and its windings. From its 
fountain heads to the Dead Sea it rushes 
down one continuous inclined plane, only 
broken by a series of rapids or precipi- 
tous falls. Between the Lake of Gennes- 
aret and the Dead Sea there are 27 
rapids. The depression of the Lake of 
Gennesaret below the level of the Medi- 
terranean is 653 feet, and that of the Dead 
Sea 1316 feet. (The whole descent from 
its source to the Dead Sea is 3000 feet. 
Its width varies from 45 to 180 feet, and 
it is from 3 to 12 feet deep. — Schoff.) Its 
sinuosity is not so remarkable in the 
upper part of its course. The only trib- 
utaries to the Jordan below Gennesaret 
are the Yarmuk (Hieromax) and the 
Zerka (Jabbok). Not a single city ever 
crowned the banks of the Jordan. Still 
Bethshan and Jericho to the west, Ge- 
rasa, Pella and Gadara to the east of it 
were important cities, and caused a good 
deal of traffic between the two opposite 
21 



banks. The physical features of the 
Ghor, through which the Jordan tlows, 
are treated of under PALESTINE. 

Jo'rim (whom Jehovah has exalted), 
son of Matthat, in the genealogy of 
Christ. Luke 3 : 29. 

Jor'ko-am (j^aleness of the people), 
either a descendant of Caleb the son of 
Hezron, or the name of a place in the 
tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 44. 

Jos'abad (whom Jehovah bestows), 
properly Jozabad the Gederathite, one 
of the warriors of Benjamin who joined 
David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 4. (B.C. 
1055.) 

Jos'aphat = Jehoshaphat king of 
Judah. Matt. 1:8. 

Jo'se (another form of Joses), son of 
Eliezer, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 
Luke 3 : 29. 

Jo'sech, the form of name given in 
the Revised Version for Joseph, in Luke 
3 : 26. It is not found in the Old Testa- 
ment. 

Jos'edech = Jehozadak (whom Je- 
hovah makes just), the son of Seraiah. 
Hag. 1 : 1, 12, 14; 2 : 2, 4; Zech. 6 : 11. 

Jo'seph (increase). 1. The elder of 
the two sons of Jacob by Rachel. He 
was born in Padan-aram (Mesopotamia;, 
probably about B.C. 1746. He is first 
mentioned when a youth, seventeen years 
old. Joseph brought the evil report of 
his brethren to his father, and they hated 
him" because his father loved him more 
than he did them, and had shown his 
preference by making him a dress which 
appears to have been a long tunic with 
sleeves, worn by youths and maidens of 
the richer class'. Gen. 37 : 2. He dreamed 
a dream foreshadowing his future power, 
which increased the hatred of his breth- 
ren. Gen. 37 : 5-7. He was sent by his 
father to visit his brothers, who were 
tending flocks in the fields of Dothan. 
They resolved to kill him, but he was 
saved by Reuben, who persuaded the 
brothers to cast Joseph into a dry pit, to 
the intent that he might restore him to 
Jacob. The appearance of the Ishmael- 
ites suggested his sale for "twenty pieces 
(shekels) of silver." ver. 28. Sold into 
Egypt to Potiphar, Joseph prospered and 
was soon set over Potiphar's house, and 
" all he had he gave into his hand ;" but 
incurring the anger of Potiphar's wife, 
ch. 39 : 7-13, he was falsely accused and 
thrown into prison, where he remained 
at least two years, interpreting during 
this time the dreams of the cupbearer 
321. • 



JOS 



JOS 



and the baker. Finally Pharaoh himself 
dreamed two prophetic dreams. Joseph, 
being sent for, interpreted them in the 
name of God, foretelling the seven years 
of plenty and the seven years of famine. 
Pharaoh at once appointed Joseph not 
merely governor of Egypt, but second 
only to the sovereign, and also gave him 
to wife Asenath, daughter of Potipherah 
priest of On (Hieropolis), and gave him 
a name or title, Zaphnuth-paaneah (pre- 
server of life). Joseph's tirst act was to 
go throughout all the land of Egypt. 
During the seven plenteous years there 
was a very abundant produce, and he 
gathered the fifth 
part and laid it up. 
When the seven 
good years had 
passed, the famine 
began. Gen. 41 : 
54-57. [Famine.] 
After the famine 
had lasted for a 
time, apparently 
two years, Joseph 
gathered up all the 
money that was 
found in the land 
of Egyptand in the 
land of Canaan, for 
the corn which 
they bought, and 
brought it into 
Pharaoh's house, 
Gen. 47: 13,14; and 
when the money 
was exhausted, all 
the cattle, and fi- 
nally all the land 
except that of the 
priests, and appa- 
rently, as a conse- 
quence, the Egyp- 
tians themselves. 



should carry up his bones to the land 
of promise : thus showing in his latest 
action the faith, Heb. 11 : 22, which had 
guided his whole life. Like his father 
he was embalmed, " and he was put in 
a coffin in Egypt." Gen. 50 : 26. His 
trust Moses kept, and laid the bones of 
Joseph in his inheritance in Shechem, in 
the territory of Ephraim his offspring. 
His tomb is, according to tradition, 
about a stone's throw from Jacob's 
well. 

2. Father of Igal, who represented the 
tribe of issachar among the spies. Num. 
13:7. 




Joseph's Tomb and Mount Gerizim. 



He demanded, how- 
ever, only a fifth part of the produce 
as Pharaoh's right. Now Jacob, who 
had suffered also from the effects of the 
famine, sent Joseph's brothers to Egypt 
for corn. The whole story of Joseph's 
treatment of his brethren is so graphi- 
cally told in Gen. 42-45, and is so famil- 
iar, that it is unnecessary here to repeat 
it. On the death of Jacob in Egypt, 
Joseph carried him to Canaan, and laid 
him in the cave of Machpelah, the bury- 
ing-place of his fathers. Joseph lived 
" a hundred and ten years," having been 
more than ninety in Egypt. Dying, he 
took an oath of his brethren that they 



3. A lay Israelite who had married a 
foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 42. (B.C. 459.) 

4. A representative of the priestly fam- 
ily of Shebaniah. Neh. 12 : 14. (B.C. after 

536.) 

5. One of the ancestors of Christ, 
Luke 3 : 30, son of Jonan. 

6. Another ancestor of Christ, son of 
Judah. Luke 3 : 26. (B.C. between 536- 
410.) 

7. Another, son of Mattathias. Luke 
3 : 24. (B.C. after 400.) 

8. Son of Heli, and reputed father of 
Jesus Christ. All that is told us of Jo- 
seph in the New Testament may be 
summed up in a few words. He was a 



JOS 



JOS 



just man, and of the house and lineage of 
David. He lived at Nazareth in Galilee. 
He espoused Mary, the daughter and heir 
of his uncle Jacob, and before he took 
her home as his wife received the angelic 
communication recorded in Matt. 1 : 20. 
When Jesus was twelve years old Joseph 
and Mary took him with them to keep 
the passover at Jerusalem, and when they 
returned to Nazareth he continued to act 
as a father to the child Jesus, and was 
reputed to be so indeed. But here our 
knowledge of Joseph ends. That he 
died before our Lord's crucifixion is in- 
deed tolerably certain, by what is related 
John 19 : 27, and perhaps Mark 6 : 3 may 
imply that he was then dead. But where, 
when or how he died we know not. 

9. Joseph of Arimatheea, a rich and 
pious Israelite, probably a member of the 
Great Council or Sanhedrin. He is fur- 
ther characterized as " a good man and 
a just." Luke 23 : 50. We are expressly 
told that he did not " consent to the coun- 
sel and deed" of his colleagues in con- 
spiring to bring about the death of Jesus ; 
but he seems to have lacked the courage 
to protest against their judgment. On 
the very evening of the crucifixion, when 
the triumph of the chief priests and 
rulers seemed complete, Joseph " went 
in boldly unto Pilate and craved the 
body of Jesus." Pilate consented. Jo- 
seph and Nicodemus then, having en- 
folded the sacred body in the linen 
shroud which Joseph had bought, con- 
signed it to a tomb hewn in a rock, in a 
garden belonging to Joseph, and close to 
the place of crucifixion. There is a tra- 
dition that he was one of the seventy 
disciples. 

10. Joseph, called Barsabas, and sur- 
named Justus; one of the two persons 
chosen by the assembled church, Acts 
1 : 23, as worthy to fill the place in the 
apostolic company from which Judas 
had fallen. 

Jo'ses {exalted). 1. Son of Eliezer, in 
the genealogy of Christ. Luke 3 : 29. 

2. One of the Lord's brethren. Matt. 
13:55; Mark G : 3. 

3. Joses Barnabas. Acts 4 : 3G. [Bar- 
nabas.] 

Jo' shah (whom Jehovah lets dxoell), a 
prince of the house of Simeon. 1 Chron. 
4:34, 38-41. 

Josh'aphat (whom Jehovah judges), 
the Mithnite, one of David's guard. 1 
Chron. 11 : 43. 

Joshavi'ah (whom Jehovah makes 



dwell), the son of Elnaam, and one of Da- 
vid's guard. 1 Chron. 11 :46. (B.C. 1046.) 

Joshbefe/ashah (a seat in a hard 
place), son of Heman, head of the sev- 
enteenth course of musicians. 1 Chron. 
25 : 4, 24. (B.C. 1014.) 

Josh'ua (saviour, or whose help is Je- 
hovah). His name appears in the vari- 
ous forms of Hoshea, Oshea, Jehosh- 
tta, Jeshua and Jesus. 1. The son of 
Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. 1 Chron. 
7 : 27. (B.C. 1530-1420.) He was nearly 
forty years old when he shared in the 
hurried triumph of the exodus. He is 
mentioned first in connection with the 
fight against Amalek at Rephidim, when 
he was chosen by Moses to lead the Is- 
raelites. Ex. 17 : 9. Soon afterward he 
was one of the twelve chiefs who were 
sent, Num. 13 : 17, to explore the land of 
Canaan, and one of the two, ch. 14 : 6, 
who gave an encouraging report of their 
journey. Moses, shortly before his death, 
was directed, Num. 27 : 18, to invest 
Joshua with authority over the people. 
God himself gave Joshua a charge by 
the mouth of the dying lawgiver. Deut. 
31 : 14, 23. Under the direction of God 
again renewed, Josh. 1 : 1, Joshua as- 
sumed the command of the people at 
Shittim, sent spies into Jericho, crossed 
the Jordan, fortified a camp at Gilgal, 
circumcised the people, kept the passover, 
and was visited by the Captain of the 
Lord's host. A miracle made the fall of 
Jericho more terrible to the Canaanites. 
In the great battle of Beth-horon the 
Amorites were signally routed, and the 
south country was open to the Israelites. 
Joshua returned to the camp at Gilgal, 
master of half of Palestine. He de- 
feated the Canaanites under Jabin king 
of Hazor. In six years, six tribes, with 
thirty-one petty chiefs, were conquered. 
Joshua, now stricken in years, proceeded 
to make the division of the conquered 
land. Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim 
was assigned as Joshua's peculiar in- 
heritance. After an interval of rest, 
J oshua convoked an assembly from all 
Israel. He delivered two solemn ad- 
dresses, recorded in Josh. 23 : 24. He 
died at the age of 110 years, and was 
buried in his own city, Timnath-serah. 

2. An inhabitant of Beth-shemesh, in 
whose land was the stone at which the 
milch-kine stopped when they drew the 
ark of God with the offerings of the 
Philistines from Ekron to Beth-shemesh, 
1 Sam. 6 : 14, 18. (B.C. 1124.) 

323 



JOS 



JOZ 



3. A governor of the city who gave his ; 
name to a gate of Jerusalem. 2 Kings j 
23 : 8. (In the reign of Josiah, B.C. G28.) i 

4. Jeshua the son of Jozadak. Hag. 1 : 
14; 2 : 12; Zech. 3 : 1, etc. 

Josh'ua, Book of. Named from 
Joshua the son of Nun, who is the prin- 
cipal character in it. The book may be 
regarded as consisting of three parts : 
1. The conquest of Canaan ; chs. 1-12. 2. 
The partition of Canaan ; chs. 13-22. 3. 
Joshua's farewell ; chs. 23, 24. Nothing ! 
is really known as to the authorship of j 
the book. Joshua himself is generally 
named as the author by the Jewish 
writers and the Christian fathers ; but no 
contemporary assertion or sufficient his- 
torical proof of the fact exists, and it 
cannot be maintained without qualifica- 
tion. The last verses, ch. 24 : 29-33, were 
obviously added at a later time. Some 
events, such as the capture of Hebron, j 
of Debir, Josh. 15 : 13-19 and Judges 1 : 
10-15, of Leshem, Josh. 19 : 47 and Judges 
18 : 7, and the joint occupation of Jeru- 
salem, Josh. 15:63 and Judges 1:21, 
probably did not occur till after Joshua's 
death. (It was written probably during I 
Joshua's life, or soon after his death j 
(B.C. 1420), and includes his own records, j 
with revision by some other person not 
long afterward.) 

Josi'ah {whom Jehovah heals). 1. 
The son of Amon and Jedidah, succeeded 
his father B.C. 641, in the eighth year of j 
his age, and reigned 31 years. His his- 
tory is contained in 2 Kings 22-24 : 30 ; j 
2 Chron. 34, 35 ; and the first twelve | 
chapters of Jeremiah throw much light 
upon the general character of the Jews j 
in his day. He began in the eighth year j 
of his reign to seek the Lord ; and in his \ 
twelfth year, and for six years afterward, { 
in a personal progress throughout all the j 
land of Judah and Israel, he destroyed J 
everywhere high places, groves, images j 
and all outward signs and relics of idol- 
atry. The temple was restored under a 
special commission ; and in the course 
of the repairs Hilkiah the priest found 
that book of the law of the Lord which 
quickened so remarkably the ardent zeal 
of the king. He was aided by Jeremiah 
the prophet in spreading through his 
kingdom the knowledge and worship of 
Jehovah. The great day of Josiah's life 
was the day of the passover in the eight- 
eenth year of his reign. After this his 
endeavors to abolish every trace of idol- 
atry and superstition were still carried 
324 



on ; but the time drew near which had 
been indicated by Huldah. 2 Kings 22 : 
20. When Pharaoh-necho went from 
Egypt to Carchemish to carry on his war 
against Assyria, Josiah opposed his march 
along the seacoast. Necho reluctantly 
paused and gave him battle in the val- 
ley of Esdraelon. Josiah was mortally 
wounded, and died before he could reach 
Jerusalem. He was buried with extra- 
ordinary honors. 

2. The son of Zephaniah, at whose 
house took place the solemn and sym- 
bolical crowning of Joshua the high 
priest. Zech. 6 : 10. (B.C. about 1520.) 

Josi'as. Josiah, king of Judah. Matt. 

1 : 10, 11. 

Josibi'ah (to whom God gives a dwell- 
ing), the father of Jehu, a Simeonite. 1 
Chron. 4 : 35. 

Josiphi/ah (whom Jehovah will in- 
crease), the father or ancestor of Shelo- 
mith, who returned with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 
10. (B.C. 459.) 

Jot, the English form of the Greek 
iota, i. e., the smallest letter of the Greek 
alphabet. The Hebrew is yod, ory formed 
like a comma ('). It is used metaphori- 
cally to express the minutest thing. 

Jot/bah (goodness), the native place 
of Meshullemeth, the queen of Manasseh. 

2 Kings 21 : 19. 

Jot/bath, or Jot/bathah (goodness), 
Deut. 10 : 7 ; Num. 33 : 33, a desert station 
of the Israelites. 

Jo'tham (Jehovah is upright). 1. The 
youngest son of Gideon, judges 9 : 5, 
who escaped from the massacre of his 
brethren. (B.C. after 1256.) His para- 
ble of the reign of the bramble is the 
earliest example of the kind. 

2. The son of King Uzziah or Azariah 
and Jerushah. After administering the 
kingdom for some years during his fa- 
ther's leprosy, he succeeded to the throne 
B.C. 758, when he was 25 years old, and 
reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He was 
contemporary with Pekah and with the 
prophet Isaiah. His history is contained 
in 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chron. 27. 

3. A descendant of Judah, son of Jah- 
dai. 1 Chron. 2 : 47. 

Joz'abacl (Jehovah justifies). 1. A 
captain of the thousands of Manasseh, 
who deserted to David before the battle 
of Gilboa. 1 Chron. 12 : 20. (B.C. 1053.) 

2. A hero of Manasseh, like the pre- 
ceding. 1 Chron. 12 : 20. 

3. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 
2 Chron. 31 : 13. (B.C. 726.) 



JOZ 



JUB 



4. A chief Levite in the reign of Josiah. 
2 Chron. 35 : 9. 

5. A Levite, son of Jeshua, in the days 
of Ezra. Ezra 8 : 33. (B.C. 459.) Prob- 
ably identical with No. 7. 

6. A priest of the sons of Pashur, who 
had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 22. ! 

7. A Levite among those who returned 
with Ezra and had married foreign wives. [ 
He is probably identical with Jozabad j 
the Levite, Neh. 8 : 7, and with Jozabad 
who presided over the outer work of the 
temple. Neh. 11 : 16. (B.C. 459.) 

Joz'achar (whom Jehovah hasremem- j 
bered), one of the murderers of Joash 
king of Judah. 2 Kings 12 : 21. The 
writer of the Chronicles, 2 Chron. 24: 
26, calls him Zabad. (B.C. 837.) 

Joz'adak (whom Jehovah has made 
just). Ezra 3:2, 8; 5:2; 10:18; Neh. 
12 : 26. The contracted form of Jeho- 
zadak. 

Ju'bal (music), a son of Lamech by 
Adah, and the inventor of the " harp and 
organ." Gen. 4 : 21. 

Jubilee, The year of. (1. The 

name. — The name jubilee is derived from 
the Hebrew jobel, the joyful shout or 
clangor of trumpets, by which the year 
of jubilee was announced. 

2. The time of its celebration. — It was 
celebrated every fiftieth year, marking 
the half century ; so that it followed the 
seventh sabbatic year, and for two years 
in succession the land lay fallow. It was 
announced by the blowing of trumpets 
on the day of atonement (about the 1st 
of October), the tenth day of the first 
month of the Israelites' civil year (the 
seventh of their ecclesiastical year). 

3. The laws connected with the jubilee. 
— These embrace three points: (1) Rest 
for the soil. Lev. 25 : 11, 12. The land 
was to lie fallow, and there was to be no 
tillage as on the ordinary sabbatic year. 
The land was not to be sown, nor the 
vineyards and oliveyards dressed; and 
neither the spontaneous fruits of the soil 
nor the produce of the vine and olive was 
to be gathered, but all was to be left for 
the poor, the slave, the stranger and the 
cattle. Ex. 23 : 10, 11. The law was 
accompanied by a promise of treble fer- 
tility in the sixth year, the fruit of which 
was to be eaten till the harvest sown in 
the eighth year was reaped in the ninth. 
Lev. 25 : 20-22. But the people were 
not debarred from other sources of sub- 
sistence, nor was the year to be spent in 
idleness. They could fish and hunt, take 



care of their bees and flocks, repair their 
buildings and furniture, and manufacture 
their clothing. (2) Reversion of landed 
property. " The Israelites had a portion 
of land divided to each family by lot. 
This portion of the promised land they 
held of God, and were not to dispose of 
it as their property in fee-simple. Hence 
no Israelite could part with his landed 
estate but for a term of years only. When 
the jubilee arrived, it again reverted to 
the original owners." — Bush. This ap- 
plied to fields and houses in the country 
and to houses of the Levites in walled 
cities ; but other houses in such cities, if 
not redeemed within a year from their 
sale, remained the perpetual property of 
the buyer. (3) The manumission of 
those Israelites who had become slaves. 
" Apparently this periodic emancipation 
applied to every class of Hebrew servants 
— to him who had sold himself because 
he had become too poor to provide for 
his family, to him who had been taken 
and sold for debt, and to him who had 
been sold into servitude for crime. This 
latter case, however, is doubtful. Notice- 
ably, this law provides for the family 
rights of the servant." — Cowles' Hebrew 
History. 

4. The reasons for the institution of the 
jubilee. — It was to be a remedy for those 
evils which accompany human society 
and human government ; and had these 
laws been observed, they would have 
made the Jewish nation the most pros- 
perous and perfect that ever existed. (1) 
The jubilee tended to abolish poverty. 
It prevented large and permanent accu- 
mulations of wealth. It gave unfortu- 
nate families an opportunity to begin 
over again with a fair start in life. It 
particularly favored the poor, without 
injustice to the rich. (2) It tended to 
abolish slavery, and in fact did abolish 
it ; and it greatly mitigated it while it 
existed. " The effect of this law was at 
once to lift from the heart the terrible 
incubus of a life-long bondage — that 
sense of a hopeless doom which knows no 
relief till death."— Cowles. (3) " As an 
agricultural people, they would have 
much leisure; they would observe the 
sabbatic spirit of the year by using its 
leisure for the instruction of their fami- 
lies in the law, and for acts of devotion ; 
and in accordance with this there was a 
solemn reading of the law to the people 
assembled at the feast of tabernacles." — 
Smith's larger Dictionary. (4) "This 
325 



JUC 



JUD 



law of entail, by which the right heir 
could never be excluded, was a provision 
of great wisdom for preserving families 
and tribes perfectly distinct, and their 
genealogies faithfully recorded, in order 
that all might have evidence to establish 
their right to the ancestral property. 
Hence the tribe and family of Christ 
were readily discovered at his birth." 

5. Mode of celebration. — " The Bible 
says nothing of the mode of celebration, 
except that it was to be proclaimed by 
trumpets, and that it was to be a sabbatic 
year. Tradition tells us that every Is- 
raelite blew nine blasts, so as to make 
the trumpet literally ' sound throughout 
the land,' and that from the feast of 
trumpets or new year till the day of 
atonement (ten days after), the slaves 
were neither manumitted to return to 
their homes, nor made use of by their 
masters, but ate, drank and rejoiced ; and 
when the day of atonement came, the 
judges blew the trumpets, the slaves were 
manumitted to go to their homes, and 
the fields were set free." — McClintock 
and Strong. 

6. How long observed. — Though very- 
little is said about its observance in the 
Bible history of the Jews, yet it is re- 
ferred to, and was no doubt observed with 
more or less faithfulness, till the Baby- 
lonish captivity. — Ed.) 

Ju'cal {powerful), son of Shelemiah. 
Jer. 38 : 1. 

Ju'da {praised). 1. Son of Joseph, in 
the genealogy of Christ. Luke 3 : 30. 

2. Son of Joanna, or Hananiah. [Ha- 
NANIAH, 8.] Luke 3 : 26. He seems to 
be certainly the same person as Abiud 
in Matt. 1 : 13. 

3. One of the Lord's brethren, enumer- 
ated in Mark 6 : 3. 

4. The patriarch Judah. Sus. 56 ; Luke 
3 : 33 ; Heb. 7 : 14 ; Pvev. 5:5; 7:5. 

Judae'a, or Jude'a (from Judah), a 
territorial division which succeeded to 
the overthrow of the ancient landmarks 
of the tribes of Israel and Judah in their 
respective captivities. The word first 
occurs Dan. 5 : 13, Authorized Version 
"Jewry," and the first mention of the 
"province of Judea" is in the book of 
Ezra, ch. 5:8. It is alluded to in Neh. 
11 : 3 (Authorized Version "Judah"). 
In the apocryphal books the word " prov- 
ince" is dropped, and throughout them 
and the New Testament the expressions 
are " the land of Judea," "Judea." In 
a wide and more improper sense, the 
326 



term Judea was sometimes extended to 
the whole country of the Canaanites, its 
ancient inhabitants; and even in the 
Gospels we read of the coasts of Judea 
" beyond' Jordan." Matt. 19 : 1 ; Mark 
10 : 1. Judea was, in strict language, the 
name of the third district, west of the 
Jordan and south of Samaria. It was 
made a portion of the Roman province 
of Syria upon the deposition of Arche- 
laus, the ethnarch of Judea, in A.D. 6, 
and was governed by a procurator, who 
was subject to the governor of Syria. 

Ju/dah {praised, celebrated), the 
fourth son of Jacob and the fourth of 
Leah. (B.C. after 1753.) Of Judah's 
personal character more traits are pre- 
served than of any other of the patriarchs, 
with the exception of Joseph, whose life 
he in conjunction with Beuben saved. 
Gen. 37 : 26-28. During the second visit 
to Egypt for corn it was Judah who un- 
dertook to be responsible for the safety 
of Benjamin, ch. 43 : 3-10 ; and when, 
through Joseph's artifice, the brothers 
were brought back to the palace, he is 
again the leader and spokesman of the 
band. So too it is Judah who is sent be- 
fore Jacob to smooth the way for him in 
the land of Goshen, ch. 46 : 28. This as- 
cendency over his brethren is reflected in 
the last words addressed to him by his 
father. The families of Judah occupy a 
position among the tribes similar to that 
which their progenitor had taken among 
the patriarchs. The numbers of the 
tribe at the census at Sinai were 74,600. 
Num. 1 : 26, 27. On the borders of the 
promised land they were 76,500. Gen. 
26 : 22. The boundaries and contents of 
the territory allotted to Judah are nar- 
rated at great length, and with greater 
minuteness than the others, in Josh. 15 : 
20-63. The north boundary, for the 
most part coincident with the south 
boundary of Benjamin, began at the em- 
bouchure of the Jordan and ended on the 
west at Jabneel on the coast of the Medi- 
terranean, four miles south of Joppa. On 
the east the Dead Sea, and on the west 
the Mediterranean, formed the bounda- 
ries. The southern line is hard to de- 
termine, since it is denoted by places 
many of which have not been identified. 
It left the Dead Sea at its extreme south 
end, and joined the Mediterranean at the 
Wady el-Arish. This territory is in 
average length about 45 miles, and in 
average breadth about 50. 

Judah, Kingdom of. Extent. — 



JUD 



JUD 



When the disruption of Solomon's king- 
dom took place at Shechem, B.C. 975, 
only the tribe of Judah followed David, 
but almost immediately afterward the 
larger part of Benjamin joined Judah. 
A part, if not all, of the territory of 
Simeon, 1 Sam. 27 : 6 ; 1 Kings 19 : 3, 
comp. Josh. 19 : 1, and of Dan, 2 Chron. 
11 : 10, comp. Josh. 19 : 41, 42, was rec- 
ognized as belonging to Judah; and in 
the reigns of Abijah and Asa the south- 
ern kingdom was enlarged by some ad- 
ditions taken out of the territory of 
Ephraim. 2 Chron. 13 : 19 ; 15 : 8 ; 17 : 2. 
It is estimated that the territory of Judah 
contained about 3450 square miles. 

Advantages. — The kingdom of Judah 
possessed many advantages which se- 
cured for it a longer continuance than 
that of Israel. A frontier less exposed 
to powerful enemies, a soil less fertile, a 
population hardier and more united, a 
fixed and venerated centre of adminis- 
tration and religion, a hereditary aris- 
tocracy in the sacerdotal caste, an army 
always subordinate, a succession of kings 
which no revolution interrupted; so that 
Judah survived her more populous and 
more powerful sister kingdom by 135 
years, and lasted from B.C. 975 to B.C. 
536. 

History. — The first three kings of Ju- 
dah seem to have cherished the hope of 
re-establishing their authority over the 
ten tribes ; for sixty years there was war 
between them and the kings of Israel. 
The victory achieved by the daring Abi- 
jah brought to Judah a temporary ac- 
cession of territory. Asa appears to have 
enlarged it still further. Hanani's re- 
monstrance, 2 Chron. 16 : 7, prepares us 
for the reversal by Jehoshaphat of the 
policy which Asa pursued toward Israel 
and Damascus. A close alliance sprang 
up with strange rapidity between Judah 
and Israel. Jehoshaphat, active and 
prosperous, commanded the respect of 
his neighbors; but under Amaziah Je- 
rusalem was entered and plundered by 
the Israelites. Under Uzziah and Jo- 
tham, Judah long enjoyed prosperity, 
till Ahaz became the tributary and vas- 
sal of Tiglath-pileser. Already in the 
fatal grasp of Assyria, Judah was yet 
spared for a checkered existence of almost 
another century and a half after the ter- 
mination of the kingdom of Israel. The 
consummation of the ruin came upon its 
people in the destruction of the temple 
by the hand of Nebuzaradan, B.C. 536. 



There were 19 kings, all from the family 
of David. 

{Population. — We have a gauge as to 
; the number of the people at different 
I periods in the number of soldiers. If we 
| estimate the population at four times the 

fighting men, we will have the following 

table : 



King Date. Soldiers. Population. 

David b.c. 1056-1015 500,000 2,000,000 

Rehoboain 975-957 180,000 720,000 

Abijah 957-955 400,000 1,600,000 

Asa 955-914 500,000 2,000,000 

Jehoshaphat.... 914-889 1,160,000 4,640,000 

Amaziah 839-810 300,000 1,200,000 

—Ed.) 



Ju'das, the Greek form of the Hebrew 
name Judah, occurring in the LXX. and 
the New Testament. 1. The patriarch 
Judah. Matt. 1 : 2, 3. 

2. A man residing at Damascus, in 
" the street which is called Straight," in 
whose house Saul of Tarsus lodged after 
his miraculous conversion. Acts 9:11. 

Ju'das, surnamed Barsabas, a lead- 
ing member of the apostolic church at Je- 
rusalem, Acts 15 : 22, endued with the gift 
of prophecy, ver. 32, chosen with Silas to 
accompany Paul and Barnabas as dele- 
gates to the church at Antioch. (A.D. 47.) 
Later, Judas went back to Jerusalem. 

Ju'das of Galilee, the leader of a 
popular revolt " in the days of the tax- 
ing" (i.e. the census, under the prefect- 
ure of P. Sulp. Quirinus, A.D. 6, A.U.c. 
759), referred to by Gamaliel in his speech 
before the Sanhedrin. Acts 5 : 37. Ac- 
cording to Josephus, Judas was a Gaulon- 
ite of the city of Gamala, probably taking 
his name of Galilean from his insurrec- 
tion having had its rise in Galilee. The 
Gaulonites, as his followers were called, 
may be regarded as the doctrinal ancestors 
of the Zealots and Sicarii of later days. 

Ju'das Iscar'iot (Judas of Kerioth). 
He is sometimes called "the son of Si- 
mon," John 6 : 71 ; 13 : 2, 26, but more 
commonly ISCAKIOTES. Matt. 10 : 4 ; 
Mark 3:19; Luke 6 : 16, etc. The name 
Iscariot has received many interpreta- 
tions more or less conjectural. The most 
probable is from Ish Kerioth, i. e. " man 
of Kerioth," a town in the tribe of Judah. 
Josh. 15 : 25. Of the life of Judas before 
the appearance of his name in the lists of 
the apostles we know absolutely nothing. 
What that appearance implies, however, 
is that he had previously declared him- 
self a disciple. He was drawn, as the 
others were, by the preaching of the Bap- 
327 



JUD 



JUD 



tist, or his own Messianic hopes, or the 
"gracious words" of the new Teacher, 
to leave his former life, and to obey the 
call of the Prophet of Nazareth. The 
choice was not made, we must remember, 
without a prevision of its issue. John 6 : 
64. The germs of the evil, in all like- 
lihood, unfolded themselves gradually. 
The rules to which the twelve were sub- 
ject in their first journey, Matt. 10 : 9, 10, 
sheltered him from the temptation that 
would have been most dangerous to him. 
The new form of life, of which we find 
the first traces in Luke 8 : 3, brought that 
temptation with it. As soon as the twelve 
were recognized as a body, travelling 
hither and thither with their Master, re- 
ceiving money and other offerings, and 
redistributing what they received to the 
poor, it became necessary that some one 
should act as the steward and almoner of 
the small society, and this fell to Judas. 
John 12 : 6 ; 13 : 29. The Galilean or Ju- 
dean peasant found himself entrusted 
with larger sums of money than before, 
and with this there came covetousness, 
unfaithfulness, embezzlement. Several 
times he showed his tendency to avarice 
and selfishness. This, even under the 
best of influences, grew worse and worse, 
till he betrayed his Master for thirty 
pieces of silver. 

( Why was such a man chosen to be one 
of the twelve? — (1) There was needed 
among the disciples, as in the Church 
now, a man of just such talents as Judas 
possessed, — the talent for managing busi- 
ness affairs. (2) Though he probably 
followed Christ at first from mixed mo- 
tives, as did the other disciples, he had 
the opportunity of becoming a good and 
useful man. (3) It doubtless was in- 
cluded in God's plans that there should 
be thus a standing argument for the truth 
and honesty of the gospel ; for if any 
wrong or trickery had been concealed, it 
would have been revealed by the traitor 
in self-defence. (4) Perhaps to teach the 
Church that God can bless and the gospel 
can succeed even though some bad men 
may creep into the fold. 

What was Judas' motive in betraying 
Christ f — (1) Anger at the public rebuke 
given him by Christ at the supper in the 
house of Simon the leper. Matt. 26 : 6-14. 
(2) Avarice, covetousness, the thirty 
pieces of silver. John 12 : 6. (3) The re- 
action of feeling in a bad soul against the 
Holy One whose words and character 
were a continual rebuke, and who kiiew 
328 



the traitor's heart. (4) A much larger 
covetousness, — an ambition to be the 
treasurer, not merely of a few poor dis- 
ciples, but of a great and splendid tem- 
poral kingdom of the Messiah. He would 
hasten on the coming of that kingdom by 
compelling Jesus to defend himself. (5) 
Perhaps disappointment because Christ 
insisted on foretelling his death instead 
of receiving his kingdom. He began to 
fear that there was to be no kingdom, 
after all. \<o) Perhaps, also, Judas 
" abandoned what seemed to him a fail- 
ing cause, and hoped by his treachery to 
gam a position of honor and influence in 
the Pharisaic party." 

The end of Judas. — (1) Judas, when 
he saw the results of his betrayal, " re- 
pented himself." Matt. 27 : 3-10. He saw 
his sin in a new light, and " his conscience 
bounded into fury." (2) He made inef- 
fectual struggles to escape, by attempting 
to return the reward to the Pharisees; 
and when they would not receive it, he 
cast it down at their feet and left it. 
Matt. 27 : 5. But (a) restitution of the 
silver did not undo the wrong; (6) it was 
restored in a wrong spirit, — a desire for 
relief rather than hatred of sin ; (c) he 
confessed to the wrong party, or rather to 
those who should have been secondary, 
and who could not grant forgiveness ; (a) 
"compunction is not conversion." (3) 
The money was used to buy a burial-field 
for poor strangers. Matt. 27 : 6-10. (4) 
Judas himself, in his despair, went out 
and hanged himself, Matt. 27 : 5, at Acel- 
dama, on the southern slope of the valley 
of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, and in the 
act he fell down a precipice and was 
dashed into pieces. Acts 1 : 18. "And he 
went to his own place." Acts 1 : 25. "A 
guilty conscience must find either hell or 
pardon." (5) Judas' repentance may be 
compared to that of Esau. Gen. 27 : 32- 
38 ; Heb. 12 : 16, 17. It is contrasted with 
that of Peter. Judas proved his repent- 
ance to be false by immediately commit- 
ting another sin, suicide. Peter proved 
his to be true by serving the Lord faith- 
fully ever after. — Ed.) 

Ju'das Maccabse'us. [Macca- 
bees.] 

Jude, or Ju'das, called also Lebbe- 
US and Thaddeus, Authorized Version 
" Judas the brother of James," one of the 
twelve apostles. The name of Jude oc- 
curs only once in the Gospel narrative. 
John 14 : 22 ; Matt. 10 : 3 ; Mark 3:18; 
Luke 6 : 16 ; John 14 : 22 ; Acts 1 : 13. 



JUD 



JUD 



Nothing is certainly known of the later 
history of the apostle. Tradition connects 
him with the foundation of the church at 
Edessa. 

Ju'das, the Lord's brother. 

Among the brethren of our Lord men- 
tioned by the people of Nazareth. Matt. 
13 : 55 ; Mark 6 : 3. Whether this and 
the Jude above are the same is still a dis- 
puted point. 

Jude, Epistle of. Its author was 
probably Jude, one of the brethren of 
Jesus, the subject of the preceding article. 
There are no data from which to deter- 
mine its date or place of writing, but it is 
placed about a.d. 65. The object of the 
epistle is plainly enough announced ver. 
3 ; the reason for this exhortation is given 
ver. 4. The remainder of the epistle is 
almost entirely occupied by a minute de- 
piction of the adversaries of the faith. 
The epistle closes by briefly reminding 
the readers of the oft-repeated prediction 
of the apostles — among whom the writer 
seems not to rank himself 1 — that the faith 
would be assailed by such enemies as he 
has depicted, vs. 17-19, exhorting them 
to maintain their own steadfastness in the 
faith, vs. 20, 21, while they earnestly 
sought to rescue others from the corrupt 
example of those licentious livers, vs. 22, 
23, and commending them to the power 
of God in language which forcibly recalls 
the closing benediction of the epistle to 
the Romans, vs. 24, 25 ; cf. Rom. 16 : 25- 
27. This epistle presents one peculiar- 
ity, which, as we learn from St. Jerome, 
caused its authority to be impugned in 
very early times — the supposed citation 
of apocryphal writings, vs. 9, 14, 15. The 
larger portion of this epistle, vs. 3-16, is 
almost identical in language and subject 
with a part of the Second Epistle of Peter. 
2 Pet. 2 : 1-19. 

Judges. The judges were temporary 
and special deliverers, sent by God to de- 
liver the Israelites from their oppressors ; 
not supreme magistrates, succeeding to 
the authority of Moses and Joshua. Their 
power only extended over portions of the 
country, and some of them were contem- 
poraneous. Their first work was that of 
deliverers and leaders in war ; they then 
administered justice to the people, and 
their authority supplied the want of a 
regular government. Even while the ad- 
ministration of Samuel gave something 
like a settled government to the south, 
there was scope for the irregular exploits 
of Samson on the borders of the Philis- 



tines ; and Samuel at last established his 
authority as judge and prophet, but still 
as the servant of Jehovah, only to see it 
so abused by his sons as to exhaust the 
patience of the people, who at length de- 
manded a king, after the pattern of the 
surrounding nations. The following is a 
list of the judges, whose history is given 
under their respective names : — 

First servitude, to Mesopotamia — 8 years. 

First judge: Othniel. 40 " 

Second servitude, to Moab — 18 " 

Second judge : Ehud; 80 " 

Third judge: Shamgar. — " 

Third servitude, to Jabin and 

Sisera— 20 " 

Fourth judge: Deborah and 

Barak. 40 " 

Fourth servitude, to Midian — 7 " 

Fifth judge : Gideon ; 40 " 

Sixth judge: Abimelech; 3 " 

Seventh judge: Tola; 23 " 

Eighth judge: Jair. 22 " 

Fifth servitude, to Ammon — 18 " 

Ninth judge: Jephthah ; 6 " 

Tenth judge : Ibzan ; 7 " 

Eleventh judge : Elon; 10 " 

Twelfth judge : Abdon. 8 " 

Sixth servitude, to the Philis- 
tines— 40 " 
Thirteenth judge : Samson ; 20 " 
Fourteenth judge : Eli; 40 " 
Fifteenth judge : Samuel. 

More than likely some of these ruled 
simultaneously. On the chronology of 
the judges, see the following article. 

Judges, Book of, of which the book 
of Ruth formed originally a part, con- 
tains a history from Joshua to Samson. 
The book may be divided into two parts : 
— 1. Chs. 1-16. We may observe in gen- 
eral on this portion of the book that it is 
almost entirely a history of the wars of 
deliverance. 2. Chs. 17-21. This part 
has no formal connection with the pre- 
ceding, and is often called an appendix. 
The period to which the narrative re- 
lates is simply marked by the expression, 
"when there was no king in Israel." ch. 
19 : 1 ; cf. 18 : 1. It records— (a) The 
conquest of Laish by a portion of the 
tribe of Dan, and the establishment there 
of the idolatrous worship of Jehovah 
already instituted by Micah in Mount 
Ephraim. (b) The almost total extinc- 
tion of the tribe of Benjamin. Chs. 17- 
21 are inserted both as an illustration of 
the sin of Israel during the time of the 
329 



JUD 



JUP 



judges and as presenting a contrast with 
the better order prevailing in the time of 
the kings. The time commonly assigned 
to the period contained in this book is 
299 years. The dates given in the last 
article amount to 410 years, without the 
40 years of Eli ; but in 1 Kings 6 : 1, the 
whole period from the exodus to the 
building of the temple is stated as 480 
years. But probably some of the judges 
were contemporary, so that their total 
period is 299 years instead of 410. Mr. 
Smith in his Old Testament history gives 
the following approximate dates : 



Ending 

Periods. Years, about 

B.C. 

1. From the exodus to the pas- 

sage of Jordan 40 1451 

2. To the death of Joshua and the 

surviving elders [40] 1411 

3. Judgeship of Othniel 40 1371 

4. 5. Judgeship of Ehud (Sham gar 

included) 80 1291 

6. Judgeship of Deborah and Ba- 

rak 40 1251 

7. Judgeship of Gideon 40 1211 

8. 9. Abimelech to Abdon, total.... [80] 1131 

10. Oppression of the Philistines, 

contemporary with thejudge- 
ships of Eli, Samson (and 
Samuel?) 40 1091 

11. Reign of Saul (including per- 

haps Samuel) 40 1051 

12. Reign of David 40 1011 

Total 480 



On the whole, it seems safer to give up 
the attempt to ascertain the chronology 
exactly. 

Judgment hall. The word prceto- 
rium is so translated five times in the 
Authorized Version of the New Testa- 
ment, and in those five passages it denotes 
two different places. 1. In John 18 : 28, 
33; 19 : 9, it is the residence which Pilate 
occupied when he visited Jerusalem. 
The site of Pilate's praetorium in Jeru- 
salem has given rise to much dispute, 
some supposing it to be the palace of 
King Herod, others the tower of Antonia ; 
but it was probably the latter, which 
was then and long afterward the citadel 
of Jerusalem. 2. In Acts 23 : 35 Herod's 
judgment hall or prsetorium in Caesarea 
was doubtless a part of that magnificent 
range of buildings the erection of which 
by King Herod is described in Josephus. 
The word " palace," or " Caesar's court," 
in the Authorized Version of Philip. 1 : 
13, is a translation of the same word 
prsetorium. It may here have denoted 
330 



the quarter of that detachment of the 
praetorian guards which was in imme- 

I diate attendance upon the emperor, and 
had barracks in Mount Palatine at Rome. 

Ju'dith (Jewess, or praised). 1. The 
daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and wife 
of Esau. Gen. 26 : 34. (B.C. 1797.) 

! 2. The heroine of the apocryphal book 
which bears her name, who appears as 
an ideal type of piety, Judith 8 : 6, beau- 
ty, ch. 11 : 21, courage and chastity, ch. 
16 : 22 ff. 

Ju'dith, The book of, one of the 

books of the Apocrypha, belongs to the 
earliest specimens of historical fiction. 
As to its authorship it belongs to the 
Maccabaean period, B.C. 175-135, which 
it reflects not only in its general spirit, 
but even in its smaller traits. 

Ju'lia (feminine of Julius), a Chris- 
j tian woman at Rome, probably the wife 
j of Philologus, in connection with whom 
j she is saluted by St. Paul. Rom. 16 : 15. 
(A.D. 55.) 

Ju'lius (soft-haired), the centurion of 
"Augustus' band," to whose charge St. 
Paul was delivered when he was sent 
prisoner from Csesarea to Rome. Acts 27 : 
1, 3. (A.D. 60.) 

Ju'nia (belonging to Juno), a Chris- 
tian at Rome, mentioned by St. Paul as 
one of his kinsfolk and fellow prisoners, 
of note among the apostles, and in Christ 
before St. Paul. Rom. 16 : 7. (A.D. 55.) 

Ju'nias, Revised Version for Junia 
above. It is the more literal form. 

Juniper, 1 Kings 19 : 4, 5 ; Job 30 : 
4; Ps. 120:4, a sort of broom, Genista 
monosperma, G. rcetam of Forskal, an- 
swering to the Arabic rethem. It is very 
abundant in the desert of Sinai, and 
affords shade and protection, in both heat 
and storm, to travellers. The rethem is 
a leguminous plant, and bears a white 
flower. It is found also in Spain, Portu- 
| gal and Palestine. (It grows like willow 
bushes along the shores of Spain. It is 
an erect shrub, with no main trunk, but 
many wand-like, slender branches, and 
is sometimes twelve feet high. Its use is 
very great in stopping the sand. — Ed.) 

Ju'piter (a father that helps), the 
Greek Zeus. The Olympian Zeus was 
the national god of the Hellenic race, as 
well as the supreme ruler of the heathen 
world, and as such formed the true op- 
posite to Jehovah. Jupiter or Zeus is 
mentioned in two passages of the New 
Testament, on the occasion of St. Paul's 
visit to Lystra, Acts 14 : 12, 13, where the 



JUS 



JUT 



expression "Jupiter, which was before 
their city," means that his temple was 
outside the city. Also in Acts 19 : 35. 

Ju'shab-he'sed {whose love is re- 
turned), son of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 3 : 20. 

Jus'tns {just). 1. A surname of Jo- 
seph, called Barsabas. Acts 1 : 23. (a.d. 
30.) 

2. A Christian at Corinth, with whom 
St. Paul lodged. Acts 18 : 7. (A.D. 49.) 



(Given in the Eevised Version as Tittis 
Justus ; and it is possible that he may 
be the same person as Titus the compan- 
ion of Paul.) 

3. A surname of Jesus, a friend of St. 
Paul. Col. 4: 11. (a.d. 57.) 

Jut'tah {stretched out), a city in the 
mountain region of Judah, in the neigh- 
borhood of Maon and Carmel. Josh. 15 : 
55. The place is now known as Yutta. 

331 



KAB 



KAL 



K. 



Kab'ze-el {gathered by God), one of 
the " cities" of the tribe of Judah, Josh. 
15 : 21, the nati ve place of the great hero 
Benaiah ben-Jehoiada. 2 Sam. 23 : 20; 1 
Chron. 11 : 22. After the captivity it 
was reinhabited by the Jews, and ap- 
pears as Jekabzeel. 

Ka'desh,Ka'desh-bar'ne-a. (Ka- 
desh means holy ; it is the same word as 
the Arabic name of Jerusalem, el-Khuds. 
Barnea means desert of 'wandering.) 
This place, the scene of Miriam's death, 
was the farthest point which the Israel- 
ites reached in their direct road to Ca- 
naan ; it was also that whence the spies 
were sent, and where, on their return, 
the people broke out into murmuring, 
upon which their strictly penal term of 
wandering began. Num. 13 : 3, 26 ; 14 : 
29-33; 20:1; Deut. 2:14. It is prob- 
able that the term " Kadesh," though 
applied to signify a "city," yet had also 
a wider application to a region in which 
Kadesh-meribah certainly, a'nd Kadesh- 
barnea probably, indicates a precise spot. 
In Gen. 14 : 7, Kadesh is identified with 
En-mishpat, the "fountain of judg- 
ment." It has been supposed, from Num. 
13 : 21, 26 and Num. 20, that there were 
two places of the name of Kadesh, one 
in the wilderness of Paran and the other 
in that of Zin ; but it is more probable 
that only one place is meant, and that 
Zin is but a part of the great desert of 
Paran. (There has been much doubt as 
to the exact site of Kadesh ; but Rev. H. 
Clay Trumbull of Philadelphia, visiting 
the spot in 1881, succeeded in rendering 
almost certain that the site of Kadesh is 
Ain Kadis (spelled also Gadis and Qua- 
dis) ; " the very same name, letter for 
letter in Arabic and Hebrew, with the 
scriptural fountain of Kadesh — the ' holy 
fountain,' as the name means — which 
gushed forth when Moses smote the 
rock." It lies 40 miles south of Beer- 
sheba and 165 northeast of Horeb, im- 
mediately below the southern border of 
Palestine. It was discovered in 1842 by 
the Rev. J. Rowlands of Queen's College, 
Cambridge, England, whose discovery 
was endorsed by the great German geog- 
rapher Ritter, by E. S. Palmer in his 
" Desert of the Exodus," and by the " Im- 
332 



perial Bible Dictionary." Dr. Trumbull 

thus describes it : — " It is an extensive 
oasis, a series of wells, the water of which 
flows out from under such an overhang- 
ing cliff as is mentioned in the Bible 
story ; and it opens into a vast plain or 
wadi large enough to have furnished a 
camping-ground for the whole host of 
Israel. Extensive primitive ruins are 
! on the hills near it. The plain or wadi, 
j also called Quadis, is shut in by sur- 
1 rounding hills so as to make it a most 
; desirable position for such a people as the 
Israelites on the borders of hostile ter- 
ritory — such a position as leaders like 
[ Moses and Joshua would have been likely 
! to select." " It was carpeted with grass 
and flowers. Fig trees laden with fruit 
were against its limestone hillsides. 
Shrubs in richness and variety abounded. 
Standing out from the mountain range 
at the northward of the beautiful oasis 
amphitheatre was the ' large single mass 
or small hill of solid rock ' which Row- 
lands looked at as the cliff (sela) smit- 
ten by Moses to cause it to ' give forth its 
water ' when its flowing had ceased. 
From beneath this cliff came the abun- 
| dant stream. A well, walled up with time- 
! worn limestone blocks, was the first re- 
; ceptacle of the water. Not far from this 
! was a second well similarly walled, sup- 
j plied from the same source. Around 
| both these wells were ancient watering- 
troughs of limestone. Several pools, not 
walled up, were also supplied from the 
stream. The water was clear and sweet 
and abundant. Two of the pools were 
ample for bathing." — Ed.) 

Kad'mi-el {before God), one of the 
Levites who with his family returned 
from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
40 ; Neh. 7 : 43. He and his house are 
| mentioned in history on three occasions — 
p:zra 3:9; Neh. 9 : 4, 5; 10 : 9. (B.C. 
: 535-410.) 

Kad'monites {Orientals), The, a 
I people named in Gen. 15 : 19 only ; one 
of the nations who at that time occupied 
! the land (Canaan) promised to the de- 
scendants of Abram. The name is prob- 
I ably a synonym for the Bene-Kedem — 
the " children of the East." 
Kal'la^i {swift servant of Jehovah), a 



KAN 



KEL 



priest in the days of Joiakim the son of 
Jeshua. He represented the family of 
Sallai. Neh. 12 : 20. (B.C. after 536.) | 

Ka'nah {a place of reeds). 1. One of j 
the places which formed the landmarks ; 
of the boundary of Asher; apparently 
next to Zidon-rabbah, or " great Zidon." ! 
Josh. 19 : 28. 

2. The river, a stream falling into the 
Mediterranean, which formed the division 
between the territories of Ephraim and j 
Manasseh, the former on the south, the j 
latter on the north. Josh. 16 : 8 ; 17:9. 

Kare'ah {bald), the father of Johanan j 
and Jonathan, who supported Gedaliah's ! 
authority and avenged his murder. Jer. j 
40 : 8, 13, 15, 16 ; 41 : 11, 13, 14, 16 ; 42 : 1, j 
8 ; 43 : 2, 4, 5. (B.C. before 588.) 

Karka'a,oiKar'ka-a (foundation), 
one of the landmarks on the south bound- j 
ary of the tribe of Judah. Josh. 15 : 3. i 
lts'site is unknown. 

Kar'kor {foundation), the place in 
which Zebah and Zalmunna were again 
routed by Gideon, Judges 8 : 10, must 
have been on the east of Jordan. 

Kar'tah (city), a town of Zebulun, 
allotted to the Merarite Levites. Josh. 
21 : 34. 

Kar'tan {double city), a city of Naph- j 
tali, allotted to the Gershonite Levites. j 
Josh. 21 : 32. In the parallel list of 1 j 
Chron. 6 the name appears, ver. 76, in the 
more expanded form of Kirjathaim. 

Kat/tath {small), one of the cities of 
the tribe of Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 15. 

Ke'dar (dark-skinned), the second in 
order of the sons of Ishmael, Gen. 25 : 13 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 29, and the name of a great 
tribe of Arabs settled on the northwest 
of the peninsula and on the confines of 
Palestine. The "glory of Kedar" is re- 
corded by the prophet Isaiah, Isa. 21 : 
13-17, in the burden upon Arabia; and 
its importance may also be inferred from 
the "princes of Kedar" mentioned by 
Ezekiel, Ezek. 27 : 21, as well as the pas- 
toral character of the tribe. They appear 
also to have been, like the wandering 
tribes of the present day, " archers" and 
" mighty men." Isa. 21 : 17 ; comp. Ps. 
120 : 5. That they also settled in villages 
or towns we find from Isaiah. Isa. 42 : 1 1. 
The tribe seems to have been one of the 
most conspicuous of all the Ishmaelite 
tribes, and hence the rabbins call the 
Arabians universally by this name. 

Ked'eraah (eastward), the youngest 
of the sons of Ishmael. Gen. 25 : 15 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 31. 



Ked'emoth (beginnings), one of the 
towns in the district east of the Dead Sea 
allotted to the tribe of Keuben, Josh. 13 : 
18 ; given to the Merarite Levites. Josh. 
21 : 37 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 79. It possibly con- 
ferred its name on the "wilderness," or 
uncultivated pasture land, " of Kede- 
uioth." Num. 21 : 23 ; Deut. 2 : 26, 27, etc. 

Ke'desh (a sanctuary). 1. In the ex- 
treme south of Judah, Josh. 15 : 23 ; same 
as Kadesh and Kadesh-barnea. 

2. A city of Issachar, allotted to the 
Gershonite Levites. 1 Chron. 6 : 72. The 
Kedesh mentioned among the cities whose 
kings were slain by Joshua, Josh. 12 : 22, 
in company with Megiddo and Jokneam 
of Carmel, would seem to have been this 
city of Issachar. 

3. Kedesh ; also Kedesh in Galilee ; 
and once, Judges 4 : 6, Kedesh-naphtali, 
one of the fortified cities of the tribe 
of Naphtali, named between Hazor and 
Edrei, Josh. 19 : 37 ; appointed as a city 
of refuge, and allotted with its " suburbs" 
to the Gershonite Levites. Josh. 20 : 7 ; 
21 : 32 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 76. It was the resi- 
dence of Barak, Judges 4 : 6, and there 
he and Deborah assembled the tribes of 
Zebulun and Naphtali before the conflict, 
being probably, as its name implies, a 
" holy place " of great antiquity. It was 
taken by Tiglath-pileser in the reign of 
Pekah. 2 Kings 15 : 29. It is identified 
with the village Kades, which lies four 
miles to the northwest of the upper part 
of the Sea of Merom. 

Ked'ron, properly Kidron. [KlD- 
RON.] 

Kefr Kenna. [See Cana.] 

Kehela'thah (assembly), a desert en- 
campment of the Israelites, Num. 33 : 22, 
of which nothing is known. 

Kei'Jah (fortress), a city of the She- 
felah, or lowland district of Judah. Josh. 
15 : 44. Its main interest consists in its 
connection with David. 1 Sam. 23 : 7-13. 
It is represented by Kila, a site with 
ruins, on the lower road from Beit Jibrin 
to Hebron. 

Kei'lah the Garmite, apparently a 
descendant of the great Caleb. 1 Chron. 
4:19. There is no apparent connection 
with the town Keilah. 

Kela'iah (swift messenger of Jehovah) 
— Kelita. Ezra 10 : 23. 

Kel'ita (assembly), one of the Levites 
who returned with Ezra. Ezra 10 : 23. 
He assisted in expounding the law, Neh. 
8 : 7, and signed the covenant with Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 10 : 10. (B.C. 459-410.) 

333 



KEM 



KIB 



Kera'uel {congregation of God). 1. 
The son of Nahor by Milcah, and father 
of Aram. Gen. 22 : 21. (B.C. 1925.) 

2. The son of Shiptan, and prince of 
the tribe of Ephraim ; one of the twelve 
men appointed by Moses to divide the 
land of Canaan. Num. 34 : 24. 

3. A Levite, father of Hashabiah, prince 
of the tribe in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 

27 : 17. (B.C. 1014.) 
Ke'nan {possession) = Cainan, the 

son of Enos. 1 Chron. 1 : 2. 

Ke'nath {possession), one of the cities 
on the east of Jordan, with its " daughter- 
towns" (Authorized Version "villages") 
taken possession of by a certain Nobah, 
who then called it by his own name. 
Num. 32 : 42. 

Ke'naz {hunting). 1. Son of Eliphaz j 
the son of Esau. He was one of the dukes 
of Edom. Gen. 36 : 15, 42 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 53. 

2. One of the same family, a grandson 
of Caleb, according to 1 Chron. 4 : 15 
(where see margin). 

Ken'ezite, or Ken'izzite {descend- 
ant of Kenaz), Gen. 15 : 19, an Edomitish 
tribe. Num. 32 : 12 ; Josh. 14 : 6, 14. 

Ken'ite,The, and Ken'ites (smiths), 
The, inhabited the rocky and desert re- 
gion between southern Palestine and the 
mountains of Sinai, east of the Gulf of 
Akabah. They were a branch of the 
larger nation of Midian, — from the fact 
that Jethro, who in Exodus (see 2 : 15, 16 ; 
4 : 19, etc. ) is represented as dwelling in 
the land of Midian, and as priest or prince 
of that nation, is in Judges (1 : 10 ; 4 : 11) 
as distinctly said to have been a Kenite. 
The important services rendered by the 
sheikh of the Kenites to Moses during a 
time of great pressure and difficulty were 
rewarded by the latter with a promise of 
firm friendship between the two peoples. 
They seem to have accompanied the He- 
brews during their wanderings, Num. 
24 : 21, 22 ; Judges 1:16; comp. 2 Chron. 

28 : 15; but, the wanderings of Israel 
over, they forsook the neighborhood of 
the towns and betook themselves to freer 
air, — to " the wilderness of Judah, which 
is to the south of Arad." Judges 1 : 16. 
But one of the sheikhs of the tribe, Heber 
by name, had wandered north instead of 
south. Judges 4 : 11. The most remark- 
able development of this people is to be 
found in the sect or family of the Rech- 
abites. 

Ken'izzite. Gen. 15 : 19. [Kene- 
zite.] 

Ke'ren-hap'puch {the horn of beau- , 
334 



\ty), the youngest of the daughters of Job, 
born to him during the period of his re- 
viving prosperity. Job 42 : 14. 

Ke'rioth {cities). 1. A name which 
occurs among the lists of the towns in the 
southern district of Judah. Josh. 15 : 25. 
Supposed by some to have been the birth- 
place of Judas lscariot. 

2. A city of Moab, named by Jeremiah 
only. Jer. 48:24. 

Me'ros {curved), one of the Nethinim, 
whose descendants returned with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 44 ; Neh. 7 : 47. 
Kettle, a vessel for culinary or sacrifi- 
| cial purposes. 1 Sam. 2 : 14. The Hebrew 
word is also rendered "basket" in Jer. 
24 : 2, " caldron" in 2 Chron. 35 : 13, and 
"pot" in Job 41 : 20. 

Ketu'rah {incense), the wife of Abra- 
ham after the death of Sarah. Gen. 25 : 1 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 32. (B.C. 1860.) 




Egyptian Iron Key. 



Key. The key of a native Oriental 
lock is a piece of wood, from seven inches 
to two feet in length, fitted with wires or 
short nails, which, being inserted later- 
ally into the hollow bolt which serves as 
a lock, raises other pins within the staple 
so as to allow the bolt to be drawn back. 
(Keys were sometimes of bronze or iron, 
and so large that one was as much as a 
man could carry. They are used in 
Scripture as a symbol of authority and 
power. Giving keys to a person signifies 
the intrusting of him with an important 
charge. Matt. 16 : 19. In England in 
modern times certain officers of the gov- 
ernment receive, at their induction into 
office, a golden key.— Ed.) 

Kezi'a {cassia), the second of the 
daughters of Job born to him after his 
recovery. Job 42 : 14. (B.C. 1950.) 

Ke'ziz {cut off), The valley of, one 
of the " cities" of Benjamin, Josh. 18 : 21, 
and the eastern border of the tribe. 

Kib'rotb-hatta-avah, i. e. as in the 
margin, the graves of hist, a station of the 
Israelites in the wilderness, where, grow- 
ing tired of manna and desiring flesh, 
they murmured, and God sent them 
qua«ls in great abundance, but smote 
great numbei-s of them with a plague and 
they died. It is about three days jour- 



KIB 



KIN 



ney from Sinai, and near the Gulf of 
Akabah and the Wady el Hudherah 
(Hazeroth.) 

Kibza'im {two heaps), a city of Mount 
Ephraim, given up with its "suburbs" 
to the Kohathite Levites. Josh. 21 : 22. 
In the parallel list of 1 Chron. 6 Jok- 
meam is substituted for Kibzaim. ver. 
68. 

Kid. [Goat.1 

Kid'ron, or Ked'ron {turbid), The 
brook, a torrent or valley, not a " brook," 
or, as in the margin of Kevised Version, 




View of Kedron. 

" ravine ;" Gr. winter torrent. It was 
close to Jerusalem, between the city and 
the Mount of Olives. It is now com- 
monly known as the "valley of Jehosh- 
aphat." The channel of the valley of 
Jehoshaphat is nothing more than the 
dry bed of a wintry torrent, bearing 
marks of being occasionally swept over 
by a large volume of water. It was 
crossed by David in his flight, 2 Sam. 15 : 
23, comp. 30, and by our Lord on his 
way to Gethsemane. John 18:1; comp. 
Mark 14 : 26 ; Luke 22 : 39. The dis- 
tinguishing peculiarity of the Kidron 
valley — mentioned in the Old Testament 
— is the impurity which appears to have 
been ascribed to it. In the time of Jo- 
siah it was the common cemetery of the 
city. 2 Kings 23 : 6 ; comp. Jer. 26 : 23. 
Ki'nah (lamentation), a city of Judah, 



on the extreme south boundary of the 
tribe, next to Edom. Josh. 15 : 22. 
Kine, the plural of cow. [See Bull.] 
King, " a chief ruler, one invested 
with supreme authority over a nation, 
tribe or country." — Webster. In the 
Bible the word does not necessarily im- 
ply great power or great extent of coun- 
try. Many persons are called kings 
whom we should rather call chiefs or 
leaders. The word is applied in the 
Bible to God as the sovereign and ruler 
of the universe, and to Christ the Son of 
God as the head and gov- 
ernor of the Church. 

The Hebrews were ruled 
by a king during a period 
of about 500 years previous 
to the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, B.C. 586. The imme- 
diate occasion of the substi- 
tution of a regal form of gov- 
ernment for that of judges 
seems to have been the siege 
of Jabesh-gilead by Nahash 
king of the Ammonites. 1 
Sam. 11:1; 12:12. The con- 
viction seems to have forced 
itself on the Israelites that 
they could not resist their 
formidable neighbor unless 
they placed themselves un- 
der the sway of a king, like 
surrounding nations. The 
original idea of a Hebrew 
king was twofold : first, that 
he should lead the people to 
battle in time of war ; and, 
second, that he should ex- 
ecute judgment and justice 
to them in war and in peace. 1 Sam. 8 : 20. 
In both respects the desired end was at- 
tained. Besides being commander-in-chief 
of the army, supreme judge, and absolute 
master, as it were, of the lives of his sub- 
jects, the king exercised the power of im- 
posing taxes on them, and of exacting from 
them personal service and labor. In addi- 
tion to these earthly powers, the king of 
Israel had a more awful claim to respect 
and obedience. He was the vicegerent 
of Jehovah, 1 Sam. 10 : 1 ; 16 : 13, and as 
it were his son, if just and holy. 2 Sam. 
7:14; Ps. 2 : 6, 7 ; 89 : 26, 27. He had 
been set apart as a consecrated ruler. 
Upon his head had been poured the holy 
anointing oil, which had hitherto been 
reserved exclusively for the priests of 
Jehovah. He had become, in fact, em- 
phatically " the Lord's anointed." He 
335 



KIN 



KIR 



had a court of Oriental magnificence. 
The king was dressed in royal robes, 1 
Kings 22 : 10; 2 Chron. 18 : 9; his insig- 
nia were, a crown or diadem of pure gold, 
or perhaps radiant with precious gems, 2 
Sam. 1 : 10 ; 12 : 30 ; 2 Kings 11 : 12 ; Ps. 
21 : 3, and a royal sceptre. Those who 
approached him did him obeisance, bow- 
ing down and touching the ground with 
their foreheads, 1 Sam. 24: 8; 2 Sam. 
19 : 24 ; and this was done even by a 
king's wife, the mother of Solomon. 1 
Kings 1 : 16. His officers and subjects 
called themselves his servants or slaves. 
He had a large harem, which was guard- 
ed by eunuchs. The law of succession 
to the throne is somewhat obscure, but it 
seems most probable that the king during 
his lifetime named his successor. At the 
same time, if no partiality for a favorite 
wife or son intervened, there would al- 
ways be a natural bias of affection in 
favor of the eldest son. 

Kings of Judah and Israel. For the 
list see table at the end of this volume. 

Kings, First and Second Books 
of, originally only one book in the He- 
brew canon, form in the LXX. and the 
Vulgate the third and fourth books of 
Kings (the books of Samuel being the 
first and second). It must be remem- 
bered that the division between the books 
of Kings and Samuel is equally artificial, 
and that in point of fact the historical 
books commenc.ng with Judges and end- 
ing with 2 Kings present the appearance 
of one work, giving a continuous history 
of Israel from the time of Joshua to the 
death of Jehoiachin. The books of Kings 
contain the history from David's death 
and Solomon's accession to the destruc- 
tion of the kingdom of Judah and the 
desolation of Jerusalem, with a supple- 
mental notice of an event that occurred 
after an interval of twenty-six years — 
viz., the liberation of Jehoiachin from* 
his prison at Babylon — and a still further 
extension to Jehoiachin's death, the time 
of which is not known, but which was 
probably not long after his liberation. 
The history therefore comprehends the 
whole time of the Israelitish monarchy, 
exclusive of the reigns of Saul and David. 
As regards the affairs of foreign nations 
and the relation of Israel to them, the 
historical notices in these books, though 
in the earlier times scanty, are most val- 
uable, and in striking accord with the 
latest additions to our knowledge of con- 
temporary profane history. A most im- 



portant aid to a right understanding of 
the history in these books, and to the 
filling up of its outline, is to be found in 
the prophets, and especially in Isaiah 
and Jeremiah. 

Time when written. — They were un- 
doubtedly written during the period of 
the captivity, probably after the twenty- 
sixth year. A uthorship. — As regards the 
authorship of the books, but little diffi- 
culty presents itself. The Jewish tradi- 
tion which ascribes them to Jeremiah is 
borne out by the strongest internal evi- 
dence, in addition to that of the language. 
Sources of information. — There was a 
regular series of state annals for both the 
kingdom of Judah and that of Israel, 
which embraced the whole time compre- 
hended in the books of Kings, or at least 
to the end of the reign of Jehoiakim. 2 
Kings 24 : 5. These annals are constantly 
cited by name as " the book of the acts 
of Solomon," 1 Kings 11 : 41 ; and after 
Solomon " the book of the Chronicles of 
the Kings of Judah " or " Israel," e. g. 
1 Kings 14 : 29 ; 15:7; 16:5, 14, 20 ; 2 
Kings 10 : 34 ; 24 : 5, etc. ; and it is man- 
ifest that the author of Kings had them 
both before him while he drew up his 
history, in which the reigns of the two 
kingdoms are harmonized and these an- 
nals constantly appealed to. But in ad- 
dition to these national annals, there 
were also extant, at the time that the 
books of Kings were compiled, separate 
works of the several prophets who had 
lived in Judah and Israel. Authority. — 
Their canonical authority having never 
been disputed, it is needless to bring for- 
ward the testimonies to their authenticity 
which may be found in Josephus, Euse- 
bius, Jerome, Augustine, etc. They are 
reckoned among the prophets, in the 
threefold division of the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; a position in accordance with the 
supposition that they were compiled by 
Jeremiah, and contain the narratives 
of the different prophets in succession. 
They are frequently cited by our Lord 
and by the apostles. 

Kir (fortress) is mentioned by Amos, 
ch. 9:7, as the land from which the 
Syrians (Aramaeans) were once " brought 
up ;" i. e. apparently as the country 
| where they had dwelt before migrating 
i to the region north of Palestine. (A 
j difference of opinion exists in regard to 
the position of Kir, since some suppose 
it to be identical with Carma, a city of 
Media, in the south, on the river Mar- 



KIR 



KIR 



dus ; others place it in Armenia, on the 
river Kar. — Ed.) 

Kir-har'aseth {brick fortress), 2 
Kings 3 : 25 ; Kir-ha'resh, Isa. 16 : 11 ; 
Kir-har'eseth, Isa. 16:7; Kir-he'- 
res. Jer. 48 : 31, 36. These four names 
are all applied to one place, probably 
Kir op Moab, which see. 

Kir'iah, apparently an ancient or ar- 
chaic word, meaning a ctty or town. It 
may be compared to the word " burg " or 
" bury " in our own language. Closely 
related to Kiriah is Kereth, apparently 
a Phoenician form, which occurs occa- 
sionally. Job 29:7; Pro v. 8:3. As a 
proper name it appears in the Bible 
under the forms of Kerioth, Kartah, 
Kartan, besides those immediately fol- 
lowing. 

Kiriatha'im. [Kirjathaim.] 
Kir'ioth {two cities), a place in Moab 
the palaces of which were threatened by 
Amos with destruction by fire, Amos 2 : 
2 ; unless indeed the word means simply 
"the cities," which is probably the case 
also in Jer. 48 : 4. 

Kir'jath {a city), the last of the cities 
enumerated as belonging to the tribe of 
Benjamin, Josh. 18 : 28, probably identi- 
cal with the better-known place Kirjath- 
jearim. 

Kirjatha'im {the two cities). 1. On 
the east of the Jordan, one of the places 
which were taken possession of and re- 
built by the Reubenites, and had fresh 
names conferred on them, Num. 32 : 37, 
and see 38, the first and last of which are 
known with some tolerable degree of 
certainty. Josh. 12 : 19. It existed in the 
time of Jeremiah, Jer. 48 : 1, 23, and 
Ezekiel. Ezek. 25 : 9. In the three pas- 
sages named the Authorized Version 
gives the name Kiriathaim. By Euse- 
bius it appears to have been well known. 
He describes it as a village entirely of 
Christians, ten miles west of Medeba, 
" close to the Baris." 

2. A town in Naphtali not mentioned 
in the original list of the possession al- 
lotted to the tribe, see Josh. 19:32-39, 
but inserted in the list of cities given to 
the Gershonite Levites in 1 Chron. 6 : 76, 
in place of Kartan in the parallel cata- 
logue, Kartan being probably only a con- 
traction thereof. 

Kir'jath-ar'ba {the city of Arba), an 
early name of the city which after the 
conquest is generally known as Hebron. 
Josh. 14 : 15 ; Judges 1 : 10. The identity 
of Kirjath-arba with Hebron is constantly 
22 



asserted. Gen. 23 : 2 ; 35 : 27 ; Josh. 14 : 
15; 15: 13, 54; 20:7; 21 : 11. 

Kir'jatb-a'rim (city of forests), an 
abbreviated form of the name Kirjath- 
jearim, which occurs only in Ezra 2 : 25. 
Kir'jath-ba'al. [Kirjath-jearim.] 
Kir'jath^hu/zoth {city of streets), a 
place to which Balak accompanied Ba- 
laam immediately after his arrival in 
Moab, Num. 22 : 39, and which is no- 
where else mentioned. It appears to 
have lain between the Arnon ( Wady 
Mojeb) and Bamoth-baal. Comp. vs. 36 
and 41. 

Kir'jath-je'arim {the city of forests), 
first mentioned as one of the four cities 
of the Gibeonites, Josh. 9 : 17 ; it next 
occurs as one of the landmarks of the 
northern boundary of Judah, ch. 15 : 9, 
and as the point at which the western 
and southern boundaries of Benjamin 
coincided, ch. 18 : 14, 15; and in the 
last two passages we find that it bore 
another, perhaps earlier, name — that of 
the great Canaanite deity Baal, namely 
Baalah and Kirjath-baal. At this 
place the ark remained for twenty years. 
1 Sam. 7:2. At the close of that time 
Kirjath-jearim lost its sacred treasure, on 
its removal by David to the house of 
Obed-edom the Gittite. 1 Chron. 13 : 5, 
6 ; 2 Chron. 1 : 4; 2 Sam. 6 : 2, etc. To 
Eusebius and Jerome it appears to have 
been well known. They describe it as a 
village at the ninth mile between Jeru- 
salem and Diospolis (Lydda). These re- 
quirements are exactly fulfilled in the 
small modern village of Kuriet-el-Enab 
— now usually known as Abu Gosh, from 
the robber chief whose headquarters it 
was — on the road from Jafia to Jeru- 
salem. 

Kir'jath-san'nah {city of books). 
[Debir.] 

Kir'jath-se'pher {city of books). 
Josh. 15 : 15, 16 ; Judges 1 : 11, 12. [I)e- 
BIR.] 

Kir of Moab {fortress of Moab), one 
of the two chief strongholds of Moab, the 
other being Ar of Moab. The name 
occurs only in Isa. 15 : 1, though the 
place is probably referred to under the 
names of Kir-beres, Kir-haraseth, etc. 
It is almost identical with the name Ke- 
rak, by which the site of an important 
city in a high and very strong position at 
the southeast of the Dead Sea is known 
at this day. Its situation is truly re- 
markable. It is built upon the top of a 
j steep hill, surrounded by a deep and 



KIS 



KNI 



narrow valley, which again is completely 
enclosed by mountains rising higher 
than the town and overlooking it on all 
sides. 

Kish {a bow). 1. The father of Saul ; 
a Benjamite of the family of Matri. (B.C. 
1095.) 

2. Son of Jehiel and uncle to the pre- 
ceding. 1 Chron. 9 : 36. 

3. A. Benjamite, great-grandfather of 
Mordecai. Esther 2 : 5. 

4. A Merarite of the house of Mahli, 
of the tribe of Levi. 1 Chron. 23 : 21, 22 ; 
24 : 28, 29. 

Kish'i {boio of Jehovah), a Merarite, 
and father or ancestor of Ethan the min- 
strel. 1 Chron. 6 : 44. 

Kish'ion {hardness), one of the towns 
on the boundary of the tribe of Issachar, 
Josh. 19 : 20, which with its suburbs was 
allotted to the Gershonite Levites. Josh. 
21 : 28 ; Authorized Version KiSHON. 

Ki'shon {winding). The river, a 
torrent or winter stream of central Pales- 
tine, the scene of two of the grandest 
achievements of Israelitish history — the 
defeat of Sisera, Judges 4, and the de- 
struction of the prophets of Baal by 
Elijah. 1 Kings 18 : 40. The Nahr Ma- 
kutta, the modern representative of the 
Kishon, is the drain by which the waters 
of the plain of Esdraelon and of the 
mountains which enclose that plain find 
their way through the plain of Acre to 
the Mediterranean. The part of the Ki- 
shon at which the prophets of Baal were 
slaughtered by Elijah was doubtless 
close below the spot on Carmel where the 
sacrifice had taken place. 

Ki'son {winding), an inaccurate mode 
of representing the name Kishon. Ps. 
83:9. 

Kiss. Kissing the lips by way of af- 
fectionate salutation was customary 
among near relatives of both sexes, in 
both patriarchal and later times. Gen. 
29 : 11 ; Cant. 8:1. Between individuals 
of the same sex, and in a limited degree 
between those of different sexes, the kiss 
on the cheek as a mark of respect or an 
act of salutation has at all times been 
customary in the East, and can hardly 
be said to be extinct even in Europe. In 
the Christian Church the kiss of charity 
was practiced not only as a friendly sal- 
utation, but as an act symbolical of love 
and Clmstian brotherhood. Rom. 16 : 16 ; 
1 Cor. 16 : 20 ; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5 : 
26 ; 1 Peter 5 : 14. It was embodied in 
the earlier Christian offices, and has been 
338 



continued in some of those now in use. 
Among the Arabs the women and chil- 
dren kiss the beards of their husbands or 
fathers. The superior returns the salute 
by a kiss on the forehead. In Egypt an 
inferior kisses the hand of a superior, 
generally on the back, but sometimes, as 
a special favor, on the palm also. To 
testify abject submission, and in asking 
favors, the feet are often kissed instead 
of the hand. The written decrees of a 
sovereign are kissed in token of respect ; 
even the ground is sometimes kissed by 
Orientals in the fullness of their submis- 
sion. Gen. 41 : 40 ; 1 Sam. 24 : 8 ; Ps. 72 : 
9, etc. Kissing is spoken of in Scripture 
as a mark of respect or adoration to idols. 
1 Kings 19: 18; Hos. 13:2. 

Kite (Heb. ayydh), a rapacious and 
keen-sighted bird of prey belonging to 
the hawk family. The Hebrew word 
thus rendered occurs in three passages 
—Lev. 11:14; Deut. 14:13; Job 28: 
7. In the two former it is translated 
"kite" in the Authorized Version, in 
the latter " vulture." It is enumerated 
among the twenty names of birds men- 
tioned in Deut. 14 which were considered 
unclean by the Mosaic law and forbidden 
to be used as food by the Israelites. 

Kith'Iish {man's wall), one of the 
towns of Judah, in the Shefelah or low- 
land. Josh. 15 : 40. 

Kit/ron {knotty), one of the towns 
from which Zubulun did not expel the 
Canaanites. Judges 1 : 30. In the Tal- 
mud it is identified with " Zippori," i. e. 
Sepphoris, now Scffurieh. 

Kit'tim. Twice written in the Au- 
thorized Version for Chittim. Gen. 10:4; 
1 Chron. 1 : 7. 

Kneading- troughs. [Bread.] 

Knife. 1. The knives of the Egyp- 
tians, and of other nations in early times, 
were probably only of hard stone, and 
the use of the flint or stone knife was 
sometimes retained for sacred purposes 
after the introduction of iron and steel. 
2. In their meals the Jews, like other 
Orientals, made little use of knives, but 
they were required both for slaughtering 
animals, either for food or sacrifice, and 
for cutting up the carcass. Lev. 7 : 33, 34 ; 

8 : 15, 20, 25 ; 9 : 13 ; Num. 18 : 18 ; 1 Sam. 

9 : 24, etc. 3. Smaller knives were in use 
for paring fruit (Josephus) and for sharp- 
ening pens. Jer. 36 : 23. 4. The razor 
was often used for Nazaritic purposes, for 
which a special chamber was reserved in 
the temple. Num. 6 : 5, 9, 19 ; Ezek. 5:1, 



KNO 



KUS 



etc. 5. The pruning-hooks of Isa. 18 : 5 
were probably curved knives. 6. The 
lancets of the priests of Baal were doubt- 
less pointed knives. 1 Kings 18 : 28. 

Knop, a word employed in the Au- 
thorized Version to translate two terms 
which refer to some architectural or orna- 
mental object, but which have nothing 
in common. 1. Caphtor. — This occurs 
in the description of the candlestick of 
the sacred tent in Ex. 25 : 31-36 and 37 : 
17-22. 2. The second term, Peka'im, is 
found only in 1 Kings 6:18 and 7 : 24. 
The word no doubt signifies some glob- 
ular thing resembling a small gourd 
or an egg, though as to the character of 
the ornament we are quite in the dark. 

Ko'a {he-camel) is a word which occurs 
only in Ezek. 23 : 23. It may perhaps 
have been a city or district of Babylonia; 
or it may be a common noun, signifying 
"prince" or "nobleman." 

Ko'hath {assembly), second of the 
three sons of Levi, from whom the three 
principal divisions of the Levites derived 
their origin and their name. Gen. 46 : 11 ; 
Ex. 6 : 16. In the journeyings of the 
tabernacle the sons of Kohath (Kohath- 
ites) had charge of the most holy portions 
of the vessels. Num. 4. Of the personal 
history of Kohath we know nothing, ex- 
cept that he came down to Egypt with 
Levi and Jacob, Gen. 46 : 11, that his sis- 
ter was Jochebed, Ex. 6 : 20, and that he 
lived to the age of 133 years. Ex. 6 : 18. 
(B.C. about 1491.) 

Kola'iah {voice of Jehovah). 1. A 
Benjamite whose descendants settled in 
Jerusalem after the return from the cap- 
tivity. Neh. 11 :7. (B.C. before 536.) 

2. The father of Ahab the false proph- 
et, who was burnt by the king of Baby- 
lon. Jer. 29 : 21. (B.C. before 594.) 

Ko'rah (baldness). 1. Third son of 
Esau by Aholibamah. Gen. 36 : 5, 14, 18 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 35. He was born in Canaan 
before Esau migrated to Mount Seir, Gen. 
36 : 5-9, and was one of the " dukes" of 
Edom. (B.C. 1790.) 



2. Another Edomitish " duke " of this 
name, sprung from Eliphaz, Esau's son 
by Adah. Gen. 36 : 16. 

3. One of the "sons of Hebron," in 1 
Chron. 2 : 43. 

4. Son of Izhar the son of Kohath the 
son of Levi. He was leader of the famous 
rebellion against his cousins Moses and 
Aaron in the wilderness, for which he 
paid the penalty of perishing with his 
followers by an earthquake and flames 
of fire. Num. 16; 26 : 9-11. The partic- 
ular grievance which rankled in the mind 
of Korah and his company was their ex- 
clusion from the office of the priesthood, 
and their being confined — those among 
them who were Levites — to the inferior 
service of the tabernacle. Korah's posi- 
tion as leader in this rebellion was evi- 
dently the result of his personal charac- 
ter, which was that of a bold, haughty 
and ambitious man. (B.C. 1490.) In the 
New Testament (Jude 11) Korah is 
coupled with Cain and Balaam. 

Kor'ahite, 1 Chron. 9 : 19, 31, Kor'- 
hite, or Kor'athite, that portion of the 
Kohathites who were descended from Ko- 
rah. They were an important branch of 
the singers, 2 Chron. 20 : 19 ; hence we 
find eleven psalms (or twelve, if Ps. 43 is 
included under the same title as Ps. 42) 
dedicated or assigned to the sons of Ko- 
rah, viz., Ps. 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87, 88. 

Ko're (partridge). 1. A Korahite, 
ancestor of Shallum and Meshelemiah, 
chief porters in the reign of David. 1 
Chron. 9 : 19 ; 26 : 1. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. Son of Imnah, a Levite in the reign 
of Hezekiah. He had chai-ge of the 
offerings. 2 Chron. 31 : 14. (B.C. 726.) 

3. In the Authorized Version of 1 
Chron. 26 : 19, "the sons of Kore" (fol- 
lowing the Vulgate Core) should prop- 
erly be "the sons of the Korhite." 

Koz (thorn), Ezra 2:61; Neh. 3:4, 
21 = Coz = Hakkoz. 

Kusha'iah (bow of Jehovah), the same 
as Kish or Kishi, the father of Ethan the 
Merarite. 1 Chron. 15 : 17. 

339 



LAA 



LAI 



L. 



La'adah (order), the son of Shelah 
and grandson of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 21. 

lia'adan (put in order). 1. An 
Ephraimite, ancestor of Joshua the son 
of Nun. 1 Chron. 7 : 26. 

2. The son of Gershom, elsewhere 
called Libni. 1 Chron. 23 : 7, 8, 9; 26 : ! 
21. | 

La'ban (while). 1. Son of Bethuel, 
brother of Rebekah and father of Leah 
and Rachel. (B.C. about 1860-1740.) 
The elder branch of the family remained 
at Haran, Mesopotamia, when Abraham 
removed to the land of Canaan, and it is 
there that we first meet with Laban, as 
taking the leading part in the betrothal 
of his sister Rebekah to her cousin Isaac. 
Gen. 24 : 10, 29-60 ; 27 : 43 ; 29 : 5. The 
next time Laban appears in the sacred 
narrative it is as the host of his nephew 
Jacob at Haran. Gen. 29 : 13, 14. [Ja- 
cob.] Jacob married Rachel and Leah, 
daughters of Laban, and remained with 
him 20 years, B.C. 1760-1740. But La- 
ban's dishonest and overreaching prac- 
tice toward his nephew shows from what 
source Jacob inherited his tendency to 
sharp dealing. Nothing is said of Laban 
after Jacob left him. 

2. One of the landmarks named in the 
obscure and disputed passage Deut. 1:1. 
The mention of Hezeroth has perhaps led 
to the only conjecture regarding Laban 
of which the writer is aware, namely, that 
it is identical with Libnah. Num. 33 : 20. 

Lacedsemo'nians, in Greece the in- 
habitants of Sparta or Lacedsemon, with 
whom the Jews claimed kindred. 1 Mace. 
12 : 2, 5, 6, 20, 21 ; 14 : 20, 23 ; 15 : 23 ; 2 
Mace. 5 : 9. 

La'chish (invincible), a city lying 
south of Jerusalem, on the borders of 
Simeon, and belonging to the Amorites, 
the king of which joined with four others, 
at the invitation of Adonizedek king of 
Jerusalem, to chastise the Gibeonites for 
their league with Israel. Josh. 10 : 3, 5. 
They were routed by Joshua at Beth-ho- 
ron, and the king of Lachish fell a victim 
with the others under the trees at Mak- 
kedah. ver. 26. The destruction of the 
town shortly followed the death of the 
king. vs. 31-33. In the special statement 
that the attack lasted two days, in contra- 
340 



distinction to the other cities which were 
taken in one (see ver. 35), we gain our 
first glimpse of that strength of posi- 
tion for which Lachish was afterward re- 
markable. Lachish was one of the cities 
fortified and garrisoned by Rehoboam 
after the revolt of the northern kingdom. 
2 Chron. 11 : 9. In the reign of Hezekiah 
it was one of the cities taken by Senna- 
cherib. This siege is considered by Lay- 
ard and Hincks to be depicted on the 
slabs found by the former in one of the 
chambers of the palace at Kouyunjik. 
After the return from captivity, Lachish 
with its surrounding "fields" was reoc- 
cupied by the Jews. Neh. 11 : 30. 

La'el (of God), the father of Eliasaph. 
Num. 3 : 24. 

La'had (oppression), son of Jahath, 
one of the descendants of Judah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 2. 

Laha'i-ro'i (well of the living God), 
The well. In this form is given in the 
Authorized Version of Gen. 24 : 62 and 
25 : 11 the name of the famous well of 
Hagar's relief, in the oasis of verdure 
round which Isaac afterward resided. It 
was southwest of Beersheba. 

Lah'mam (provisions), a town in the 
lowland district of Judah. Josh. 15 : 40. 

Lah'mi (warrior), the brother of Go- 
liath the Gittite, slain by Elhanan the 
son of Zair or Zaor. 1 Chron. 20 : 5. 
(B.C. 1020.) 

L.a'ish (lion), the city which was 
taken by the Danites, and under its new 
name of Dan became famous as the 
northern limit of the nation. Judges 18 : 
7, 14, 27, 29. [Dan.] It was near the 
sources of the Jordan. In the Author- 
ized Version Laish is again mentioned in 
the account of Sennacherib's march on 
Jerusalem. Isa. 10 : 30. This Laish is 
probably the small village Laishah, ly- 
ing between Gallim and Anathoth in 
Benjamin, and of which hitherto no 
traces have been found. (Eairbairn's 
" Imperial Bible Dictionary " suggests 
that it may be the present little village 
el-Isatviyeh, in a beautiful valley a mile 
northeast of Jerusalem. — Ed.) 

La'ish (lion), father of Phaltiel, to 
whom Saul had given Michal, David's 
wife. 1 Sam. 25 : 44 ; 2 Sam. 3 : 15. 



LAK 



LAM 



Lakes. [Palestine.] 

La'kum {fortification), properly 
Lak'kum, one of the places which 
formed the landmarks of the boundary 
of Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 33. 

Lambs are the young of sheep, but 
originally included also the young of 
goats. They formed an important part 
of almost every sacrifice. Ex. 29 : 38-41 ; 
Num. 28 : 9, 11 ; 29 : 2, 13-40, etc. [On 
the paschal lamb see Passover.] 

La'mech {powerful), properly Le- 
mech. 1. The fifth lineal descendant 
from Cain. Gen. 4 : 18-24. He is the 
only one except Enoch, of the posterity 
of Cain, whose history is related with 
some detail. His two wives, Adah and 
Zillah, and his daughter Naamah, are, 
with Eve, the only antediluvian women 
whose names are mentioned by Moses. 
His three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal- 
cain, are celebrated in Scripture as au- 
thors of useful inventions. The remark- 
able poem which Lamech uttered may 
perhaps be regarded as Lamech's song of 
exultation on the invention of the sword 
by his son Tubal-cain, in the possession 
of which he foresaw a great advantage to 
himself and his family over any enemies. 

2. The father of Noah. Gen. 5 : 29. 

Lamentations of Jeremiah. Title. 
— The Hebrew title of this book, JEcah, 
is taken, like the titles of the five books of 
Moses, from the Hebrew word with which 
it opens. Author. — The poems included 
in this collection appear in the Hebrew 
canon with no name attached to them, 
but Jeremiah has been almost universally 
regarded as their author. Bate. — The 
poems belong unmistakably to the last 
days of the kingdom, or the commence- 
ment of the exile, B.C. 629-586. They 
are written by one who speaks, with the 
vividness and intensity of an eye-witness, 
of the misery which he bewails. Con- 
tents. — The book consists of five chap- 
ters, each of which, however, is a sepa- 
rate poem, complete in itself, and having 
a distinct subject, but brought at the 
same time under a plan which includes 
them all. A complicated alphabetic 
structure pervades nearly the whole 
book. (1) Chs. 1, 2 and 4 contain twenty- 
two verses each, arranged in alphabetic 
order, each verse falling into three nearly 
balanced clauses ; ch. 2:19 forms an ex- 
ception, as having a fourth clause. (2) 
Ch. 3 contains three short verses under 
each letter of the alphabet, the initial 
letter being three times repeated. (3 J 



Ch. 5 contains the same number of verses 
I as chs. 1, 2, 4, but without the alphabetic 
order. Jeremiah was not merely a pa- 
triot-poet, weeping over the ruin of his 
country; he was a prophet who had 
seen all this coining, and had foretold it 
as inevitable. There are perhaps few 
portions of the Old Testament which ap- 
pear to have done the work they were 
meant to do more effectually than this. 
The book has supplied thousands with 
the fullest utterance for their sorrows in 
the critical periods of national or indi- 
vidual suffering. We may well believe 
that it soothed the weary years of the 
Babylonian exile. It enters largely into 
the order of the Latin Church for tlie ser- 
vices of passion-week. On the ninth day 
of the month of Ab (July-August), the 
Lamentations of Jeremiah were read, 
year by year, with fasting and weeping, 
to commemorate the misery out of which 
the people had been delivered. 




Assyrian Terra-cotta and Glass Lamps. 




Chaldean Lamps. 



Lamp. 1. That part of the golden 
candlestick belonging to the tabernacle 
which bore the light; also of each of the 
ten candlesticks placed by Solomon in 
the temple before the holy' of holies. Ex. 
25 : 37 ; 1 Kings 7 : 49 ; 2 Chron. 4 : 20 ; 
13 : 11 ; Zech. 4 : 2. The lamps were 
lighted every evening and cleansed every 
morning. Ex. 30 : 7, 8. 

2. A torch or flambeau, such as was car- 
ried by the soldiers of Gideon. Judges 7 : 
16, 20; comp. 15:4. The use in mar- 
riage processions of lamps fed with oil is 
341 



LAN 



LAO 



alluded to in the parable of the ten vir- 
gins. Matt. 25 : 1. Modern Egyptian 
lamps consist of small glass vessels with 




Lamp with Christian Inscription. 



a tube at the bottom containing a cotton 
wick twisted around a piece of straw. 
For night travelling, a lantern composed 
of waxed cloth strained over a sort of 
cylinder of wire rings, and a top and bot- 
tom of perforated copper. This would, 
in form at least, answer to the lamps 
within pitchers of Gideon. 

" The Hebrews, like the ancient Greeks 



and Romans, as well as the modern Ori- 
entals, were accustomed to burn lamps 
all night. This custom, with the effect 
produced by their going out or being ex- 
tinguished, supplies various figures to the 
sacred writers. 2 Sam. 21 : 17 ; Pro v. 13 : 
9 ; 20 : 20. On the other hand, the keep- 
ing up of a lamp's light is used as a 
symbol of enduring and unbroken suc- 
cession. 1 Kings 11 : 36 ; 15:4; Ps. 132 : 
17." — McClintock and /Strong. 

Lancet. This word is found in 1 
Kings 18 : 28 only. The Hebrew term is 
romach, which is elsewhere rendered, and 
appears to mean a javelin or light spear. 
In the original edition of the Authorized 
Version (1611) the word is " lancers." 

Language. [Tongues, Confusion 

OF.] 

Lantern (so called for its shining) 
occurs only in John 18 : 3. (It there 
probably denotes any kind of covered 
light, in distinction from a simple taper 
or common house-light, as well as from a 
flambeau. Lanterns were much employed 





Laodieea. 



by the Romans in military operations. 
Two, of bronze, have been found among 
the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 
They are cylindrical, with translucent 
horn sides, the lamp within being fur- 
nished with an extinguisher. — Ed.) 
342 



Laodice'a (justice of the people) K a 
town in the Roman province of Asia, 
situated in the valley of the Mseander, on 
a small river called the Lycus, with Co- 
lossse and Hierapolis a few miles distant 
to the west. Built, or rather rebuilt, by 



LAO 



LAT 



one of the Seleucid monarchs, and named 
in honor of his wife, Laodicea became 
under the Roman government a place of 
some importance. Its trade was con- 
siderable ; it lay on the line of a great 
road ; and it was the seat of a conventus. 
From the third chapter and seventeenth 
verse of Revelation we should gather it 
was a place of great wealth. Christian- 
ity was introduced into Laodicea, not, 
however, as it would seem, through the 
direct agency of St. Paul. We have 
good reason for believing that when, in 
writing from Rome to the Christians of 
Colossse, he sent a greeting to those of 
Laodicea, he had not personally visited 
either place. But the preaching of the 
gospel at Ephesus, Acts 18 : 19-19 : 41, 
must inevitably have resulted in the for- 
mation of churches in the neighboring 
cities, especially where Jews were set- 
tled; and there were Jews in Laodicea. 
In subsequent times it became a Chris- 
tian city of eminence, the see of a bishop 
and a meeting-place of councils. The 
Mohammedan invaders destroyed it, and 
it is now a scene of utter desolation, as 
was prophesied in Rev. 3 : 14-22 ; and 
the extensive ruins near Denislu justify 
all that we read of Laodicea in Greek and 
Roman writers. Another biblical sub- 
ject of interest is connected with Laodi- 
cea. From Col. 4 : 16 it appears that St. 
Paul wrote a letter to this place when he 
wrote the letter to Colossse. Ussher's 
view is that it was the same as the Epis- 
tle to the Ephesians, which was a circu- 
lar letter sent to Laodicea among other 
places. The apocryphal Epistola ad 
Laodicenses is a late and clumsy forgery. 

Laodice'ans, the inhabitants of 
Laodicea. Col. 4:16; Rev. 3 : 14. 

Lap'idoth {torches), the husband of 
Deborah the prophetess. Judges 4 : 4. 

L.apwing (Heb. ductphath) occurs 
only in Lev. 11 : 19 and in the parallel 
passage of Deut. 14 : 18, amongst the list 
of those birds which were forbidden by 
the law of Moses to be eaten by the Is- 
raelites. Commentators generally agree 
that the hoopoe is the bird intended. The 
hoopoe is an occasional visitor to Eng- 
land, arriving for the most part in the 
autumn. Its crest is very elegant ; each 
of the long feathers forming it is tipped 
with black. 

Lase'a, Acts 27 : 8, a city of Crete, 
the ruins of which were discovered in 
1856, a few miles to the eastward of Fair 
Havens. 



La'sha {fissure), a place noticed in 
Gen. 10 : 19 as marking the limit of the 
country of the Canaanites. It lay some- 
where in the southeast of Palestine. Je- 
rome and other writers identify it with 
Callirrhoe, a spot famous for hot springs, 
near the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. 

Lasha'ron {the plain), one of the Ca- 
naanite towns whose kings were killed 
by Joshua. Josh. 12 : 18. 

Latchet, the thong or fastening by 
which the sandal was attached to the 
foot. It occurs in the proverbial expres- 
sion in Gen. 14 : 23, and is there used to 
denote something trivial or worthless. 
Another semi-proverbial expression in 
Luke 3 : 16 points to the fact that the 
office of bearing and unfastening the 
shoes of great personages fell to the 
meanest slaves. 




Lapwing or Hoopoe. 



Lat'in, the language spoken by the 
Romans, is mentioned only in John 19 : 
20 and Luke 23 : 38. 

I Iiat'in Versions. [See Vulgate, 
I The.] 

Lattice. This word is used for a 
I latticed window or simply a network 
placed before a window or balcony. 
Perhaps the network through which 
Ahaziah fell and received his mortal in- 
jury was on the parapet of his palace. 2 
Kings 1 : 2. (The latticed window is much 
used in warm eastern countries. It fre- 
quently projects from the wall (like our 
bay windows), and is formed of reticu- 
lated work, often highly ornamental, 
portions of which are hinged so that thev 
343 



LAV 



LAW 



may be opened or shut at pleasure. The 
object is to keep the apartments cool by 
intercepting the direct rays of the sun, 
while the air is permitted to circulate 
freely. — Fairbairn. [See House and 
Window.] 

Laver. 1. In the tabernacle, a ves- 
sel of brass containing water for the 
priests to wash their hands and feet be- 
fore offering sacrifice. It stood in the 
court between the altar and the door of 
the tabernacle. Ex. 30 : 19, 21. It rested 




A Braz:n Laver on Wheels. 



on a basis, i. e. a foot, which, as well as 
the laver itself, was made from the mir- 
rors of the women who assembled at the 
door of the tabernacle court. Ex. 38 : 8. 
The form of the laver is not specified, 
but may be assumed to have been circu- 
lar. Like the other vessels belonging to 
the tabernacle, it was, together with its 
"foot," consecrated with oil. Lev. 8 : 10, 
11. 

2. In Solomon's temple, besides the 
great molten sea, there were ten lavers 
of brass, raised on bases, 1 Kings 7 : 27, 
39, five on the north and five on the 
south side of the court of the priests. 
They were used for washing the animals 
to be offered in burnt offerings. 2 Chron. 
4:6. 

Law. The word is properly used, in 
Scripture as elsewhere, to express a def- 
inite commandment laid down by any 
recognized authority ; but when the word 
is used with the article, and without any 
words of limitation, it refers to the ex- 
pressed will of God, and in nine cases out 
344 



[ of ten to the Mosaic law, or to the Pen- 
tateuch of which it forms the chief por- 
tion. The Hebrew word tordh Uaw) lays 
more stress on its moral authority, as 
teaching the truth and g aiding in the 
right way; the Greek eo^os (law), on its 
I constraining power as imposed and en- 
I forced by a recognized authority. The 
! sense of the word, however, extends its 
scope and assumes a more abstract char- 
j acter in the writings of St. Paul. Nomos, 
when used by him with the article, still 
refers in general to the law of Moses ; 
but when used without the article, so as 
to embrace any manifestation of "law," 
it includes all powers which act on the 
will of man by compulsion, or by the 
pressure of external motives, whether 
their commands be or be not expressed 
in definite forms. The occasional use of 
the word " law " (as in Rom. 3 : 27, " law 
of faith ") to denote an internal principle 
of action does not really mitigate against 
the general rule. It should also be no- 
ticed that the title "the Law" is occa- 
sionally used loosely to refer to the whole 
of the Old Testament, as in John 10 : 34, 
referring to Ps. 82 : 6 ; in John 15 : 25, re- 
ferring to Ps. 35 : 19 ; and in 1 Cor. 14 : 
21, referring to Isa. 28 : 11, 12. 

Law of Moses. It will be the object 
of this article to give a brief analysis of 
the substance of this law, to point out its 
main principles, and to explain the posi- 
tion which it occupies in the progress of 
divine revelation. In order to do this 
the more clearly, it seems best to speak 
of the law, 1st. In relation to the past ; 
2d. In its own intrinsic character. 1. (a) 
In reference to the past, it is all-import- 
ant, for the proper understanding of the 
law, to remember its entire dependence 
on the Abrahamic covenant. See Gal. 3 : 
17-24. That covenant had a twofold 
character. It contained the " spiritual 
promise " of the Messiah ; but it con- 
tained also the temporal promises sub- 
sidiary to the former, (b) The nature of 
this relation of the law to the promise is 
clearly pointed out. The belief in God 
as the Redeemer of man, and the hope 
of his manifestation as such in the person 
of the Messiah, involved the belief that 
the Spiritual Power must be superior to 
all carnal obstructions, and that there 
was in man a spiritual element which 
could rule his life by communion with a 
spirit from above. But it involved also 
the idea of an antagonistic power of evil, 
from which man was to be redeemed, ex- 



LAW 



LAW 



isting in each individual, and existing 
also in the world at large, (c) Nor is it 
less essential to remark the period of the 
history at which it was given. It marked 
and determined the transition of Israel 
from the condition of a tribe to that of a 
nation, and its definite assumption of a 
distinct position and office in the history 
of the world, {d) Yet, though new in 
its general conception, it was probably 
not wholly new in its materials. There 
must necessarily have been, before the 
law, commandments and revelations of 
a fragmentary character, under which 
Israel had hitherto grown up. So far 
therefore as they were consistent with the 
objects of the Jewish law, the customs of 
Palestine and the laws of Egypt would 
doubtless be traceable in the Mosaic sys- 
tem, (c) In close connection With, and 
almost in consequence of, this reference 
to antiquity, we find an accommodation 
of the law to the temper and circum- 
stances of the Israelites, to which our 
Lord refers in the case of divorce. Matt. 
19 : 7, 8, as necessarily interfering with 
its absolute perfection. In many cases it 
rather should be said to guide and modify 
existing usages than actually to sanction 
them ; and the ignorance of their exist- 
ence may lead to a conception of its ordi- 
nances not only erroneous, but actually 
the reverse of the truth. (/) In close 
connection with this subject we observe 
also the gradual process by wh ich the law 
was revealed to the Israelites. In Ex. 
20-23, in direct connection with the reve- 
lation from Mount Sinai, that which may 
be called the rough outline of the Mosaic 
law is given by God, solemnly recorded 
by Moses, and accepted by the people. 
In Ex. 25-31 there is a similar outline of 
the Mosaic ceremonial. On the basis of 
these it may be conceived that the fabric 
of the Mosaic system gradually grew up 
under the requirements of the time. The 
first revelation of the law in anything 
like a perfect form is found in the book 
of Deuteronomy. Yet even then the 
revelation was not final ; it was the duty 
of the prophets to amend and explain it 
in special points, Ezek. 18, and to bring 
out more clearly its great principles. 

2. In giving an analysis of the sub- 
stance of the law, it will probably be better 
to treat it, as any other system of laws 
is usually treated, by dividing it into — 
I. Laws Civil ; II. Laws Criminal ; 

III. Laws Judicial and Constitutional ; 

IV. Laws Ecclesiastical and Ceremonial. 



I. LAWS CIVIL. 

1. Law of Persons. 

(a) Father and Son. — The power of 
a father to be held sacred ; cursing or 
: smiting, Ex. 21 : 15, 17 ; Lev. 20 : 9, and 
i stubborn and willful disobedience, to be 
considered capital crimes. But uncon- 
trolled power of life and death was ap- 
parently refused to the father, and vested 
only in the congregation. Deut. 21 : 18-21. 
Eight of the first-born to a double portion 
of the inheritance not to be set aside by 
partiality. Deut. 21 : 15-17. Inheritance 
by daughters to be allowed in default 
of sons, provided, Num. 27 : 6-8, comp. 
36, that heiresses married in their own 
tribe. Daughters unmarried to be en- 
tirelv dependent on their father. Num. 
30 : 3-5. 

{b) Husband and Wife. — The power 
of a husband to be so great that a wife 
could never be sui juris, or enter inde- 
pendently into any engagement, even be- 
fore God. Num. 30 : 6-15. A widow or a 
divorced wife became independent, and 
did not again fall under her father's 
power, ver. 9. Divorce (for uncleanness) 
allowed, but to be formal and irrevocable. 
Deut. 24 : 1-4. Marriage ivithin certain 
degrees forbidden. Lev. 18, etc. A slave 
wife, whether bought or captive, not to 
be actual property, nor to be sold ; if ill- 
treated, to be ipso facto free. Ex. 21 : 7-9 ; 
Deut. 21 : 10-14. Slander against a wife's 
virginity to be punished by fine, and by 
deprival of power of divorce; on the 
other hand, ante-connubial uncleanness 
in her to be punished by death. Deut. 
22 : 13-21. The raising up of seed (Le- 
virate law) a formal right to be claimed 
by the widow, under pain of infamy, 
with a view to preservation of families. 
Deut. 25 : 5-10. 

(c) Master and Slave.— Power of 
| master so far limited that death under 
! actual chastisement was punishable, Ex. 
J 21 : 20 ; and maiming was to give liberty 
! ipso facto, vs. 26, 27. The Hebrew slave 
to be freed at the sabbatical year, 1 and 
provided with necessaries (his wife and 
children to go with only if they came 
to his master with him), unless by his 
own formal act he consented to be a per- 
petual slave. Ex. 21 : 1-6 ; Deut. 15 : 12- 
18. In any case, it would seem, to be 
freed at the jubilee, Lev. 25 : 10, with his 



1 The diffioulty of enforcing this law is seen 
in Jer. 34: S-1G. 

345 



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children. If sold to a resident alien, to 
be always redeemable, at a price propor- 
tioned to the distance of the jubilee. Lev. 
25 : 47-54. Foreign slaves to be held and 
inherited as property forever, Lev. 25 : 
45, 46 ; and fugitive slaves from foreign 
nations not to be given up. Deut. 23 : 15. 

(d) Strangers. — These seem never to 
have been sui juris, or able to protect 
themselves, and accordingly protection 
and kindness toward them are enjoined 
as a sacred duty. Ex. 22 : 21 ; Lev. 19 : 
33, 34. 

2. Law of Things. 
(a) Laws of Land (and Property). 
— (1) All land to be the property of God 
alone, and its holders to be deemed his 
tenants. Lev. 25 : 23. (2) All sold land 
therefore to return to its original owners 
at the jubilee, and the price of sale to be 
calculated accordingly ; and redemption 
on equitable terms to be allowed at all 
times. Lev. 25 : 25-27. A house sold to 
be redeemable within a year ; and if not 
redeemed, to pass away altogether, ch. 
25 : 29, 30. But the houses of the Levites, 
or those in unwalled villages, to be re- 
deemable at all times, in the same way 
as land ; and the Levitical suburbs to be 
inalienable, ch. 25:31-34. (3) Land or 
houses sanctified, or tithes, or unclean 
firstlings, to be capable of being re- 
deemed, at six-fifths value (calculated 
according to the distance from the jubi- 
lee year by the priest) ; if devoted by the 
owner and unredeemed, to be hallowed 
at the jubilee forever, and given to the 
priests ; if only by a possessor, to return 
to the owner at the jubilee. Lev. 27 : 
14-34. (4; Inheritance. 
I 



si, \ | 

2. Daughters.* ' 




3. Brothers. 




4. Uncles on the father's side. 



5. Stxt kinsmen generally 

(b) Laws of Debt.— (1) All debts (to 
an Israelite } to be released at the seventh 
(sabbatical) year; a blessing promised to 
obedience, and a curse on refusal to lend. 
Deut. 15 : 1-11. (2) Usury (from Israel- 
ites) not to be taken. Ex. 22 : 25-27 ; 
Deut. 23 : 19, 20. (3) Pledges not to be 
insolently or ruinously exacted. Deut. 
24 : 6, 10-13, 17, 18. 

(c) Taxation. — (1) Census-money, a 
poll-tax (of a half shekel), to be paid for 

1 Heiresses to marry in their own tribe. 
Num. 27 : 6-8 ; 36. 
346 



1 the service of the tabernacle. Ex. 30 : 12- 
| 16. All spoil in war to be halved ; of 
; the combatants' half, one five-hundredth, 
| of the people's, one fiftieth, to be paid 
| for a " heave offering" to Jehovah. (2) 
i Tithes. — (a) Tithes of all produce to be 
given for maintenance of the Levites. 
j Num. 18 : 20-24. (Of this one tenth to 
be paid as a heave offering for mainten- 
| ance of the priests, vs. 24-32.) (£) Second 
tithe to be bestowed in religious feasting 
and charity, either at the holy place or 
(every third year) at home. Deut. 14 : 
22-28. (y) First-fruits of corn, wine and 
oil (at least one sixtieth, generally one 
fortieth, for the priests) to be ofi'ered at 
j Jerusalem, with a solemn declaration of 
1 dependence on God the King of Israel. 
Num. 18 : 12, 13 ; Deut. 26 : 1-15. First- 
lings of clean beasts; the redemption 
money (five shekels) of man and ^half 
shekel, or one shekel) of unclean beasts 
to be given to the priests after sacrifice, 
j Num. 18 : 15-18. (3) Poor laws.— {a) 
j Gleanings (in field or vineyard) to be a 
j legal right of the poor. Lev. 19 : 9, 10 ; 
! Deut, 24 : 19-22. (/3) Slight trespass (eat- 
I ing on the spot) to be allowed as legal. 
I Deut. 23 : 24, 25. ( Y ) Second tithe (see 
i 2 /3) to be given in charity. (S) Wages 
to be paid day by day. Deut. 24 : 15. 
! (4) Maintenance of priests. Num. 18 : 8- 
i 32. (a) Tenth of Levites' tithe. (See 2 a.) 
I (£) The heave and wave offerings (breast 
and right shoulder of ail peace offerings). 
(y) The meal and sin offerings, to be eaten 
solemnly and only in the holy place, 
i (6) First-fruits and redemption money. 
| (See 2 y . ) (e) Price of all devoted things, 
unless specially given for a sacred service. 
A man's service, or that of his household, 
to be redeemed at 50 shekels for man, 30 
for woman, 20 for boy and 10 for girl. 

II. LAWS CRIMINAL. 

1. Offences against God (of the na- 
ture of treason.) 

1st Command. Acknowledgment of 
j false gods, Ex. 22 : 20, as e. g. Molech, 
I Lev. 20 : 1-5, and generallv all idolatry. 
| Deut. 13 ; 17 : 2-5. 

2d Command. Witchcraft and false 
\ prophecy. Ex. 22 : 18 ; Deut. 18 : 9-22 ; 
j Lev. 19 : 31. 

3d Command. Blasphemy. Lev. 24 : 
! 15, 16. 

4th Command. Sabbath-breaking. 
j Num. 15 : 32, 36. 

I Punishment in all cases, death by ston- 



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LAW 



ing. Idolatrous cities to be utterly de- 
stroyed. 

2. Offences against Man. 
5th Command. Disobedience to or 
cursing or smiting of parents, Ex. 21 : 15, 
17 ; Lev. 20 : 9 ; Deut. 21 : 18-21, to be 
punished by death by stoning, publicly 
adjudged and inflicted; so also of dis- 
obedience to the priests (as judges) or the 
Supreme Judge. Comp. 1 Kings 21 : 10- 
14 (Naboth); 2 Chron. 24:21 (Zech- 
ariah). 

6th Command. (1) Murder to be pun- 
ished by death without sanctuary or re- 
prieve, or satisfaction. Ex. 21 : 12, 14; 
Deut. 19 : 11-13. Death of a slave, actu- 
ally under the rod, to be punished. Ex. 
21 : 20, 21. (2) Death by negligence to 
be punished by death. Ex. 21 : 28-30. 
(3) Accidental homicide: the avenger of 
blood to seek safety by flight to a city of 
refuge, there to remain till the death of 
the high priest. Num. 35 : 9-28 ; Deut. 
4 : 41-43 ; 19 : 4-10. (4) Uncertain murder 
to be expiated by formal disavowal and 
sacrifice by the elders of the nearest city. 
Deut. 21 : 1-9. (5) Assault to be pun- 
ished by lex talionis, or damages. Ex. 
21 : IS, 19, 22-25 ; Lev. 24 : 19, 20. 

7th Command. (1) Adultery to be 
punished by death of both offenders ; the 
rape of a married or betrothed woman, 
by death of the offender. Deut. 22 : 13-27. 
(2i Rape or seduction of an unbetrothed 
virgin to be compensated by marriage, 
with dowry (50 shekels), and without 
power of divorce ; or, if she be refused, 
by payment of full dowry. Ex. 22 : 16, 17 ; 
Deut. 22 : 28, 29. (3) Unlawful marriages 
(incestuous, etc.) to be punished, some by 
death, some by childlessness. Lev. 20. 

8th Command. (1) Theft to be pun- 
ished by fourfold or double restitution ; 
a nocturnal robber might be slain as an 
outlaw. Ex. 22 : 1-4. (2) Trespass and 
injury of things lent to be compensated. 
Ex. 23 : 5-15. (3) Perversion of justice 
(by bribes, threats, etc.), and especially 
oppression of strangers, strictly forbidden. 
Ex. 22 : 9, etc. (4) Kidnapping to be 
punished by deatb. Deut. 24 : 7. 

9th Command. False witness to be 
punished by lex talionis. Ex. 23 : 1-3 ; 
Deut. 19 : 16-21. Slander of a wife's 
chastitv, bv fine and loss of power of di- 
vorce. Deut. 22 : 18, 19. 

A fuller consideration of the tables of 
the Ten Commandments is given else- 
where. (Ten Commandments.] 



III. LAWS JUDICIAL AND CON- 
STITUTIONAL. 

1. Jurisdiction. 

(a) Local judges (generally Levites, as 
more skilled in the law ; appointed, for 
ordinary matters, probably by the people 
with approbation of the supreme author- 
ity (as of Moses in the wilderness ), Ex. 

18 : 25 ; Deut. 1 : 15-1S, through all the 
land. Deut. 16 : 18. (6) Appeal to the 
priests (at the holy place), or to the 
judge; their sentence final, and to be 
accepted under pain of death. See Deut. 
17 : 8-13 ; comp. appeal to Moses, Ex. 18 : 
26. (c) Two witnesses (at least) required 
in capital matters. Num. 35 : 30 ; Deut. 
17:6, 7. {d) Punishment, except by 
special command, to be personal, and 
not to extend to the family. Deut. 24 : 16. 
Stripes allowed and limited, Deut. 25 : 
1-3, so as to avoid outrage on the human 
frame. All this would be to a great ex- 
tent set aside— 1st. By the summary ju- 
risdiction of the king, see 1 Sam. 22 : 11- 

19 (Saul) ; 2 Sam. 12 : 1-5; 14 : 4-11 ; 1 
j Kings 3 : 16-28, which extended even to 
i the deposition of the high priest. 1 Sam. 
I 22 : 17, 18 ; 1 Kings 2 : 26, 27. The prac- 
i tical difficulty of its being carried out is 
! seen in 2 Sam. 15 : 2-6, and would lead 
| of course to a certain delegation of his 
' power. 2d. By the appointment of the 

Seventy, Num! 11 : 24-30, with a solemn 
religious sanction. In later times there 
was a local sanhedrin of twenty-three in 
each city, and two such in Jerusalem, as 

! well as the Great Sanhedrin, consisting 
of seventy members, besides the presi- 

! dent, who was to be the high priest if 
duly qualified, and controlling even the 

i king and high priest. The members 

I were priest, scribes (Levites), and elders 
( of other tribes 1 . A court of exactly this 
nature is noticed as appointed to supreme 
power bv Jehoshaphat. See 2 Chron. 
19:8-11.' 

2. Royal Power. 

The Icing's power limited by the law, 
as written and formally accepted by the 
king ; and directly forbidden to be des- 
potic. 1 Deut, 17:'l4-20; comp. 1 Sam. 
10 : 25. Yet he had power of taxation (to 
one tenth) and of compulsory service, 1 

1 Military conquest discouraged by the pro- 
hibition of the use of horses. See Josh. 11:6. 
For an example of obedience to this law see 2 

j Sam. R : 4, and of disobedience to it see 1 Kings 

I 10 : 26-29. 

347 



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LAW 



Sam. 8 : 10-18, the declaration of war, 

1 Sam. 11, etc. There are distinct traces 
of a " mutual contract," 2 Sam. 5 : 3 ; a 
"league," 2 Kings 11:17; the remon- 
strance with Rehoboam being clearly 
not extraordinary. 1 Kings 13 : 1-6. 

The princes of the congrega tion. — The 
heads of the tribes, see Josh. 9 : 15, seem 
to have had authority under Joshua to 
act for the people, comp. 1 Chron. 27 : 
16-22 ; and in the later times " the princes 
of Juclah" seem to have had power to 
control both the king and the priests. 
See Jer. 26 : 10-24 ; 38 : 4, 5, etc. 

3. Royal Revenue. 
(1) Tenth of produce. (2) Domain 
land. 1 Chron. 27 : 26-29. Note confis- 
cation of criminal's land. 1 Kings 21 : 15. 
(3) Bond service, 1 Kings 5 : 17,18, chiefly 
on foreigners. 1 Kings 9 : 20-22 ; 2 Chron. 

2 : 16, 17. (4) Flocks and herds. 1 Chron. 
27 : 29-31. (5) Tributes (gifts) from for- 
eign kings. (6) Commerce; especially in 
Solomon's time. 1 Kings 10 : 22, 29, etc. 

IV. ECCLESIASTICAL AND CERE- 
MONIAL LAW. 

1. Law of Sacrifice (considered as 
the sign and the appointed means of 
the union with God, on which the ho- 
liness of the people depended). 

a. ORDINARY SACRIFICES. 

(<*) The whole burnt offering, Lev. 1, of 
the herd or the flock ; to be offered 
continually, Ex. 29 : 38-42 ; and the 
fire on the altar never to be extin- 
guished. Lev. 6 : 8-13. 

(P ) The meat offering, Lev. 2 ; 6 : 14-23, 
of flour, oil and frankincense, unleav- 
ened and seasoned with salt. 

( y ) The peace offering, Lev. 3 ; 7 : 11-21, 
of the herd or the flock ; either a thank 
offering or a vow or free-will offering. 

(5) The sin offering or trespass offering. 
Lev. 4, 5, 6. 

(a) For sins committed in ignorance. 
Lev. 4. 

{b) For vows unwittingly made and 
broken, or uncleanness unwittingly 
contracted. Lev. 5. 

(c) For sins wittingly committed. Lev. 
6 : 1-7. 

b. EXTRAORDINARY SACRIFICES. 

(a) At the consecration of priests. Lev. 
8, 9. 

(p, At the purification of women. Lev. 
12. 

348 



(y) At the cleansing of lepers. Lev. 13, 
14. 

(S) On the great day of atonement. Lev. 
16. 

(«) On the great festivals. Lev. 23. 

2. Law of Holiness (arising from the 
union with God through sacrifice). 

a. HOLINESS OF PERSONS. 

(<*) Holiness of the whole people as " chil- 
dren of God," Ex. 19:5, 6; Lev. 11- 
15, 17, 18 ; Deut. 14 : 1-21, shown in 
(a) The dedication of the first-born, 

Ex. 13 : 2, 12, 13; 22 : 29, 30, etc. ; 

and the offering of all firstlings and 

first-fruits. Deut. 26, etc. 
{b) Distinction of clean and unclean 

food. Lev. 11 ; Deut. 14. 

(c) Provision for purification. Lev. 12, 
13, 14, 15 ; Deut. 23 : 1-14. 

(d) Laws against disfigurement. Lev. 
19 : 27 ; Deut. 14 : 1 ; comp. Deut. 
25 : 3, against excessive scourging. 

(e) Laws against unnatural marriages 
and lusts. Lev. 18, 20. 

(0) Holiness of the priests (and Levites). 

(a) Their consecration. Lev. 8, 9; Ex. 
29. 

(b) Their special qualifications and re- 
strictions. Lev. 21, 22 : 1-9. 

(c) Their rights, Deut, 18 : 1-6 ; Num. 
18, and authority. Deut. 17 : 8-13. 

b. HOLINESS OF PLACES AND THINGS. 

(a) The tabernacle with the ark, the vail, 
the altars, the laver, the priestly robes, 
etc. Ex. 25-28, 30. 

(0 ) The holy place chosen for the perma- 
nent erection of the tabernacle, Deut. 
12, 14 : 22-29, where only all sacrifices 
were to be offered and all tithes, first- 
fruits, vows, etc., to be given or eaten. 

C. HOLINESS OF TIMES. 

(a) The Sabbath. Ex. 20 : 9-11 ; 23 : 12, 
etc. 

(0) The sabbatical year. Ex. 23 : 10, 11 ; 

Lev. 25 : 1-7, etc. 
(y) The year of jubilee. Lev. 25 : 8-16, 

S) The passover. Ex. 12 : 3-27 ; Lev. 23 : 
4, 5. 

'<0 The feast of weeks (pentecost). Lev. 

23 : 15, etc. 
(£) The feast of tabernacles. Lev. 23 : 33- 

43. 

(>,) The feast of trumpets. Lev. 23 : 23-25. 
(0) The day of atonement. Lev. 23 : 26- 
32, etc. 



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Such is the substance of the Mosaic 
law. The leading principle of the whole 
is its theocratic CHARACTER, its ref- 
erence, that is, of all action and thoughts 
of men directly and immediately to the 
will of God. It follows from this that it 
is to be regarded not merely as a law, 
that is, a rule of conduct based on known 
truth and acknowledged authority, but 
also as a revelation of God's nature and 
his dispensations. But this theocratic 
chai'acter of the law depends necessarily 
on the belief in God, as not only the cre- 
ator and sustainer of the world, but as, 
by special covenant, the head of the Jew- 
ish nation. This immediate reference to 
God as their king is clearly seen as the 
groundwork of their whole polity. From 
this theocratic nature of the law follow 
important deductions with regard to (a) 
the view which it takes of political soci- 
ety; {b) the extent of the scope of the 
law ; (c) the penalties by which it is en- 
forced; and (d) the character which it 
seeks to impress on the people, (a) The 
Mosaic law seeks the basis of its polity, 
first, in the absolute sovereignty of God ; 
next, in the relationship of each individ- 
ual to God, and through God to his coun- 
trymen. It is clear that such a doctrine, 
while it contradicts none of the common 
theories, yet lies beneath them all. (b) 
The law, as proceeding directly from God 
and referring directly to him, is neces- 
sarily absolute in its supremacy and tin- 
limited in its scope. It is supreme over 
the governors, as being only the delegates 
of the Lord, and therefore it is incompat- 
ible with any despotic authority in them. 
On the other hand, it is supreme over the 
governed, recognizing no inherent rights 
in the individual as prevailing against or 
limiting the law. It regulated the whole 
life of an Israelite. His actions were re- 
warded and punished with great minute- 
ness and strictness — and that according 
to the standard, not of their consequences 
but of their intrinsic morality, (c) The 
penalties and rewards by which the law 
is enforced are such as depend on the di- 
rect theocracy. With regard to individ- 
ual actions, it may be noticed that, as 
generally some penalties are inflicted by 
the subordinate and some only by the 
supreme authority, so among the Israel- 
ites some penalties came from the hand 
of man, some directly from the providence 
of God. (d) But perhaps the most im- 
portant consequence of the theocratic na- 
ture of the law was the peculiar character 



of goodness which it sought to impress on 
the people. The Mosaic law, beginning 
with piety as its first object, enforces 
most emphatically the purity essential to 
those who, by their union with God, have 
recovered the hope of intrinsic goodness, 
w r hile it views righteousness find love 
rather as deductions from these than as 
independent objects. The appeal is not 
to any dignity of human nature, but to 
the obligations of communion with a holy 
God. The subordination, therefore, of 
this idea also to the religious idea is en- 
forced ; and so long as the due supremacy 
of the latter was preserved, all other du- 
ties would find their places in proper har- 
mony. 

Lawyer. The title " lawyer " is gen- 
erally supposed to be equivalent to the 
title " scribe." The scribes expounded 
the law in the synagogues and schools. 
[See Scribes.] 

Laying on of hands. This "formed 
at an early period a part of the ceremony 
observed on the appointment and conse- 
cration of persons to high and holy under- 
takings ;" (and in the Christian Church 
was especially used in setting apart men 
to the ministry and to other holy offices. 
It is a symbolical act expressing the im- 
parting of spiritual authority and power. 
—Ed.) 

Laz'arus (whom God helps), another 
form of the Hebrew name Eleazar. 1. 
j Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Mar- 
tha and Mary. John 11 : 1. All that we 
I know of him' is derived from the Gospel 
of St. John, and that records little more 
j than the facts of his death and resurrec- 
! tion. The language of John 11 : 1 im- 
plies that the sisters were the better 
known. Lazarus is "of Bethany, of the 
village of Mary and her sister Martha." 
; From this and from the order of the three 
j names in John 11 : 5 we may reasonably 
infer that Lazarus was the youngest of 
the family. All the circumstances of 
John 11 and 12 point to wealth and social 
position above the average. 

2. The name of a poor man in the well- 
! known parable of Luke 16 : 19-31. Tbe 
i name of Lazarus has been perpetuated in 
an institution of the Christian Church. 
| The leper of the Middle Ages appears as 
j a lazzaro. The use of lazaretto and lazar- 
house for the leper hospitals then founded 
i in all parts of western Christendom, no 
! less than that of lazaroni for the mendi- 
! cants of Italian towns, is an indication of 
j the effect of the parable upon the mind 

349 



LEA 



LEA 



of Europe in the Middle Ages, and thence 
upon its later speech. 

Lead. This is one of the most com- 
mon of metals, found generally in veins 
of rocks, though seldom in a metallic 
state, and most commonly in combination 
with sulphur. It was early known to 
the ancients, and the allusions to it in 
Scripture indicate that the Hebrews were 
well acquainted with its uses. The rocks 
in the neighborhood of Sinai yielded it 
in large quantities, and it was found in 
Egypt. In Job 19 : 24 the allusion is 
supposed to be to the practice of carv- 
ing inscriptions upon stone and pouring 
molten lead into the cavities of the let- 
ters, to render them legible and at the 
same time preserve them from the action 
of the air. 

Leaf, Leaves. The word occurs in 
the Authorized Version either in singular 
or plural number in three different senses. 
1. Leaf of a tree. The righteous are often 
compared to green leaves. Jer. 17 : 8. 
The ungodly, on the other hand, are " as 
an oak whose leaf fadeth." isa. 1 : 30. 2. 
Leaves of doors. The Hebrew word, 
which occurs very many times in the 
Bible, and which in 1 Kings 6 : 32 (mar- 
gin) and 34 is translated " leaves " in the 
Authorized Version, signifies beams, ribs, 
sides, etc. 3. Leaves of a book or roll 
occurs in this sense only in Jer. 36 : 23. 
The Hebrew woi'd (literally doors) would 
perhaps be more correctly translated 
columns. 

Le'ah (wearied), the daughter of La- 
ban. Gen. 29 : 16. The dullness or weak- 
ness of her eyes was so notable that it is 
mentioned as a contrast to the beautiful 
form and appearance of her younger sis- 
ter Rachel. Her father took advantage 
of the opportunity which the local mar- 
riage rite afforded to pass her off in her 
sister's stead on the unconscious bride- 
groom, and excused himself to Jacob by 
alleging that the custom of the country 
forbade the younger sister to be given 
first in marriage. Jacob's preference of 
Rachel grew into hatred of Leah after 
he had married both sisters. Leah, how- 
ever, bore to him in quick succession 
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, then Issa- 
char, Zebulun and Dinah, before Rachel 
had a child. She died some time after 
Jacob reached the south country in which 
his father Isaac lived. She was buried 
in the familv grave in Machpelah, near 
Hebron. Gen. 49 : 31. (B.C. about 1720.) 

Leasing (falsehood). This word is 
350 



| retained in the Authorized Version of 
Ps. 4:2; 5:6, from the older English 
versions ; but the Hebrew word of which 
it is the rendering is elsewhere almost 
uniformly translaced " lies." Ps. 40 : 4 ; 
58 : 3, etc. 

Leather. The notices of leather in 
the Bible are singularly few ; indeed the 
word occurs but twice in the Authorized 
Version, and in each instance in refer- 
ence to the same object, a girdle. 2 Kings 
1:8; Matt. 3 : 4. There are, however, 
other instances in which the word " leath- 
er " might with propriety be substituted 
for "skin." Lev. 11:32; 13:48; Num. 
31 : 20. Though the material itself is 
seldom noticed, yet we cannot doubt that 
it was extensively used by the Jews ; 
shoes, bottles, thongs, garments, ropes 
and other articles were made of it. The 
art of tanning, however, was held in low 
esteem by the Jews. 

Leaven. Various substances were 
known to have fermenting qualities ; but 
the ordinary leaven consisted of a lump 
of old dough in a high state of fermenta- 
tion, which was mixed into the mass of 
dough prepared for baking. The use of 
leaven was strictly forbidden in all offer- 
ings made to the Lord by fire. During 
the passover the Jews were commanded 
to put every particle of leaven from the 
house. The most prominent idea associ- 
ated with leaven is connected with the 
corruption which it had undergone, and 
which it communicated to bread in the 
process of fermentation. It is to this 
property of leaven that our Saviour points 
when he speaks of the " leaven (i. e. the 
corrupt doctrine) of the Pharisees and of 
the Sadducees," Matt. 16:6; and St. 
Paul, when he speaks of the " old leaven." 
1 Cor. 5 :7. (Another quality in leaven 
is noticed in the Bible, namely, its se- 
cretly penetrating and diffusive power. 
In this respect it was emblematic of 
moral influence generally, whether good 
or bad ; and hence our Saviour adopts it 
as illustrating the growth of the kingdom 
of heaven in the individual heart and in 
the world at large : because (1) its source 
is from without; (2) it is secret in its 
operation; (3) it spreads by contact of 
particle with particle ; (4) it is widely 
diffusive, one particle of leaven being 
able to change any number of particles 
of flour; and because (5) it does not act 
like water, moistening a certain amount 
of flour, but is like a plant, changing the 
particles it comes in contact with into its 



LEB 



LEB 



own nature, with like propagating power. 
—Ed.) 

Leb'ana (white), one of the Nethinim 
whose descendants returned from Baby- 
lon with Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 48. He is 
called 

Leb'anah (white) in Ezra 2 : 45. 

Lieb'anon, a mountain range in the 
north of Palestine. The name Lebanon 
signifies white, and was applied either on 
account of the snow which, during a 
great part of the year, covers its whole 
summit, or on account of the white color 



of its limestone cliffs and peaks. It is 
the "white mountain" — the Mont Blanc 
of Palestine. Lebanon is represented in 
Scripture as lying upon the northern 
border of the land of Israel. Deut. 1:7; 
11 : 24 ; Josh. 1 : 4. Two distinct ranges 
bear this name. They run in parallel 
lines from southwest to northeast for 
about 90 geographical miles, enclosing 
between them a long, fertile valley from 
five to eight miles wide, anciently called 
Code-Syria. The western range is the 
"Libanus" of the old geographers and 




View of Lebanon from the Sea. 



the Lebanon of Scripture. The eastern 
range was called " Anti-Li banus " by 
geographers, and " Lebanon toward the 
sunrising" by the sacred writers. Josh. 
13:5. 

1. Lebanon — the western range — com- 
mences on the south of the deep ravine 
of the Litany, the ancient river Leontes, 
which drains the valley of Coele-Syria, 
and falls into the Mediterranean five 
miles north of Tyre. It runs northeast 
in a straight line parallel to the coast, to 
the opening from the Mediterranean into 
the plain of Emesa, called in Scripture 
the "entrance of Hamath." Num. 34 : 8. 
Here Nehr el-Kebir — the ancient river 
Eleutherus — sweeps round its northern 
end, as the Leontes does round its south- 
ern. The average elevation of the range 



is from 6000 to 8000 feet ; but two peaks 
rise considerably higher. On the sum- 
mits of both these peaks the snow re- 
mains in patches during the whole sum- 
mer. The line of cultivation runs along 
at the height of about 6000 feet ; and be- 
low this the features of the western slopes 
are entirely different. The rugged lime- 
stone banks are scantily clothed with the 
evergreen oak, and the sandstone with 
pines; while every available spot is care- 
fully cultivated. 'The cultivation is won- 
derful, and shows what all Syria might 
be if under a good government. Fig trees 
cling to the naked rock ; vines are trained 
along narrow ledges ; long ranges of mul- 
berries, on terraces like steps of stairs, 
cover the more gentle declivities; and 
dense groves of olives fill up the bottoms 
351 



LEB 



LEE 



of the glens. Hundreds of villages are 
seen — here built among labyrinths of 
rocks, there clinging like swallows' nests 
to the sides of cliffs ; while convents, no 
less numerous, are perched on the top of 
every peak. The vine is still largely 
cultivated in every part of the mountain. 
Lebanon also abounds in olives, tigs and 
mulberries; while some remnants exist 
of the forests of pine, oak and cedar 
which formerly covered it. 1 Kings 5 : 
6 ; Ezra 3 : 7 ; Ps. 29 : 5 ; Isa. 14 : 8. Con- 
siderable numbers of wild beasts still in- 
habit its retired glens and higher peaks ; 
the writer has seen jackals, hyaenas, 
wolves, bears and panthers. 2 Kings 14 : j 
9 ; Cant. 4:8; Hab. 2 : 17. £long the 
base of Lebanon runs the irregular plain 
of Phoenicia — nowhere more than two 
miles wide, and often interrupted by bold 
rocky spurs that dip into the sea. The 
main ridge of Lebanon is composed of 
Jura limestone, and abounds in fossils. 
Long belts of more recent sandstone run 
along the western slopes, which are in 
places largely impregnated with iron. 
Lebanon was originally inhabited by the 
Hivites and Giblites. Josh. 13 : 5, 6; 
Judges 3 : 3. The whole mountain range 
was assigned to the Israelites, but was 
never conquered by them. Josh. 13 : 2-6; 
Judges 3 : 1-3. During the Jewish mon- 
archy it appears to have been subject to 
the Phoenicians. 1 Kings 5 : 2-6 ; Ezra 3 : 
7. From the Greek conquest until mod- 
ern times Lebanon had no separate his- 
tory. 

2. Anti-Libanus.— The main chain of 
Anti-Libanus commences in the plateau 
of Bashan, near the parallel of Caesarea 
Philippi, runs north to Hermon, and then 
northeast in a straight line till it sinks 
down into the great plain of Emesa, not 
far from the site of Riblah. Hermon is 
the loftiest peak ; the next highest is a 
few miles north of the site of Abila, be- 
side the village of Bluddn, and has an 
elevation of about 7000 feet. The rest 
of the ridge averages about 5000 feet ; it 
is in general bleak and barren, with 
shelving gray declivities, gray cliffs and 
gray rounded summits. Here and there 
we meet with thin forests of dwarf oak 
and juniper. The western slopes descend 
abruptly into the Bukd'a ; but the fea- 
tures of the eastern are entirely differ- 
ent. Three side ridges here radiate from 
Hermon, like the ribs of an open fan, and 
form the supporting walls of three great 
terraces. Anti-Libanus is only once dis- 
352 



tinctly mentioned in Scripture, where it 
is accurately described as " Lebanon to- 
ward the sunrising." Josh. 13 : 5. 

Leb'aoth (lionesses), a town which 
forms one of the last group of the cities 
of " the south " in the enumeration of the 
possessions of Judah, Josh. 15 : 32 ; prob- 
ably identical with Beth-lebaoth. 

Lebbae'us (a man of heart), one name 
of Jude, who was one of the twelve apos- 
tles. 

Lebo'nah (frankincense), a place 
named in Judges 21 : 19 only. Lebonah 
j has survived to, our times under the al- 
most identical form of el-Lubban. It lies 
to the west of and close to the Nablus 
road, about eight miles north of Beitin 
(Bethel) and two from Seilun (Shiloh). 

Le'cah (progress), a name mentioned 
in the genealogies of Judah, 1 Chron. 4 : 
21 only, as one of the descendants of She- 
lah, the third son of Judah by the Ca- 
naanitess Bath-shua. 
Leech. [Horse-leech.] 




Common Leek. 



Leeks (Heb. chdtsir). The leek was 
a bulbous vegetable resembling the onion. 
Its botanical name is Allium porrum. 
The Israelites in the wilderness longed 
for the leeks and onions of Egypt. Num. 
i 11:5. The word chdtsir, which in Num. 
I 11 : 5 is translated leeks, occurs tAventy 
! times in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew 
term, which properly denotes grass, is de- 
rived from a root signifying " to be green," 
and may therefore stand in this passage 
for any green food — lettuce, endive, etc. ; 
it would thus be applied somewhat in the 



LEE 



LEP 



same manner as we use the term " greens ;" 
yet as the chatsir is mentioned together 
with onions and garlic in the text, and as 
the most ancient versions unanimously 
understand leeks by the Hebrew word, 
we may be satisfied with our own trans- 
lation. 

Lees, the coarser parts of a liquor, its 
sediment or dregs. " Wine on the lees" 
means a generous, full-bodied liquor. Isa. 
25 : 6. Before the wine was consumed, it 
was necessary to strain off the lees ; such 
wine was then termed " well refined." 
Isa. 25 : 6. To drink the lees, or " dregs," 
was an expression for the endurance of 
extreme punishment. Ps. 75 : 8. 

Legion, the chief subdivision of the 
Roman army, containing about 6000 in- 
fantry, with a contingent of cavalry. 
The term does not occur in the Bible in 
its primary sense, but appears to have 
been adopted in order to express any 
large number, with the accessory ideas 
of order and subordination. Matt. 26 : 53; 
Mark 5 : 9._ 

Le'habim {fiery, flaming), occurring 
only in Gen. 10 : 13, the name of a Miz- 
raite people or tribe. There can be no 
doubt that they are the same as the Rebu 
or Lebu of the Egyptian inscriptions, and 
that from them .Libya and the Libyans 
derived their name. These primitive 
Libyans appear to have inhabited the 
northern part of Africa to the west of 
Egypt, though latterly driven from the 
coast by the Greek colonists of the Cy- 
renaica. 

Le'hi (jaw bone), a place in Judah, 
probably on the confines of the Philis- 
tines' country, between it and the cliff 
Etam ; the scene of Samson's well-known 
exploit with the jaw bone. Judges 15 : 9, 
14, 19. It may perhaps be identified with 
Beit-Likiyeh, a village about two miles 
below the upper Beth-horon. 

Lem'uel [dedicated to God), the name 
of an unknown king to whom his mother 
addressed the prudential maxims con- 
tained in Prov. 31 : 1-9. The rabbinical 
commentators identified Lemuel with 
Solomon. Others regard him as king or 
chief of an Arab tribe dwelling on the 
borders of Palestine, and elder brother 
of Agur, whose name stands at the head 
of Prov. 30. 

Lentils (Heb. 'addshim), a legumin- 
ous plant bearing seeds resembling small 
beans. The red pottage which Jacob pre- 
pared and for which Esau sold his birth- 
right was made from them. Gen. 25 : 34. 
354 



There are three or four kinds of lentils, 
all of which are much esteemed in those 
countries where they are grown, viz., the 
south of Europe, Asia and north Africa. 
The red lentil is still a favorite article 
of food in the East. Lentil bread is 
eaten by the poor of Egypt. The lentil 




Lentils. 



is much used with other pulse in Roman 
Catholic countries during Lent; and some 
are of opinion that from this usage the 
season derives its name. 

Leopard (Heb. ndmer) is invariably 
given by the Authorized Version as the 
translation of the Hebrew word, which 
occurs in the seven following passages : 
Cant. 4:8; Isa. 11:6; Jer. 5:6; 13 : 23 ; 
Dan. 7:6; Hos. 13:7; Hab. 1 : 8. Leop- 
ard occurs also in Ecclus. 28 : 23 and in 
Rev. 13 : 2. From Cant. 4 : 8 we learn 
that the hilly ranges of Lebanon were in 
ancient times frequented by these animals. 
They are now not uncommonly seen in 
and about Lebanon and the " southern 
maritime mountains of Syria. Under 
the name ndmttr, which means " spotted," 
it is not improbable that another animal, 
namely the cheetah (Gueparda jubata), 
may be included ; which is tamed by the 
Mohammedans of Syria, who employ it 
in hunting the gazelle. 

Leper, Leprosy. The predominant 
and characteristic form of leprosy in the 



LEP 



LEP 




The Syrian Leopard. 

Old Testament is a white variety, cover- 
ing either the entire body or a large tract 
of its surface, which has obtained the 
name of Lepra mosaica. Such were the 
cases of Moses, Miriam, Naaman and 



Gehazi. Ex. 4 : 6 ; Num. 12 : 10 ; 2 
Kings 5 : 1, 27 ; comp. Lev. 13 : 13. 
But, remarkably enough, in the 
Mosaic ritual diagnosis of the dis- 
ease, Lev. 13, 14, this kind, when 
overspreading the whole surface, 
appears to be regarded as "clean." 
Lev. 13 : 12, 13, 16, 17. The Egyp- 
tian bondage, with its studied deg- 
radations and privations, and es- 
pecially the work of the kiln under 
an Egyptian sun, must have had a 
frightful tendency to generate this 
class of disorders. The sudden and 
total change of food, air, dwelling 
and mode of life, caused by the 
exodus, to this nation of newly- 
emancipated slaves, may possibly 
have had a further tendency to 
produce skin disorders, and severe 
repressive measures may have been 
required in the desert-moving camp 
to secure the public health or to 
allay the panic of infection. Hence 
it is possible that many, perhaps most, of 
this repertory of symptoms may have dis- 
appeared with the period of the exodus, 
and the snow-white form, which had 
pre-existed, may alone have ordinarily 




Lepers Outside the Gate of Jerusalem. 



355 



LE? 



LEP 



continued in a later age. The principal 
morbid features are a rising or swell- 
ing, a scab or baldness, and a bright or 
white spot. Lev. 13 : 2. But especially 
a white swelling in the skin, with a 
change of the hair of the part from the 
natural black to white or yellow, ch. 
13 : 3, 4, 10, 20, 25, 30, or an appearance 
of a taint going "deeper than the skin," 
or, again, "raw flesh" appearing in the 
swelling, ch. 13 : 10, 14, 15, was a crit- 
ical sign of pollution. The tendency to 
spread seems especially to have been re- 
lied on. A spot most innocent in other 
respects, if it "spread much abroad," 
was unclean; whereas, as before re- 
marked, the man so wholly overspread 
with the evil that it could find no further 
range was on the contrary "clean." ch. 
13 : 12, 13. These two opposite criteria 
seem to show that whilst the disease 
manifested activity, the Mosaic law im- 
puted pollution to and imposed segrega- 
tion on the sufferer, but that the point at 
which it might be viewed as having run 
its course was the signal for his readmis- 
sion to communion. It is clear that the 
leprosy of Lev. 13, 14 means any severe 
disease spreading on the surface of the 
body in the way described, and so shock- 
ing of aspect, or so generally suspected of 
infection, that public feeling called for 
separation. It is now undoubted that the 
"leprosy" of modern Syria, and which 
has a wide range in Spain, Greece and 
Norway, is the Elephantiasis grwcorum. 
It is said to have been brought home by 
the crusaders into the various countries 
of western and northern Europe. It cer- 
tainly was not the distinctive white lep- 
rosy, nor do any of the described symp- 
toms in Lev. 13 point to elephantiasis. 
" White as snow," 2 Kings 5 : 27, would 
be as inapplicable to elephantiasis as to 
sm ill-pox. There remains a curious 
question as regards the leprosy of gar- 
ments and houses. Some have thought 
garments worn by leprous patients in- 
tended. This classing of garments and 
house-walls with the human epidermis, 
as leprous, has moved the mirth of some 
and the wonder of others. Yet modern 
science has established what goes far to 
vindicate the Mosaic classification as 
more philosophical than such cavils. It 
is now known that there are some skin 
diseases which originate in an acarus, 
and others which proceed from a fungus. 
In these we may probably find the solu- 
tion of the paradox. The analogy be- 
356 



tween the insect which frets the human 
skin and that which frets the garment 
that covers it — between the fungous 
growth that lines the crevices of the epi- 
dermis and that which creeps in the inter- 
j stices of masonry — is close enough for the 
: purposes of a ceremonial law. It is mani- 
! test also that a disease in the human sub- 
i ject caused by an acarus or by a fungus 
I would be certainly contagious, since the 
| propagative cause could be transferred 
{ from person to person. 

(Geikie in his "Life of Christ" says: 
I " Leprosy signifies smiting, because sup- 
posed to be a direct visitation of Heaven. 
! It began with little specks on the eyelids 
| and on the palms of the hands, and grad- 
! ually spread over different parts of the 
j body, bleaching the hair white wherever 
it showed itself, crusting the affected parts 
with shining scales, and causing swellings 
and sores. From the skin it slowly ate 
its way through the tissues, to the bones 
and joints, and even to the marrow, rot- 
ting the whole body piecemeal. The 
| lungs, the organs of speech and hearing, 
and the eyes, were attacked in turn, till 
at last consumption or dropsy brought 
welcome death. The dread of infection 
kept men aloof from the sufferer; and 
the law proscribed him as above all men 
unclean. The disease was hereditary to 
the fourth generation." Leprosy in the 
United States. — The Medical Record, 
! February, 1881, states that from the sta- 
| tistics collected by the Dermatological 
I Society it appears that there are between 
j fifty and one hundred lepers in the United 
States at present. Is modem leprosy con- 
| tag ions f— Dr. H. S. Piffard of New YorK, 
in the Medical Record, February, 1881, 
decides that it is in a modified degree 
contagious. "A review of the evidence 
led to the conclusion that this disease 
was not contagious by ordinary contact ; 
but it may be transmitted by the blood 
and secretions. A recent writer, Dr. 
Bross, a Jesuit missionary attached to the 
lazaretto at Trinidad, takes the ground 
that the disease in some way or other is 
transmissible. It is a well-established 
! fact that when leprosy has once gained 
I for itself a foothold in any locality, it is 
! apt to remain there and spread. The 
| case of the Sandwich Islands illustrates 
! the danger. Forty years ago the disease 
I did not exist there ; now one-tenth of the 
i inhabitants are lepers." This is further 
I confirmed by the fact stated by Dr. J. 
Hutchinson, F.R.S., that " We find that 



LES 



LEV 



nearly everywhere the disease is most 
common cn the seashore, and that, when 
it spreads inland, it generally occurs on 
the shores of lakes or along the course of 
large rivers." 

Leprosy as a type of sin. — " Being the 
worst form of disease, leprosy was fixed 
upon by God to be the especial type of sin, 
and the injunctions regarding it had ref- 
erence to its typical character." It was 
(1) hereditary; (2) contagious; (3) ever 
tending to increase ; (4) incurable except j 
by the power of God; (5) a shame and 
disgrace ; (6) rendering one alone in the 
world; (7) deforming, unclean ; (8) "sep- 
arating the soul from God, producing 
spiritual death ; unfitting it forever for 
heaven and the company of the holy, and 
insuring its eternal banishment, as pol- 
luted and abominable." (9) Another 
point is referred to by Thomson (in " The 
Land and the Book"): "Some, as they 
look on infancy, reject with horror the 
thought that sin exists within. But so 
might any one say who looked upon the 
beautiful babe in the arms of a leprous 
mother. But time brings forth the fear- 
ful malady. New-born babes of leprous 
parents are often as pretty and as healthy 
in appearance as any ; but by and by its 
presence and workings become visible in 
some of the signs described in the thir- 
teenth chapter of Leviticus." — Ed.) 

Le'shem {precious stone), another 
form of Laish, afterward Dan, occurring 
in Josh. 19 : 47. 

Letu'shim {hammered), the name of 
the second of the sons of Dedan son of j 
Jokshan. Gen. 25 : 3. 

lieum/mim {peoples), the name of the | 
third of the descendants of Dedan son of j 
Jokshan, Gen. 25 : 3, being in the plural j 
form, like his brethren, Asshurim and 
Letushim. 

JLe'vi {joined^. 1. The name of the 
third son of Jacob by his wife Leah. 
(B.C. about 1753.) The name, derived j 
from lavdh, "to adhere," gave utterance 
to the hope of the mother that the affec- 
tions of her husband, which had hitherto 
rested on the favored llachel, would at 
last be drawn to her: "This time will 
my husband be joined unto me, because 
I have borne him three sons." Gen. 29 : 
34. Levi, with his brother Simeon, 
avenged with a cruel slaughter the out- 
rage of their sister Dinah. [Dinah.] 
Levi, with his three sons, Gershon, Ko- 
hath and Merari, went down to Egypt 
with his father Jacob. Gen. 47 : 11. 



When Jacob's death draws near, and the 
sons are gathered round him, Levi and 
Simeon hear the old crime brought up 
again to receive its sentence. They no 
less than Iteuben, the incestuous first- 
born, had forfeited the privileges of their 
birthright. Gen. 49 : 5-7. [Levites.] 

2. Two of the ancestors of Jesus. Luke 
3 : 24, 29. 

3. Son of Alphseus or Matthew ; one of 
the apostles. Mark 2 : 14 ; Luke 5 : 27, 29. 
[See Matthew.] 

Leviathan {jointed monster) occurs 
five times in the text of the Authorized 
Version, and once in the margin of Job 
3:8, where the text has "mourning." 




Leviathan (Crocodile). 

In the Hebrew Bible the word livyathan, 
which is, with the foregoing exception, 
always left untranslated in the Author- 
ized Version, is found only in the follow- 
ing passages : Job 3:8; 41 : 1 ; Ps. 74 : 
14; 104 : 26; Isa. 27 : 1. In the margin 
of Job 3 : 8 and text of Job 41 : 1 the 
crocodile is most clearly the animal de- 
noted by the Hebrew word. Ps. 74 : 14 
also clearly points to this same saurian. 
The context of Ps. 104 : 26 seems to show 
that in this passage the name represents 
some animal of the whale tribe, which 
is common in the Mediterranean ; but 
it is somewhat uncertain what animal is 
denoted in Isa. 27 : 1. As the term levi- 
athan is evidently used in no limited 
sense, it is not improbable that the "levi- 
athan the piercing serpent," or " levi- 
athan the crooked serpent," may denote 
some species of the great rock-snakes 
which are common in south and west 
Africa. 

!Le'vites {descendants of Levi). Some- 
times the name extends to the whole 
tribe, the priests included, Ex. 6 : 25 ; 
Lev. 25 : 32 ; Num. 35 : 2 ; Josh. 21 : 3, 
41, etc. ; sometimes only to those mem- 
bers of the tribe who were not priests, and 
357 



LEV 



LEV 



as distinguished from them. Sometimes 
again it is added as an epithet of the 
smaller portion of the tribe, and we read 
of "the priests the Levites." Josh. 3:3; 
Ezek. 44 : 15. The history of the tribe 
and of the functions attached to its sev- 
eral orders is essential to any right ap- 
prehension of the history of Israel as a 
people. It will fall naturally into four 
great periods : — 

L The time of the exodus. — There is no 
trace of the consecrated character of the 
Levites till the institution of a hereditary 
priesthood in the family of Aaron, during 
the first withdrawal of Moses to the soli- 
tude of Sinai. Ex. 24 : 1. The next ex- 
tension of the idea of the priesthood grew 
cut of the terrible crisis of Ex. 32. The 
tribe stood forth separate and apart, 
recognizing even in this stern work the 
spiritual as higher than the natural. 
From this time they occupied a distinct 
position. The tribe of Levi was to take 
the place of that earlier priesthood of the 
first-born as representatives of the holi- 
ness of the people. At the time of their 
first consecration there were 22,000 of 
them, almost exactly the number of the 
first-born males in the whole nation. As 
the tabernacle was the sign of the pres- 
ence among the people of their unseen 
King, so the Levites were, among the 
other tribes of Israel, as the royal guard 
that waited exclusively on him. It was 
obviously essential for their work as the 
bearers and guardians of the sacred tent 
that there should be a fixed assignment 
of duties ; and now accordingly we meet 
with the first outlines of the organiza- 
tion which afterward became permanent. 
The division of the tribe into the thi-ee 
sections that traced their descent fr< rn 
the sons of Levi formed the groundwork 
of it. The work which they all had to 
do required a man's full strength, and 
therefore, though twenty was the stai-ting- 
point for military service, Num. 1, they 
were not to enter on their active service 
till they were thirty. Num. 4 : 23, 30, 35. 
At fifty they were to be free from all du- 
ties but those of superintendence. Num. 
8 : 25, 26. (1) The Kohathites, as nearest 
of kin to the priests, held from the first 
the highest offices. They were to bear 
all the vessels of the sanctuary, the ark 
itself included. Num. 3 : 31 ; 4 : 15 ; Deut, 
31 : 25. (2) The Gershonites had to carry 
the tent-hanarings and curtains. Num. 4: 
22-26. (3) The heavier burden of the 
boards, bars and pillars of the tabernacle 
358 



fell on the sons of Merari. The Levites 
were to have no territorial possessions. 
In place of them they were to receive 
from the others the tithes of the produce 
of the land, from which they, in their 
turn, offered a tithe to the priests, as a 
recognition of their higher consecration. 
Num. 18 : 21, 24, 26 ; Neh. 10 : 37. Dis- 
tinctness and diffusion were both to be 
secured by the assignment to the whole 
tribe of forty-eight cities, with an outly- 
ing "suburb," Num. 35:2, of meadow- 
land for the pasturage of their flocks and 
herds. The reverence of the people for 
them was to be heightened by the selec- 
tion of six of these as cities of refuge. 
Through the whole land the Levites were 
to take the place of the old household 
! priests, sharing in all festivals and re- 
! joicings. Deut, 12:19; 14 : 26, 27 ; 26 : 
I 11. Every third year they were to have 
an additional share in the produce of the 
land. Deut. 14:28; 26:12. To "the 
I priests the Levites" was to belong the 
' office of preserving, transcribing and in- 
terpreting the law. Deut. 17 : 9-12 ; 31 : 
26. 

II. The period of the judges. — The suc- 
cessor of Moses, though belonging to an- 
other tribe, did all that could be done to 
make the duty above named a reality. 
The submission of the Gibeonites enabled 
him to relieve the tribe-divisions of Ger- 
shon and Merari of the most burdensome 
of their duties. The conquered Hivites 
became "hewers of wood and drawers of 
water" for the house of Jehovah and for 
the congregation. Josh. 9 : 27. As soon 
as the conquerors had advanced far 
enough to proceed to a partition of the 
country, the forty-eight cities were as- 
signed to them. 

III. The monarchy. — When David's 
kingdom was established, there came a 
fuller organization of the whole tribe. 
Their position in relation to the priest- 
hood was once again definitely recognized. 
In the worship of the tabernacle under 
David, as afterward in that of the temple, 
the Levites were the gatekeepers, vergers, 
sacristans, choristers, of the central sanc- 
tuary of the nation. Thev were, in the 
language of 1 Chron. 23 : 24-32, to which 
we may refer as almost the locus class icus 
on this subject, "to wait on the sons of 
Aaron for the service of the house of Je- 
hovah, in the courts, and the chambers, 
and the purifying of all holy things." 
They were, besides this, "to stand every 
morning to thank and praise Jehovah, 



LEV 



LIC 



and likewise at even." They were, lastly, 
"to offer" — i. e. to assist the priest in of- j 
fering — "all burnt sacrifices to Jehovah j 
in the sabbaths and on the set leasts." | 
They lived for the greater part of the ; 
year in their own cities, and came up at j 
fixed periods to take their turn of work. 
1 Chron. 25, 26. The educational work | 
which the Levites received for their pe- 
culiar duties, no less than their connec- 
tion, more or less intimate, with the 
schools of the prophets, would tend to 
make them the teachers of the others, the 
transcribers and interpreters of the law, 
the chroniclers of the times in which they 
lived. (Thus they became to the Israel- 
ites what ministers and teachers are to 
the people now, and this teaching and 
training the people in morality and re- 
ligion was no doubt one of the chief reasons 
why they were set apart by God from the 
people, and yet among the people. — Ed.) 
The revolt of the ten tribes, and the pol- 
icy pursued by Jeroboam, who wished to 
make the priests the creatures and instru- 
ments of the king, and to establish a pro- 
vincial and divided worship, caused them 
to leave the cities assigned to them in the 
territory of Israel, and gather round the 
metropolis of Judah. 2 Chron. 11 : 13, 14. 
In the kingdom of Judah they were, from 
this time forward, a powerful body, po- 
litically as well as ecclesiastically. 

IV. After the captivity. — During the 
period that followed the captivity the Le- 
vites contributed to the formation of the 
so-called Great Synagogue. They, with 
the priests, formed the majority of the per- 
manent Sanhedrin, and as such had a 
large share in the administration of jus- 
tice even in capital cases. They appear 
but seldom in the history of the New 
Testament. 

Levit/icus. The third book in the 
Pentateuch is called Leviticus because it 
relates principally to the Levites and 
priests and their services. The book is 
generally held to have been written by 
Moses. Those critics even who hold a 
different opinion as to the other books of 
the Pentateuch assign this book in the 
main to him. One of the most notable 
features of the book is what may be called 
its spiritual meaning. That so elaborate 
a ritual looked beyond itself we cannot 
doubt. It was a prophecy of things to 
come ; a shadow whereof the substance 
was Christ and his kingdom. We may 
not always be able to say what the exact 
relation is between the type and the anti- 



type ; but we cannot read the Epistle to 
the Hebrews and not acknowledge that 
the Levitical priests " served the pattern 
and type of heavenly things;" that the 
sacrifices of the law pointed to and found 
their interpretation in the Lamb of God ; 
that the ordinances of outward purifica- 
tion signified the true inner cleansing of 
the heart and conscience from dead works 
to serve the living God. One idea — ho- 
liness — moreover penetrates the whole 
of this vast and burdensome ceremonial, 
and gives it a real glory even apart from 
any prophetic significance. 

iiib'anus. [Lebanon.] 

Lib'ertines. This word, which oc- 
curs once only in the New Testament — 
Acts 6 : 9 — is the Latin libertini, that is, 
"freedmen." They were probably Jews 
who, having been taken prisoners by 
Pompey and other Roman generals in the 
Syrian wars, had been reduced to slavery, 
and had afterward been emancipated, 
and returned, permanently or for a time, 
to the country of their fathers. 

Lib'nah {whiteness). 1. A royal city 
of the Canaanites which lay in the south- 
west part of the Holy Land, taken by 
Joshua immediately after the rout of 
Beth-horon. It was near Lachish, west 
of Makkedah. It was appropriated with 
its "suburbs" to the priests. Josh. 21: 
13; 1 Chron. 6 :57. In the reign of Je- 
horam the son of Jehoshaphat it " revolt- 
ed" from Judah at the same time with 
Edom. 2 Kings 8 : 22 ; 2 Chron. 21 : 10. 
Probably the modern Ayak el-Menshiyeh. 

2. One of the stations at which the Is- 
raelites encamped on their journey be- 
tween the wilderness of Sinai and Kadesh. 
Num. 33 : 20, 21. 

Lib'iii (ivhitc). 1. The eldest son of 
Gershon the son of Levi, Ex. 6:17; Num. 
3 : 18 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 17, 20, and ancestor 
of the family of the Libnites. (B.C. after 
1700.) 

2. The son of Mahli or Mahali, son of 
Merari, 1 Chron. 6 : 29, as the text at 
present stands. It is probable, however, 
that he is the same with the preceding, 
and that something has been omitted. 
Comp. ver. 29 with 20, 42. 

Lib'ya. This name occurs only in 
Acts 2:10. It is applied by the Greek 
and Roman writers to the African con- 
tinent, generally, however, excluding 
Egypt. 

Lice (Heb. cinndm, cinnim). This 
word occurs in the Authorized Version 
only in Ex. 8 : 16-18 and in Ps. 105 : 31, 

359 



LIE 



LIL 



both of which passages have reference to 
the third great plague of Egypt. The 
Hebrew word has given occasion to whole 
pages of discussion. Some commentators, 
and indeed modern writers generally, 
suppose that gnats are the animals in- 
tended by the original word; while, on 
the other hand, the Jewish rabbis, Jo- 
sephus and others, are in favor of the 
translation of the Authorized Version. 
Upon the whole it appears that there is 
not sufficient authority for departing from 
this translation. Late travellers (e. g. 
Sir Samuel Baker) describe the visitation 
of vermin in very similar terms: — "It is 
as though the very dust were turned into 
lice." The lice which he describes are a 
sort of tick, not larger than a grain of 
sand, which when tilled with blood ex- 
pand to the size of a hazel nut. — Canon 
Cook. 

Lieutenants. The Hebrew achash 
darpan was the official title of the sa- 
traps or viceroys who governed the prov- 
inces ot the Persian empire ; it is rendered 
" prince " in Dan. 3:2; 6:1. 

Lign aloes. | Aloes.] 

Ligure (TIeb. leshem), a precious stone 
mentioned in Ex. 28 : 19 ; 39 : 12 as the 
first in the third row of the high priest's 
breastplate. It is impossible to say, with j 
any certainty, what stone is denoted by \ 
the Hebrew term ; but perhaps tourma- 
line, or more definitely the red variety 
known as rubdlite, has better claims 
than any other mineral. Rubellite is a ; 
hard stone, and used as a gem, and is 
sometimes sold for red sapphire. 

Lik'hi (learned ), a Manassite, son of 
Shemidah the son of Manasseh. 1 Chron. 
7 : 19. 

Lily (Heb. shushdn, shushanndh). 
Although there is little doubt that the 
Hebrew word denotes some plant of the 
lily species, it is by no means certain 
what individual of this class it specially 
designates. The plant must have been a 
conspicuous object on the shores of the i 
Lake of Gennesaret, Matt. 6 : 28 ; Luke 
12 : 27 ; it must have nourished in the 
deep broad valleys of Palestine, Cant. 2 : 
1, among the thorny shrubs, ib. 2 : 2, and 
pastures of the desert, ib. 2:16; 4 : 5 ; 6 : 
3; and must have been remarkable for 
its rapid and luxuriant growth. Hos. 14 : 
5 ; Ecclus. 39 : 14. That its flowers were 
brilliant in color would seem to be indi- 
cated in Matt. 6 : 28, where it is com- 
pared with the gorgeous robes of Solo- 1 
mon ; and that this color was scarlet or I 
360 



purple is implied in Cant. 5 : 13. There 
appears to be no species of lily which so 
completely answers all these require- 




Scarlet Lily. 



ments as the TAUum chalcedonicum, or 
j scarlet martagon, which grows in profu- 
sion in the Levant. But direct evidence 




Lily of Palestine. 



on the point is still to be desired from 
the observation of travellers. (It is very 
, probable that the term lily here is gen- 



LIM 



LOA 



eral, not referring to any particular spe- 
cies, but to a large class of flowers grow- 
ing in Palestine, and resembling the lily, 
as the tulip, iris, gladiolus, etc. — Ed.) 

Lime, the substance obtained 
from limestone, shells, etc., by 
heat. It is noticed only three times 
in the Bible, viz., in Deut. 27 : 2 
(Authorized Version "plaster"), 
Isa. 33 : 12, and Amos 2 : 1. 

Linen, cloth made from flax. 
Several different Hebrew words are 
rendered linen, which may denote 
different fabrics of linen or differ- 
ent modes of manufacture. Egypt 
was the great centre of the linen 
trade. Some linen, made from the 
Egyptian byssus, a flax that grew 
on the banks of the Nile, was ex- 
ceedingly soft and of dazzling 
whiteness. This linen has been 
sold for twice its weight in gold. 
Sir J. G. Wilkinson says of it, " The 
quality of the fine linen fully justi- 
fies all the praises of antiquity, and 
excites equal admiration at the 
present day, being to the touch compa- 
rable to silk, and not inferior in texture 
to our finest cambric." 

Lintel, the beam which forms the 
upper part of the framework of a door. 

Li'nus {a net), a Christian at Some, 
known to St. Paul and to Timothy, 2 Tim. 
4 : 21, who was the first bishop of Eome 
after the apostles, (a.d. 64.) 

Lion. " The most powerful, daring 
and impressive of all carnivorous ani- 
mals, the most magnificent in aspect and 
awful in voice." At present lions do 
not exist in Palestine ; but they must in 
ancient times have been numerous. The 
lion of Palestine was in all probability 
the Asiatic variety, described by Aris- 
totle and Pliny as distinguished by its 
short curly mane, and by being shorter 
and rounder in shape, like the sculptured 
lion found at Arban. It was less daring 
than the longer named species, but when 
driven by hunger it not only ventured to 
attack the flocks in the desert in presence 
of the shepherd, 1 Sam. 17 : 34 ; Isa. 31 : 
4, but laid waste towns and villages, 2 
Kings 17 : 25, 26 ; Prov. 22 : 13 ; 26 : 13, 
and devoured men. 1 Kings 13 : 24 ; 20 : 
36. Among the Hebrews, and through- 
out the Old Testament, the lion was the 



open the book and loose the seven seals 
thereof." Pev. 5 : 5. On the other hand 
its fierceness and cruelty rendered it an 
appropriate metaphor for a fierce and 




The Syrian Lion. 

malignant enemy, Ps. 7:2; 22 : 21 ; 57 : 
4 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 17, and hence for the arch- 
fiend himself. 1 Peter 5 : 8. 

Lizard {that which clings to the 
ground) (Heb. letdah. Lev. 11 : 30). Liz- 
ards of various kinds abound in Egypt, 
Palestine and Arabia. The lizard de- 




Lizard. 

noted by the Hebrew word is probably 
the fan-foot lizard {Ptyodactylus gecko), 
which is common in Egypt and in parts 
of Arabia, and perhaps is found also in 
Palestine. It is reddish brown spotted 
with white. The gecko lives on insects 



achievement of the princely tribe of Ju- ! and worms, which it swallows whole. It 
dah, while in the closing book of the derives its name from the peculiar sound 
canon it received a deeper significance as ! which some of the species utter, 



the emblem of him who " prevailed to 



Lo-am'mi {not my people), the figur- 
361 



LOA 



LOC 



ative name given by the prophet Hosea 
to his second son by Gomer the daughter 
of Diblaim, Hos. 1 : 9, to denote the re- 
jection of the kingdom of Israel by Je- 
hovah. Its significance is explained in 
vs. 9, 10. 

Loan. The law strictly forbade any 
interest to be taken for a loan to 
any poor person, and at first, as it 
seems, even in the case of a foreign- 
er; but this prohibition was after- 
ward limited to Hebrews only, from 
whom, of whatever rank, not only 
was no usury on any pretence to be 
exacted, but relief to the poor by 
way of loan was enjoined, and ex- 
cuses for evading this duty were 
forbidden. Ex. 22 : 25 ; Lev. 25 : 35, 
37. As commerce increased, the 
practice of usury, and so also of 
suretyship, grew up ; but the exac- 
tion of it from a Hebrew appears to 
have been regarded to a late period 
as discreditable. Ps. 15 : 5 ; Prov. 
6 : 1, 4; 11 : 15; 17 : 18 ; 20 : 16 ; 
22 : 26 ; Jer. 15 : 10 ; Ezek. 18 : 13. 
Systematic breach of the law in this 
respect was corrected by Nehemi- 
ah after the return from captivity. 
Neh. 5 : 1, 13. The money-changers, who 
had seats and tables in the temple, were 
traders whose profits arose chiefly from 
the exchange of money with those who 
came to pay their annual half-shekel. 
The Jewish law did not forbid temporary 
bondage in the case of debtors, but it for- 
bade a Hebrew debtor to be detained as a 
bondman longer than the seventh year, 
or at farthest the year of jubilee. Ex. 21 : 
2 ; Lev. 25 : 39, 42 ; Deut. 15 : 9. 

Loaves. [Bread.] 

Lock. Where European locks have 
not been introduced, the locks of eastern 
houses are usually of wood, and consist 
of a partly hollow bolt from fourteen 
inches to two feet long for external doors 
or gates, or from seven to nine inches for 
interior doors. The bolt passes through 
a groove in a piece attached to the door 
into a socket in the door-post. 

Locust, a well-known insect, of the 
grasshopper family, which commits ter- 
rible ravages on vegetation in the coun- 
tries which it visits. " The common 
brown locust is about three inches in 
length, and the general form is that of a 
grasshopper." The most destructive of 
the locust tribe that occur in the Bible 
lands are the (Edipoda migratoria and 
the Acridium peregrinum ; and as both 
362 



these species occur in Syria and Arabia, 
etc., it is most probable that one or other 
is denoted in those passages which speak 
of the dreadful devastations committed 
by these insects. Locusts occur in great 
numbers, and sometimes obscure the sun. 
Ex. 10:15; Judges 6:5; Jer. 46:23. 




Locusts. 

Their voracity is alluded to in Ex. 10 : 12, 
15; Joel 1:4, 7. They make a fearful 
noise in their flight. Joel 2:5; Eev. 9: 
9. Their irresistible progress is referred 
to in Joel 2 : 8, 9. They enter dwell- 
ings, and devour even the woodwork of 
houses. Ex. 10 : 6 ; Joel 2 : 9, 10. They 




Locust Flying. 

do not fly in the night. Nah. 3 : 17. The 
sea destrovs the greater number. Ex. 10 : 
19 ; Joel 2 : 20. The flight of locusts is 
thus described by M. Olivier ( Voyage 
dans V "Empire Othoman, ii. 424) : " With 



LOD 



LOR 



the burning south winds (of Syria) there 
come from the interior of Arabia and 
from the most southern parts of Persia 
clouds of locusts {Acridium peregrinum;, 
whose ravages to these countries are as 
grievous and nearly as sudden as those 
of the heaviest hail in Europe. We wit- 
nessed them twice. It is difficult to ex- 
press the effect produced on us by the 
sight of the whole atmosphere filled on 
all sides and to a great height by an in- 
numerable quantity of these insects, 
whose flight was slow and uniform, and 
whose noise resembled that of rain: the 
sky was darkened, and the light of the 
sun considerably weakened. In a mo- 
ment the terraces of the houses, the 
streets, and all the fields were covered by 
these insects, and in two days they had 
nearly devoured all the leaves of the 
plants. Happily they lived but a short 
time, and seemed to have migrated only 
to reproduce themselves and die ; in fact, 
nearly all those we saw the next day had 
paired, and the day following the fields 
were covered with their dead bodies." 
" Locusts have been used as food from 
the earliest times. Herodotus speaks of 
a Libyan nation who dried their locusts 
in the sun and ate them with milk. The 
more common method, however, was to 
pull off the legs and wings and roast 
them in an iron dish. Then they were 
thrown into a bag, and eaten like parched 
corn, each one taking a handful when he 
chose." — Biblical Treasury. Sometimes 
the insects are ground and pounded, and 
then mixed with flour and water and 
made into cakes, or they are salted and 
then eaten ; sometimes smoked ; some- 
times boiled or roasted; again, stewed, or 
fried in butter. 
Lod. [Lydda.] 

Lo-de'bar {without pasture), a place 
named with Mahanaim, Rogelim and 
other transjordanic towns, 2 Sam. 17 : 27, 
and therefore no doubt on the east side 
of the Jordan. It was the native place 
of Machir-ben-Ammiel. 2 Sam. 9 : 4, 5. 

Lodge, To. This word, with one ex- 
ception only, has, at least in the narra- 
tive portions of the Bible, almost invari- 
ably the force of "passing the night." 

Log. [Weights and Measures.] 

Lo'is {agreeable), the grandmother of 
Timothy, and doubtless the mother of 
his mother, Eunice. 2 Tim. 1:5. It 
seems likely that Lois had resided long 
at Lystra ; and almost certain that from 
her, as well as from Eunice, Timothy ob- 



tained his intimate knowledge of the 
Jewish Scriptures. 2 Tim. 3 : 15. (a.d. 
before 64.) 

Looking-glasses. [Mirrors.] 

Lord. [God.] 

Lord's day, The (»} Kvpia^ 'H/xepa, 
Rev. 1 : 10 only), the weekly festival of 
our Lord's resurrection, and identified 
with " the first day of the week," or 
" Sunday," of every age of the Church. 
Scripture says very little concerning this 
day ; but that little seems to indicate that 
the divinely-inspired apostles, by their 
practice and by their precepts, marked 
the first day of the week as a day for 
meeting together to break bread, for com- 
municating and receiving instruction, for 
laying up offerings in store for charitable 
purposes, for occupation in holy thought 
and prayer. (See Sabbath.] 

Lord's Prayer, the prayer which 
Jesus taught his disciples. Matt. 6 : 9-13 ; 
Luke 11 : 2-4. " In this prayer our Lord 
shows his disciples how an infinite variety 
of wants and requests can be compressed 
into a few humble petitions. It embodies 
every possible desire of a praying heart, 
a whole world of spiritual requirements ; 
yet all in the most simple, condensed and 
humble form, resembling, in this respect, 
a pearl on which the light of heaven 
plays."— Lange. " This prayer contains 
four great general sentiments, which con- 
stitute the very soul of religion, — senti- 
ments which are the germs of all holy 
deeds in all worlds. (1) Filial rever- 
ence : God is addressed not as the great 
unknown, not as the unsearchable gov- 
ernor, but as a father, the most intelli- 
gible, attractive and transforming name. 
It is a form of address almost unknown to 
the old covenant, now and then hinted at 
as reminding the children of their rebel- 
lion, Isa. 1:2; Mai. 1:6, or mentioned 
as a last resource of the orphan and 
desolate creature, Isa. 63 : 16 ; but never 
brought out in its fullness, as indeed it 
could not be, till he was come by whom 
we have received the adoption of sons." 
— Alford. (2) "Divine loyally: 'Thy 
kingdom come.' (3) Conscious depend- 
ence: 'Give us this day,' etc. (4) Un- 
bounded confidence : ' For thine is the 
power,' etc." — Dr. Thomas' Genius of the 
Gospels. The doxology, " For thine is 
the kingdom," etc., is wanting in many 
manuscripts. It is omitted in the Revised 
Version ; but it nevertheless has the au- 
thority of some manuscripts, and is truly 
biblical, almost every word bein<? found 
36^3 



LOR 



LOR 



in 1 Chron. 29 : 11, and is a true and fit- 
ting ending for prayer. 

Lord's Supper. The words which 
thus describe me great central act of the 
worship of the Christian Church occur 
but in a single passage of the New Testa- 
ment — 1 Cor. 11 : 20. 1. Its institution. 
— It was instituted on that night when 
Jesus and his disciples met together to 
eat the passover, Matt. 26 : 19 ; Mark 14 : 
lb' ; Luke 22 : 13 (on Thursday evening, 
April b", a.d. 30). It was probably in- 
stituted at the third cup (the cup of bless- 
ing) of tiie passover [see on Passover], 
Jesus taking one of the unleavened cakes 
used at that feast and breaking it and 
giving it to his disciples with the cup. 
The narratives of the Gospels show how 
strongly the disciples were impressed 
with the words which had given a new 
meaning to the old familiar acts. They 
had looked on the bread and the wine as 
memorials of the deliverance from Egypt. 
They were now told to partake of them 
" in remembrance " of their Master and 
Lord. The Avords " This is my body " 
gave to the unleavened bread a new 
character. They had been prepared for 
language that would otherwise have been 
so startling, by the teaching of John, 
ch. 6 : 32-58, and they were thus taught 
to see in the bread that was broken the 
witness of the closest possible union and 
incorporation with their Lord. The cup, 
which was " the new testament in his 
blood," would remind them, in like man- 
ner, of the wonderful prophecy in which 
that new covenant had been foretold. Jer. 
31 : 31-34. " Gradually and progressive- 
ly he had prepared the minds of his dis- 
ciples to realize the idea of his death as 
a sacrifice. He now gathers up all pre- 
vious announcements in the institution 
of this sacrament." — Cambridge Bible. 
The festival had been annual. No rule 
was given as to the time and frequency 
of the new feast that thus supervened 
on the old, but the command " Do this 
as oft as ye drink it," 1 Cor. 11 : 25, sug- 
gested the more continual recurrence of 
that which was to be their memorial of 
one whom they would wish never to for- 
get. Luke, in the Acts, describes the 
baptized members of the Church as con- 
tinuing steadfast in or to the teaching of 
the apostles, in fellowship with them and 
with each other, and in breaking of bread 
and in prayers. Acts 2 : 42. We can 
scarcely doubt that this implies that the 
chief actual meal of each day was one in 
364 



which they met as brothers, and which 
was either preceded or followed by the 
more solemn commemorative acts of the 
breaking of the bread and the drinking 
of the cup. It will be convenient to an- 
ticipate the language and the thoughts 
of a somewhat later date, and to say that, 
apparently, they thus united every day 
tiie Agape or feast of love with the cel- 
ebration of the Eucharist. At some time, 
before or after the meal of which they 
partook as such, the bread and the wine 
would be given with some special form 
of words or acts, to indicate its character. 
New converts would need some explana- 
I tion of the meaning and origin of the 
observance. What would be so fitting 
and so much in harmony with the pre- 
cedents of the paschal feast as the narra- 
tive of what had passed on the night of 
its institution? 1 Cor. 11 : 23-27. 

2. Its significance— The Lord's Supper 
is a reminder of the leading truths of the 
gospel: (1) Salvation, like this bread, is 
the gift of God's love. (2) We are re- 
nvnded of the life of Christ — all he was 
and did and said. (3) We are reminded, 
as by the passover, of the grievous bond- 
age of sin from which Christ redeems us. 

(4) It holds up the atonement, the body 
of Christ broken, his blood shed, for us. 

(5) In Christ alone is forgiveness and 
salvation from sin, the first need of the 
soul. (6) Christ is the food of the soul. 
(7) We must partake by faith, or it will 
be of no avail. (8) We are taught to dis- 
tribute to one another the spiritual bless- 
ings God gives us. (9) By this meal our 
daily bread is sanctified. (10) 1 he most 
intimate communion with God in Christ. 
(11) Communion with one another. (12) 
It is a feast of joy. " Nothing less than 
the actual joy of heaven is above it." 
(13) It is a prophecy of Christ's second 
coming, of the perfect triumph of his 
kingdom. (14) It is holding up before 
the world the cross of Christ ; not a self- 
ish gathering of a few saints, but a proc- 
lamation of the Saviour for all. Why 
did Christ ordain bread to be used in the 
Lord's Supper, and not a lamb? Canon 
Walsham How replies, " Because the 
types and shadows were to cease when 
the real Sacrifice was come. Taere was 
to be no more shedding of blood when 

| once his all-prevailing blood was shed. 
There must be nothing which might cast 
a doubt upon the all-sufficiency of that." 
(Then, the Lamb being sacrificed once for 
all, what is needed is to teach the world 



LOR 



LOV 



that Christ is now the bread of life. Per- 
haps also it was because bread was more 
easily provided, and fitted thus more 
easily to be a part of a universal ordi- 
nance. — Ed.) 

3. Was it a permanent ordinance f — 
" ' Do this in remembrance of me ' points 
to a permanent institution. The com- 
mand is therefore binding on all who be- 
lieve in Christ; and disobedience to it is 
sin, for the unbelief that keeps men away 
is one of the worst of sins." — Prof. Rid- 
dle. " The subsequent practice of the 
apostles, Acts 2 : 42, 4(3 ; 20 : 7, and still 
more the fact that directions for the 
Lord's Supper were made a matter of 
special revelation to Paul, 1 Cor. 11 : 23, 
seem to make it clear that Christ intended 
the ordinance for a perpetual one, and 
that his apostles so understood it." — Ab- 
bott. 

4. Method of observance. — " The orig- 
inal supper was taken in a private house, 
an upper chamber, at night, around a 
table, reclining, women excluded, only 
the ordained apostles admitted. None of 
these conditions are maintained to-day 
by any Christian sect." But it must be 
kept with the same spirit and purpose 
now as then. 

Lo-ruha'mah {the uncomp-ission- 
ated), the name of the daughter of Hosea 
the prophet, given to denote the utterly 
ruined condition of the kingdom of Is- 
rael. Hos. 1 : 6. 

Lot (veil or covering), the son of Ha- 
ran, and therefore the nephew of Abra- 
ham. Gen. 11 : 27, 31. (B.C. before 1926- 
1898.) His sisters were Milcah the wife of 
Nahor, and Iscah, by some identified with 
Sarah. Haran died before the emigra- 
tion of Terah and his family from Ur of 
the Chaldees, ver. 28, and Lot was there- 
fore born there. He removed with the 
rest of his kindred to Charran, and again 
subsequently with Abraham and Sarai 
to Canaan, ch. 12 : 4, 5. With them he 
took refuge in Egypt from a famine, and 
with them returned, first to the " south," 
ch. 13 : 1, and then to their original set- 
tlement between Bethel and Ai. vs. 3, 4. 
But the pastures of the hills of Bethel, 
which had with ease contained the two 
strangers on their first arrival, were not 
able any longer to bear them, so much 
had their possessions of sheep, goats and 
cattle increased. Accordingly they sep- 
arated, Lot choosing the fertile plain of 
the Jordan, and advancing as far as Sod- 
om. Gen. 13 : 10-14. The next occurrence 



in the life of Lot is his capture by the 
four kings of the cast and his rescue by 
Abram. ch. 14. The last scene preserved 
to us in the history of Lot is too well 
known to need repetition. He was still 
living in Sodom, Gen. 19, from which he 
was rescued by some angels on the day 
of its final overthrow. He fled first to 
Zoar, in which he found a temporary 
refuge during the destruction of the other 
cities of the plain. Where this place was 
situated is not known with certainty. 
[Zoae,.] The end of Lot's wife is com- 
monly treated as one of the difficulties 
of the Bible; but it surely need not be 
so. It cannot be necessary to create the 
details of the story where none are given. 
On these points the record is silent. The 
value and the significance of the story to 
us are contained in the allusion of Christ. 
Luke 17 : 32. Later ages have not been 
satisfied so to leave the matter, but have 
insisted on identifying the " pillar " with 
some one of the fleeting forms which the 
perishable rock of the south end of the 
Dead Sea is constantly assuming in its 
process of decomposition and liquefaction. 
From the incestuous intercourse between 
Lot and his two daughters sprang the 
nations of Moab and Ammon. 

Lot (literally a pebble). The custom 
of deciding doubtful questions by lot is 
one of great extent and high antiquity. 
Among the Jews lots were used with the 
expectation that God would so control 
them as to give a right direction to them. 
They were very often used by God's ap- 
pointment. " As to the mode of casting 
lots, we have no certain information. 
Probably several modes were practiced." 
" Very commonly among the Latins lit- » 
tie counters of wood were put into a jar 
with so narrow a neck that only one 
could come out at a time. After the jar 
had been filled with water and the con- 
tents shaken, the lots were determined by 
the order in which the bits of wood, rep- 
resenting the several parties, came out 
with the water. In other cases they were 
put into a wide open jar, and the count- 
ers were drawn out by the hand. Some- 
times again they were cast in the manner 
of dice. The soldiers who cast lots for 
Christ's garments undoubtedly used these 
dice."— Lyman Abbott. 

Lo'tan {covering), the eldest son of 
Seir the Horite. Gen. 36 : 20, 22, 29 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 38, 39. 

Lots, Feast of. [Purim.] 

Love feasts (Agape), 2 Pet. 2:13; 

365 



LUB 



LUK 



Jude 12, an entertainment in which the 
poorer members of the church partook, 
furnished from the contributions of Chris- 
tians resorting to the eucharistic celebra- 
tion, but whether before or after may be 
doubted. The true account of the mat- 
ter is probably that given by Chrysostom, 
who says that after the early commun- 
ity of goods had ceased the richer mem- 
bers brought to the church contribu- 
tions of food and drink, of which, after 
the conclusion of the services and the 
celebration of the Lord's Supper, all par- 
took together, by this means helping to 
promote the principle of love among 
Christians. The intimate connection, 
especially in early times, between the 
Eucharist itself and the love feasts has 
led some to speak of them as identical. 
The love feasts were forbidden to be held 
in churches by the Council of Laodicea, 
A.D. 320 ; but in some form or other they 
continued to a much later period. 

Lu'bira (dwellers in a thirsty land ), 
a nation mentioned as contributing, to- 
gether with Cushites and Sukkiim, to 
Shishak's army, 2 Chron. 12 : 3; and ap- 
parently as forming with Cushites the 
bulk of' Zerah's army, 2 Chron. 16 : 8, 
spoken of by Nahum, ch. 3 : 9, with Put 
or Phut, as helping No-amon (Thebes), of 
which Cush and Egypt were the strength. 
Upon the Egyptian monuments we find 
representations of a people called Rebu or 
Lebu, who correspond to the Lubim, and 
who may be placed on the African coast 
to the westward of Egypt, perhaps ex- 
tending far beyond the Cyrenaica. 

Lu'cas. Phil. 24. [Luke.] 

Lu'cifer (light-bearer), found in Isa. 
14 : 12, coupled with the epithet " son of 
the morning," clearly signifies.a " bright 
star," and probably what we call the 
morning star. In this passage it is a 
symbolical representation of the king of 
Babylon in his splendor and in his fall. 
Its application, from St. Jerome down- 
ward, to Satan in his fall from heaven 
arises probably from the fact that the 
Babylonian empire is in Scripture repre- 
sented as the type of tyrannical and self- 
idolizing power, and especially connected 
with the empire of the Evil One in the 
Apocalypse. 

Lu'cius. 1. A kinsman or fellow 
tribesman of St. Paul, Rom. 16 : 21, by 
whom he is said by tradition to have 
been ordained bishop of the church of 
Cenchrese. He is thought by some to be 
the same with Lucius of Cyrene. 
366 



2. Lucius of Cyrene is first mentioned 
in the New Testament in company with 
Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Manaen 
and Saul, who are described as prophets 
and teachers of the church at Antioch. 
Acts 13 : 1. Whether Lucius was one of 
the seventy disciples is quite a matter 
of conjecture ; but it is highly probable 
that he formed one of the congregation to 
whom St. Peter preached on the day of 
Pentecost, Acts 2 : 10 ; and there can 
hardly be a doubt that he was one of 
" the men of Cyrene" who, being "scat- 
tered abroad upon the persecution that 
arose about Stephen," went to Antioch 
preaching the Lord Jesus. Acts 11 : 19, 
20. 

Lud (strife), the fourth name in the 
list of the children of Shem, Gen. 10 : 22 ; 
comp. 1 Chron. 1 : 17, supposed to have 
been the ancestor of the Lydians. 

L u 'dim (strife), Gen. 10 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 
1:11, a Mizraite people or tribe, de- 
scended from Ludim the son of Mizraim ; 
also called Lydians. It is probable that 
the Ludim were settled to the west of 
Egypt, perhaps farther than any other 
Mizraite tribe. Lud and the Ludim are 
mentioned in four passages of the proph- 
ets— Isa. 66 : 19 ; Jer. 46 : 9 ; Ezek. 27 : 
10 ; 38 : 5. There can be no doubt that 
but one nation is intended in these pas- 
sages, and it seems that the preponder- 
ance of evidence is in favor of the Miz- 
raite Ludim. 

Lu'hith (made of tables or boards), 
The ascent of, a place in Moab, occurs 
only in Isa. 15 : 5 and the parallel pas- 
sage of Jeremiah. Jer. 48 : 5. In the 
days of Eusebius and Jerome it was still 
known, and stood between Areopolis 
(Rabbath-moab) and Zoar. 

Luke (light-giving), or Lu'cas, is an 
abbreviated form of Lucanus. It is not 
to be confounded with Lucius, Acts 13 : 
1 ; Rom. 16 : 21, which belongs to a dif- 
ferent person. The name Luke occurs 
three times in the New Testament — Col. 
4 : 14 ; 2 Tim. 4:11; Phil. 24— and prob- 
ably in all three the third evangelist is 
the person spoken of. Combining the 
traditional element with the scriptural, 
we are able to trace the following dim 
outline of the evangelist's life : He was 
born at Antioch in Syria, and was taught 
the science of medicine. The well- 
known tradition that Luke was also a 
painter, and of no mean skill, rests on 
the authority of* late writers. He was 
not born a Jew, for he is not reckoned 



LUK 



LUN 



among those "of the circumcision" by 
St. Paul. Comp. Col. 4:11 with ver. 14. 
The date of his conversion is uncertain. 
He joined St. Paul at Troas, and shared 
his journey into Macedonia. The sud- 
den transition to the first person plural 
in Acts 16 : 9 is most naturally explained, 
after all the objections that have been i 
urged, by supposing that Luke, the writer | 
of the Acts, formed one of St. Paul's com- j 
pany from this point. As far as Philippi 
the evangelist journeyed with the apos- 
tle. The resumption of the third person 
on Paul's departure from that place, 
Acts 17 : 1, would show that Luke was 
now left behind. During the rest of St. 
Paul's second missionary journey we 
hear of Luke no more ; but on the third 
journey the same indication reminds us 
that Luke is again of the company, Acts 
20 : 5, having joined it apparently at 
Philippi, where he had been left. With 
the apostle he passed through Miletus, 
Tyre and Csesarea to Jerusalem, ch. 20 : 
5 ; 21 : 18. As to his age and death there 
is the utmost uncertainty. He probably 
died a martyr, between a.d. 75 and a.d. 
100. He wrote the Gospel that bears his 
name, and also the book of Acts. 

Luke, Gospel of. The third Gospel 
is ascribed, by the general consent of an- 
cient Christendom, to " the beloved phy- 
sician," Luke, the friend and companion 
of the apostle Paul. 1. Date of the Gos- 
pel of Luke. — From Acts 1 : 1 it is clear 
that the Gospel described as " the former 
treatise " was written before the Acts of 
the Apostles; but how much earlier is 
uncertain. Perhaps it was written at 
Csesarea during St. Paul's imprisonment 
there, a.d. 58-60. 2. Place where the 
Gospel was written. — If the time has been 
rightly indicated, the place would be 
Caisarea. 3. Origin of the Gospel. — The 
preface, contained in the first four verses 
of the Gospel, describes the object of its 
writer. Here are several facts to be ob- 
served. There were many narratives of 
the life of our Lord current at the early 
time when Luke wrote his Gospel. The 
ground of fitness for the task St. Luke 
places in his having carefully followed 
out the whole course of events from the 
beginning. He does not claim the char- 
acter of an eye-witness from the first ; but 
possibly he may have been a witness of 
some part of our Lord's doings. The an- 
cient opinion that Luke wrote his Gospel 
under the influence of Paul rests on the 
authority of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen 



and Eusebius. The four verses could 
not have been put at the head of a his- 
tory composed under the exclusive guid- 
ance of Paul or of any one apostle, and 
as little could they have introduced a 
gospel simply communicated by another. 
The truth seems to be that St. Luke, 
seeking information from every quarter, 
sought it from the preaching of his be- 
loved master, St. Paul ; and the apostle 
in his turn employed the knowledge ac- 
quired from other sources by his disciple. 
4. Purpose for which the Gospel was 
written. — The evangelist professes to 
write that Theophilus " might know the 
certainty of those things wherein he had 
been instructed." ch. 1 : 4. This The- 
ophilus was probably a native of Italy, 
and perhaps an inhabitant of Pome, for 
in tracing St. Paul's journey to Home, 
places which an Italian might be sup- 
posed not to know are described minute- 
ly, Acts 27 : 8, 12, 16 ; but when he comes 
to Sicily and Italy this is neglected. 
Hence it would appear that the person 
for whom Luke wrote in the first in- 
stance was a Gentile reader; and accord- 
ingly we find traces in the Gospel of a 
leaning toward Gentile rather than Jew- 
ish converts. 5. Language and style of 
the Gospel. — It has never been doubted 
that the Gospel was written in Greek. 
Whilst Hebraisms are frequent, classical 
idioms and Greek compound words 
abound, for which there is classical au- 
thority. (Prof. Gregory, in " Why Four 
Gospels," says that Luke wrote for Greek 
readers, and therefore the character and 
needs of the Greeks furnish the key to 
this Gospel. The Greek was the repre- 
sentation of reason and humanity. He 
looked upon himself as having the mis- 
sion of perfecting man. He was intel- 
lectual, cultured, not without hope of a 
higher world. Luke's Gospel therefore 
presented the character and career of 
Christ as answering the conception of a 

Eerfect and divine humanity. Reason, 
eauty, righteousness and truth are ex- 
hibited as they meet in Jesus in their full 
splendor. Jesus was the Saviour of all 
men, redeeming them to a perfect and 
cultured manhood. — Ed.) 

Lunatics (from the Latin Luna, the 
moon, because insane persons, especially 
those who had lucid intervals, were once 
supposed to be affected by the changes 
of the moon). This word is used twice 
in the New Testament— Matt. 4 : 24 ; 17 : 
15. (Translated epileptic in the Revised 
367 



LUZ 



LYD 



Version.) It is evident that the word it- 
self refers to some disease affecting both 
the body and the mind, which might or 
might not be a sign of possession. By 
the description of Mark 9 : 17-26 it is 
concluded that this disease was epilepsy. 

Luz (almond tree). It seems impos- 
sible to discover with precision whether 
Luz and Bethel represent one and the 
same town — the former the Canaan ite, 
the latter the Hebrew, name — or whether 
they were distinct places, though in close 
proximity. The most probable conclu- 
sion is that the two places were, during 
the times preceding the conquest, dis- 
tinct, Luz being the city and Bethel the 
pillar and altar of Jacob ; that after the 
destruction of Luz by the tribe of Ephra- 
im the town of Bethel arose. When 
the original Luz was destroyed, through 
the treachery of one of its inhabitants, 
the man who had introduced the Israel- 
ites into the town went into the " land 
of the Hittites " and built a city, which 
he named after the former one. Judges 
1 : 26. Its situation, as well as that of 
the " land of the Hittites," has never 
been discovered, and is one of the favor- j 
ite puzzles of Scripture geographers. j 

Lycao'nia [land of Lycanon, or ivolf- 
land), a district of Asia Minor. From 
what is said in Acts 14 : 11 of " the speech 
of Lycaonia," it is evident that the in- 
habitants of the district, in St. Paul's 
day, spoke something very different from 
ordinary Greek. Whether this language j 
was some Syrian dialect or a corrupt j 
form of Greek has been much debated. 
The fact that the Lycaonians were famil- 
iar with the Greek mythology is consist- 
ent with either supposition. Lycaonia 
is for the most part a dreary plain, bare 
of trees, destitute of fresh water, and 
with several salt lakes. (It was about 20 
mile? long from east to west, and 13 miles 
wide. " Cappadocia is on the east, Gala- 
tia on the north, Phrygia on the west and 
Cilicia on the south." Among its chief 
cities are Derbe, Lystra and Iconium. — 
Ed.) After the provincial system of 
Rome had embraced the whole of Asia 
Minor, the boundaries of the provinces 
were variable ; and Lycaonia was, polit- 
ically, sometimes in Cappadocia, some- 
times in Galatia. Paul visited it three 
times in his missionary tours. 

Lyc'ia [land of Lycus) is the name of 
that southwestern region of the peninsula 
of Asia Minor which is immediately op- 
posite the island of Rhodes. The Lyc- 
368 



ians were incorporated in the Persian 
empire, and their ships were conspicu- 
ous in the great war against the Greeks 
(Herod, vii. 91, 92). After the death of 
Alexander the Great, Lycia was included 
in the Greek Seleucid kingdom, and was 
a part of the territory which the Romans 
forced Antiochus to cede. It was not 
till the reign of Claudius that Lycia be- 
came part of the Roman provincial sys- 
tem. At first it was combined with Pam- 
phylia. Such seems to have been the 
condition of the district when St. Paul 
visited the Lycian towns of Patara, Acts 
21 : 1, and Myra. Acts 27 : 5. At a 
later period of the Roman empire Lycia 
was a separate province, with Myra for 
its capital. 

liycTda [strife), the Greek form of the 
name, Acts 9 : 32, 35, 38, which appears 
in the Hebrew records as Lod, a town of 
Benjamin, founded by Shamed or Shamer. 
1 Chron. 8 : 12 ; Ezra 2 : 33 ; Neh. 7 : 
37 ; 11 : 35. It is still called Lidd or 
Ludd, and stands in part of the great 
maritime plain which anciently bore the 
name of Sharon. It is nine miles from 
Joppa, and is the first town on the north- 
ernmost of the two roads between that 
place and Jerusalem. The watercourse 
outside the town is said still to bear the 
name of Abi-Butrus (Peter), in memory 
of the apostle. It was destroyed by 
Vespasian, and was probably not rebuilt 
till the time of Hadrian, when it received 
the name of Diospolis. When Eusebius 
wrote (A.D. 320-330) Diospolis was a 
well-known and much-frequented town. 
The modern town is, for a Moham- 
medan place, busy and prosperous. 

liyd'ia [land of Lydus), a maritime 
province in the west of Asia Minor, 
bounded by Mysia on the north, Phrygia 
on the east, and Caria on the south. It 
is enumerated among the districts which 
the Romans took away from Antiochus 
the Great after the battle of Magnesia in 
B.C. 190, and transferred to Eumenus II. 
king of Pergamus. Lydia is included in 
i the " Asia" of the New Testament. 

Lyd'ia, the first European convert of 
! St. Paul, and afterward his hostess during 
| his first stay at Philippi. Acts 16 : 14, 15 ; 
I also 40. ( A.D. 47.) She was a Jewish 
I proselyte at the time of the apostle's 
j coming ; and it was at the Jewish Sab- 
| bath-worship by the side of a stream, ver. 
j 13, that the preaching of the gospel 
j reached her heart. Her native place 
| was Thyatira, in the province of Asia. 



LYS 



LYS 



ver. 14 ; Rev. 2 : 18. Thyatira was famous 
for its dyeing works; and Lydia was 
connected with this trade, as a seller 
either of dye or of dyed goods. We in- 
fer that she was a person of consider- 
able wealth. 

Lysa'nias {that drives away sorrow), 
mentioned by St. Luke in one of his 
chronological passages, ch. 3 : 1, as being 
tetrarch of Abilene (i. e. the district 
round Abila) in the thirteenth year of 
Tiberius (a.d. 26), at the time when 
Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee 
and Herod Philip tetrarch of Itursea and 
Trachonitis. 

l<ys'ias (dissolving), a nobleman of 
the blood-royal, 1 Mace. 3 : 32 ; 2 Mace. 
11:1, who was entrusted by Antiochus 
Epiphanes (cir. B.C. 166) with the gov- 
ernment of southern Syria and the guard- 
ianship of his son Antiochus Eupator. 1 
Mace. 3 : 32 ; 2 Mace. 10 : 11. After the 
death of Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 164, 
Lysias assumed the government as guard- 
ian of his son, who was yet a child. 1 
Mace. 6 : 17. In B.C. 164 he, together with 
his ward, fell into the hands of Deme- 
24 



trius Soter, who put them both to death. 
1 Mace. 7:2-4; 2 Mace. 14 : 2. 

Lys'ias Clau'dius, a chief captain 
of the band, that is, tribune of the Roman 
cohort who rescued St. Paul from the 
hands of the infuriated mob at Jerusa- 
lem, and sent him under a guard to 
Eelix, the governor or proconsul of Cses- 
area. Acts 21 : 31, seq. ; 23 : 26 ; 24 : 7. 

(A.D. 55.) 

JLysim'achus, "a son of Ptolemseus 
of Jerusalem," the Greek translator of 
the book of Esther. Comp. Esther 9 : 20. 

Lys'tra. This place Has two points 
of interest in connection respectively with 
St. Paul's first and second missionary 
journeys: (1) as the place where divine 
honors were offered to him, and where he 
was presently stoned, Acts 14; (2) as the 
home of his chosen companion and fellow 
missionary Timotheus. Acts 16 : 1. Lys- 
tra was in the eastern part of the great 
plain of Lycaonia, and its site may be 
identified with the ruins called Bin-bir- 
Kilisseh, at the base of a conical mount- 
ain of volcanic structure, named the 
Karadagh. 

369 



MAA 



MAA 



M. 



Ma'acah {oppression). 1. The mother 
of Absalom; also called Maachah. 2 
Sam. 3 : 3. 

2. Maacah, or (in 1 Chron. 19 : 6, 7) 
Maachah, a small kingdom in close prox- 
imity to Palestine, which appears to have 
lain outside Argob, Deut. 3 : 14, and Ba- 
shan. Josh. 12 : 5. The Ammonite war 
was the only occasion on which the Ma- 
acathites came into contact with Israel, 
when their king assisted the Ammonites 
against Joab with a force which he led 
himself. 2 Sam. 10:6,8; 1 Chron. 19 : 7. 

Ma'achah (oppression). 1. The daugh- 
ter of Nahor by his concubine Reumah. 
Gen. 22 : 24. 

2. The father of Achish, who was king 
of Gath at the beginning of Solomon's 
reign. 1 Kings 2 : 39. 

3. The daughter, or more probably 
granddaughter, of Absalom, named after 
his mother ; the third and favorite wife 
of Rehoboam, and mother of Abijah. 1 
Kings 15 : 2 ; .2 Chron. 11 : 20-22. The 
mother of Abijah is elsewhere called 
"Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gib- 
eah." 2 Chron. 13 : 2. During the reign 
of her grandson Asa she occupied at the 
court of Judah the high position of 
" king's mother," comp. 1 Kings 15 : 13; 
but when he came of age she was re- 
moved because of her idolatrous habits. 
2 Chron. 15 : 1G. 

4. The concubine of Caleb the son of 
Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 48. 

5. The daughter of Talmai king of Ge- 
shur, and mother of Absalom, 1 Chron. 
3:2; also called Maacah in Author- 
ized Version of 2 Sam. 3 : 3. 

0". The wife of Machir the Manassite. 1 
Chron. 7 : 15, 16. 

7. The wife of Jehiel, father or founder 
of Gibeon. 1 Chron. 8 : 29 ; 9 : 35. 

8. The father of Hanan, one of the heroes 
of David's body-guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 43. 

9. A Simeonite, father of Shephatiah, 
prince of his tribe in the reign of David. 
1 Chron. 27 : 16. 

Ma-ach/athi (oppression) and Ma- 
ach'athites, The, two words which 
denote the inhabitants of the small king- 
dom of Maachah. Deut. 3 : 14 ; Josh. 12 : 
5; 13:11, 13; 2 Sam. 23:34; 2 Kings 
25 : 23 ; Jer. 40 : 8. 
370 



Ma-ada'i, or Ma^ad'a-i (ornament 
of Jehovah), one of the sons of Bani, who 
had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 34. 

Ma-adi'ah, one of the priests who 
returned with Zerubbabel, Neh. 12 : 5 ; 
elsewhere (ver. 17) called Moadiah. 

Ma-a'i (compassionate), one of the 
Bene- Asaph who took part in the solemn 
musical service by which the wall of 
Jerusalem was dedicated. Neh. 12 : 36. 

Ma-al'eh-acrab'bim (ascent of 
scorpions), the full form of the name 
given as Akrabbim in Josh. 15 : 3. 
[Akrabbim.] 

Ma'arath (bareness), one of the towns 
of Judah, in the district of the mount- 
ains. Josh. 15 : 59. The places which 
occur in company with it have been 
identified at a few miles to the north of 
Hebron, but Maarath has hitherto eluded 
j observation. 

Ma-ase'iah (work of the Lord), the 
I name of four persons who had married 
| foreign wives in the time of Ezra. 1. A 
j descendant of Jeshua the priest. Ezra 10 : 
18. 

i 2. A priest, of the sons of Harim. Ezra 
10 : 21. 

3. A priest, of the sons of Pashur. Ezra 
10 : 22. 

4. One of the laymen, a descendant of 
Pahath-moab. Ezra 10 : 30. 

5. The father of Azariah. Neh. 3 : 23. 

6. One of those who stood on the right 
hand of Ezra when he read the law to the 
people. Neh. 8 : 4. 

7. A Levite who assisted on the same 
occasion. Neh. 8 : 7. 

8. One of the heads of the people whose 
descendants signed the covenant with 
Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 25. 

9. Son of Baruch and descendant of 
Pharez the son of Judah. Neh. 11:5. 

10. A Benjamite, ancestor of Sallu. 
Neh. 11 : 7. 

11. Two priests of this name are men- 
tioned, Neh. 12 : 41, 42, as taking part in 

j the musical service which accompanied 
the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem 
under Ezra. One of them is probably 
the same as No. 6. 

12. Father of Zephaniah, who was a 
priest in the reign of Zedekiah. Jer. 21 : 
1 ; 29 : 25 ; 37 : 3. 



MAA 



MAC 



13. Father of Zedekiah the false proph- 
et. Jer. 29 : 21. 

14. One of the Levites of the second 
rank, appointed by David to sound " with 
psalteries on Alamoth." 1 Chron. 15 : 18, 
20. 

15. The son of Adaiah, and one of the 
captains of hundreds in the reign of Joash 
king of Judah. 2 Chron. 23 : 1. 

16. An officer of high rank in the reign 
of Uzziah. 2 Chron. 26 : 11. He was 
probably a Levite, comp. 1 Chron. 23 : 4, 
and engaged in a semi-military capacity. 

17. The "king's son," killed by Zichri 
the Ephraimitish hero in the invasion of 
Judah by Pekah king of Israel, during 
the reign of Ahaz. 2 Chron. 28 : 7. 

18. The governor of Jerusalem in the 
reign of Josiah. 2 Chron. 34 : 8. 

19. The son of Shallum, a Levite of 
high rank in the reign of Jehoiakim. Jer. 
35 : 4 ; comp. 1 Chron. 9 : 19. 

20. A priest; ancestor of Baruch and 
Seraiah, the sons of Neriah. Jer. 32 : 12 ; 
51 : 59. 

Ma-asi'ai (work of the Lord), a priest 
who after the return from Babylon dwelt 
in Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 9 : 12. 

Ma'ath (small), son of Mattathias in 
the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Luke 3 : 
26. 

Ma'az (wrath), son of Ram, the first- 
born of Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 27. 

Ma=-azi'ah (consolation of Jehovah). 
1. One of the priests who signed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 8. 

2. A priest in the reign of David, head 
of the twenty-fourth course. 1 Chron. 
24 : 18. 

Mac'cabees (a hammer), The. This 
title, which was originally the surname 
of Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias, 
was afterward extended to the heroic 
family of which he was one of the noblest 
representatives. Asmonmans or Hasmo- 
naians is the proper name of the family, 
which is derived from Cashmon, great- 
grandfather of Mattathias. The Macca- 
bees were a family of Jews who resisted 
the authority of Antiochus Epiphanes 
king of Syria and his successors, who had 
usurped authority over the Jews, con- 
quered Jerusalem, and strove to introduce 
idolatrous worship. The standard of in- 
dependence was first raised by Matta- 
thias, a priest of the course of Joiarib. 
He seems, however, to have been already 
advanced in years when the rising was 
made, and he did not long survive the 
fatigues of active service. He died jb.c. 



! 166, having named Judas — apparently 
| his third son — as his successor in direct- 
ing the war of independence. After gain- 
! ing several victories over the other gen- 
j erals of Antiochus, Judas was able to 
! occupy Jerusalem, except the "tower," 
i and purified the temple exactly three 
years after its profanation. Nicanor was 
defeated, first at Capharsalama, and again 
I in a decisive battle at Adasa, B.C. 161, 
where he was slain. This victory was 
the greatest of Judas' successes, and prac- 
tically decided the question of Jewish 
independence ; but shortly after Judas 
fell at Eleasa, fighting at desperate odds 
against the invaders. After the death of 
Judas, Jonathan his brother succeeded 
to the command, and later assumed the 
high-priestly office. He died B.C. 144, 
and was succeeded by Simon, the last re- 
maining brother of the Maccabaean fam- 
ily, who died B.C. 135. The efforts of 
both brothers were crowned with success. 
On the death of Simon, Johannes Hyrca- 
nus, one of his sons, at once assumed the 
government, B.C. 135, and met with a 
peaceful death B.C. 105. His eldest son, 
Aristobulus L, who succeeded him B.C. 
105-104, was the first who assumed the 
kingly title, though Simon had enjoyed 
the fullness of the kingly power. Alex- 
ander Jannaeus was the next successor, 
B.C. 104-78. Aristobulus II. and Hyrca- 
nus III. engaged in a civil war on the 
death of their mother, Alexandra, B.C. 
78-69, resulting in the dethronement of 
Aristobulus II., B.C. 69-63, and the suc- 
cession of Hyrcanus under Roman rule, 
but without his kingly title, B.C. 63-40. 
From B.C. 40 to B.C. 37 Antigonus, a son 
of Aristobulus II., ruled, and with his 
two grandchildren, Aristobulus and Marl- 
amne, the Asm' .^ean dynasty ended. 

Mac'catoees, Books of. Four books 
which bear the common title of " Macca- 
bees" are found in some MSS. of the 
LXX. Two of these were included in 
the early current Latin versions of the 
Bible, and thence passed into the Vulgate. 
As forming part of the Vulgate they were 
received as canonical by the Council of 
Trent, and retained among the Apocrypha 
by the reformed churches. The two other 
books obtained no such wide circulation, 
and have only a secondary connection 
with the Maccabaean history. 1. The 
First Book of Maccabees contains a 
history of the patriotic struggle of the 
Jews in resisting the oppressions of the 
Syrian kings, from the first resistance of 
37.1 



MAC 



MAC 



Mattathias to the settled sovereignty and 
death of Simon, a period of thirty-three 
years — B.C. 168-135. The great subject 
of the book begins with the enumeration 
of the Maccabsean family, ch. 2 : 1-5, 
which is followed by an account of the 
part which the aged * Mattathias took in 
rousing and guiding the spirit 
of his countrymen, ch. 2 : 6-70. 
The remainder of the narrative 
is occupied with the exploits of 
Mattathias' five sons. The great 
marks of trustworthiness are 
everywhere conspicuous. Vic- 
tory and failure and despond- 
ency are, on the whole, chron- 
icled with the same candor. 
There is no attempt to bring into 
open display the working of 
Providence. The testimony of 
antiquity leaves no doubt that 
the book was first written in Hebrew. Its 
whole structure points to Palestine as the 
place of its composition. There is, how- 
ever, considerable doubt as to its date. 
Perhaps we may place it between B.C. 120- 
100. The date and person of the Greek 
translator are wholly undetermined. 

2. The Second Book of Macca- 
bees. — The history of the second book 
of Maccabees begins some years earlier 
than that of the first book, and closes j 
with the victory of Judas Maccabseus | 
over Nicanor. It thus embraces a period j 
of twenty years, from B.C. 180 to B.C. 161. j 
The writer himself distinctly indicates j 
the source of his narrative — "the five- 
books of Jason of Cyrene," ch. 2 : 23, of j 
which he designed to furnish a short and 
agreeable epitome for the benefit of those 
who would be deterred from studying the 
larger work. Of Jason himself nothing 
more is known than imfp^ gleaned from 
this mention of him. The second book 
of Maccabees is not nearly so trustworthy 
as the first. In the second book the j 
groundwork of facts is true, but the dress 
in which the facts are presented is clue 
in part at least to the narrator. The lat- 
ter half of the book, chs. 8-15, is to be 
regarded as a series of special incidents 
from the life of Judas, illustrating the 
providential interference of God in be- 
half of his people, true in substance, but 
embellished in form. 

3. The Third Book of Maccabees 
contains the history of events which pre- 
ceded the great Maccabaean struggle, be- 
ginning with B.C. 217. 

4. The Fourth Book of Macca- 

372 



bees contains a rhetorical narrative of 
the martyrdom of Eleazar and of the 
"Maccabaean family," following in the 
main the same outline as 2 Mace. 

Macedo'nia (extended land), a large 
and celebrated country lying north of 
Greece, the first part of Europe which 




Coin of Macedon. Head of Alexander the Great. 



received the gospel directly from St. 
Paul, and an important scene of his sub- 
sequent missionary labors and those of 
his companions. It was bounded by the 
range of Haemus or the Balkan north- 
ward, by the chain of Pindus westward, 
by the Cambunian hills southward, by 
which it is separated from Thessaly, and 
is divided on the east from Thrace by a 
less definite mountain boundary running 
southward from Haemus. Of the space 
thus enclosed, two of the most remark- 
able physical features are two great 
plains, one watered by the Axius, which 
comes to the sea at the Thermaic Gulf, 
not far from Thessalonica ; the other by 
the Strymon, which, after passing near 
Philippi, flows out below Amphipolis. 
Between the mouths of these two rivers 
a remarkable peninsula projects, dividing 
itself into three points, on the farthest of 
which Mount Athos rises nearly into the 
region of perpetual snow. Across the 
neck of this peninsula St. Paul travelled 
more than once with his companions. 
This general sketch sufficiently describes 
Hie Macedonia which was ruled over by 
Philip and Alexander, and which the 
Romans conquered from Perseus. At 
first the conquered country was divided 
by iEmilius Paulus into four districts, 
but afterward was made one province and 
centralized under the jurisdiction of a 
proconsul, who resided at Thessalonica. 
The character of the Christians of Mace- 
donia is set before us in Scripture in a 
very favorable light. The candor of the 
Bereans is highly commended, Acts 17 : 
11 ; the Thessalonians were evidently 



MAC 



MAD 



objects of St. Paul's peculiar affection, 1 
Thess. 2 : 8, 17-20 ; 3 : 10 ; and the Phi- 
lippians, besides their general freedom 
from blame, are noted as remarkable for 
their liberality and self-denial. Philip. 
4 : 10, 14-19; see 2 Cor. 9:2; 11 : 9. 



Machae'rus, a castle of the Herods 
on the southern border of their Perean 
dominions, nine miles east of the north- 
ern end of the Dead Sea. Here John the 
Baptist was imprisoned, and here was 
held tue feast where Herodias, at whose 




Site of Machaerus (place of John's Imprisonment). 



request John was beheaded, danced be- 
fore the king. 

Mach'bana-i {bond of the Lord), one 
of the lion-faced warriors of Gad, who 
joined the fortunes of David when living 
in retreat at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 13. 

Mach'benah {bond,. Sheva, the fa- 
ther of Machbena, is named in the gene- 
alogical list of Judah as the offspring of 
Manchah, the concubine of Caleb ben- 
Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 49. 

Ma'chi (decrease), the father of Geuel 
the Gadite, who went with Caleb and 
Joshua to spy out the land of Canaan. 
Num. 13 : 15. 

Ma'chir (sold). 1. The eldest son, 
Josh. 17 : 1, of the patriarch Manasseh 
by an Aramite or Syrian concubine. 1 
Chron. 7 : 14. At the time of the con- 
quest the family of Machir had become 
very powerful, and a large part of the 
country on the east of Jordan was sub- 
dued by them. Num. 32 : 39 ; Deut. 3 : 
15. 

2. The son of Ammiel, a powerful 
sheikh of one of the transjordanic tribes, 
who rendered essential service to the 



cause of Saul and of David successively. 
2 Sam. 9 : 4, 5 ; 17 : 27-29. 

Ma'chirites, The, the descendants of 
Machir the father of Gilead. Num. 26 : 29. 

Machna-de'ba-i {what is like the 
liberal f), one of the sons of Bani who 
put away his foreign wife at Ezra's com- 
mand. Ezra 10 : 40. 

Machpe'Iah (double, or a portion). 
[Hebron.] 

Mad'a-i (middle land), Gen. 10 : 2, is 
usually called the third son of Japhet, 
and the progenitor of the Medes; but 
probably all that is intended is that the 
Medes, as well as the Gomerites, Greeks, 
Tabareni, Moschi, etc., descended from 
Japhet. 

Ma'dian. Acts 7 : 29. [Midian.] 
Madman'nah (dunghill), one of the 
towns in the south district of Judah. 
Josh. 15 : 31. In the time of Eusebius 
and Jerome it was called Menoi's, and 
was not far from Gaza. The first stage 
southward from Gaza is now el-Minyay, 
which is perhaps the modern represent- 
ative of Menois, and therefore of Mad- 
mannah. 

373 



MAD 



MAG 



Mad'men {dunghill), a place in Moab, 
threatened with destruction in the de- 
nunciations of Jeremiah. Jer. 48 : 2. 

Madme'nah {dunghill), one of the 
Benjamite villages north of Jerusalem, 
the inhabitants of which were frightened 
away by the approach of Sennacherib 
along the northern road. Isa. 10 : 31. 

Madness* In Scripture "madness" 
is recognized as a derangement proceed- 
ing either from weakness and misdirec- 
tion of intellect or from ungovernable 
violence of passion. In one passage alone, 
John 10 : 20, is madness expressly con- 
nected with demoniacal possession by the 
Jews in their cavil against our Lord ; in 
none is it referred to any physical causes. 

Ma'don {strife), one of the principal 
cities of Canaan before the conquest, 
probably in the north. Its king joined 
Jabin and his confederates in their at- 
tempt against Joshua at the waters of 
Merom, and like the rest was killed. Josh. 
11:1; 12:19. 

Magadan {a tower). (The name given 
in the Revised Version of Matt. 15 : 39 for 
Magdala. It is probably another name for 
the same place, or it was a village so near 
it that the shore where Christ landed may 
have belonged to either village. — Ed.) 

Mag'bish {congregating), a proper 
name in Ezra 2 : 30, but whether of a 
man or of a place is doubtful ; probably 
the latter, as all the names from Ezra 2 : 
20 to 34, except Elam and Harim, are 
names of places. 

Mag'dala {a tower). The chief MSS. 
and versions exhibit the name as Mag- 
adan, as in the Eevised Version. Into 
the limits of Magadan Christ came by 
boat, over the Lake of Gennesareth, after 
his miracle of feeding the four thousand 
on the mountain of the eastern side, Matt. 
15 : 39, and from thence he returned in 
the same boat to the opposite shore. In 
the parallel narrative of St. Mark, ch. 
8 : 10, we find the " parts of Dalmanutha," 
on the western edge of the Lake of Gen- 
nesareth. The Magdala, which conferred 
her name on " Mary the Magdal-ene," 
one of the numerous migdols, i. e. towers, 
which stood in Palestine, was probably 
the place of that name which is men- 
tioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as near 
Tiberias, and this again is as probably 
the modern el-Mejdel, a miserable little 
Muslim village, of twenty huts, on the 
water's edge at the southeast corner of 
the plain of Gennesareth. It is now the 
only inhabited place on this plain. 
374 



Mag'di-el {prince of God), one of the 
" dukes " of Edom, descended from Esau, 
i Gen. 36 : 43 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 54. 

Ma'gi (Authorized Version wise men). 
I 1. In the Hebrew text of the Old Testa- 
ment the word occurs but twice, and then 
only incidentally. Jer. 29 : 3, 13. " Orig- 
inally they were a class of priests among 
the Persians and Medes, who formed the 
king's privy council, and cultivated as- 
trology, medicine and occult natural 
science. They are frequently referred to 
by ancient authors. Afterward the term 
was applied to all eastern philosophers." 
— Schaff's Popular Commentary. They 
appear in Herodotus' history of Astyages 
as interpreters of dreams, i. 120; but as 
they appear in Jeremiah among the ret- 
inue of the Chaldean king, we must sup- 
pose Nebuchadnezzar's conquests led him 
to gather round him the wise men and 
religious teachers of the nations which 
he subdued, and that thus the sacred 
tribe of the Medes rose under his rule to 
favor and power. The Magi took their 
places among " the astrologers and star- 
j gazers and monthly prognosticators." It 
j is with such men that we have to think 
j of Daniel and his fellow exiles as asso- 
I ciated. The office which Daniel accepted, 
Dan. 5 : 11, was probably rab-mag — chief 
of the Magi. 2. The word presented it- 
self to the Greeks as connected with a 
foreign system of divination, and it soon 
became a byword for the worst form of 
imposture. * This is the predominant 
meaning of the word as it appears in the 
New Testament. Acts 8:9; 13 : 8. 3. In 
one memorable instance, however, the 
word retains its better meaning. In the 
Gospel of St. Matthew, ch. 2 : 1-12, the 
Magi appear as " wise men " — properly 
Magians — who were guided by a star from 
" the east " to Jerasalem, where they sud- 
denly appeared in the days of Herod the 
Gi-eat, inquiring for the new-born king 
of the Jews, whom they had come to wor- 
ship. As to the country from which they 
came, opinions vary greatly ; but their 
following the guidance of a star seems to 
point to the banks of the Tigris and Eu- 
phrates, where astronomy was early cul- 
tivated by the Chaldeans. [See Star 
of the East.] (Why should the new 
star lead these wise men to look for a 
king of the Jews ? (1) These wise men 
from Persia were the most like the Jews, 
in religion, of all nations in the world. 
They believed in one God, they had no 
idols, they worshipped light as the best 



MAG 



MAH 



symbol of God. (2) The general expecta- 
tion of such a king. " The Magi," says 
Ellicott, " express the feeling which the 
Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius 
tell us sixty or seventy years later had 
been for a long time very widely diffused. 
Everywhere throughout the East men 
were looking for the advent of a great 
king who was to rise from among the 
Jews. It had fermented in the minds of 
men, heathen as well as Jews, and would 
have led them to welcome Jesus as the 
Christ had he come in accordance with 
their expectation." Virgil, who lived a 
little before this, owns that a child from 
heaven was looked for, who should re- 
store the golden age and take away sin. 
(3) This expectation arose largely from 
the dispersion of the Jews among all na- 
tions, carrying with them the hope and 
the promise of a divine Redeemer. Isa. 
9, 11 ; Dan. 7. (4) Daniel himself was 
a prince and chief among this very class 
of wise men. His prophecies were made 
known to them ; and the calculations by 
which he pointed to the very time when 
Christ should be born became, through 
the book of Daniel, a part of their an- 
cient literature. — Ed.) According to a 
late tradition, the Magi are represented as 
three kings, named Gaspar, Melchior and 
Belthazar, who take their place among 
the objects of Christian reverence, and are 
honored as the patron saints of travellers. 

Magic,. Magicians. Magic is "the 
science or practice of evoking spirits, or 
educing the occult powers of nature to 
produce eflects apparently supernatural." 
It formed an essential element in many 
ancient religions, especially among the 
Persians, Chaldeans and Egyptians. The 
Hebrews had no magic of their own. It 
was so strictly forbidden by the law that 
it could never afterward have had any 
recognized existence, save in times of 
general heresy or apostasy, and the same 
was doubtless the case in the patriarchal 
ages. The magical practices which ob- 
tained among the Hebrews were there- 
fore borrowed from the nations around. 
From the first entrance into the land of 
promise until the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem we have constant glimpses of magic 
practiced in secret, or resorted to not 
alone by the common but also by the 
great. It is a distinctive characteristic 
of the Bible that from first to last it war- 
rants no such trust or dread. Laban at- 
tached great value to, and was in the 
habit of consulting, images. Gen. 31 : 30, 



32. During the plagues in Egypt the 
magicians appear. Ex. 7 : 11 ; 8 : 18, 19. 
Balaam also practiced magic. Num. 22 : 
7. Saul consulted the witch of Endor. 
An examination of the various notices 
of magic in the Bible gives this gen- 
eral result: They do not, as far as can 
be understood, once state positively that 
any but illusive results were produced 
by magical rites. (Even the magicians 
of Egypt could imitate the plagues sent 
through Moses only so long as they had 
previous notice and' time to prepare* The 
first time Moses sent the plague unan- 
nounced the magicians failed ; they "did 
so with their enchantments," but in vain. 
So in the case of the witch of Endor. 
Samuel's appearance was apparently 
unexpected by her; he did not come 
through the enchantments. — Ed.) The 
Scriptures therefore afford no evidence 
that man can gain supernatural powers 
to use at his will. This consequence goes 
some way toward showing that we may 
conclude that there is no such thing as 
real magic ; for although it is dangerous 
to reason on negative evidence, yet in a 
case of this kind it is especially strong. 
[Divination.] 

Ma'gog {region of Gog). In Gen. 10 : 
2 Magog appears as the second son of 
Japheth; in Ezek. 38 : 2; 39 : 1, 6 it ap- 
pears as a country or people of which 
Gog was the prince. The notices of Ma- 
gog would lead us to fix a northern lo- 
cality : it is expressly stated by Ezekiel 
that he was to come up from " the sides 
of the north," Ezek. 39 : 2, from a coun- 
try adjacent to that of Togarmah or Ar- 
menia, ch. 38 : 6, and not far from "the 
isles" or maritime regions of Europe, 
ch. 39 : 6. The people of Magog further 
appear as having a force of cavalry, 
Ezek. 38 : 15, and as armed with the 
bow. ch. 39 : 3. From the above data 
we may conclude that Magog represents 
the important race of the Scythians. 

Ma'gor-mis'sabib {terror on every 
side), the name given by Jeremiah to 
Pashur the priest when he smote him 
and put him in the stocks for prophesy- 
ing against the idolatry of Jerusalem. 
Jer. 20 : 3. 

Mag'piash {moth-killer), one of the 
heads of the people who signed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 20. The 
same as Magbish in Ezra 2 : 30. 

Ma'halah {disease), one of the three 
children of Hammoleketh the sister of 
Gilead. 1 Chron. 7 : 18. 

375 



MAH 



MAK 



Mahal 'ale-* el {praise of God). 1. 
The fourth in descent from Adam, ac- 
cording to the Sethite genealogy, and 
son of Cainan. Gen. 5 : 12, 13, 15-17 ; 1 
Chron. 1:2; Luke 3 : 37, Revised Ver- 
sion. 

2. A descendant of Perez or Pharez 
the son of Judah. Neh. 11:4. 

Ma'halath (stringed instrument), the 
daughter of Ishmael, and one of the wives 
of Esau. Gen. 28 : 9. 

Ma'halath (stringed instrument), one 
of the eighteen wives of King Reho- 
boam, apparently his first. 2 Chron. 11 : 
18 only. She was her husband's cousin, 
being the daughter of King David's son 
Jerimoth. 

Mahalath, the title of Ps. 53, and 
Mahalath-leannoth, the title of Ps. 
88. The meaning of these words is un- 
certain. The conjecture is that maha- 
lath is a guitar, and that leannoth has 
reference to the character of the psalm, 
and might be rendered "to humble or 
afflict," in which sense the root occurs jn 
ver. 7. 

Ma'hali (sick), Mah'li, the son of 

Merari. Ex. 6 : 19. 

Mahana'im, a town on the east of 
the Jordan. The name signifies two hosts 
or two camps, and was given to it by 
Jacob, because he there met " the angels 
of God." Gen. 32 : 1, 2. We next meet 
with it in the records of the conquest. 
Josh. 13 : 26, 30. It was within the ter- 
ritory of Gad, Josh. 21 : 38, 39, and there- 
fore on the south side of the torrent 
Jabbok. The town with its "suburbs" 
was allotted to the service of the Me- 
rarite Levites. Josh. 21 : 39 ; 1 Chron. 
6 : 80. Mahanaim had become in the 
time of the monarchy a place of mark. 
2 Sam. 2 : 8, 12. David took refuge there 
when driven out of the western part of 
his kingdom by Absalom. 2 Sam. 17 : 24; 
1 Kings 2 : 8. Mahanaim was the seat 
of one of Solomon's commissariat officers, 
1 Kings 4 : 14, and it is alluded to in the 
song which bears his name. ch. 6 : 13. 
There is a place called Mahneh among 
the villages of the east of Jordan, though 
its exact position is not certain. 

Ma'haneh-dan (camp of Dan), 
spoken of as "behind Kirjath-jearim," 
Judges 18 : 12, and as " between Zorah 
and Eshtaol." ch. 13 : 25. 

Mahar'a-i (impetuous), 2 Sam. 23 : 
28; 1 Chron. 11 : 30; 27 : 13, an inhab- 
itant of Netophah in the tribe of Judah, 
and one of David's captains. 
376 



Ma'hath (grasping). 1. A Kohathite 
of the house of Korah. 1 Chron. 6 : 35. 

2. Also a Kohathite, in the reign of 
Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 12 ; 31 : 13. 

Ma'havite, The, the designation of 
Eliel, one of the warriors of King Da- 
vid's guard, whose name is preserved in 
the catalogue of 1 Chron. 11 : 46 only. 

Maha'zioth (visions), one of the four- 
teen sons of Heman the Kohathite. 1 
Chron. 25 : 4, 30. 

Ma'her=shal'al-hash'-baz (i. e. 
hasten-booty, speed-spoil), whose name 
was given by divine direction to indi- 
cate that Damascus and Samaria were 
soon to be plundered by the king of 
Assyria. Isa. 8 : 1-4. 

Mah'lah (disease), the eldest of the 
five daughters of Zelophehad the grand- 
son of Manasseh. Num. 27 : 1-11. 

Mah'li (sick). 1. Son of Merari, the 
son of Levi and ancestor of the family 
of the Mahlites. Num. 3 : 20 ; 1 Chron. 
6 : 19, 29 ; 24 : 26. 

2. Son of Mushi and grandson of Me- 
rari. 1 Chron. 6 : 47 ; 23 : 23 ; 24 : 30. 
. Mah'lon (sick), the first husband of 
Ruth; son of Elimelech and Naomi. 
Ruth 1 : 2, 5 ; 4 : 9, 10 ; comp. 1 Sam. 
17 : 12. 

Ma'hol (dancing), the father of the 
four men most famous for wisdom next 
to Solomon himself. 1 Kings 4 : 31 ; 1 
Chron. 2 : 6. 

Ma'kaz (end), a place, apparently a 
town, named once only — 1 Kings 4 : 9 — 
in the specification of* the jurisdiction 
of Solomon's commissariat officer, Ben- 
Dekar. Makaz has not been discovered. 

Makhe'loth (place of assemblies), a 
place mentioned only in Num. 33 : 25 as 
that of a desert encampment of the Isra- 
elites. 

Makke'dah (place of shepherds), a 
place memorable in the annals of the 
conquest of Canaan as the scene of the 
execution by Joshua of the five confed- 
erate kings, Josh. 10 : 10-30, who had 
hidden themselves in a cave at this 
place. (It was a royal city of the Ca- 
naanites, in the plains of Judah. Conder 
identifies it with the modern el-Moghdr, 
25 miles northwest of Jerusalem, where 
are two caves large enough to contain 
five men each. Schaff says that " one 
cave has, curiously enough, five loculi 
rudely scooped in its side, and an enthu- 
siast might contend that this was the very 
place of sepulchre of the five kings." — 
Ed.) 



MAK 



MAN 



Mak'tesh (a mortar or deep hollow), 
a place evidently in Jerusalem, the in- 
habitants of which are denounced by 
Zephaniah. Zeph. 1 : 11. Ewald con- 
jectures that it was the "-Phoenician 
quarter" of the city. 

Mal'chi-shu'a {king of help), one of 
the sons of King Saul. 1 Sam. 14 : 49 ; 
31 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 8 : 33 ; 9 : 39. 

Mal'chus {king or kingdom), the name 
of the servant of the high priest whose 
right ear Peter cut oif at the time of the 
Saviour's apprehension in the garden. 
Matt. 26:51; Mark 14:47; Luke 22: 
49-51 ; Jphn 18 : 10. 

Ma-le'le-el, or Mahal'ale-el, the 
son of Cainan. Gen. 5 : 12, marg. ; Luke 
3:37. 

MaPlothi {my fullness) , a Kohathite, 
one of the fourteen sons of Heman the 
singer. 1 Chron. 25 : 4, 26. 

Mallows. Job 30 : 4. 

Mal'luch {counsellor). 1. A Levite 
of the family of Merari, and ancestor of 
Ethan the singer. 1 Chron. 6 : 44. 

2. One of the sons of Bani. Ezra 10 : 29, 
and 

3. One of the descendants of Harim, 
Ezra 10 : 32, who had married foreign 
wives. 

4. A priest or familv of priests. Neh. 
10 : 4, and 

5. One of the heads of the people who 
signed the- covenant with Neheniiah. 
Neh. 10 : 27. 

6. One of the families of priests who 
returned with Zerubbabel, Neh. 12 : 2 ; 
probably the same as No. 4. 

Mama'ias, apparently the same with 
Shemaiah in Ezra 8 : 16. 

Mammon {riches), Matt. 6 : 24; Luke 
16 : 9, a word which often occurs in the 
Chaldee Targums of Onkelos and later 
writers, and in the Syriac version, and 
which signifies " riches." It is used in 
St. Matthew as a personification of 
riches. 

Mam're {strength, fatness) , an ancient 
Amorite, who with his brothers, Eshcol 
and Aner, was in alliance with Abram, 
Gen. 14 : 13, 24, and under the shade of 
whose oak grove the patriarch dwelt in 
the interval between his residence at 
Bethel and at Beersheba. ch. 13 : 18 ; 18 : 
1. In the subsequent chapters Mamre is 
a mere local appellation, ch. 23 : 17, 19 ; 
25:9; 49:30; 50:13. 

Man. Four Hebrew terms are ren- 
dered " man " in the Authorized Ver- 
sion : — 1. Adam, the name of the man 



I created in the image of God. It appears 

j to be derived from ddam, " he or it was 
red or ruddy," like Edom. This was 

j the generic term for the human race. 

12. Ish, "man," as distinguished from 
woman, husband. 3. Geber, " a man," 
from gdbar, " to be strong," generally 
with reference to his strength. 4. Me- 
thim, " men," always masculine. Per- 
haps it may be derived from the root 
math, " he died." 

Man'aen {comforter) is mentioned 
in Acts 13 : 1 as one of the teachers and 
prophets in the church at Antioch at the 
time of the appointment of Saul and 
Barnabas as missionaries to the heathen. 
He is said to have been brought up with 
Herod Antipas. He was probably his 
foster-brother. 

Man'aiiath {rest), a place named in 
1 Chron. 8 : 6 only, in connection with 
the genealogies of the tribe of Benjamin. 

Man'ahath {rest), one of the sons of 
Shobal, and descendant of Seir the Hor- 
ite. Gen. 36 : 23 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 40. 

Mana'hethites { inhabitants of Man- 
ahath) . The. " Half the Manahethites " 

j are named in the genealogies of Judah 
as descended from Shobal, the father of 
Kirjath-jearim, 1 Chi-on. 2 : 52, and half 
from Salma, the founder of Bethlehem, 
ver. 54. 

Manas'seh {forgetting), the eldest 
son of Joseph, Gen. 41 : 51 ; 46 : 20, born 
1715-10 B.C. Both he and Ephraim were 
born before the commencement of the 
famine. He was placed after his younger 
brother, Ephraim, by his grandfather 
Jacob, when he adopted them into his 
own family, and made them heads of 
tribes. Whether the elder of the two 
sons was inferior in form or promise to 
the younger, or whether there was any 
external reason to justify the preference 
of Jacob, we are not told. In the divis- 
i ion of the promised land half of the tribe 
I of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan, 
in the district embracing the hills of Gil- 
ead with their inaccessible heights and 
impassable ravines, and the almost im- 
pregnable tract of Argob. Josh. 13:29- 
33. Here they throve exceedingly, push- 
ing their way northward over the rich 
plains of Jaulan and Jedur to the foot of 
! Mount Hermon. 1 Chron. 5 : 23. But 
they gradually assimilated themselves 
with the old inhabitants of the country, 
and on them descended the punishment 
which was ordained to be the inevitable 
consequence of such misdoing. They, 
377 



MAN 



MAN 



first of all Israel, were carried away by 
Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and settled in 
the Assyrian territories. 1 Chron. 5 : 25, 
26. The other half tribe settled to the 
west of the Jordan, north of Ephraim. 
Josh. 17. For further particulars see 
Ephraim. 

Manas'seh {forgetting). 1. The thir- 
teenth king of Judah, son of Hezekiah, 
2 Kings 21 : 1, ascended the throne at the 
age of twelve, and reigned 55 years, from 
B.C. 698 to 642. His accession was the 
signal for an entire change in the relig- 
ious administration of the kingdom. 
Idolatry was again established to such 
an extent that every faith was tolerated 
but the old faith of Israel. The Baby- 
lonian alliance which the king formed 
against Assyria resulted in his being 
made prisoner and carried off to Babylon 
in the twenty-second year of his reign, 
according to a Jewish tradition. There 
his eyes were opened and he repented, 
and his prayer was heard and the Lord 
delivered him, 2 Chron. 33 : 12, 13, and 
he returned after some uncertain interval 
of time to Jerusalem. The altar of the 
Lord was again restored, and peace offer- 
ings and thank offerings were sacrificed 
to Jehovah. 2 Chron. 33 : 15, 16. But 
beyond this the reformation did not go. 
On his death, B.C. 642, he was buried as 
Ahaz had been, not with the burial of a 
king, in the sepulchres of the house of 
David, but in the garden of Uzza, 2 
Kings 21 : 26 ; and long afterward, in 
spite of his repentance, the Jews held 
his name in abhorrence. 

2. One of the descendants of Pahath- 
moab, who in the days of Ezra had mar- 
ried a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 30. 

3. One of the laymen, of the family of 
Hashum, who put away his foreign wife 
at Ezra's command. Ezra 10 : 33. 

Manas'ses. 1. Manasseh, king of 
Judah. Matt. 1 : 10. 

2. Manasseh the son of Joseph. Rev. 
7:6. 

Manas'sites, The, that is, the mem- 
bers of the tribe of Manasseh. Deut. 4 : 
43 ; Judges 12:4; 2 Kings 10 : 33. 

Mandrakes (Heb. duddim) are men- 
tioned in Gen. 30 : 14, 15, 16, and in Cant. 
7 : 13. The mandrake, Atropa mandra- 
gora, is closely allied to the well-known 
deadly nightshade, A. belladonna, and to 
the tomato, and belongs to the order Sol- 
anacece, or potato family. It grows in 
Palestine and Mesopotamia. (It grows 
low, like lettuce, which its leaves some- 
378 



what resemble, except that they are of a 
dark green. The flowers are purple, and 
the root is usually forked. Its fruit when 
ripe (early in May) is about the size of a 
small apple, 2{ inches in diameter, ruddy 




The Mandrake. 



or yellow, and of a most agreeable odor 
(to Orientals more than to Europeans) 
and an equally agreeable taste. The 
Arabs call it "devil's apple," from its 
power to excite voluptuousness. Dr. 
Richardson (" Lectures on Alcohol," 
1881) tried some experiments with wine 
made of the root of mandrake, and found 
it narcotic, causing sleep, so that the an- 
cients used it as an anaesthetic. Used in 
small quantities like opium, it excites the 
nerves, and is a stimulant. — Ed.) 

Maneh {a portion (by weight)). 
[Weights and Measures.] 

Manger. This word occurs only in 
Luke 2:7, 12, 16, in connection with the 
birth of Christ. It means a crib or feed- 
ing-trough ; but according to Schleusner 
| its real signification in the New Testa- 
[ ment is the open court-yard attached to 
the inn or khan, in which the cattle 
I would be shut at night, and where the 
j poorer travellers might unpack their 
! animals and take up their lodging, when 
I they were either by want of room or 
want of means excluded from the house, 
j Manna {what is this?) (Heb. man). 
I The most important passages of the Old 
Testament on this topic are the follow- 
ing : Ex. 16 : 14-36 ; Num. 11 : 7-9 ; Deut. 
| 8 : 3, 16 ; Josh. 5 : 12 ; Ps. 78 : 24, 25. 



MAN 



MAN 



From these passages we learn that the 
manna came every morning except the 
Sabbath, in the form of a small round 
seed resembling the hoar frost ; that it 
must be gathered early, before the sun 
became so hot as to melt it ; that it must 
be gathered every day except the Sab- 
bath ; that the attempt to lay aside for a 
succeeding day, except on the day imme- 
diately preceding the Sabbath, failed by 
the substance becoming wormy and of- 
fensive ; that it was prepared for food by 




Tamarisk or Manna Tree of the Sinaitic 
Peninsula. 

grinding and baking ; that its taste was 
like fresh oil, and like wafers made with 
honey, equally agreeable to all palates ; j 
that the whole nation, of at least 2,000,000, \ 
subsisted upon it for forty years ; that it ! 
suddenly ceased when they first got the j 
new corn of the land of Canaan; and i 
that it was always regarded as a miracu- j 
lous gift directly from God, and not as a 
product of nature. The natural products | 
of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental j 
regions which bear the name of manna | 
have not the qualities or uses ascribed to j 
the manna of Scripture. The latter sub- 
stance was undoubtedly wholly miracu- 
lous, and not in any respect a product of 
nature, though its name may have come 
from its resemblance to the natural man- ! 
na. The substance now called manna 
in the Arabian desert through which the 



Israelites passed is collected in the month 
of June from the tarfa or tamarisk shrub 
( Tamarix gallica). According to Burck- 
hardt it drops from the thorns on the 
sticks and leaves with which the ground 
is covered, and must be gathered early in 
the day or it will be melted by the sun. 
The Arabs cleanse and boil it, strain it 
through a cloth and put it in leathern 
bottles; and in this way it can be kept 
uninjured for several years. They use it 
like honey or butter with their unleav- 
ened bread, but never make it into cakes 
or eat it by itself. The whole harvest, 
which amounts to only five or six hun- 
dred pounds, is consumed by the Be- 
douins, "who," says Schaif, " consider it 
the greatest dainty their country affords." 
The manna of European commerce comes 
mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It is 
gathered during the months of June and 
July from some species of ash (Ornus 
europcea and O. rotundifolia), from 
which it drops in consequence of a punc- 
ture by an insect resembling the locust, 
but distinguished from it by having a 
sting under its body. The substance is 
fluid at night and resembles the dew, but 
in the morning it begins to harden. 

Mano'ah (rest), the father of Samson ; 
a Danite, native of the town of Zorah. 
Judges 13 : 2. (b.c. 1161.) J Samson.] 

Man slayer, one who kills another 
unintentionally, and is thus distinguished 
from a murderer, who kills with malice 
aforethought. The cases of manslaugh- 
ter mentioned in Scripture appear to be 
a sufficient indication of the intention of 
the lawgiver. 1. Death by a blow in a 
sudden quarrel. Num. 35 : 22. 2. Death 
by a stone or missile thrown at random. 
Ibid. 22, 23. 3. By the blade of an axe 
flying from its handle. Deut. 19 : 5. In 
all these and the like cases the manslayer 
was allowed to retire to a city of refuge. 
A thief overtaken at night in the act of 
stealing might lawfully be put to death, 
but if the sun had risen the killing him 
was to be regarded as murder. Ex. 22 : 2, 8. 

Mantle, the word employed in the Au- 
thorized Version to translate no less than 
four Hebrew terms, entirely distinct and 
independent in both derivation and 
meaning. 1. Judges 4 : 18, the garment 
with which Jael covered Sisera. 

2. Rendered "mantle" in 1 Sam. 15 : 
27 ; 28 : 14 ; Ezra 9 : 3, 5, etc. This word 
is in other passages of the Authorized 
Version rendered " coat," " cloak " and 
" robe." 

379 



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MAR 



3. Isa. 3 : 22 only. Apparently some 
article of a lady's dress. 

4. 1 Kings 19 : 13, 19 ; 2 Kings 2 : 8, 13, 
14. The sole garment of the prophet 
Elijah. It was probably of sheepskin, 
such as is worn by the modern der- 
vishes. 

Ma'och {oppression), the father of 
Achish king of Gath, with whom David 
took refuge. 1 Sam. 27 : 2. 

Ma'on {habitation), one of the cities 
of the tribe of Judah, in the district of 
the mountains. Josh. 15 : 55. Its interest 
for us lies in its connection with David. 
1 Sam. 23 : 24, 25. The name of Maon 
still exists in Main, a lofty conical hill, 
south of and about seven miles distant 
from Hebron. 

Ma'onites, The, a people mentioned 
in one of the addresses of Jehovah to the 
repentant Israelites, Judges 10 : 12 ; else- 
where in the Authorized Version called 
Mehunim. 

Ma'ra (sad, bitter), the name which 
Naomi adopted in the exclamation forced 
from her by the recognition of her fellow 
citizens at Bethlehem. Ruth 1 : 20. 

Ma'rah (bitterness), a place which lay 
in the wilderness of Shur or Etham, 
three days journey distant, Ex. 15 : 23 ; 
Num. 33 : 8, from the place at which 
the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and 
where was a spring of bitter water, sweet- 
ened subsequently by the casting in of a 
tree which " the Lord showed" to Moses. 
Howarah, distant lt>£ hours (47 miles) 
from Ayoun 3Iousa, the Israelites' first 
encampment, has been by many identi- 
fied with it, apparently because it is the 
bitterest water in the neighborhood. 

Mar'alah (trembling), one of the land- 
marks on the boundary of the tribe of 
Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 11. 

Maranath/a, an Aramaic or Syriac 
expression used by St. Paul at the con- 
clusion of his First Epistle to the Co- 
rinthians, ch. 16 : 22, signifying " our 
Lord cometh." 

Marble. The Hebrew shesh, the ge- 
neric term for marble, may probably be 
taken to mean almost any shining stone. 
The so-called marble of Solomon's archi- 
tectural works may thus have been lime- 
stone. There can be no doubt that Herod 
both in the temple and elsewhere em- 
ployed Parian or other marble. The 
marble pillars and tesserae of various 
colors of the palace at Susa came doubt- 
less from Persia. Esther 1 : 6. 

Marches hvan. [Month.] 
380 



Mar'cus, the evangelist Mark. Col. 
4 : 10 ; Phil. 24 ; 1 Pet. 5 : 13. [Mark.] 
Mar'eshah, or Mare'shah (crest of 
a hill), one of the cities of Judah in the 
low country. Josh. 15 : 44. It was one 
of the cities fortified and garrisoned by 
Rehoboam after the rupture with the 
northern kingdom. 2 Chron. 11:8. Near 
it was fought the great battle between 
Asa and Zerah. 2 Chron. 14 : 9-12. It 
is mentioned once or twice in the his- 
tory of the Maccabaean war of independ- 
ence. 2 Mace. 12 : 35. About 110 B.C. it 
was taken from the Idumseans by John 
Hyrcanus. It was in ruins in the fourth 
century, when Eusebius and Jerome de- 
scribe it as in the second mile from Eleu- 
theropolis. South-southwest of Beitjib- 
rin — in all probability Eleutheropolis — 
and a little over a Roman mile there- 
from, is a site called Marash, which is 

| possibly the representative of the ancient 
Mareshah. 

Mark, one of the evangelists, and 
probable author of the Gospel bearing 
his name. (Marcus was his Latin sur- 

j name. His Jewish name was John, 
which is the same as Johanan (the grace 
of God). We can almost trace the steps 
whereby the former became his prevalent 
name in. the Church. " John, whose sur- 
name was Mark," in Acts 12 : 12, 25 ; 15 : 
37, becomes " John" alone in Acts 13 : 5, 

J 13, " Mark " in Acts 15 : 39, and thence- 
forward there is no change. Col. 4 : 10 ; 
Phil. 24; 2 Tim. 4:11. Ihe evangelist 
was the son of a certain Mary, a Jewish 
matron of some position who dwelt at 
Jerusalem, Acts 12 : 12, and was probably 

: born of a Hellenistic family in that city. 
Of his father we know nothing ; but we 

j do know that the future evangelist was 
cousin of Barnabas of Cyprus, the great 
friend of St. Paul. His mother would 
seem to have been intimately acquainted 

I with St. Peter, and it was to her house, 
as to a familiar home, that the apostle re- 
paired, a.d. 44, after his deliverance from 

i prison. Acts 12 : 12. This fact accounts 

I for St. Mark's intimate acquaintance 
with that apostle, to whom also he prob- 
ably owed his conversion, for St. Peter 
calls him his son. 1 Pet. 5 : 13. We hear 
of him for the first time in Acts 15 : 25, 
where we find him accompanying Paul 
and Barnabas on their return from Je- 
rusalem to Antioch, a.d. 45. He next 
comes before us on the occasion of the 
earliest missionary journey of the same 
apostles, a.d. 48, when he joined them 



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as their " minister." Acts 13 : 5. With 
them he visited Cyprus ; but at Perga in ! 
Pamphylia, Acts 13 : 13, when they were 
about to enter upon the more arduous 
part of their mission, he left them, and, 
for some unexplained reason, returned to 
Jerusalem to his mother and his home. 
Notwithstanding this, we find him at 
Paul's side during that apostle's first im- 
prisonment at Rome, a.d. 61-63, and he 
is acknowledged by him as one of his 
few fellow laborers who had been a " com- 
fort" to him during the weary hours of 
his imprisonment. Col. 4:10, 11; Phil. 
24. We next have traces of him in 1 
Pet. 5:13: " The church that is in Baby- 
lon . . . saluteth you, and so doth Mar- 
cus my son." From this we infer that 
he joined his spiritual father, the great i 
friend of his mother, at Babylon, then 
and for some hundred years afterward 
one of the chief seats of Jewish culture. 
From Babylon he would seem to have 
returned to Asia Minor; for during his 
second imprisonment, A.D. 68, St. Paul, 
writing to Timothy, charges him to bring 
Mark with him to Pome, on the ground 
that he was " profitable to him for the 
ministry." 2 Tim. 4:11. From this point 
we gain no further information from the 
New Testament respecting the evangel- 
ist. It is most probable, however, that 
he did join the apostle at Rome, whither 
also St. Peter would seem to have pro- 
ceeded, and suffered martyrdom along 
with St. Paul. After the death of these 
two great pillars of the Church, ecclesi- 
astical tradition affirms that St. Mark 
visited Egypt, founded the church of 
Alexandria, and died by martyrdom. — 
Condensed from Cambridge Bible for 
Schools. — Ed.) 

Mark, Gcspel of. 1. By whom writ- 
ten. — The author of this Gospel has been 
universally believed to be Mark or Mar- 
cus, designated in Acts 12:12,25; 15: 
37 as John Mark, and in ch. 13 : 5, 13 as 
John. 2. When it was written. — Upon 
this point nothing absolutely certain can 
be affirmed, and the Gospel itself affords 
us no information. The most direct tes- 
timony is that of Irenseus, who says it 
was after the death of the apostles Peter 
and Paul. We may conclude, therefore, 
that this Gospel was not written before 
a.d. 63. Again we may as certainly con- 
clude that it was not written after the 
destruction of Jerusalem, for it is not 
likely that he would have omitted to re- 
cord so remarkable a fulfillment of our 



j Lord's predictions. Hence a.d. 63-70 
becomes our limit, but nearer than this 
we cannot go. — Farrar. 3. Where it was 
written. — As to the place, the weight of 
testimony is uniformly in favor of the be- 
lief that the Gospel was written and pub- 
lished at Rome. In this Clement, Eu- 
sebius, Jerome, Epiphanius, all agree. 
Chrysostom, indeed, asserts that it was 
published at Alexandria ; but his state- 
ment receives no confirmation, as other- 
wise it could not fail to have done, from 
any Alexandrine writer. — Farrar. 4. In 
what language. — As to the language in 
which it was written, there never has 
been any reasonable doubt that it was 
written in Greek. 5. Sources of infor- 
mation. — Mark was not one of the twelve ; 
j and there is no reason to believe that he 
was an eye and ear witness of the events 
which he has recorded; but an almost 
unanimous testimony of the early fathers 
indicates Peter as the source of his infor- 
mation. The most important of these 
testimonies is that of Papias, who says, 
"He, the presbyter (John), said, Mark, 
being the interpreter of Peter, wrote ex- 
actly whatever he remembered ; but he 
did not write in order the things which 
were spoken or done by Christ. For he 
was neither a hearer nor a follower of the 
Lord, but, as I said, afterward followed 
Peter, who made his discourses to suit 
what was required, without the view of 
giving a connected digest of the discourses 
of our Lord. Mark, therefore, made no 
mistakes when he wrote down circum- 
stances as he recollected them ; for he 
was very careful of one thing, to omit 
nothing of what he heard, and to say 
nothing false in what he related." Thus 
Papias writes of Mark. This testimony 
is confirmed by other witnesses. — Abbott. 
6. For whom it toas written. — The tradi- 
tional statement is that it was intended 
primarily for Gentiles, and especially for 
those at Rome. A review of the Gospel 
itself confirms this view. 7. Character- 
istics. — (1) Mark's Gospel is occupied al- 
most entirely with the ministry in Gali- 
lee and the events of the passion week. 
It is the shortest of the four Gospels, and 
contains almost no incident or teaching 
which is not contained in one of the other 
two synoptists; but (2) it is by far the 
most vivid and dramatic in its narratives, 
and their pictorial character indicates 
not only that they were derived from an 
eye and ear witness, but also from one 
who possessed the observation and the 
381 



MAE 



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graphic artistic power of a natural orator, 
such as Peter emphatically was. (3) One 
peculiarity strikes us the moment we 
open it, — the absence of any genealogy 
of our Lord. This is the key to much 
that follows. It is not the design of the 
evangelist to present our Lord to us, like 
St. Matthew, as the Messiah, " the son of 
David and Abraham," ch. 1 : 1, or, like 
St. Luke, as the universal Redeemer, 
" the son of Adam, which was the son of 
God." ch. 3 : 38. (4) His design is to 
present him to us as the incarnate and 
wonder-working Son of God, Kving and 
acting among men ; to portray him in 
the fullness of his living energy. — Cam- 
bridge Bible for Schools. 

Market-places, Matt. 20 : 3 ; Mark 
12 : 38 ; Luke 7 : 32 ; Acts 10' : 19, (any open 
place of public resort in cities or towns 
where public trials and assemblies wei-e 
held and goods were exposed for sale. 
" The market-places or bazaars of the 
East were, and are at this day, the con- 
stant resort of unoccupied people, the 
idle, the news-mongers." — Hacketts III. 
S. S.—Ed.) 

Market of Ap'pius. Acts 28 : 15. In 
the Revised Version for Appii Forum of 
the Authorized Version, which see. 

Ma'roth (bitterness), one of the towns 
of the western lowland of Judah. Micah 
1:12. 

Marriage. 1. Its origin and history. 
— The institution of marriage dates from 
the time of man's original creation. Gen. 
2 : 18-25. From Gen. 2 : 24 we may evolve 
the following principles: (1) The unity 
of man and wife, as implied in her being 
formed out of man. (2) The indissol- 
ubleness of the marriage bond, except on 
the strongest grounds. Comp. Matt. 19 : 
9. (3) Monogamy, as the original law 
of marriage. (4) The social equality of 
man and wife. (5) The subordination 
of the wife to the husband. 1 Cor. 11:8, 
9 ; 1 Tim. 2 : 13. (6) The respective du- 
ties of man and wife. In the patriarchal 
age polygamy prevailed, Gen. 16:4; 25 : 
1,6; 28:9; 29 : 23, 28 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 14, 
but to a great extent divested of the deg- 
radation which in modern times attaches 
to that practice. Divorce also prevailed 
in the patriarchal age, though but one 
instance of it is recorded. Gen. 21 : 14. 
The Mosaic law discouraged polygamy, 
restricted divorce, and aimed to enforce 
purity of life. It was the best civil law 
possible at the time, and sought to bring 
the people up to the pure standard of the 
382 



moral law. In the post-Babylonian pe- 
riod monogamy appears to have become 
more prevalent than at any previous 
time. The practice of polygamy never- 
theless still existed; Herod the Great 
had no less than nine wives at one time. 
The abuse of divorce continued unabated. 
Our Lord and his apostles re-established 
the integrity and sanctity of the marriage 
bond by the following measures : (a) By 
the confirmation of the original charter 
of marriage as the basis on which all 
regulations were to be framed. Matt. 19 : 
4, 5. (6) By the restriction of divorce to 
the case of fornication, and the prohibi- 
tion of remarriage in all persons divorced 
on improper grounds. Matt. 5 : 32 ; 19 : 9 ; 
Rom. 7:3; 1 Cor. 7 : 10, 11. (c) By the 
enforcement of moral purity generally, 
Heb. 13:4, etc., and especially by the 
formal condemnation of fornication. Acts 
| 15 : 20. 

2. The conditions of legal marriage. — 
I In the Hebrew commonwealth marriage 
i was prohibited (a) between an Israelite 
; and a non-Israelite. There were three 
j grades of prohibition : total in regard to 
the Canaanites on either side ; total on 
the side of the males in regard to the 
Ammonites and Moabites; and temporary 
on the side of the males in regard to the 
Edomites and Egyptians, marriages with 
females in the two latter instances being 
regarded as legal. The progeny of ille- 
gal marriages between Israelites and 
non-Israelites was described as "bas- 
tard." Deut. 23 : 2. (6) between an Is- 
raelite and one of his own community. 
The regulations relative to marriage be- 
tween Israelites and Israelites were based 
on considerations of relationship. The 
most important passage relating to these 
is contained in Lev. 18 : 6-18, wherein 
we have in the first place a general pro- 
hibition against marriage between a man 
and the "flesh of his flesh," and in the 
second place special prohibitions against 
marriage with a mother, stepmother, sis- 
| ter or half-sister, whether "born at home 
or abroad," granddaughter, aunt, whether 
I by consanguinity on either side or by 
marriage on the father's side, daughter- 
in-law, brother's wife, stepdaughter, 
wife's mother, stepgranddaughter, or 
wife's sister during the lifetime of the 
I wife. An exception is subsequently made, 
Deut. 25 : 5-9, in favor of marriage with 
a brother's wife in the event of his hav- 
ing died childless. The law which reg- 
ulates this has been named the "levi- 



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rate," from the Latin levir, "brother-in- 
law." 

3. The modes by which marriage was 
effected. — The choice of the bride de- 
volved not on the bridegroom himself, 
but on his relations or on a friend deputed 
by the bridegroom for this purpose. The 
consent of the maiden was sometimes 
asked, Gen. 24 : 58 ; but this appears to 
have been subordinate to the previous 
consent of the father and the adult broth- 
ers. Gen. 24:51; 34:11. Occasionally 
the whole business of selecting the wife 
was left in the hands of a friend. The 
selection of the bride was followed by the 
espousal, which was a formal proceeding 
undertaken by a friend or legal represent- 
ative on the part of the bridegroom and 
by the parents on the part of the bride ; 
it was confirmed by oaths, and accom- 
panied with presents to the bride. The 
act of betrothal was celebrated by a feast, 
and among the more modern Jews it is 
the custom in some parts for the bride- 
groom to place a ring on the bride's fin- 
ger. The ring was regarded among the 
Hebrews as a token of fidelity, Gen. 41 : 
42, and of adoption into a family. Luke 
15 : 22. Between the betrothal and the 
marriage an interval elapsed, varying 
from a few days in the patriarchal age, 
Gen. 24 : 55, to a full year for virgins and 
a month for widows in later times. Dur- 
ing this period the bride-elect lived with 
her friends, and all communication be- 
tween herself and her future husband 
was carried on through the medium of a 
friend deputed for the purpose, termed 
the "friend of the bridegroom." John 3 : 
29. She was now virtually regarded as 
the wife of her future husband ; hence 
faithlessness on her part was punishable 
with death, Deut. 22 : 23, 24, the husband 
having, however, the option of " putting 
her away." Deut. 24 : 1 ; Matt. 1 : 19. 
The essence of the marriage ceremony 
consisted in the removal of the bride 
from her father's house to that of the 
bridegroom or his father. The bride- 
groom prepared himself for the occasion 
by putting on a festive dress, and espec- 
ially by placing on his head a handsome 
nuptial turban. Ps. 45 : 8 ; Cant. 4 : 10, 
11. The bride was veiled. Her robes 
were white, Rev. 19 : 8, and sometimes 
embroidered with gold thread, Ps. 45 : 13, 
14, and covered with perfumes, Ps. 45 : 8 ; 
she was further decked out with jewels. 
Isa. 49 : 18 ; 61 : 10 ; Rev. 21 : 2. When 
the fixed hour arrived, which was gener- 



ally late in the evening, the bridegroom 
set forth from his house, attended by his 
groomsmen (Authorized Version "com- 
panions," Judges 14:11; "children of 
the bride-chamber," Matt. 9 : 15), pre- 
ceded by a band of musicians or singers, 
Gen. 31 : 27 ; Jer. 7 : 34 ; 16:9, and ac- 
companied by persons bearing flambeaux, 
Jer. 25 : 10 ; 2 Esdr. 10 : 2 ; Matt. 25 : 7 ; 
Rev. 18 : 23, and took the bride with the 
friends to his own house. At the house 
a feast was prepared, to which all the 
friends and neighbors were invited, Gen. 
29 : 22 ; Matt. 22 : 1-10 ; Luke 14 : 8 ; 
John 2 : 2, and the festivities were pro- 
tracted for seven or even fourteen days. 
Judges 14:12; Tob. 8:19. The guests 
were provided by the host with fitting 
robes, Matt. 22 : 11, and the feast was en- 
livened with riddles, Judges 14 : 12, and 
other amusements. The last act in the 
ceremonial was the conducting of the 
bride to the bridal chamber, Judges 15 : 
1 ; Joel 2 : 16, where a canopy was pre- 
pared. Ps. 19:5; Joel 2 : 16. The bride 
was still completely veiled, so that the 
deception practiced on Jacob, Gen. 29 : 23, 
was not difficult. A newly-married man 
was exempt from military service, or 
from any public business which might 
draw him away from his home, for the 
space of a year, Deut. 24 : 5 ; a similar 
privilege was granted to him who was 
betrothed. Deut. 20 : 7. 

4. The social and domestic conditions 
of married life. — The wife must have ex- 
ercised an important influence in her own 
home. She appears to have taken her 
part in family affairs, and even to have 
enjoyed a considerable amount of inde- 
pendence. Judges 4 : 18 ; 1 Sam. 25 : 14; 
2 Kings 4 : 8, etc. In the New Testament 
the mutual relations of husband and wife 
are a subject of frequent exhortation. 
Eph. 5 : 22, 33 ; Col. 3 : 18, 19 ; Titus 2 : 
4, 5 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 1-7. The duties of the 
wife in the Hebrew household were mul- 
tifarious : in addition to the general su- 
perintendence of the domestic arrange- 
ments, such as cooking, from which even 
women of rank were not exempt, Gen. 
18 : 6 ; 2 Sam. 13 : 8, and the distribution 
of food at meal times, Prov. 31 : 15, the 
manufacture of the clothing and of the 
vai'ious fabrics required in her home de- 
volved upon her, Prov. 31 : 13, 21, 22 ; 
and if she were a model of activity and 
skill, she produced a surplus of fine linen 
shirts and girdles, which she sold, and 
so, like a well-freighted merchant ship, 
383. 



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brought in wealth to her husband from 
afar. Prow 31 : 14, 24. The legal rights 
of the wife are noticed in Ex. 21 : 10 under 
the three heads of food, raiment, and duty 
of marriage or conjugal right. 



5. The allegorical and typical allusions 
to marriage have exclusive reference to 
one object, viz., to exhibit the spiritual 
relationship between God and his people. 
In the Old Testament Isa. 54 : 5 ; Jer. 3 : 




The Acropolis at Athens (Restored). 




View of Mars' Hill or Areopagus. 



14; Hos. 2 : 19. In the New 
Testament the image of the 
bridegroom is transferred 
from Jehovah to Christ, 
Matt. 9 : 15; John 3 : 29, 
and that of the bride to the 
Church. 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 
19 : 7 • 21 : 2 9. 

Mars' Hill, the hill of 
Mars or Ares, better known 
by the name of Areopagus, 
of which hill of Mars or Ares 
is a translation. The Areop- 
agus was a rocky height in 
Athens, opposite the western 
end of the Acropolis. It rises 
gradually from the northern 
end, and terminates abrupt- 
ly on the south, over against 
the Acropolis, at which point 
it is about fifty or sixty feet 
above the valley. The spot 
is memorable as the place of 
meeting of the Council of 
Areopagus. This body ex- 
isted as a criminal tribunal 
before the time of Solon, and 
was the most ancient and 
venerable of all the Atheni- 



384 



MAR 



MAR 



an courts. It consisted of all persons who 
had held the office of archon, and who i 
were members of the council for life unless 1 
expelled for misconduct. Before the time 
of Solon the court tried only cases of will- 
ful murder, wounding, poison, and arson ; 
but he gave it extensive powers of a cen- 
sorial and political nature. The council 
continued to exist even under the Roman 
emperors. Its meetings were held on the 
southeastern summit of the rock. The 
Areopagus possesses peculiar interest to 
the Christian as the spot from which St. 
Paul delivered his memorable address to 
the men of Athens. Acts 17 : 22-31. St. 
Paul "disputed daily" in the "market" 
or agora, Acts 17 : 17, which was situated 
south of the Areopagus in the valley ly- 
ing between this and the hills of the 
Acropolis, the Pnyx and the Museum. 
Attracting more and more attention, 
" certain philosophers of the Epicureans 
and Stoics" brought him up from the 
valley, probably by the stone steps, to the 
Areopagus above, that they might listen 
to him more conveniently. 

Mar'sena {worthy), one of the seven 
princes of Persia, " wise men which 
knew the times," which saw the king's 
face and sat first in the kingdom. Esther 
1:14. 

Mar'tha (a lady), the sister of Laza- 
rus and Mary. [Lazarus.] The facts 
recorded in Luke 10 and John 11 indi- 
cate a character devout after the custom- 
ary Jewish type of devotion, sharing in 
Messianic hopes and accepting Jesus as 
the Christ. When she first comes before 
us, Luke 10 : 38, her spirit is " cumbered 
with much serving," is " careful and 
troubled about many things." Her love, 
though imperfect in its form, is yet recog- 
nized as true, and she has the distinction 
of being one whom Jesus loved. John 
11 : 3. Her position is obviously that of 
the elder sister, the head and manager 
of the household. In the supper at Beth- 
any, John 12:2, the old character shows 
itself still, but it has been freed from 
evil. She is no longer " cumbered," no 
longer impatient. Activity has been 
calmed by trust. 

Ma'ry" (a tear) of Cle'ophas. So 
in Authorized Version, but accurately 
"of Clopas," i. e. the wife of Clopas (or 
Alphaeus). She is brought before us for 
the first time on the day of the crucifix- 
ion, standing by the cross. John 19 : 25. 
In the evening of the same day we find 
her sitting desolate at the tomb with 
25 



Mary Magdalene, Matt. 27 : 61 ; Mark 15 : 
47 ; and at the dawn of Easter morning 
she was again there with sweet spices, 
which she had prepared on the Friday 
night, Matt. 28 : 1 ; Mark 16 : 1 ; Luke 
23 : 56, and was one of those who had " a 
vision of* angels, which said that he was 
alive." Luke 24 : 23. She had four sons 
and at least three daughters. The names 
of the daughters are unknown to us; 
those of the sons are James, Joses, Jude 
and Simon, two of whom became enrolled 
among the twelve apostles [James], and 
a third [Simon] may have succeeded his 
brother in charge of the church of Jeru- 
salem. By many she is thought to have 
been the sister of the Virgin Mary. 

Ma'ry Magda!e'ne. Different ex- 
planations have been given of this name ; 
but the most natural is that she came 
from the town of Magdala. She appears 
before us for the first time in Luke 8 : 2, 
among the women who " ministered unto 
him of their substance." All appear to 
have occupied a position of comparative 
wealth. With all the chief motive was 
that of gratitude for their deliverance 
from " evil spirits and infirmities." Of 
Mary it is said specially that " seven 
devils went out of her," and the number 
indicates a possession of more than ordi- 
nary malignity. She was present during 
the closing hours of the agony on the 
cross. John 19 : 25. She remained by 
the cross till all was over, and waited till 
the body was taken down and placed in 
the garden sepulchre of Joseph of Ari- 
mathsea, Matt. 27 : 61 ; Mark 15 : 47 ; 
Luke 23 : 55, when she, with Salome and 
Mary the mother of James, " bought 
sweet spices that they might come and 
anoint" the body. Mark 16 : 1. The 
next morning accordingly, in the earli- 
est dawn, Matt. 28 : 1 ; Mark 16 : 2, they 
came with Mary the mother of James to 
the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene had 
been to the tomb and had found it empty, 
and had seen the " vision of angels." 
Matt. 28 : 5 ; Mark 16 : 5. To her first of 
all Jesus appeared after his resurrection. 
John 20 : 14, 15. Mary Magdalene has 
become the type of a class of repentant 
sinners ; but there is no authority for 
| identifying her with the " sinner " who 
anointed the feet of Jesus in Luke 7 : 36- 
50; neither is there any authority for 
the supposition that Mary Magdalene is 
the same as the sister of Lazarus. Neither 
of these theories has the slightest founda- 
tion in fact. 

385 



MAR 



MAS 



Ma'ry, mother of Mark, Col. 4 : 

10, was sister to Barnabas. Acts 4 : 36 ; 
12 : 12. She was among the earliest dis- 
ciples, and lived at Jerusalem. She 
gave up her house to be used as one of 
the chief places of meeting. The fact 
that Peter went to that house on his re- 
lease from prison indicates that there 
was some special intimacy, Acts 12 : 12, 
between them. (There is a tradition that 
the place of meeting of the disciples, and 
hence Mary's house, was on the upper 
slope of Zion, and that it was here that 
the Holy Ghost came upon the disciples 
with tongues of flame on the day of 
Pentecost.— Ed.) 

Ma'ry, sister of Lazarus. She 
and her sister Martha appear in Luke 
10 : 40 as receiving Christ in their house. 
Mary sat listening eagerly for every word 
that fell from the divine Teacher. She 
had chosen the good part, the " one 
thing needful." The same character 
shows itself in the history of John 11. 
Her grief was deeper, but less active. 
Her first thought, when she saw the 
Teacher in whose power and love she 
had trusted, was one of complaint. But 
the great joy and love which her broth- 
er's return to life called up in her 
poured themselves out in larger measure 
than had been seen before. The treas- 
ured alabaster box of ointment was 
brought forth at the final feast of Beth- 
any. John 12 : 3. 

Ma'ry the virgin, the mother of our 
Lord. There is no person perhaps in 
sacred or profane history around whom 
so many legends have been grouped as 
the Virgin Mary ; and there are few 
whose authentic history is more concise. 
She was, like Joseph, of the tribe of Ju- 
dah and of the lineage of David. Ps. 132 : 
11 ; Luke 1 : 32 ; Rom. 1 : 3. She had a 
sister, named, like herself, Mary, John 
19 : 25, and she was connected by mar- 
riage, Luke 1 : 36, with Elisabeth, who 
was of the tribe of Levi and of the lineage 
of Aaron. This is all that we know of 
her antecedents. She was betrothed to 
Joseph of Nazareth ; but before her mar- 
riage she became with child by the Holy 
Ghost, and became the mother of Jesus 
Christ, the Saviour of the world. Her 
history at this time, her residence at 
Bethlehem, flight to E^ypt, and return 
to her early home at Nazareth, are well j 
known. Four times only does she ap- 
pear after the commencement of Christ's j 
ministry. These four occasions are — 1. 
386 



The marriage at Cana in Galilee took 
place in the three months which inter- 
vened between the baptism of Christ and 
the passover of the year 27. Mary was 
present, and witnessed the first miracle 
performed by Christ, when he turned the 
water into wine. She had probably be- 
come a widow before this time. 2. Ca- 
pernaum, John 2 : 12, and Nazareth, 
Matt. 4 : 13 ; 13 : 54; Mark 6:1, appear 
to have been the residence of Mary for a 
considerable period. The next t.me that 
she is brought before us we find her at 
Capernaum, where she, with other rela- 
tives, had gone to inquire about the 
strange stories they had heard of her son 
Jesus. They sought an audience with 
our Lord, which was not granted, as he 
refused to admit any authority on the 
part of his relatives, or any privilege on 
account of their relationship. 3. The 
next scene in Mary's life brings us to the 
foot of the cross. With almost his last 
words Christ commended his mother to 
the care of him who had borne the name 
of the disciple whom Jesus loved : 
" Woman, behold thy son." And from 
that hour St. John assures us that he 
took her to his own abode. So far as 
Mary is portrayed to us in Scripture, she 
is, as we should have expected, the most 
tender, the most faithful, humble, patient 
and loving of women, but a woman still. 
4. In the days succeeding the ascension 
of Christ Mary met with the disciples in 
the upper room, Acts 1 : 14, waiting for 
the coming of the Holy Spirit with power. 

Ma'ry, a Roman Christian who is 
greeted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the 
Romans, ch. 16 : 6, as having toiled hard 
for him. 

Mas'chil {song of wisdom), the title 
of thirteen Psalms : 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 
78, 88, 89, 142. Ewald regards Ps. 47 : 7 
(Authorized Version, "sing ye praises 
with understanding ;" Heb. musch il) as 
the key to the meaning of maschil, which 
in his opinion is a musical term denoting 
a melody requiring great skill in its ex- 
ecution. 

Mash {drawn out), one of the sons of 
Aram. Gen. 10 : 23. In 1 Chron. 1 : 17 
the name appears as Meshech. The name 
Mash is probably represented by the 
Mons Masius of classical writers, a range 
which forms the northern boundary of 
Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Eu- 
phrates. 

Ma'shal {entreaty), the same as Mi- 
sheal or Mishal. 1 Chron. 6 : 74. 



MAS 



MAT 



Mas'rekah {vineyard of noble vines), \ 
an ancient place, the native spot of Sam- I 
lah, one of the old kings of the Edomites. ■ 
Gen. 36 : 36 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 47. 

Mas'sa [burden), a son of Ishmael. ; 
Gen. 25 : 14 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 30. His de- j 
scendants were not improbably the Ma- 
sani, placed by Ptolemy in the east of 
Arabia, near the borders of Babylonia. 

Mas'sah {temptation), a name given 
to the spot, also called Meribah, where 
the Israelites tempted Jehovah. Ex. 16 : 
7; Ps. 95:8, 9; Heb. 3 : 8. 

Mathu'sala = Methuselah, the son 
of Enoch. Luke 3 : 37. 

Ma'tred {pushing forward), a daugh- 
ter of Mezahab and mother of Mehetabel, 
who was wife of Hadar or Hadad of Pau, 
king of Edom. Gen. 36 : 39 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 
50. 

Ma'tri {rain of Jehovah), a family of 
the tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul the 
king of Israel belonged. 1 Sam. 10 : 21. 

Mat'tan {a gift). 1. The priest of 
Baal slain before his altars in the idol 
temple at Jerusalem. 2 Kings 11 : 18; 2 
Chron. 23 : 17. He probably accom- 
panied Athalia from Samaria. 

2. The father of Shephatiah. Jer. 38 : 1. 

Mat'tanah {gift of Jehovah), a station 
in the latter part of the wanderings of 
the Israelites. Num. 21 : 18, 19. It was 
probably situated to the southeast of the 
Dead Sea. 

Mattani'ah {gift of Jehovah). 1. The 
original name of Zedekiah king of Judah, 
which was changed when Nebuchadnez- 
zar placed him on the throne. 2 Kings 
24 : 17. 

2. A Levite singer of the sons of Asaph. 
1 Chron. 9 : 15. He was leader of the 
temple choir after its restoration, Neh. 11 : 
17 ; 12 : 8, in the time of Nehemiah, and 
took part in the musical service which 
accompanied the dedication of the wall 
of Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 25, 35. 

3. A descendant of Asaph, and an- 
cestor of Jahaziel the Levite, in the reign 
of Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 20 : 14. 

4. One of the sons of Elam. Ezra 10 : 
26. 

5. One of the sons of Zattu. Ezra 10 : 
27. 

6. A descendant of Pahath-moab, Ezra 
10 : 30, and 

7. One of the sons of Bani, Ezra 10 : 
37, who all put away their foreign wives 
at Ezra's command. 

8. A Levite, father of Zaccur and an- 
cestor of Hanan the under-treasurer who 



had charge of the offerings for the Le- 
vites in the thne of Nehemiah. Neh. 13 : 
13. 

9. One of the fourteen sons of Heman, 
whose office it was to blow the horns in 
the temple service as appointed by David. 

1 Chron. 25 : 4, 16. 

10. A descendant of Asaph the Levite 
minstrel, who assisted in the purification 
of the temple in the reign of Hezekiah. 

2 Chron. 29 : 13. 

Mat'tathah {gift of Jehovah), prob- 
ably a contraction of Mattathiah. 1. Son 
of Nathan and grandson of David, in 
the genealogy of Christ. Luke 3 : 31. 
(B.C. after 1014.) 

2. An Israelite, son of Hashun, who 
divorced his Gentile wife after the return 
from Babylon. Ezek. 10 : 33. (B.C. 458.) 

Mattathi'as {gift of Jehovah), the 
Greek form of Mattathiah. 1. Son of 
Amos, in the genealogy of Christ. Luke 

3 : 25. (B.C. after 406.) 

2. Son of Semei. Luke 3 : 26. 

3. The father of the Maccabees. (B.C. 
168 and previous.) 

Mattena'i {gift of Jehovah), a contrac- 
tion of Mattaniah. 1. Two Israelites who 
divorced their Gentile wives after the 
return from the Babvlonish captivity. 
Ezra 10 : 33, 37. (B.a 459.) 

2. A priest, son of Joiarib, in the time 
of Joiakim. Neh. 12 : 19. (B.C. after 
536.) 

Mat'than {gift), grandfather of Jo- 
seph the husband of the Virgin Mary. 
Matt. 1 : 15. 

Mat'that {gift of God), a form of the 
name Matthan. 1. Son of Levi, in the 
genealogy of Christ. Luke 3 : 29. (B.C. 
after 623.) 

2. Grandfather of the Virgin Mary. 
Luke 3 : 24. 

Mat/thew {gift of Jehovah). (A con- 
traction, as is also Matthias, of Matta- 
thias. His original name was Levi, and 
his name Matthew was probably adopted 
as his new apostolic name. He was a 
Jew. His father's name was Alphaeus. 
His home was at Capernaum. His busi- 
ness was the collection of dues and cus- 
toms from persons and goods crossing the 
Sea of Galilee, or passing along the great 
Damascus road which ran along the shore 
between Bethsaida, Julius and Caperna- 
um. Christ called him from this work to 
be his disciple. He appears to have been a 
man of wealth, for he made a great feast 
in his own house, perhaps in order to 
introduce his former companions and 
387- 



MAT 



MAT 



friends to Jesus. His business would 
tend to give him a knowledge of human 
nature, and accurate business habits, and 
of how to make a way to the hearts of 
many publicans and sinners not other- 
wise easily reached. He is mentioned 
by name, after the resurrection of Christ, 
only in Acts 1 : 13 ; but he must have 
lived many years as an apostle, since he 
was the author of the Gospel of Matthew, 
which was written at least twenty years 
later. There is reason to believe that he 
remained for fifteen years at Jerusalem, 
after which he went as missionary to the 
Persians, Parthians and Medes. There 
is a legend that he died a martyr in Ethi- 
opia. — Ed.) 

Mat'thew, Gospel of. 1. Its au- 
thorship. — That this Gospel was written 
by the apostle Matthew there is no rea- 
son to doubt. Seventeen independent 
witnesses of the first four centuries at- 
test its genuineness. 2. Its original 
language. — The testimony of the early 
Church is unanimous that Matthew wrote 
originally in the Hebrew language. On 
the other hand, doubt is thrown over this 
opinion, both by an examination of the 
statements of the fathers and by a con- 
sideration of peculiar forms of language 
employed in the Gospel itself. The ques- 
tion is unsettled, the best scholars not 
agreeing in their judgment concerning it. 
If there was a Hebrew original, it disap- 
peared at a very early age. The Greek 
Gospel which we now possess was, it is 
almost certain, written in Matthew's life- 
time ; and it is not at all improbable that 
he wrote the Gospel in both the Greek 
and Hebrew languages. — Lyman Abbott. 
It is almost certain that our Lord spoke 
in Greek with foreigners, but with his 
disciples and the Jewish people in Ara- 
maic (a form of language closely allied 
to the Hebrew). — Schaff. The Jewish 
historian Josephus furnishes an illustra- 
tion of the fate of the Hebrew original 
of Matthew. Josephus himself informs 
us that he wrote his great work, " The 
History of the Jewish Wars," originally 
in Hebrew, his native tongue, for the 
benefit of his own nation, and he after- 
ward translated it into Greek. No notices 
of the Hebrew original now survive. — 
Professor D. S. Gregory. 3. The date. — 
The testimony of the early Church is 
unanimous that Matthew wrote first 
among the evangelists. Irengeus relates 
that Matthew wrote his Gospel while 
Peter and Paul were preaching, and 
388 



founding the Church at Rome, after A.D. 
61. It was published before the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. — Alford. We 
would place our present Gospel between 
A.D. 60 and 66. If there was an original 
Hebrew Gospel, an earlier date belongs 
to it. — Ellicott. 4. Its object. — This Gos- 
pel was probably written in Palestine for 
Jewish Christians. It is an historical 
proof that Jesus is the Messiah. Mat- 
thew is the Gospel for the Jew. It is 
the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah of the 
prophets. This Gospel takes the life of 
Jesus as it was lived on earth, and his 
character as it actually appeared, and 
places them alongside the life and char- 
acter of the Messiah as sketched in the 
prophets, the historic by the side of the 
prophetic, that the two may appear in 
their marvellous unity and in their per- 
fect identity. — Professor Gregory. 

Matthi'as (gift of God), the apostle 
elected to fill the place of the traitor Ju- 
das. Acts 1 : 26. All beyond this that 
we know of him for certainty is that he 
had been a constant attendant upon the 
Lord Jesus during the whole course of 
his ministry ; for such was declared by 
St. Peter to be the necessary qualifica- 
tion of one who was to be a witness of the 
resurrection. It is said that he preached 
the gospel and suffered martyrdom in 
Ethiopia. 

Mattithi'ah (gift of God). 1. A Le- 
vite who presided over the offerings made 
in the pans. 1 Chron. 9 : 31 ; comp. Lev. 
6 : 20 (12), etc. 

2. One of the Levites appointed by Da- 
vid to minister before the ark in the mu- 
sical service, 1 Chron. 16 : 5, " with harps 
upon Sheminith," comp. 1 Chron. 15 : 
21, to lead the choir. 1 

Chron. 15 : 18, 21 ; 25 : 
3, 21. 

3. One of the family 
of Nebo who had mar- 
ried a foreign wife, in 
the days of Ezra. Ezra 
10 : 43. 

4. Probably a priest, 
who stood at the right 
hand of Ezra when he 
read the law to the 
people. Ezra 8 : 4. 

Mattock. Isaiah 7 : Mattock or Egyp- 
25. The tool used in tian Hoe. (After 
Arabia for loosening the Wilkinson.) 
ground, described by 
Niebuhr, answers generally to our mat- 
tock or grubbing-axe, i. e. a single-headed 




MAU 



MEA 



pickaxe. The ancient Egyptian hoe was 
of wood, and answered for hoe, spade and 
pick. 

Maul {i. e. a hammer), a sort of battle- 
axe or hammer, used as an implement 
of war. Prov. 25 : 18. 

Mauzzim {fortresses). The marginal 
note to the Authorized Version of Dan. 
11.: 38, " the god of forces," gives as the 
equivalent of the last word " Mauzzim, 
or gods protectors, or munitions." There 
can be little doubt that mauzzim is to be 



taken in its literal sense of " fortresses," 
just as in Dan. 11 : 19, 39 ; " the god of 
fortresses " being then the deity who pre- 
sided over strongholds. The opinion of 
Gesenius is that " the god of fortresses " 
was Jupiter Capitolinus, for whom An- 
tiochus built a temple at Antioch. Liv. 
xli. 20. 

Mazzaroth {the twelve signs). The 
margin of the Authorized Version of 
Job 38 : 32 gives Mazzaroth as the name 
of the twelve signs of the zodiac. 




Reclining at Table. 



MeadoAV. 1. In Genesis 41 : 2, 18, 
meadow appears to be an Egyptian term 
meaning some kind of flag or water- 
plant, as its use in Job 8 : 11 (Authorized 
Version "flag") seems to show. 2. In 
Judges 20 : 33 the sense of the Hebrew 
word translated meadow is doubly uncer- 
tain. The most plausible interpretation 
is that of the Peshito-Syriac, which by 
a slight difference in the vowel-points 
makes the word mearah, " the cave." 

Me'ah {a hundred),, The tower of, 
one of the towers of the wall of Jerusa- 
lem when rebuilt by Nehemiah, Neh. 3 : 
1 ; 12 : 39, appears to have been situated 
somewhere at the northeast part of the 
city, outside of the walls of Zion. 

Meals. Our information on the sub- 
ject of meals is but scanty. The early 
Hebrews do not seem to have given special 
names to their several meals, for the 
terms rendered " dine" and "dinner" in 
the Authorized Version (Gen. 43:16; 
Prov. 15 : 17) are in reality general ex- 
pressions, which might more correctly be 
rendered "eat" and "portion of food." 
In the New Testament "dinner" and 



" supper," Luke 14 : 12 ; John 21 : 12, 
are more properly " breakfast " and " din- 
ner." There is some uncertainty as to 
the hours at which meals were taken ; the 
Egyptians undoubtedly took their prin- 
cipal meal at noon, Gen. 43 : 16 ; labor- 
ers took a light meal at that time. Ruth 
2 : 14 ; comp. ver. 17. The Jews rather 
followed the custom that prevails among 
the Bedouins, and made their principal 
meal after sunset, and a lighter meal at 
about 9 or 10 A.M. The old Hebrews 
were in the habit of sitting. Gen. 27 : 19; 
Judges 19:6; 1 Sam. 20 : 5, 24 ; 1 Kings 
13 : 20. The table was in this case but 
slightly elevated above the ground, as is 
still the case in Egypt. As luxury in- 
creased, the practice of sitting was ex- 
changed for that of reclining. In the 
time of our Saviour, reclining was the 
universal custom. As several guests re- 
clined on the same couch, each over- 
lapped his neighbor, as it were, and i-ested 
his head on or near the breast of the one 
who lay behind him ; he was then said 
to " lean on the bosom " of his neighbor. 
John 13 : 23 ; 21 : 20. The ordinary ar- 
389 



MEA 



MEA 



rangement of the couches was in three 
sides of a square, the fourth being left 
open for the servants to bring up the 
dishes. Some doubt attends the question 
whether the females took their meals 
along with the males. Before commenc- 
ing the meal the guests washed their 
hands. This custom was founded on nat- 
ural decorum : not only was the hand the 
substitute for our knife and fork, but the 
hands of all the guests were dipped into 
one and the same dish. Another pre- 
liminary step was the grace or blessing, 
of which we have but one instance in the 
Old Testament — 1 Sam. 9 : 13 — and more 
than one pronounced by our Lord him- 
self in the New Testament— Matt. 15 : 36 ; 
Luke 9 : 16 ; John 6:11. The mode of 
taking the food differed in no material 
point from the modern usages of the 
East. Generally there was a single dish, 
into which each guest dipped his hand. 
Matt. 26 : 23. Occasionally separate por- 
tions were served out to each. Gen. 43 : 
34 ; Ruth 2 : 14 ; 1 Sam. 1:4. A piece of 
bread was held between the thumb and 
two fingers of the right hand, and was 
dipped either into a bowl of melted 
grease (in which case it was termed " a 
sop," John 13 : 26) or into the dish of 
meat, whence a piece was conveyed to the 
mouth between the layers of bread. At 
the conclusion of the meal, grace was 
again said in conformity with Deut. 8 : 

10, and the hands were again washed. 
On state occasions more ceremony was 
used, and the meal was enlivened in 
various ways. A sumptuous repast was 
prepared ; the guests were previously in- 
vited, Esther 5:8; Matt. 22 : 3, and on 
the day of the feast a second invitation 
was issued to those that were bidden. 
Esther 6 : 14 ; Prov. 9:3; Matt. 22 : 4. 
The visitors were received with a kiss, 
Luke 7 : 45 ; water was furnished for them 
to wash their feet with, Luke 7 : 44 ; the 
head, the beard, the feet, and sometimes 
the clothes, were perfumed with oint- 
ment, Ps. 23 : 5 ; John 12 : 3 ; on special 
occasions robes were provided, Matt. 22 : 

11, and the head was decorated with 
wreaths. Isa. 28 : 1. The regulation of 
the feast was under the superintendence 
of a special officer, John 2 : 8 (Author- 
ized Version "governor of the feast"), 
whose business it was to taste the food 
and the liquors before they were placed 
on the table, and to settle about the toasts 
and amusements ; he was generally one 
of the guests, Ecclus. 32 : 1, 2, and might 

390 



therefore take part in the conversation. 
The places of the guests were settled ac- 
cording to their respective rank, Gen. 43 : 
33 ; Mark 12 : 39 ; portions of food were 
placed before each, 1 Sam. 1 : 4, the most 
honored guests receiving either larger, 
Gen. 43 : 34, or more choice, 1 Sam. 9 : 
24, portions than the rest. The meal was 
enlivened with music, singing and danc- 
ing, 2 Sam. 19 : 35, or with riddles, Judges 
14 : 12 ; and amid these entertainments 
the festival was prolonged for several 
days. Esther 1 : 3, 4. 

Mea'rah (a cave), a place named in 
Josh. 13 : 4 only. The word means in 
Hebrew a cave, and it is commonly as- 
sumed that the reference is to some re- 
markable cavern in the neighborhood of 
Zidon. 

Measures. [Weights and Meas- 
ures.] 

Meat. It does not appear that the 
word " meat " is used in any one instance 
in the Authorized Version of either the 
Old or the New Testament in the sense 
which it now almost exclusively bears 
of animal food. The latter is denoted 
uniformly by " flesh." The word " meat," 
when our English version was made, 
meant food in general ; or if any partic- 
ular kind was designated, it referred to 
meal, flour or grain. The only real and 
inconvenient ambiguity caused by the 
change which has taken place in the 
meaning of the word is in the case of the 
" meat offering." [Meat offering.] 

Meat offering. The law or ceremo- 
nial of the meat offering is described in 
Lev. 2 and 6 : 14-23. It was to be com- 
posed of fine flour, seasoned with salt 
and mixed with oil and frankincense, 
but without leaven ; and it was generally 
accompanied by a drink offering of wine. 
A portion of it, including all the frank- 
incense, was to be burnt on the altar as 
"a memorial ;" the rest belonged to the 
priest ; but the meat offerings offered by 
the priests themselves were to be wholly 
burnt. Its meaning appears to be ex- 
actly expressed in the words of David. 1 
Chron. 29 : 10-14. It will be seen that 
this meaning involves neither of the 
main ideas of sacrifice — the atonement 
for sin and self-dedication to God. It 
takes them for granted, and is based on 
them. Rather it expresses gratitude and 
love to God as the giver of all. Accord- 
ingly the meat offering, properly so called, 
! seems always to have been a subsidiary 
| offering, needing to be introduced by the 



MEB 



MED 



sin offering, which represented the one 
idea, and to have formed an appendage to 
the burnt offering, which represented the | 
other. The unbloody offerings offered 
alone did not properly belong to the reg- j 
ular meat offering ; they were usually j 
substitutes for other offerings. Comp. ! 
Lev. 5:11; Num. 5 : 15. [Meat.] 

Mebun'na-i {building of Jehovah). 
In this form appears, in one passage 
only — 2 Sam. 23 : 27 — the name of one of | 
David's guard, who is elsewhere called j 
Sibbechai, 2 Sam. 21 : 18 ; 1 Chron. 20 : 
4, or Sibbecai, 1 Chron. 11 : 29; 27 : 11, 
in the Authorized Version. 

Mech/erathite, The, that is, the na- 
tive or inhabitant of a place called Me- 
cherah. 1 Chron. 11 : 36. In the parallel 
list of 2 Sam. 23 the name appears, with 
other variations, as " the Maachathite." 
ver. 34. 

Me'dad {love). [Eldad and Me- 

DAD.J 

Me'dan (contention), a son of Abra- 
ham and Keturah. Gen. 25 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 
1 :32. 

Med'eba {water of rest), a town on 
the eastern side of Jordan, first alluded 
to in Num. 21 : 30. Here it seems to de- 
note the limit of the territory of Hesh- 
bon. It next occurs in the enumeration 
of the country divided among the trans- 
jordanic tribes, Josh. 13 : 9, as giving its 
name to a district of level downs called 
" the Mishor of Medeba" or " the Mishor 
on Medeba." At the time of the con- 
quest Medeba belonged to the Amorites, 
apparently one of the towns taken from 
Moab by them. In the time of Ahaz 
Medeba was a sanctuary of Moab. Isa. 
15 : 2. It has retained its name down to 
our own times, and lies four miles south- 
east of Heshbon, on a rounded but rocky 
hill. 

M tides, Me'dia (middle land). Media 
lay northwest of Persia proper, south and 
southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of 
Armenia and Assyria, west and northwest 
of the great salt desert of Irani. Its 
greatest length was from north to south, 
and in this direction it extended from the 
32d to the 40th parallel, a distance of 550 
miles. In width it reached from about 
long. 45° to 53°; but its average breadth 
was not more than from 250 to 300 
miles. The division of Media commonly 
recognized by the Greeks and Romans 
was that into Media Magna and Media 
Atropatene. 1. Media Atropatene corre- 
sponded nearly to the modern Azerbijan, 



being the tract situated between the Cas- 
pian and the mountains which run north 
from Zagros. 2. Media Magna lay south 
and east of Atropatene. It contained great 
part of Kurdistan and Luristan, with all 
Ardelan and Arak Ajemi. It is indica- 
tive of the division that there were two 
Ecbatanas, respectively the capitals of 
the two districts. The Medes were a na- 
tion of very high antiquity ; we find a 
notice of them in the primitive Babylon- 
ian history of Berosus, who says that the 
Medes conquered Babylon at "a very re- 
mote period (dr. B.C. 2458), and that 
eight Median monarchs reigned there 
consecutively, over a space of 224 years. 
The deepest obscurity hangs, however, 
over the whole history of the Medes from 
the time of their bearing sway in Baby- 
lonia, B.C. 2458-2234, to their first ap- 
pearance in the cuneiform inscriptions 
among the enemies of Assyria, about 
B.C. 880. Near the middle of the seventh 
century B.C. the Median kingdom was 
consolidated, and became formidable to 
its neighbors; but previous to this time 
it was not under the dominion of a sin- 
gle powerful monarch, but was ruled by 
a vast number of petty chieftains. Cy- 
axares, the third Median monarch, took 
Nineveh and conquered Assyria B.C. 625. 
The limits of the Median empire cannot 
be definitely fixed. From north to south 
it was certainly confined between the 
Persian Gulf and the Euphrates on the 
one side, the Black and Caspian Seas on 
the other. From east to west it had, 
however, a wide expansion, since it 
reached from the Halys at least as far as 
the Caspian Gates, and possibly farther. 
It was separated from Babylonia either 
by the Tigris or more probably by a line 
running about halfway between that 
river and the Euphrates. Its greatest 
length may be reckoned at 1500 miles 
from northwest to southeast, and its aver- 
age breadth at 400 or 450 miles. Its area 
would thus be about 600,000 square miles, 
or somewhat greater than that of modern 
Persia. Of all the ancient Oriental mon- 
archies the Median was the shortest in 
duration. It was overthrown by the 
Persians under Cyrus, B.C. 558, who cap- 
tured its king, Astyages. The treatment 
of the Medes by the victorious Persians 
was not that of an ordinary conquered 
nation. Medes were appointed to sta- 
tions of high honor and importance under 
Cyrus and his successors. The two na- 
tions seem blended into one, and we often 
391 



MED 



MED 



find reference to this kingdom as that of 
the " Medes and Persians." Dan. 5 : 28; 
6 : 8, 12, 15. The references to the Medes 
in the canonical Scriptures are not very 
numerous, but they are striking. We 
first hear of certain " cities of the Medes," 
in which the captive Israelites were 
placed by "the king of Assyria " on the 
destruction of Samaria, B.C. 721. 2 Kings 
17:6; 18:11. Soon afterward Isaiah 
prophesies the part which the Medes 
shall take in the destruction of Babylon, 
Isa. 13 : 17 ; 21 : 2 ; which is again still 
more distinctly declared by Jeremiah, 
Jer. 51 : 11, 28, who sufficiently indicates 
the independence of Media in his day. 
eh. 25 : 25. Daniel relates the fact of 
the Medo-Persic conquest, Dan. 5 : 28, 31, 
giving an account of the reign of Darius 
the Mede, who appears to have been made 
viceroy by Cyrus. Dan. 6 : 1-28. In Ezra 
we have a mention of Achmetha (Ecbat- 
ana), " the palace in the province of the 
Medes," where the decree of Cyrus was 
fouud, Ezra 6 : 2-5 — a notice which accords 
with the known facts that the Median 
capital was the seat of government under 
Cyrus, but a royal residence only, and 
not the seat of government, under Darius 
Hystaspis. Finally, in Esther the high 
rank of Media under the Persian kings, 
yet at the same time its subordinate posi- 
tion, is marked by the frequent combina- 
tion of the two names in phrases of honor, 
the precedency being in every case as- 
signed to the Persians. 

Me'dian, The. Darius, " the son of 
Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes," 
Dan. 9:1, or "the Mede," ch. 11 : 1, is 
thus denoted in Dan. 5:31. 

Medicine. Egypt was the earliest 
home of medical and other skill for the 
region of the Mediterranean basin, and 
every Egyptian mummy of the more ex- 
pensive and elaborate sort involved a 
process of anatomy. Still we have no 
trace of any philosophical or rational 
system of Egyptian origin ; and medicine 
in Egypt was a mere art or profession. 
Compared with the wild countries around 
them, however, the Egyptians must have 
seemed incalculably advanced. Repre- 
sentations of early Egyptian surgery ap- 
parently occur on some of the monuments 
of Beni-Hassan. Those who have as- 
sisted at the opening of a mummy have 
noticed that the teeth exhibited a den- 
tistry not inferior in execution to the 
work of the best modern experts. This 
confirms the statement of Herodotus that 
392 



I every part of the body was studied by a 
distinct practitioner. The reputation of 
Egypt's practitioners in historical times 
j was such that both Cyrus and Darius 
! sent to that country for physicians or 
! surgeons. Of midwifery we have a dis- 
tinct notice, Ex. 1 : 15, and of women as 
its practitioners, which fact may also be 
verified from the sculptures. The scru- 
pulous attention paid to the dead was 
favorable to the health of the living. 
The practice of physic was not among the 
Jews a privilege of the priesthood. Any 
one might practice it, and this publicity 
must have kept it pure. Hank and honor 
are said to be the portion of the physician, 
and his office to be from the Lord. 
Ecclus. 38 : 1, 3, 12. To bring down the 
subject to the period of the New Testa- 
j ment, St. Luke, " the beloved physician," 
I who practiced at Antioch whilst the body 
was his care, could hardly have failed to 
be conversant with all the leading opin- 
ions current down to his own time. 
Among special diseases named in the Old 
Testament is ophthalmia, Gen. 29 : 17, 
which is perhaps more common in Syria 
and Egypt than anywhere else in the 
world ; especially in the fig season, the 
juice of the newly-ripe fruit having the 
power of giving it. It may occasion 
partial or total blindness. 2 Kings 6 : 18. 
The "burning boil," Lev. 13 : 23, is 
merely marked by the notion of an effect 
resembling that of fire, like our " carbun- 
cle." The diseases rendered " scab " and 
" scurvy " in Lev. 21 : 20 ; 22 : 22 ; Deut. 
28 : 27, may be almost any skin disease. 
Some of these may be said to approach 
the type of leprosy. The " botch {she- 
chin) of Egypt," Deut. 28 : 27, is so vague 
a term as to yield a most uncertain sense. 
In Deut. 28 : 35 is mentioned a disease at- 
tacking the " knees and legs," consisting 
in a " sore botch which cannot be healed," 
but extended, in the sequel of the verse, 
from the " sole of the foot to the top of 
the head." The Elephantiasis grcecorum 
is what now passes under the name of 
"leprosy;" the lepers, e. g., of the huts 
near the Zion gate of modern Jerusalem 
are elephantiasiacs. [Leprosy.] The 
disease of King Antiochus, 2 Mace. 9 : 
5-10, etc., was that of a boil breeding 
worms. The case of the widow's son re- 
stored by Elisha, 2 Kings 4 : 19, was 
probably one of sunstroke. The palsy 
meets us in the New Testament only, 
and in features too familiar to need 
special remark. Palsy, gangrene and 



MEG 



MEL 



cancer were common in all the countries 
familiar to the scriptural writers, and 
neither differs from the modern disease 
of the same name. Mention is also made 
of the bites and stings of poisonous rep- 
tiles. Num. 21 : 6. Among surgical in- 
struments or pieces of apparatus the fol- j 
lowing only are alluded to in Scripture : ! 
A cutting instrument, supposed a " sharp j 
stone," Ex. 4:25; the " knife " of Josh, j 
5 : 2. The " awl " of Ex. 21 : 6 was prob- ! 
ably a surgical instrument. The " roller j 
to bind " of Ezek. 30 : 21 was for a broken i 
limb, and is still used. A scraper, for 
which the " potsherd " of Job was a sub- 
stitute. Job 2 : 8. Ex. 30 : 23-25 is a pre- 
scription in form. An occasional trace 
occurs of some chemical knowledge, e. g. 
the calcination of the gold by Moses, Ex. 
32:20; the effect of "vinegar upon na- 
tron," Prov. 25 : 20; comp. Jer. 2 : 22. 
The mention of " the apothecary," Ex. 30 : 
35 ; Eccles. 10 : 1, and of the merchant 
in " powders," Cant. 3 : 6, shows that a 
distinct and important branch of trade 
was set up in these wares, in which, as at 
a modern druggist's, articles of luxury, 
etc., are combined with the remedies of 
sickness. Among the most favorite of 
external remedies has always been the 
bath. There were special occasions on 
Avhich the bath was ceremonially en- 
joined. The Pharisees and Essenes 
aimed at scrupulous strictness in all such 
rules. Matt. 15 : 2 ; Mark 7 : 5 ; Luke 11 : 
38. River-bathing was common, but 
houses soon began to include a bath- 
room. Lev. 15 : 13 ; 2 Sam. 11:2; 2 
Kings 5 : 10. 

Megid'do {place of crowds) was in a 
very marked position on the southern • 
rim of the plain of Esdraelon, on the j 
frontier line of the territories of the tribes j 
of Issachar and Manasseh, 6 miles from | 
Mount Carmel and 11 from Nazareth. It j 
commanded one of those passes from the 
north into the hill country which were j 
of such critical importance on various j 
occasions in the history of Judea. Judith 
4 : 7. The first mention occurs in Josh. ! 
12 : 21, where Megiddo appears as the j 
city of one of the kings whom Joshua 
defeated on the west of the Jordan. The i 
song of Deborah brings the place vividly 1 
before us, as the scene of the great conflict 
between Sisera and Barak. When Pha- 
raoh-necho came from Egypt against the 
king of Assyria, Josiah joined the latter, : 
and was slain at Megiddo. 2 Kings 23 : j 
29 j 2 Chron. 35 : 22-24. Megiddo is the j 



modern el-Lejjun, which is undoubtedly 
the Legio of Eusebius and Jerome. 
There is a copious stream flowing down 
the gorge, and turning some mills before 
joining the Kishon. Here are probably 
the " waters of Megiddo " of Judges 5:19. 

Mehet/abe-el (favored of God), an- 
other and less correct form of Mehetabel. 
The ancestor of Shemaiah the prophet 
who was hired against Nehemiah by To- 
biah and Sanballat. Neh. 6 : 10. 

Mehet'abel (favored of God), the 
daughter of Matred, and wife of Hadad 
king of Edom. Gen. 36 : 39. 

flf ehi'da (famous, noble), a family of 
Nethinim, the descendants of Mehida, 
returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. 
Ezra 2 : 52 ; Neh. 7 : 54. 

Me'hir (price), the son of Chelub the 
brother of Shuah. 1 Chron. 4 : 11. 

Mehol'athite, The, a word occur- 
ring once only — 1 Sam. 18 : 19. It no 
doubt denotes that Adriel belonged to a 
place called Meholah. 

Mehu'jael (smitten by God), the son 
of Irad, and fourth in descent from Cain. 
Gen. 4 : 18. 

Mehu'man (faithful), one of the sev- 
en eunuchs of Ahasuerus. Esther 1 : 10. 

Mehu'nim (habitations). Ezra 2 : 50. 
Elsewhere called Mehunims and Me- 
unim. 

Mehu'nims, The, a people against 
whom King Uzziah waged a successful 
war. 2 Chron. 26 : 7. The name is the 
plural of Maon [Maon]. Another notice 
of the Mehunims in the reign of Heze- 
kiah (cir. B.C. 726-697) is found in 1 
Chron. 4 : 41. Here they are spoken of 
as a pastoral people, either themselves 
Hamites or in alliance with Hamites, 
quiet and peaceable, dwelling in tents. 
Here, however, the Authorized Version 
treats the word as an ordinary noun, and 
renders it " habitations." The latest ap- 
pearance of the name Mehunims in the 
Bible is in the lists of those who returned 
from the captivity with Zerubbabel. Ezra 
2 : 50, Authorized Version " Mehunim ;" 
Neh. 7:52, Authorized Version "Me- 
unim." 

Me-jar'kon (waters of yellowness), a 
town in the territory of Dan, Josh. 19:46 
only, in the neighborhood of Joppa or 
Japho. 

Mek'onah (foundation), one of the 
towns which were reinhabited after the 
captivity by the men of Judah. Neh. 11 : 
28. 

Melati'ah (Jehovah delivers), a Gib- 
393 



MEL 



MEL 



eonite who assisted in rebuilding the wall 
of Jerusalem. Neh. 3:7. 

Mel'chi {my king, my counsel). 1. 
The son of Janna, and ancestor of Joseph 
in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Luke 
3:24. 

2. The son of Addi in the same geneal- 
ogy. Luke 3 : 28. 

Melchi'ah {Jehovah's king), a priest, 
the father of Pashur. Jer. 21 : 1. 

Melchis'edec {king of righteousness). 
Heb. 5, 6, 7. [Melchizedek.] 



Mel'chi-shu'a, a son of Saul. 1 Sam. 
14 : 49 ; 31 : 2. Elsewhere correctly given 
Malchishua. 

Melchiz'edek {king of righteousness), 
king of Salem and priest of the most high 
God, who met Abram in the valley of 
Shaveh, which is the king's valley, 
brought out bread and wine, blessed 
him, and received tithes from him. Gen. 
14 : 18-20. The other places in which 
Melchizedek is mentioned are Ps. 110 : 4, 
where Messiah is described as a priest 




St. Paul's Bay, Malta. 



forever, "after the order of Melchiz- 
edek," and Heb. 5, 6, 7, where these two 
passages of the Old Testament are quoted, 
and the typical relation of Melchizedek 
to our Lord is stated at great length. 
There is something surprising and mys- 
terious in the first appearance of Melchiz- 
edek, and in the subsequent reference to 
him. Bearing a title which Jews in after 
ages would recognize as designating their 
own sovereign, bearing gifts which recall 
to Christians the Lord's Supper, this Ca- 
naanite crosses for a moment the path of 
Abram, and is unhesitatingly recognized 
as a person of higher spiritual rank than 
the friend of God. Disappearing as sud- 
denly as he came, he is lost to the sacred 
writings for a thousand years. Jewish 
tradition pronounces Melchizedek to be 
a survivor of the deluge, the patriarch 
Shem. The way in which he is mentioned 
in Genesis would rather lead to the infer- 
ence that Melchizedek was of one blood 
with the children of Ham, among whom 
394 



he lived, chief (like the king of Sodom) 
of a settled Canaanitish tribe. The " or- 
der of Melchizedek," in Ps. 110 : 4, is ex- 
plained to mean " manner " = likeness in 
official dignitv = a king and priest. The 
relation between Melchizedek and Christ 
as tvpe and antitype is made in the Epis- 
tle to the Hebrews to consist in the fol- 
lowing particulars: Each was a priest, 
(1) not of the Levitical tribe; (2) superior 
to Abraham; (3) whose beginning and 
end are unknown ; (4) who is not only a 
priest, but also a king of righteousness 
and peace. A fruitful source of discus- 
sion has been found in the site of Salem. 
[Salem.] 

Mele'a, the son of Menan, and ances- 
tor of Joseph in the genealogy of J esus 
Christ, Luke 3 : 31. 

Me'lech, the second son of Micah, the 
son of Merib-baal or Mephibosheth. 1 
Chron. 8 : 35 ; 9 :41. 

Mel'icu, the same as Malluch 6. 
Neh. 12 : 14; comp. ver. 2. 



MEL 



MEM 



Mel'ita {honey), the modern 3Ialta. 
This island lies in the Mediterranean 60 
miles south of Cape Passaro in Sicily, 900 
miles from Gibraltar and about 1200 from 
Jerusalem. It is 17 miles long by 9 or 10 
broad. It is naturally a barren rock, 
with no high mountains, but has been 
rendered fertile by industry and toil. It 
is famous for its honey and fruits. It is 
now in the hands of the English. — 
McClintock and Strong. This island has 
an illustrious place in Scripture as the 
scene of that shipwreck of St. Paul which 
is described in such minute detail 
in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 
27. The wreck probably hap- 
pened at the place traditionally 
known as St. Paul's Bay, an in- 
let with a creek two miles deep 
and one broad. The question has 
been set at rest forever by Mr. 
Smith of Jordan Hill, in his 
" Voyage and Shipwreck of St. 
Paul," the first published work 
in which it was thoroughly inves- 
tigated from a sailor's point of SB 
view. The objection that there 
are no vipers in Malta is overruled 
by the fact that Mr. Lewin saw 
such a serpent there, and that 
there may have been vipers in the 
wilder ancient times, even were 
none found there now. As regards 
the condition of the island of 
Melita, when St. Paul was there it 
was a dependency of the Eoman province 
of Sicily. Its chief officer (under the gov- 
ernor of Sicily ) appears from inscriptions 
to have had the title of npwTos McAmaW, 
or Primus Melitensium, and this is the 
very phrase which Luke uses. Acts 28 : 7. 
Melita, from its position in the Mediter- 
ranean and the excellence of its harbors, 
has always been important in both com- 
merce and war. It was a settlement of 
the Phoenicians at an early period, and 
their language, in a corrupted form, was 
still spoken there in St. Paul's day. 

Melons (Heb. abatticHm) are men- 
tioned only in Num. 11 : 5. By the He- 
brew word we are probably to understand 
both the melon (Cucumis melo) and the 
watermelon {Cucu'rbita citruilus). The 
watermelon, which is now extensively 
cultivated in all hot countries, is a fruit 
not unlike the common melon, but the 
leaves are deeply lobed and gashed; 
the flesh is pink or white, and contains a 
large quantity of cold watery juice with- 
out much flavor ; the seeds are black. 



Melzar (steward ). The Authorized 
Version is wrong in regarding melzar as 
a proper name; it is rather an official 
title, Dan. 1 : 11, 16; the marginal read- 
ing, " the steward," is therefore more 
correct. 

Mem'phis (haven of the good), a city 
of ancient Egypt, situated on the western 
bank of the Nile, about nine miles south 
of Cairo and five from the great pyramids 
and the sj^hinx. It is mentioned by Isa- 
iah, Isa. 19:13, Jeremiah, Jer. 2:16; 
46 : 14, 19, and Ezekiel, Ezek. 30 : 13, 16, 




The Serapeium at Memphis (Noph). 

under the name of Noph. Though some 
regard Thebes as the more ancient city, 
the monuments of Memphis are of higher 
antiquity than those of Thebes. The 
city is said to have had a circumference 
of about 19 miles. The temple of Apis 
was one of the most noted structures of 
Memphis. It stood opposite the southern 
portico of the temple of Ptah ; and Psam- 
metichus, who built that gateway, also 
erected in front of the sanctuary of Apis 
a magnificent colonnade, supported by 

! colossal statues or Osiride pillars, such 
as may still be seen at the temple of Me- 
deenet Habou at Thebes. Herod, ii. 153. 

I Through this colonnade the Apis was led 
with great pomp upon state occasions. 
At Memphis was the reputed burial-place 
of Isis ; it had also a temple to that 
"myriad-named" divinity. Memphis 
had also its Serapeium, winch probably 
stood in the western quarter of the city. 
The sacred cubit and other symbols used 
in measuring the rise of the Nile were 
deposited in the temple of Serapis. The 
395 



MEM 



MEP 



Necropolis, adjacent to Memphis, was on 
a scale of grandeur corresponding with the 
city itself. The " city of the pyramids" 
is a title of Memphis in the hieroglyphics 
upon the monuments. Memphis long 
held its place as a capital ; and for cen- 
turies a Memphite dynasty ruled over 
all Egypt. Lepsius, Bunsen and Brugsch 
agree in regarding the third, fourth, sixth, 
seventh and eighth dynasties of the old 
empire as Memphite, reaching through a 
period of about 1000 years. The city's 
overthrow was distinctly predicted by the 




Colossal Figure discovered at Memphis. 

Hebrew prophets. Isa. 19 : 13 ; Jer. 46 : 
19. The latest of these predictions was 
uttered nearly 600 years before Christ, 
and half a century before the invasion of 
Egypt by Cambyses {cir. B.C. 525). He- 
rodotus informs us that Cambyses, en- 
raged at the opposition he encountered 
at Memphis, committed many outrages 
upon the city. The city never recovered 
from the blow inflicted by Cambyses. 
The rise of Alexandria hastened its de- 
cline. The caliph conquerors founded 
Fostat (old Cairo) upon the opposite 
bank of the Nile, a few miles north of 
Memphis, and brought materials from the 
old city to build their new capital, A.D. 
638. At length so complete was the ruin 
of Memphis that for a long time its very 
site was lost. Recent explorations have 
brought to light many of its antiquities. 

Memu'can {dignified), one of the 
seven princes of Persia in the reign of 
Ahasuerus, who "saw the king's face," 
and sat first in the kingdom. Esther 1 : 
14, 16, 21. 
396 



Men'ahem {comforter), son of Gadi, 
who slew the usurper Shallum, and 
seized the vacant throne of Israel, B.C. 
772. His reign, which lasted ten years, 
is briefly recorded in 2 Kings 15 : 14-22. 
He maintained the calf- worship of Jero- 
boam. The contemporary prophets Ho- 
sea and Amos have left a melancholy 
picture of the ungodliness, demoraliza- 
tion and feebleness of Israel. Menahem 
reigned B.C. 771-760. 

Me'nan (called Menna in the Revised 
Version), one of the ancestors of Joseph 
in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 

: Luke 3 : 31. 

Mene {numbered), the first 
word of the mysterious inscription 
written upon the wall of Belshaz- 
zar's palace, in which Daniel read 
the doom of the king and his dy- 
nasty. Dan. 5 : 25, 26. 

Me'ni (fate, fortune). Isa. 65 : 
11. This word is a proper name, 
and is also the proper name of an 
object of idolatrous worship culti- 
vated by the Jews in Babylon. 

Men'na. In the Revised Ver- 
sion of Luke 3 : 31 for Menan. 

Meon'enim (enchanters) , The 
plain of, an oak or terebinth, or 
other great tree. Judges 9 : 37. The 
meaning of Meonenim, if inter- 
preted as a Hebrew word, is en- 
chanters or "observers of times," 
as it is elsewhere rendered, Deut. 
18 : 10, 14; in Micah 5 : 12 it is " sooth- 
sayers." 

Meon'otha-i (my habitations), one 
of the sons of Othniel, the younger brother 
of Caleb. 1 Chron. 4 : 14. 

Meph'a-ath (splendor, height), a 
city of the Reubenites, one of the towns 
dependent on Heshbon, Josh. 13 : 18, ly- 
ing in the district of the Mishor, comp. 
ver. 17 and Jer. 48 : 21, Authorized Ver- 
sion "plain," which probably answered 
to the modern Belka. It was one of the 
cities allotted with their suburbs to the 
Merarite Levites. Josh. 21 : 37 ; 1 Chron. 
6 : 79. Its site is uncertain. 

Mephib'osheth (exterminating the 
idol), the name borne by two members 
of the family of SaitT — his son and his 
grandson. 1. Saul's son by Rizpah the 
daughter of Aiah, his concubine. 2 Sam. 
21 : 8. He and his brother Armoni were 
among the seven victims who were sur- 
rendered by David to the Gibeonites, and 
by them crucified to avert a famine from 
which the country was suffering. 



MEE 



MER 



2. The son of Jonathan, grandson of | 
Saul and nephew of the preceding ; called i 
also Merib-baal. 1 Chron. 8 : 34. His life J 
seems to have been, from beginning to 
end, one of trial and discomfort. When 
his father and grandfather were slain on 
Gilboa he was an infant but five years 
old. At this age he met with an accident 
which deprived him for life of the use of 
both feet. 2 Sam. 4:4. After this he 
found a home with Machir ben-Ammiel, 
a powerful Gadite, who brought him up, 
and while here was married. Later on 
David invited him to Jerusalem, and 
there treated him and his son Micha 
with the greatest kindness. From this 
time forward he resided at Jerusalem. 
Of Mephibosheth's behavior during the 
rebellion of Absalom we possess two ac- 
counts — his own, 2 Sam. 19 : 24-30, and 
that of Ziba, 2 Sam. 16 : 1-4. They are 
naturally at variance with each other. 
In consequence of the story of Ziba, he 
was rewarded by the possessions of his 
master. Mephibosheth's story — which, 
however, he had not the opportunity of 
telling until several days later, when he 
met David returning to his kingdom at 
the western bank of Jordan — was very 
different from Ziba's. That David did 
not disbelieve it is shown by his revoking 
the judgment he had previously given. 
That he did not entirely reverse his de- 
cision, but allowed Ziba to retain posses- 
sion of half the lands of Mephibosheth, 
is probably due partly to weariness at 
the whole transaction, but mainly to the 
conciliatory frame of mind in which he 
was at that moment. " Shall there any 
man be put to death this day?" is the 
keynote of the w T hole proceeding. 

Me'rab {increase), the eldest daughter 
of King Saul. 1 Sam. 14 : 49. In accord- 
ance with the promise which he made be- 
fore the engagement with Goliath, ch. 17 : 
25, Saul betrothed Merab to David, ch. 18 : 
17. Before the marriage Merab's younger 
sister Michal had displayed her attach- 
ment for David, and Merab was then 
married to Adriel the Meholathite, to 
whom she bore five sons. 2 Sam. 21 : 8. 

Mera'iah {rebellion), a priest in the 
days of Joiakim. Neh. 12 : 12. 

Mera'ioth {rebellious). 1. A descend- 
ant of Eleazar the son of Aaron, and head 
of a priestly house. 1 Chron. 6 : 6, 7, 52. 
It is apparently another Meraioth who 
comes in between Zadok and Ahitub in 
the genealogy of Azariah. 1 Chron. 9:11; 
Neh. 11 : 11. 



2. The head of one of the houses of 
priests, which in the time of Joiakim the 
son of Jeshua was represented by Helkai. 
Neh. 12 : 15. 

Mer'ari, Mer'arites {bitter, unhap- 
py), third son of Levi, and head of the 
third great division of the Levites, the 
Merarites. Gen. 46 : 8, 11. At the time 
of the exodus and the numbering in the 
wilderness, the Merarites consisted of two 
families, the Mahlites and the Mushites, 
Mahli and Mushi being either the two 
sons or the son and grandson of Merari. 
1 Chron. 6 : 19, 47. Their chief at that 
time was Zuriel. Their charge was the 
boards, bars, pillars, sockets, pins and 
cords of the tabernacle and the court, and 
all the tools connected with setting them 
up. In the division of the land by 
Joshua, the Merarites had twelve cities 
assigned to them, out of Reuben, Gad and 
Zebulun. Josh. 21:7, 34-40; 1 Chron. 
6 : 63, 77-81. In the days of Hezekiah 
the Merarites were still flourishing. 2 
Chron. 29 : 12, 15. 

Meratha'im {double rebellion)^ The 
land of, alluding to the country of the 
Chaldeans, and to the double captivity 
which it had inflicted on the nation of 
Israel. Jer. 50 : 21. 

Mercu'rius {herald of the gods), prop- 
erly Hermes, the Greek deity, whom the 
Romans identified with their Mercury, 
the god of commerce and bargains. Her- 
mes was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and 
Maia the daughter of Atlas, and is con- 
stantly represented as the companion of 
his father in his wandering upon earth. 
The episode of Baucis and Philemon, 
Ovid, Metam. viii. 620-724, appears to 
have formed part of the folk-lore of Asia 
Minor, and strikingly illustrates the read- 
iness with which the simple people of 
Lystra recognized in Barnabas and Paul 
the gods who, according to their wont, 
had come down in the likeness of men. 
Acts 14 : 11. 

Mer'cury, Acts 14 : 12, the translation 
of the above in the Revised Version. 

Mercy- seat. Ex. 25 : 17 ; 37 : 6 ; Heb. 
9 : 5. This appears to have been merely 
the lid of the ark of the covenant, not 
another surface affixed thereto. (It was 
a solid plate of gold, 2£ cubits (6J feet) 
long by 1£ cubits (2§ feet) wide, repre- 
senting a kind of throne of God, where 
he would hear prayer and from which 
he spoke words of comfort. — Ed.) It 
was that whereon the blood of the yearly 
atonement was sprinkled by the high 
397 



MER 



MER 



priest; and in this relation it is doubtful 
whether the sense of the word in the He- 
brew is based on the material fact of its 
" covering" the ark, or derived from this 
notion of its reference to the " covering" 
(i. e. atonement) of sin. 

Me'red (rebellion). This name occurs 
in a fragmentary genealogy in 1 Chron. 
4 : 17, 18, as that of one of the sons of 
Ezra. Tradition identities him with Ca- 
leb and Moses. 

Mer'emoth (elevations). 1. Son of 
Uriah or Urijah the priest, of the 

family of Koz or Hakkoz, the r- 

head of the seventh course of . — 4 

priests as established by David. ^ 

In Ezra 8 : 33 Meremoth is ap- 
pointed to weigh and register the 
gold and silver vessels belonging ^ 
to the temple. In the rebuilding jjjjjggtj 
of the wall of Jerusalem under agfgl 
Nehemiah we find Meremoth MiMf 
taking an active part. Neh. 3 : 4, lllfllp 
21. 531 

2. A layman of the sons of 
Bani, who had married a foreign 
wife. Ezra 10 : 3(J. 

3. A priest, or more probably a 
family of priests, who sealed the 
covenant with Nehemiah. Neh. 
10 :5. 

Me'res [lofty), one of the seven 
counsellors of Ahasuerus. Esther 
1 : 14. 

Mer'ibah [strife, contention). In Ex. 
17 : 7 we read, " he called the name of 
the place Massah and Meribah," where 
the people murmured and the rock was 
smitten. [For the situation see Rephi- 
DIM.] The name is also given to Kadesh, 
Num. 20:13, 24; 27:14; Deut. 32:51 
(Meribah-kadesh), because there also the 
people, when in want of water, strove 
with God. 

Merib'ba-al [contender against 
Baal). 1 Chron. 8 : 34; 9 : 40. [See 
Mephibosiieth.] 

Mero'dach {death), Jer. 50 : 2, iden- 
tical with the famous Babylonian Bel or 
Bel us, the word being probably at first a 
mere epithet of the god, which by de- 
grees superseded his proper appellation. 

Mero'dach-bal'adan ( worshipper 
of Baal) is mentioned as king of Baby- 
lon in the days of Hezekiah both in the 
second book of Kings, ch. 20 : 12, and in 
Isaiah, ch. 39 : 1. In the former place 
he is called Berodach-baladan. The 
name of Merodach-baladan has been rec- 
ognized in the Assyrian inscriptions. It 
398 



appears there were two reigns of this 
king, the first from. B.C. 721 to B.C. 709, 
when he was deposed ; and the second 
after his recovery of the throne in B.C. 

! 702, which lasted only half a year. There 
is some doubt as to the time at which he 
sent his embassadors to Hezekiah, for the 
purpose of inquiring as to the astronom- 

| ical marvel of which Judea had been the 
scene, 2 Chron. 32 : 31 ; but it appears to 
have been B.C. 713. 

I Me'rom (high place), The waters 




The Waters of Meroru. 

of, a lake formed by the river Jordan, 
about ten miles north of the Sea of Gal- 
ilee. It is a place memorable in the his- 
tory of the conquest of Palestine. Here 
Joshua completely routed the confederacy 
of the northern chiefs under Jabin. Josh. 
1 1 : 5, 7. It is a remarkable fact that though 
by common consent " the waters of Me- 
rom " are identified with the lake through 
which the Jordan runs between Banias 
and the Sea of Galilee — the Bahr el-Hu- 
leh of the modern Arabs — yet that iden- 
tity cannot be proved by any ancient rec- 
ord. In form the lake is not far from a 
triangle, the base being at the north and 
the apex at the south. It measures about 
three miles in each direction, and eleven 
feet deep. The water is clear and sweet; 
it is covered in parts by a broad-leaved 
plant, and abounds in water-fowl. (The 
northern part is a dense swamp of papy- 
rus reeds, as large as the lake itself. See 
" Rob Roy on the Jordan." — Ed.) 

Meron'othite, The, that is, the na- 
tive of a place called probably Meronoth, 
of which, however, no further traces have 



MER 



MES 



yet been discovered. Two Meronothites j 
are named in the Bible — 1. Jehdeiah, 1 
Cbron. 27 : 30 ; 2. Jadon. Neh. 3 : 7. 

Me'roz {refuge), a place, Judges 5 : i 
23, denounced because its inhabitants had ' 
refused to take any part in the struggle 
with Sisera. Meroz must have been in 
the neighborhood of the Kishon, but its 
real position is not known. Possibly it 
was destroyed in obedience to the curse, j 

Me'sech, Me'sheeh (drawing out), j 
a son of Japhet, Gen. 10 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 
5, and the progenitor of a race frequently i 
noticed in Scripture in connection' with 
Tubal, Magog and other northern na- ! 
tions. They appear as allies of Gog, I 
Ezek. 38 : 2, 3 ; 35) : 1, and as supplying 
the Tyrians with copper and slaves. 
Ezek. 27 : 13. In Ps. 120 : 5 they are no- 
ticed as one of the remotest and at the J 
same time rudest nations of the world. 
Both the name and the associations are 
in favor of the identification of Meshech j 
with the Moschi, a people on the borders 
of Colchis and Armenia. 

Me'sha (freedom). 1. The name of 
one of the geographical limits of the 
Joktanites when they first settled in 
Arabia. Gen. 10 : 30. 

2. The king of Moab who was tributary 
to Ahab, 2 Kings 3:4; but when Ahab 
fell at Ramoth-gilead, Mesha refused to 
pay tribute to his successor, Jehoram. 
When Jehoram succeeded to the throne of 
Israel, one of his first acts was to secure 
the assistance of Jehoshaphat, his fath- 
er's ally, in reducing the Moabites to their 
former condition of tributaries. The 
Moabites were defeated, and the king 
took refuge in his last stronghold, and 
defended himself with the energy of de- 
spair. With 700 fighting men he made a 
vigorous attempt to cut his way through 
the beleaguering army, and when beaten 
back, he withdrew to the wall of his 
city, and there, in sight of the allied host, 
offered his first-born son, his successor in 
the kingdom, as a burnt offering to Che- 
mosh, the ruthless fire-god of Moab. His 
bloody sacrifice had so far the desired 
effect that the besiegers retired from him ! 
to their own land. (At Dibon in Moab j 
has lately been discovered the famous 
Moabite Stone, which contains inscrip- 
tions concerning King Mesha and his 
wars, and which confirms the Bible ac- 
count. — Ed.) 

3. The eldest son of Caleb the son of 
Hezron by his wife Azubah, as Kimchi 
conjectures. 1 Chron. 2 : 42. 



4. A Benjamite, son of Shaharaim by 
his wife Hodesh, who bore him in the 
land of Moab. 1 Chron. 8 : 9. 

Me'shaeh (guest of a king), the name 
given to Mishael, one of the companions 
of Daniel, who with three others was 
chosen from among the captives to be 
taught, Dan. 1 : 4, and qualified to " stand 
before " King Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 1 : 
5, as his personal attendants and advis- 
ers. Dan. 1 : 20. But notwithstanding 
their Chaldean education, these three 
young Hebrews were strongly attached 
to the religion of their fathers ; and their 
refusal to join in the worship of the image 
on the plain of Dura gave a handle of 
accusation to the Chaldeans. The rage 
of the king, the swift sentence of con- 
demnation passed upon the three offend- 
ers, their miraculous preservation from 
the fiery furnace heated seven times hot- 
ter than usual, the king's acknowledg- 
ment of the God of Shadrach, Meshach 
and Abednego, with their restoration to 
office, are written in the third chapter of 
Daniel, and there the history leaves them. 

Meshelemi'ah (whom Jehovah re- 
pays), a Korhite porter or gate-keeper 
of the house of Jehovah in the reign of 
David. 1 Chron. 9 : 21 ; 26 : 1, 2, 9. 

Meshez'ab'e-el (delivered by God). 
1. Ancestor of Meshullam, who assisted 
Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall of Je- 
rusalem. Neh. 3 : 4. 

2. One of the " heads of the people," 
probably a family, who sealed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 21. 

3. The father of Pethahiah, and de- 
scendant of Zerah the son of Judah. 
Neh. 11 : 24. 

Meshil'lemith (recompense), the son 
of Immer, a priest. Neh. 11 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 
9 : 12. 

Meshil'lemoth (recompense). 1. An 
Ephraimite, one of the chiefs of the tribe 
in the reign of Pekah. 2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

2. The same as Meshillemith. Neh. 
11 : 13. 

Meshul'lam (friend). 1. Ancestor 
of Shaphan the scribe. 2 Kings 22 : 3. 

2. The son of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 3 : 
19. 

3. A Gadite in the reign of Jotham 
king of Judah. 1 Chron. 5 : 13. 

4. A Benjamite, of the sons of Elpaal. 
1 Chron. 8 : 17. 

5. A Benjamite, father of Sallu. 1 
Chron. 9:7; Neh. 11:7. 

6. A Benjamite who lived at Jerusa- 
lem after the captivity. 1 Chron. 9 : 8. 

399- 



MES 



MES 



7. The same as Shallum, who was high 
priest probably in the reign of Anion, 
and father of Hilkiah. 1 Chron. 9 : 11 ; 
Neh. 11 : 11. 

8. A priest, son of Meshilleniith or 
Meshillemoth the son of Immer, and an- 
cestor of Maasiai or Amashai. 1 Chron. 
9 : 12; comp. Neh. 11 : 13. 

9. A Kohathite or a family of Kohath- 
ite Levites, in the reign of Josiah. 2 
Chron. 34 : 12. 

10. One of the " heads " sent by Ezra 
to Iddo, " the head," to gather together 
the Levites to join the caravan about to 
return to Jerusalem. Ezra 8 : 10. 

11. A chief man who assisted Ezra in 
abolishing the marriages which some of 
the people had contracted with foreign 
wives. Ezra 10 : 15. 

12. One of the descendants of Bani, 
who had married a foreign wife and put 
her awav. Ezra 10 : 29. 

13. Neh. 3 : 30 ; 6 : 18. The son of Be- 
rechiah, who assisted in rebuilding the 
wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 4. 

14. The son of Besodeiah : he assisted 
Jehoiada the son of Paseah in restoring 
the old gate of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 6. 

15. One of those who stood at the left 
hand of Ezra when he read the law to 
the people. Neh. 8 : 4. 

16. A priest or family of priests who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 7. 

17. One of the heads of the people who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 20. 

18. A priest in the days of Joiakim the 
son of Jeshua, and representative of the 
house of Ezra. Neh. 12 : 13. 

19. Also a priest at the same time as 
the preceding, and head of the priestly 
family of Ginnethon. Neh. 12 : 16. 

20. A family of porters, descendants of 
Meshullam, Neh. 12 : 25, who is also 
called Meshelemiah, 1 Chron. 26 : 1, 
Shelemiah, 1 Chron. 26 : 14, and Shal- 
lum. Neh. 7 : 45. 

21. One of the princes of Judah at the 
dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 
12 : 33. 

Meshul'lemeth (friend), the daugh- 
ter of Haruz of Jotbah, wife of Manasseh 
king of Judah, and mother of his succes- 
sor, Amon. 2 Kings 21 : 19. 

Mes'oba-ite, The, a title attached 
to the name of Jasiel. 1 Chron. 11 : 47. 
It is impossible to pronounce with any 
certainty to what it refers. 

Mesopota'mia (between the rivers), 
400 



the entire country between the two rivers, 
the Tigris and the Euphrates. This is a 
tract nearly 700 miles long and from 20 
to 250 miles broad, extending in a south- 
easterly direction from Telek to Kurnah. 
The Arabian geographers term it "the 
Island," a name which is almost literally 
correct, since a few miles only intervene 
between the source of the Tigris and the 
Euphrates at Telek. But the region 
which bears the name of Mesopotamia, 
par excellence, both in Scripture and in 
the classical writers, is the northwestern 
portion of this tract, or the country be- 
tween the great bend of the Euphrates, 
lat. 35° to 37° 30', and the upper Tigris. 
We first hear of Mesopotamia in Scripture 
as the country where Nahor and his fam- 
ily settled after quitting Ur of the Chal- 
dees. Gen. 24 : 10. Here lived Bethuel 
and Laban ; and hither Abraham sent his 
servants to fetch Isaac a wife. Ibid. ver. 
38. Hither too, a century later, came 
Jacob on the same errand ; and hence he 
returned with his two wives after an ab- 
sence of twenty-one years. After this 
we have no mention of Mesopotamia till 
the close of the wanderings in the wil- 
derness. Deut. 23 : 4. About half a cen- 
tury later we find, for the first and last 
time, Mesopotamia the seat of a power- 
ful monarchy. Judges 3. Finally, the 
children of Ammon, having provoked a 
War with David, " sent a thousand talents 
of silver to hire them chariots and horse- 
men out of Mesopotamia, and out of 
Syria-maachah, and but of Zobah." 1 
Chron. 19 : 6. According to the Assyrian 
inscriptions Mesopotamia was inhabited 
in the early times of the empire, B.C. 
1200-1100, by a vast number of petty 
tribes, each under its own prince, and all 
quite independent of one another. The 
Assyrian monarchs contended with these 
chiefs at great advantage, and by the 
time of Jehu, B.C. 880, had fully estab- 
lished their dominion over them. On 
the destruction of the Assyrian empi»e, 
Mesopotamia seems to have been divided 
between the Medes and the Babylonians. 
The conquests of Cyrus brought it wholly 
under the Persian yoke ; and thus it con- 
tinued to the time of Alexander. Since 
1516 it has formed a part of the Turkish 
empire. It is full of ruins and mounds 
of ancient cities, some of which are now 
throwing much light on the Scripture. 

Messi'ah (anointed ). This word 
(Mashiach) answers to the word Christ 
(Xpiords) in the New Testament, and is 



MES 



MET 



applicable in its first sense to any one 
anointed with the holy oil. The kings 
of Israel were called anointed, from the 
mode of their consecration. 1 Sam. 2 : 10, 
35; 12:3, 5, etc. This word also refers 
to the expected Prince of the chosen peo- 
ple who was to complete God's pur- 
poses for them and to redeem them, and 
of whose coming the prophets of the old 
covenant in all time spoke. He was the 
Messiah, the Anointed, i. e. consecrated 
as the king and prophet by God's ap- 
pointment. The word is twice used in 
the New Testament of Jesus. John 1 : 
41 ; 4 : 25 ; Authorized Version " Mes- 
sias." The earliest gleam of the gospel 
is found in the account of the fall. Gen. 
3 : 15. The blessings in store for the 
children of Shem are remarkably indi- 
cated in the words of Noah. Gen. 9 : 26. 
Next follows the promise to Abraham. 
Gen. 12 : 2, 3. A great step is made in 
Gen. 49 : 10. This is the first case in 
which the promises distinctly centre in 
one person. The ne*xt passage usually 
quoted is the prophecy of Balaam. Num. 
24 : 17-19. The prophecy of Moses, Deut. 
18 : 18, claims attention. Passages in the 
Psalms are numerous which are applied 
to the Messiah in the New Testament ; 
such as Ps. 2, 16, 22, 40, 110. The ad- 
vance in clearness in this period is great. 
The name of Anointed, i. e. King, comes 
in, and the Messiah is to come of the 
lineage of David. He is described in his 
exaltation, with his great kingdom that 
shall be spiritual rather than temporal. 
Ps. 2, 21, 40, 110. In other places he is 
seen in suffering and humiliation. Ps. 
16, 22, 40. Later on the prophets show 
the Messiah as a king and ruler of David's 
house, who should come to reform and 
restore the Jewish nation and purify the 
Church, as in Isa. 11, 40-66. The bless- 
ings of the restoration, however, will not 
be confined to Jews; the heathen are 
made to share them fully. Isa. 2, 66. The 
passage of Micah 5 : 2 (comp. Matt. 2 : 6) 
left no doubt in the mind of the Sanhe- 
drin as to the birthplace of the Messiah. 
The lineage of David is again alluded to 
in Zech. 12 : 10-14. The coming of the 
Forerunner and of the Anointed is clear- 
ly revealed in Mai. 3:1; 4:5, 6. The 
Pharisees and those of the Jews who ex- 
pected Messiah at all looked for a tem- 
poral prince only. The apostles them- 
selves were infected with this opinion till 
after the resurrection. Matt. 20 : 20, 21 ; 
Luke 24 : 21 ; Acts 1 : 6. Gleams of a 
26 1 



purer faith appear in Luke 2 : 30 ; 23 : 42 ; 
John 4 : 25. 

Messi'as {anointed), the Greek form 
of Messiah. John 1 : 41 ; 4 : 25. 

Metals. The Hebrews, in common 
with other ancient nations, were ac- 
quainted with nearly all the metals 
known to modern metallurgy, whether as 
the products of their own soil or the re- 
sults of intercourse with foreigners. One 
of the earliest geographical definitions is 
that which describes the country of Hav- 
ilah as the land which abounded in gold, 
and the gold of which was good. Gen. 2 : 
11, 12. " Abram was very rich in cattle, 
in silver, and in gold," Gen. 13 : 2 ; sil- 
ver, as will be shown hereafter, being 
the medium of commerce, while gold ex- 
isted in the shape of ornaments, during the 
patriarchal ages. Tin is first mentioned 
Num. 31 : 22, and lead is used to heighten 
the imagery of Moses' triumphal song. 
Ex. 15 : 10. Whether the ancient He- 
brews were acquainted with steel, prop- 
erly so called, is uncertain ; the words so 
rendered in the Authorized Version, 2 
Sam. 22 : 35 ; Job 20 : 24 ; Ps. 18 : 34 ; Jer. 
15 : 12, are in all other passages translated 
brass, and would be more correctly cop- 
per. The "northern iron" of Jer. 15: 
12 is believed more nearly to correspond 
to what we call steel. [Steel.] It is 
supposed that the Hebrews used the mix- 
ture of copper and tin known as bronze. 
The Hebrews obtained their principal 
supply from the south of Arabia and the 
commerce of the Persian Gulf. Josh. 7 : 
21. The great abundance of gold in 
early times is indicated by its entering 
into the composition of all articles of or- 
nament and almost all of domestic use. 
Among the spoils of the Midianites taken 
by the Israelites in their bloodless vic- 
tory when Balaam was slain were ear- 
rings and jewels to the amount of 16,750 
shekels of gold, Num. 31 : 48-54, equal in 
value to more than $150,000. Seventeen 
hundred shekels of gold (worth more 
than $15,000) in nose jewels (Authorized 
Version "ear-rings") alone were taken 
by Gideon's army from the slaughtered 
Midianites. Judges 8: 26. But the amount 
of treasure accumulated by David from 
spoils taken in war is so enormous that 
we are tempted to conclude the numbers 
exaggerated. Though gold was thus 
common, silver appears to have been the 
ordinary medium of commerce. The first 
commercial transaction of which we pos- 
sess the details was the purchase of Eph- 
401- 



MET 



MIC 



ron's field by Abraham for 400 shekels 
of silver. Gen. 23 : 16. The accumula- 
tion of wealth in the reign of Solomon 
was so great that silver was but little es- 
teemed. 1 Kings 10 : 21, 27. Brass, or 
more properly copper, was a native pro- 
duct of Palestine. Deut. 8:9; Job 28 : 2. 
It was plentiful in the days of Solomon, 
and the quantity employed in the temple 
could not be estimated, it was so great. 1 
Kings 7 : 47. No allusion is found to 
zinc ; but tin was well known. Arms, 2 
Sam. 21 : 16 ; Job 20 : 24; Ps. 18 : 34, and 
armor, 1 Sam. 17 : 5, 6, 38, were made of 
copper, which was capable of being so 
wrought as to admit of a keen and hard 
edge. Iron, like copper, was found in 
the hills of Palestine. Iron-mines are 
still worked by the inhabitants of Kefr 
Huneh, in the south of the valley of Za- 
hardni. 

Me'theg=am'mah {bridle of the me- 
tropolis), a place which David took from 
the Philistines, apparently in his last 
war with them. 2 Sam. 8:1. Ammah 
may be taken as meaning " mother-city" 
or "metropolis," comp. 2 Sam. 20:19, 
and Metheg-ha-Ammah "the bridle of 
the mother-city" — viz. of Gath, the chief 
town of the Philistines. 

Methu'sael (man of God), the son of 
Mehujael, fourth in descent from Cain, 
and father of Lamech. Gen. 4:18. 

Methu'selah {man of the dart), the 
son of Enoch, sixth in descent from Seth, 
and father of Lamech. Gen. 5 : 25-27. 

Meu'nim (habitations). Neh. 7 : 52. 
Elsewhere given in Authorized Version 
as Mehunim and Mehunims. 

Meu'zal. Ezek. 27 : 19,marg. [Uzal.1 

Mez'ahab {waters of gold), the father 
of Hatred and grandfather of Mehetabel, 
who was wife of Hadar or Hadad, the 
last-named king of Edom. Gen. 36 : 39 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 50. 

Mi'amin (from the right hand). 1. 
A layman of Israel who had married a 
foreign wife and put her away at the bid- 
ding of Ezi-a. Ezra 10 : 25. 

2. A priest or family of priests who 
went up from Babylon with Zerubbabel. 
Neh. 12:5. 

Mib'har {choicest), one of David's ; 
heroes in the list given in 1 Chron. 11 : 
38. 

Mib'sam {sweet odor). 1. A son of 
Ishmael. Gen. 25 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 29. 

2. A son of Simeon. 1 Chron. 4 : 25. 

Mib'zar (fortress), one of the " dukes " 
of Edom. Gen. 36 : 42 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 53. 
402 



Mi'cah {who is like Godf), the same 
name as Micaiah. [Micaiah.] 1. An 
Israelite whose familiar story is pre- 
served in the 17 th and 18th chapters 
of Judges. Micah is evidently a de- 
vout believer in Jehovah, and yet so com- 
pletely ignorant is he of the law of Je- 
hovah that the mode which he adopts of 
honoring him is to make a molten and 
graven image, teraphim or images of do- 
mestic gods, and to set up an unauthor- 
ized priesthood, first in his own family, 
Judges 17:5, and then in the person of a 
Levite not of the priestly line. ver. 12. 
A body of 600 Danites break in upon and 
steal his idols from him. 

2. The sixth in order of the minor 
prophets. He is called the Morasthite, 
that is, a native of Moresheth, a small 
village near Eleutheropolis to the east, 
where formerly the prophet's tomb was 
shown, though in the days of Jerome it 
had been succeeded by a church. Micah 
exercised the prophetical office during 
the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Heze- 
kiah, kings of Judah, giving thus a max- 
imum limit of 59 years, B.C. 756-697, 
from the accession of Jotham to the death 
of Hezekiah, and a minimum limit of 16 
years, B.C. 742-726, from the death of 
jotham to the accession of Hezekiah. 
He was contemporary with Hosea and 
Amos during the part of their ministry 
in Israel, and with Isaiah in Judah. 

3. A descendant of Joel the Reubenite. 
1 Chron. 5 : 5. 

4. The son of Meribbaal or Mephibo- 
sheth, the son of Jonathan. 1 Chron. 8 : 
34, 35; 9 :40, 41. 

5. A Kohathite Levite, the eldest son 
of Uzziel the brother of Amram. 1 Chron. 
23 : 20. 

6. The father of Abdon, a man of high 
station in the reign of Josiah. 2 Chron. 
34 : 20. 

Mi'cah, The book of. Three sec- 
tions of this work represent three natural 
divisions of the prophecy — 1, 2; 3-5; 
6, 7— each commencing with rebukes 
and threatening and closing with a prom- 
ise. The first section opens with a mag- 
nificent description of the coming of 
Jehovah to judgment for the sins and 
idolatries of Israel and Judah, ch. 1 : 2-4, 
and the sentence pronounced upon Sa- 
maria, vs. 5-9, by the Judge himself. The 
sentence of captivity is passed upon 
them, Micah 2 : 10, but is followed in- 
stantly by a promise of restoration and 
triumphant return, ch. 2 : 12, 13. The sec- 



MIC 



MIC 



ond section is addressed especially to the 
princes and heads of the people : their 
avarice and rapacity are rebuked in strong 
terms ; but the threatening is again suc- 
ceeded by a promise of restoration. In 
the last section, chs. 6, 7, Jehovah, by a 
bold poetical figure, is represented as 
holding a controversy with his people, 
pleading with them in justification of his 
conduct toward them and the reasonable- 
ness of his requirements. The whole 
concludes with a triumphal song of joy 
at the great deliverance, like that from 
Egypt, which Jehovah will achieve, and 
a full acknowledgment of his mercy and 
faithfulness to his promises, vs. 16-20. 
The last verse is reproduced in the song 
of Zacharias. Luke 1 : 72, 73. Micah's 
prophecies are distinct and clear. He 
it is who says that the Ruler shall spring 
from Bethlehem, ch. 5 : 2. His style has 
been compared with that of Hosea and 
Isaiah. His diction is vigorous and forci- 
ble, sometimes obscure from the abrupt- 
ness of its transitions, but varied and rich. 

Mica'iah {who is like God?). Mica- 
iah, the son of Imlah, was a prophet of 
Samaria, who in the last year of the reign 
of Ahab king of Israel predicted his de- 
feat and death, B.C. 897. 1 Kings 22 : 1- 
35; 2 Chron. 18. 

Mi'cha (ivho is like God?). 1. The 
son of Mephibosheth. 2 Sam. 9 : 12. 

2. A Levite who signed the covenant 
with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 11. 

3. The father of Mattaniah, a Gershon- 
ite Levite and descendant of Asaph. Neh. 
11 : 17, 22. 

Mi'chael {who is like God?). 1. An 
Asherite, father of Sethur, one of the 
twelve spies. Num. 13 : 13. 

2. One of the Gadites who settled in 
the land of Bashan. 1 Chron. 5 : 13. 

3. Another Gadite, ancestor of Abihail. 
1 Chron. 5 : 14. 

4. A Gershonite Levite, ancestor of 
Asaph. 1 Chron. 6 : 40. 

5. One of the five sons of Izrahiah, of 
the tribe of Issachar. 1 Chron. 7:3. 

6. A Benjamite of the sons of Beriah. 
1 Chron. 8 : 16. 

7. One of the captains of the "thou- 
sands" of Manasseh who joined David at 
Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 20. 

8. The father or ancestor of Omri, 
chief of the tribe of Issachar in the reign 
of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 18. 

9. One of the sons of Jehoshaphat who 
were murdered by their elder brother, 
Jehoram'. 2 Chron. 21 : 2, 4. 



10. The father or ancestor of Zebadiah, 
of the sons of Shephatiah. Ezra 8 : 8. 

11. "One," or "the first, of the chief 
princes" or archangels, Dan. 10 : 13; 
comp. Jude 9, described in Dan. 10 : 21 
as the "prince" of Israel, and in ch. 12 : 
1 as " the great prince which standeth " 
in time of conflict " for the children of 
thy people." 

Mi'chah {who is like God?), eldest son 
of Uzziel the son of Kohath, 1 Chron. 24 : 
24, 25; elsewhere, 1 Chron. 23 : 20, called 
Micah. 

Micha'iah {who is like God?). 1. 
| Same as Micah 6. 2 Chron. 34 : 20. 

2. Same as Micha 3. 1 Chron. 9 : 15 ; 
Neh. 12 : 35. 

3. One of the priests at the dedication 
of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 41. 

4. The daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, 
j wife of Eehoboam and mother of Abijah 

king of Judah. 2 .Chron. 13 : 2. [Ma- 
achah, 3.] 

5. One of the princes of Jehoshaphat 
| whom he sent to teach the law of Jeho- 
vah in the cities of Judah. 2 Chron. 17 : 7. 

6. The son of Gemariah. He is only 
; mentioned on one occasion. Jer. 36 : 11, 

13, 14. 

Mi'chal {who is like God?), the 
■ younger of Saul's two daughters, 1 Sam. 

14 : 49, who married David. The price 
| fixed on Michal's hand was no less than 
| the slaughter of a hundred Philistines, 
i David by a brilliant feat doubled the tale 
of victims, and Michal became his wife, 
j Shortly afterward she saved David from 
i the assassins whom her father had sent 
! to take his life. 1 Sam. 19 : 11-17. When 
the rupture between Saul and David had 
I become open and incurable, she was mar- 
ried to another man, Phalti or Phaltiel 
j of Gallim. 1 Sam. 25 : 44. After the death 
of her father and brothers at Gilboa, Da- 
vid compelled her new husband to sur- 
! render Michal to him. 2 Sam. 3 : 13-16. 
j How Michal comported herself in the al- 
tered circumstances of David's household 
we are not told ; but it is plain from the 
subsequent occurrences that something 
had happened to alter the relations of her- 
self and David, for on the day of David's 
I greatest triumph, when he brought the 
ark of Jehovah to Jerusalem, we are told 
that "she despised him in her heart." 
All intercourse between her and David 
ceased from that date. 2 Sam. 6 : 20-23. 
Her name appears, 2 Sam. 21 : 8, as the 
mother of five of the grandchildren of 
Saul. 

403 



MIC 



MIG 



Mich/mas, or Mich/mash {hidden), 
a town which is known to us almost solely 
by its connection with the Philistine war 
of Saul and Jonathan. 1 Sam. 13, 14. It 
has been identified with great probability 
in a village which still bears the name 
of Mukhmas, about seven miles north of 
Jerusalem. The place was thus situated 
in the very middle of" the tribe of Benja- 
min. In the invasion of Sennacherib in 
the reign of Hezekiah, it is mentioned by 
Isaiah. Isa. 10 : 28. After the captivity 
the men of the place returned. Ezra 2 : 
27; Neh. 7 : 31. At a later date it be- 
came the residence of Jonathan Mac- 
cabseus and the seat of his government. 
1 Mace. 9 : 73. In the time of Eusebius 
and Jerome it was " a very large village, 
retaining its ancient name, and lying near 
Ramah in the district of Mlia, (Jerusa- 
lem), at ten miles distance therefrom." 
Immediately below the village the great 
wady spreads out to a considerable width 
— perhaps half a mile ; and its bed is 
broken up into an intricate mass of hum- 
mocks and mounds, two of which, before 
the torrents of three thousand winters 
had reduced and rounded their forms, 
were probably the two " teeth of clilf" — 
the Bozez and Seneh of Jonathan's ad- 
venture. 

Mich'methah (hiding-place), a place 
which formed one of the landmarks of 
the boundary of the territories of Ephra- 
im and Manasseh on the western side of 
Joi-dan. Josh. 17 : 7. The position of the 
place must be somewhere on the east of 
and not far distant from Shechem. 

Mich'ri (worthy of price), ancestor of 
Elah, one of the heads of the fathers of 
Benjamin. 1 Chron. 9 : 8. 

Michtam (golden psalm). This word 
occurs in the titles of six psalms (16, 56- 
60), all of which are ascribed to David. 
The marginal reading of our Authorized 
Version is " a golden psalm," while in 
the Geneva version it is described as "a 
certain tune." Fi'om the position which 
it occupies in the title we may infer that 
michtam is a term applied to these psalms 
to denote their musical character, but be- 
yond this everything is obscure. 

Mid'din (measures^, a city of Judah, 
Josh. 15 : 61, one of the six specified as 
situated in the district of "the midbar" 
(Authorized Version "wilderness"). 

Mid/ian (strife), a son of Abraham 
and Keturah, Gen. 25 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 32; 
progenitor of the Midianites, or Arabians 
dwelling principally in the desert north 
401 



of the peninsula of Arabia. Southward 
they extended along the eastern shore cf 
the Gulf of Eyleh (Sinus JElaniticus) ; 
and northward they stretched along the 
eastern frontier of Palestine. The " land 
of Midian," the place to which Moses tied 
after having killed the Egyptian, Ex. 2 : 
15, 21, or the portion of it specially re- 
ferred to, was probably the peninsula of 
Sinai. The influence of the Midianites 
on the Israelites was clearly most evil, 
and directly tended to lead them from 
the injunctions of Moses. The events at 
Shittim occasioned the injunction to vex 
Midian and smite them. - After a lapse 
of some years, the Midianites appear 
again as the enemies of the Israelites, 
oppressing them for seven years, but are 
finally defeated with great slaughter by 
Gideon. [Gideon.] The Midianites are 
described as true Arabs, and possessed 
cattle and flocks and camels as the sand 
of the seashore for multitude. The spoil 
taken in the war of both Moses and of 
Gideon is remarkable. Num. 31 : 22 ; 
Judges 8 : 21, 24-26. We have here a 
wealthy Arab nation, living by plunder, 
delighting in finery ; and, where forays 
were impossible, carrying on the traffic 
southward into Arabia, the land of gold 
— if not naturally, by trade — and across to 
Chaldea, or into the rich plains of Egypt. 

Mig'dal-el (tower of God), one of the 
fortified towns of the possession of Naph- 
tali, Josh. 19 : 38 only, possibly deriving 
its name from some ancient tower — the 
"tower of El," or God. 

Mig'dal-gad (tower of Gad), a city 
of Judah, Josh. 15 : 37, in the district of 
the Shefelah, or maritime lowland. 

Mig'dol (tower), the name of one or 
two places on the eastern frontier of 
Egypt. 1. A Migdol is mentioned in the 
account of the exodus, Ex. 14 : 2 ; Num. 
33 : 7, 8, near the head of the Red Sea. 

2. A Migdol is spoken of by Jeremiah 
and Ezekiel. The latter prophet men- 
tions it as a boundarv-town, evidently on 
the eastern border. Ezek. 29 : 10 ; 30 : 6. 
In the prophecy of Jeremiah the Jews in 
Egypt are spoken of as dwelling at Mig- 
dol. Jer. 44 : 1. It seems plain, from its 
being spoken of with Memphis, and from 
Jews dwelling there, that this Migdol 
was an important town. 

Mig'ron (precipice), a town or a spot 
in the neighborhood of Gibeah. 1 Sam. 
14:2. Migron is also mentioned in Sen- 
nacherib's approach to Jerusalem. Isa. 
10 : 28. 



MIJ 



MIL 



Mij'amin {from the right hand). 1. 
The chief of the sixth of the twenty-four 
courses of priests established by David. 
1 Chron. 24 : 9. 

2. A family of priests who signed the 
covenant with Nehemiah ; probably the 
descendants of the preceding. Neh. 10 : 7. 

Mik'loth {staves). 1. One of the sons 
of Jehiel, the father or prince of Gibeon, 
by his wife Maachah. 1 Chron. 8 : 32 ; 9 : 
37, 38. 

2. The leader of the second division of 
David's army. 1 Chron. 27 : 4. 

Mikne'iah {])ossession of Jehovah), 
one of the Levites of the second rank, 



gatekeepers of the ark, appointed by Da- 
vid to play in the temple band " with 
harps upon Sheminith." 1 Chron. 15 : 18, 
21. 

Milala'i {eloquent), probably a Ger- 
shonite Levite of the sons of Asaph, who 
assisted at the dedication of the walls of 
Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 36. 

Mil 'can {queen or counsel). 1. Daugh- 
ter of Haran and wife of her uncle Nahor, 
Abraham's brother, to whom she bore 
eight children. Gen. 11 : 29 ; 22 : 20, 23 ; 
24 : 15, 24, 47. 

2. The fourth daughter of Zelophehad. 
Num. 26 : 33 ; 27:1; 36 : 11 ; Josh. 17 : 3. 




Miletus. 



Mil'com [great Icing). [Molech.] 
Mile, a Roman measure of length, 
equal to 1618 English yards— 4854 feet, 
or about nine-tenths of an English mile. 
It is only once noticed in the Bible, Matt. 
5 : 41, the usual method of reckoning both 
in the New Testament and in Josephus 
being by the stadium. The mile of the 
Jews is said to have been of two kinds, 
long or short, dependent on the length of 
the pace, which varied in different parts, 
the long pace being double the length of 
the short one. 

Mile'tus, Acts 20 : 15, 17, less correctly 
called Miletum in 2 Tim. 4 : 20. It lay 
on the coast, 36 miles to the south of 
Ephesus, a day's sail from Trogyllium. 
Acts 20 : 15. Moreover, to those who are 



sailing from the north it is in the direct 
line for Cos. The site of Miletus has now 
receded ten miles from the coast, and even 
in the apostles' time it must have lost its 
strictly maritime position. Miletus was 
far more famous five hundred years before 
St. Paul's day than it ever became after- 
ward. In early times it was the most 
flourishing city of the Ionian Greeks. In 
the natural order of events it was absorbed 
in the Persian empire. After a brief 
period of spirited independence, it re- 
ceived a blow from which it never recov- 
ered, in the siege conducted by Alexander 
when on his eastern campaign. But still 
it held, even through the Roman period, 
the rank of a second-rate trading town, 
and Strabo mentions its four harbors. 

405 



MIL 



MIL 



At this time it was politically in the prov- 
ince of Asia, though Caria was the old 
ethnological name of the district in which 
it was situated. All that is left now is a 
small Turkish village called Melas, near 
the site of the ancient city. 

Milk. As an article of diet, milk holds 
a more important position in eastern 
countries than with us. It is not a mere 
adjunct in cookery, or restricted to the 
use of the young, although it is naturally 
the characteristic food of childhood, both 
from its simple and nutritive qualities, 1 
Pet. 2 : 2, and particularly as contrasted 
with meat, 1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5 : 12 ; but 
beyond this it is regarded as substantial 
food adapted alike to ail ages and classes. 
Not only the milk of cows, but of sheep, 
Deut. 32 : 14, of camels, Gen. 32 : 15, and 
of goats, Prov. 27 : 27, was used ; the lat- 
ter appears to have been most highly 
prized. 




Eastern Women Grinding at the Mill. 

Mill. The mills of the ancient He- 
brews probably differed but little from 
those at present in use in the East. These 
consist of two circular stones, each about 
eighteen inches or two feet in diameter, 
the lower of which is fixed, and has its 
upper surface slightly convex, fitting into 
a corresponding concavity in the upper 
stone. In the latter is a hole through 
which the grain passes, immediately 
above a pivot or shaft which rises from 
the centre of the lower stone, and about 
which the upper stone is turned by means 
of an upright handle fixed near the edge. 
It is worked by women, sometimes singly 
and sometimes two together, who are 
406 



usually seated on the bare ground, Isa. 
47 : 1, 2, "facing each other; both have 
hold of the handle by which the upper 
is turned round on the 'nether' mill- 
stone. The one whose right hand is dis- 
engaged throws in the grain as occasion 
requires through the hole in the upper 
stone. It is not correct to say that one 
pushes it half round and then the other 
seizes the handle. This would be slow 
work, and would give a spasmodic mo- 
tion to the stone. Both retain their hold, 
and pull to or push from, as men do with 
the whip or cross-cut saw. The proverb 
of our Saviour, Matt. 24 : 41, is true to 
life, for women only grind. 1 cannot re- 
call an instance in which men were at 
the mill." — Thomson, " The Land and 
the Book," c. 34. So essential were mill- 
stones for daily domestic use that they 
were forbidden to be taken in pledge. 
Deut. 24 : 6. There were also larger mills 
that could only be turned by cattle 
or asses. Allusion to one of these 
is made in Matt. 18 : 6. With the 
movable upper millstone of the 
hand-mill the woman of Thebez 
broke Abimelech's skull. Judges 
9 :53. 

Millet, a kind of grain. A num- 
ber of t pecies are cultivated in the 
East. When green it is used as 
fodder, and for bread when ripe. 
Ezek. 4:9. It is probable that 
both the Sorgh um vulgare and the 
Panicum miliaceum were used, 
and the Hebrew dochan may de- 
note either of these plants. 

Mil'lo (a rampart, mound), a 
place in ancient Jerusalem. Both 
name and place seem to have been 
already in existence when the city 
was taken from the Jebusites by 
David. 2 Sam. 5 : 9 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 8. 
Its repair or restoration was one of the 
great works for which Solomon raised his 
" levy," 1 Kings 9 : 15, 24 ; 11 : 27 ; and it 
formed a prominent part of the fortifi- 
cations by which Hezekiah prepared for 
the approach of the Assyrians. 2 Chron. 
32 : 5. The last passage seems to show 
that " the Millo " was part of the " city of 
David," that is, of Zion. Comp. 2 Kings 
12 : 20. 

Mil'lo, The house of. 1. Ap- 
parently a family or clan, mentioned m 
Judges 9 : 6, 20 only, in connection with 
the men or lords of Shechem. 

2. The spot at which King Joash was 
murdered by his slaves. 2 Kings 12 : 20. 



MIN 



MIN 



Mines, Mining. A highly-poetical j 
description given by the author of the 
book of Job of the operations of mining 
as known in his day is the only record j 
of the kind which we inherit from the 
ancient Hebrews. Job 28 : 1-11. In the I 
Wady Magharah, "the valley of the 
cave," are still traces of the Egyptian 
colony of miners who settled there for 
the purpose of extracting copper from 
the freestone rocks, and left their hiero- 
glyphic inscriptions upon the face of the 
cliff. The ancient furnaces are still to be 
seen, and on the coast of the Red Sea are 
4 found the piers and wharves whence the 




Millet. 



miners shipped their metal in the harbor 
of Abu Zelimeh. Three methods were 
employed for refining gold and silver : 
(1) by exposing the fused metal to a cur- 
rent of air; (2) by keeping the alloy in a 
state of fusion and throwing nitre upon 
it; and (3) by mixing the alloy with 
lead, exposing the whole to fusion upon 
a vessel of bone-ashes or earth, and blow- 
ing upon it with bellows or other blast. 
There seems to be reference to the latter 
in Ps. 12:6; Jer. 6:28-30; Ezek. 22: 
18-22. The chief supply of silver in the 
ancient world appears to have been 
brought from Spain. The Egyptians 
evidently possessed the art of working 
bronze in great perfection at a very early 



time, and much of the knowledge of 
metals which the Israelites had must 
have been acquired during their resi- 
dence among them. Of tin there appears 
to have been no trace in Palestine. The 
hills of Palestine are rich in iron, and 
the mines are still worked there, though 
in a very simple, rude manner. 

Mini'amin { from the right hand). 1. 
A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 2 
Chron. 31 : 15. 

2. The same as Miamin 2 and Mijamin 
2. Neh. 12 : 17. 

3. One of the priests at the dedication 
of the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 41. 

Minister. This term is used in the 
Authorized Version to describe various 
officials of a religious and civil character. 
Its meaning, as distinguished from serv- 
ant, is a voluntary attendant on another. 
In the Old Testament it is applied (1) 
to an attendance upon a person of high 
rank, Ex. 24 : 13 ; Josh. 1:1; 2 Kings 
4 : 43 ; (2) to the attaches of a royal court, 
1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chron. 22:8; comp. 
Ps. 104 : 4 ; (3) to the priests and Levites. 
Ezra 8 : 17 ; Neh. 10 : 36 ; Isa. 61:6; 
Ezek. 44 : 11 ; Joel 1 : 9, 13. One term in 
the New Testament betokens a subordi- 
nate public administrator, Rom. 13 : 6 ; 
15 : 16; Heb. 8 : 2, one who perforins 
certain gratuitous public services. A 
second term contains the idea of actual 
and personal attendance upon a superior, 
as in Luke 4 : 20. The minister's duty 
was to open and close the building, to 
produce and replace the books employed 
in the service, and generally to wait on 
the officiating priest or teacher. A third 
term, diakonos (from which comes our 
word deacon), is the one usually em- 
ployed in relation to the ministry of the 
gospel : its application is twofold, — in a 
general sense to indicate ministers of any 
order, whether superior or inferior, and 
in a special sense to indicate an order of 
inferior ministers. [Deacon.] 

Min'ni (division), Jer. 51 : 27 ; already 
noticed as a portion of Armenia. [Ar- 
menia.] 

Min'nith (distribution^, a place on 
the east of the Jordan, named as the 
point to which Jephthah's slaughter of 
the Ammonites extended. Judges 11 : 
33. The " wheat of Minnith " is men- 
tioned in Ezek. 27 : 17 as being supplied 
by Judah and Israel to Tyre ; but there 
is nothing to indicate that the same place 
is intended, and indeed the word is be- 
lieved by some not to be a proper name. 

407 



MIN 



MIR 




Minstrel. The Hebrew word in 2 
Kings 3 : 15 properly signifies a player 
upon a stringed instrument like the harp 
or kinnor [HarpJ, whatever its precise 
character may have been, on which 
David played before Saul, 1 Sam. 16 : 16 ; 
18 : 10 ; 19 : 9, and which the harlots of 
the great cities used to carry with them 
as they walked, to attract notice, lsa. 
23 : 16. The " minstrels" in Matt. 9 : 23 
were the flute-players who were employed 
as professional mourners, to whom fre- 
quent allusion is made. 2 Chron. 35 : 25 ; 
Eccles. 12 : 5 ; Jer. 9 : 17-20. 

Mint. This name 
occurs only in Matt. 
23:23 and Luke 11: 
42, as one of those 
herbs the tithe of 
which the Jews 
were most scrupu- 
lously exact in pay- 
ing. The horse mint, 
M. Sylvestris, and 
several other species 
of mint are common 
in Syria. 

Miph'kad (ap- 
pointed place) ,The 
gate, one of the 
gates of Jerusalem. 
Neh. 3:31. It was 
probably not in the 
wall of Jerusalem 
proper, but in that 
of the city of David, 
or Zion, and some- 
where near to the junction of the two on 
the north side. 

Miracles. A miracle may be defined 
to be a plain and manifest exercise by a 
man, or by God at the call of a man, of 
those powers which belong only to the 
Creator and Lord of nature ; and this for 
the declared object of attesting that a di- 
vine mission is given to that man. It is 
not, therefore, the wonder, the exception 
to common experience, that constitutes 
the miracle, as is assumed both in the 
popular use of the word and by most ob- 
jectors against miracles. No phenom- 
enon in nature, however unusual, no 
event in the course of God's providence, 
however unexpected, is a miracle unless 
it can be traced to the agency of man (in- 
cluding prayer under the term agency), 
and unless it be put forth as a proof of 
divine mission. Prodigies and special 
providences are not miracles. (A miracle 
is not a violation of the laws of nature. 
408 



Mint. 



It is God's acting upon nature in a degree 
far beyond our powers, but the same kind 
of act as our wills are continually exert- 
ing upon nature. We do not in lifting a 
stone interfere with any law of nature, 
but exert a higher force among the laws. 
Prof. Tyndall says that "science does as- 
sert that without a disturbance of natural 
law quite as serious as the stoppage of an 
eclipse, or the rolling of the St. Lawrence 
up the falls of Niagara, no act of humil- 
iation, individual or national, could call 
one shower from heaven." And yet men 
by firing cannon during battle can cause 
a shower : does that cause such a commo- 
tion among the laws of nature ? The ex- 
ertion of a will upon the laws does not 
make a disturbance of natural law ; and 
I a miracle is simply the exertion of God's 
j will upon nature. — Ed.) Again, the term 
! "nature" suggests to many persons the 
idea of a great system of things endowed 
! with powers and forces of its own — a sort 
of machine, set a-going originally by a 
j first cause, but continuing its motions of 
J itself. Hence we are apt to imagine that 
j a change in the motion or operation of 
; any part of it by God would produce the 
j same disturbance of the other parts as 
such a change would be likely to produce 
in them if made by us or by any other 
! natural agent. But if the motions and 
j operations of material things be produced 
really by the divine will, then his choos- 
ing to change, for a special purpose, the 
ordinary motion of one part does not nec- 
essarily or probably imply his choosing 
to change the ordinary motions of other 
parts in a way not at all requisite for the 
accomplishment of that special purpose. 
It is as easy for him to continue the or- 
dinary course of the rest, with the change 
of one part, as of all the phenomena 
without any change at all. Thus, though 
the stoppage of the motion of the earth 
in the ordinary course of nature would 
be attended with terrible convulsions, the 
stoppage of the earth miraculously, for a 
special purpose to be served by that only, 
would not of itself be followed by any 
such consequences. (Indeed, by the ac- 
tion of gravitation it could be stopped, 
as a stone thrown up is stopped, in less 
than two minutes, and yet so gently as 
not to stir the smallest feather or mote 
on its surface. — Ed.) From the same 
conception of nature as a machine, we 
are apt to think of interferences with the 
ordinary course of nature as implying 
some imperfection in it. But it is manifest 



MIK 



MIT 



that this is a false analogy ; for the reason 
why machines are made is to save us 
trouble ; and, therefore, they are more 
perfect in proportion as they answer this ! 
purpose. But no one can seriously im- j 
agine that the universe is a machine for 
the purpose of saving trouble to the Al- 
mighty. Again, when miracles are de- 
scribed as "interferences with the laws 
of nature," this description makes them 
appear improbable to many minds, from 
their not sufficiently considering that the 
laws of nature interfere with one another, 
and that we cannot get rid of "interfer- 
ences" upon any hypothesis consistent 
with experience. The circumstances of 
the Christian miracles are utterly unlike 
those of any pretended instances of mag- 
ical wonders. This difference consists 
in — (1) The greatness, number, complete- 
ness and publicity of the miracles. (2) 
In the character of the miracles. They 
were all beneficial, helpful, instructive, 
and worthy of God as their author. (3) 
The natural beneficial tendency of the 
doctrine they attested. (4) The connec- 
tion of them with a whole scheme of rev- 
elation extending from the origin of the 
human race to the time of Christ. 

Mir'iam {rebellion), the sister of Mo- 
ses, was the eldest of that sacred family ; 
and she first appears, probably as a young 
girl, watching her infant brother's cradle 
in the Nile, Ex. 2 : 4, and suggesting her 
mother as a nurse, ver. 7. After the cross- 
ing of the Red Sea " Miriam the prophet- 
ess" is her acknowledged title, ch. 15: 
20. The prophetic power showed itself 
in her under the same form as that which 
it assumed in the days of Samuel and 
David, — poetry, accompanied with music 
and processions, ch. 15 : 1-19. She took 
the lead, with Aaron, in the complaint 
against Moses for his marriage with a 
Cushite, Num. 12 : 1, 2, and for this was 
attacked with leprosy. This stroke and 
its removal, which took place at Haz- 
eroth, form the last public event of Mir- 
iam's life. ch. 12 : 1-15. She died toward 
the close of the wanderings at Kadesh, 
and was buried there, ch. 20 : 1. (B.C. 
about 1452.) 

Mir'ma {fraud), a Benjamite, born in 
the land of Moab. 1 Chron. 8 : 10. 

Mirror. Ex. 38:8; Job 37 : 18. The 
Hebrew women on coming out of Egypt 
probably brought with them mirrors like 
those which were used by the Egyptians, 
and were made of a mixed metal, chiefly 
copper, wrought with admirable skill, 



and susceptible of a bright lustre. 1 Cor. 
13 : 12. 

Mis'gab {height), a place in Moab. 
Jer. 48 : 1. It appears to be mentioned 
also in Isa. 25 : 12, though there rendered 
in the Authorized Version " high fort." 

Mish/ael {who is what God isf). 1. 
One of the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of 
Aaron and Moses. Ex. 6 : 22. When Na- 
dab and Abihu were struck dead for offer- 
ing strange fire, Mishael and his brother 
Elzaphan, at the command of Moses, re- 
moved their bodies from the sanctuary, 
and buried them without the camp, their 
loose-fitting tunics serving for winding- 
sheets. Lev. 10 : 4, 5. 

2. One of those who stood at Ezra's 
left hand when he read the law to the 
people. Neh. 8 : 4. [Meshach.] 

Mi'shal, or Mi'sheal {entreaty), one 
of the towns in the territory of Asher, 
Josh. 19 : 26, allotted to the Gershonite 
Levites. ch. 21 : 30. 

Mi'sham {purification), a Benjamite, 
son of Elpaal and descendant of Shaha- 
raim. 1 Chron. 8 : 12. 

Mish'ma (a hearing). 1. A son of 
Ishmael and brother of Mibsam. Gen. 
25 : 14 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 30. 

2. A son of Simeon, 1 Chron. 4 : 25, 
brother of Mibsam. 

Mishman'nah (fatness), the fourth 
of the twelve lion-faced Gadites who 
joined David at Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 
10. 

Mish'raites, The, the fourth of the 
four "families of Kirjath-jearim," i.e. 
colonies proceeding therefrom and found- 
ing towns. 1 Chron. 2 : 53. 

Mis'pereth, one of those who re- 
turned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua from 
Babylon. Neh. 7:7. 

Mis'rephoth-ma'im {the flow of 
waters), a place in northern Palestine. 
Dr. Thomson treats Misrephoth-maim as 
identical with a collection of springs 
called Ain-Musheirifeh, on the seashore 
close under the Has en-Nakhura ; but 
this has the disadvantage of being very 
far from Sidon. May it not rather be the 
place with which we are familiar in the 
later history as Zarephat, near Sidon ? 

Mite, a coin current in Palestine in the 
time of our Lord. Mark 12 : 41-44 ; Luke 
21 : 1-4. It seems in Palestine to have 
been the smallest piece of money (worth 
about one-fifth of a cent), being the half 
of the farthing, which was a coin of very 
low value. From St. Mark's explanation, 
" two mites, which make a farthing," ver. 

409 



MIT 



MIZ 



42, it may perhaps be inferred that the 
farthing was the commoner coin. 

Mith'cah (sweetness), the name of an 
urknown desert encampment of the Is- 
raelites. Num. 33 : 28, 29. 

Mith'nite, The, the designation of 
Josh ap hat, one of David's guard in the 
catalogue of 1 Chron. 11 : 43. 

Mith'redath (given by Mithra). 1. 
The treasurer of Cyrus king of Persia, to 
whom the king gave the vessels of the 
temple. Ezra 1 : 8. 

2. A Persian officer stationed at Sa- 
maria. Ezra 4:7. 




Mitre. 

Mitre (something rolled around the 
head), the turban or headdress of the 
high priest, made of fine linen cloth, 
eight yards long, folded around the head. 
On the front was a gold plate on which 
was inscribed Holiness to the Lord. Ex. 
28 : 4, 37, 39 ; 39 : 28, 30 ; Lev. 8 : 9. 

Mityle'ne (mutilated), the chief town 
of Lesbos, an island of the ^Egean Sea, 
7h miles from the opposite point of Asia 
Minor. The city is situated on the east 
coast of the island. Mitylene is the in- 
termediate place where St. Paul stopped 
for the night between Assos and Chios. 
Acts 20 : 14, 15. The town itself was cel- 
ebrated in Roman times for the beauty 
of its buildings. In St. Paul's day it 
had the privileges of a free city. ( It is 
now a place of no importance, called 
Mitelin. It contains about 1100 houses, 
Greek and Turkish, with narrow and 
filthy streets.— Ed.) 

Mixed multitude. When the Israel- 
ites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, 
the first stage of the exodus from Egypt, 
410 



there went up with them " a mixed mul- 
titude." Ex. 12 : 38 ; Num. 11 : 4. They 
were probably the offspring of marriages 
contracted between the Israelites and the 
Egyptians; and the term may also in- 
clude all those who were not of pure 
Israelite blood. In Exodus and Numbers 
it probably denoted the miscellaneous 
hangers-on of the Hebrew camp, whether 
they were the issue of spurious marriages 
with Egyptians or were themselves Egyp- 
tians, or belonging to other nations. The 
same happened on the return from Bab- 
ylon, and in Neh. 13 : 3 (comp. vs. 23-30) 
a slight clue is given by which the mean- 
ing of the " mixed multitude " may be 
more definitely ascertained. 

Mi'zar (small), The hill, a mountain 
appai'ently in the northern part of trans- 
jordanic Palestine, from which the au- 
thor of Psalm 42 utters his pathetic ap- 
peal, ver. 6. (It is probably a summit 
of the eastern ridge of Lebanon, not far 
from Mahanaim, where David lay after 
escaping from the rebellion of Absalom. 
— McClintock and Strong.) 

Miz'pah and Miz'peh (a watch-tow- 
er), the name of several places in Pales- 
tine. 1. The earliest of all, in order of 
the narrative, is the heap of stones piled 
up by Jacob and Laban, Gen. 31 : 48, on 
Mount Gilead, ver. 25, to serve both as a 
witness to the covenant then entered into 
and as a landmark of the boundary be- 
tween them. ver. 52. On this natural 
watch-tower did the children of Israel 
assemble for the choice of a leader to re- 
sist the children of Ammon. Judges 10 : 
17. There the fatal meeting took place 
between Jephthah and his daughter on 
his return from the war. ch. 11 : 34. It 
seems most probable that the " Mizpeh- 
gilead" which is mentioned here, and 
here only, is the same as the " ham-Miz- 
pah" of the other parts of the narrative; 
and both are probably identical with the 
Ramath-mizpeh and Ramoth-gilead, so 
famous in the later history. 

2. A second Mizpeh, on the east of 
Jordan, was the Mizpeh-moab, where the 
king of that nation was living when Da- 
vid committed his parents to his care. 1 
Sam. 22 : 3. 

3. A third was " the land of Mizpeh," 
or more accurately " of Mizpah," the resi- 
dence of the Hivites who joined the north- 
ern confederacy against Israel, headed 
by Jabin king of Hazor. Josh. 11 : 3. No 
other mention is found of this district in 
the Bible, unless it be identical with — 



MIZ 



MOA 



4. The valley of Mizpeh, to which the 
discomfited hosts of the same confeder- 
acy were chased by Joshua, Josh. 11:8; 
perhaps identical with the great country 
of Coele-Syria. 

5. Mizpeh, a city of Judah, Josh. 15 : 
38, in the district of the Shefelah or 
maritime lowland. 

6. Mizpeh, in Jo.;hua and Samuel ; else- 
where Mizpah, a " city " of Benjamin, not 
far from Jerusalem. Josh. 18 : 26; 1 
Kings 15 : 22 ; 2 Chron. 16:6; Neh. 3 : 
7. It was one of the places fortified by 
Asa against the incursions of the kings 
of northern Israel, 1 Kings 15 : 22 ; 2 
Chron. 16 : 6 ; Jer. 41 : 10 ; and after the 
destruction of Jerusalem it became the 
residence of the superintendent appointed 
by the king of Babylon, Jer. 40 : 7, etc., 
and the scene of his murder and of the 
romantic incidents connected with the 
name of Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. 
It was one of the three holy cities which 
Samuel visited in turn as judge of the 
people, 1 Sam. 7 : 6, 16, the other two 
being Bethel and Gilgal. With the con- 
quest of Jerusalem and the establishment 
there of the ark, the sanctity of Mizpah, 
or at least its reputation, seems to have 
declined. From Mizpah the city or the 
temple was visible. These conditions are 
satisfied by the position of Scopus, the 
broad ridge which forms the continuation 
of the Mount of Olives to the north and 
east, from which the traveller gains, like 
Titus, his first view, and takes his last 
farewell, of the domes, walls and towers 
of the holy city. 

Miz'par (number) ; properly Mispar, 
the same as Mispereth. Ezra 2 : 2. 

Miz'peh. [Mizpah.] 

Miz'ra-im, or Mizra'im (the two 
Egypts; red soil), the usual name of 
Egypt in the Old Testament, the dual of 
Mazor, which is less frequently employed. 
Mizraim first occurs in the account of the 
Hamites in Gen. 10. In the use of the 
name Mizraim for Egypt there can be no 
doubt that the dual indicates the two re- 
gions, upper and lower Egypt, into which 
the country has always been divided by 
nature as well as by its inhabitants. 

Miz'zah {fear), son of Reuel and 
grandson of Esau. Gen. 36 : 13, 17 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 37. 

Mna'son (remembering) is honorably 
mentioned in Scripture. Acts 21 : 16. It 
is most likely that his residence at this 
time was not Csesarea, but Jerusalem. 
He was a Cyprian by birth, and may 



have been a friend of Barnabas. Acts 4 : 
36. 

Mo'ab (of his father), Mo'abites. 
Moab was the son of Lot's eldest daugh- 
ter, the progenitor of the Moabites. Zoar 
was the cradle of the race of Lot. From 
this centre the brother tribes spread them- 
selves. The Moabites first inhabited the 
rich highlands which crown the eastern 
side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, ex- 
tending as far north as the mountain of 
Gilead, from which country they ex- 
pelled the Emims, the original inhabit- 
ants, Deut. 2:11; but they themselves 
were afterward driven southward by the 
warlike Amorites, who had crossed the 
Jordan, and were confined to the country 
south of the river Arnon, which formed 
their northern boundary. Num. 21 : 13; 
Judges 11 : 18. The territory occupied by 
Moab at the period of its greatest extent, 
before the invasion of the Amorites, di- 
vided itself naturally into three distinct 
and independent portions: — (1) The en- 
closed corner or canton south of the Ar- 
non was the ''field of Moab." Ruth 1:1, 
2, 6, etc. (2) The more open rolling 
country north of the Arnon, opposite 
Jericho, and up to the hills of Gilead, 
was the " land of Moab." Deut, 1 : 5 ; 32 : 
49, etc. (3) The sunk district in the trop- 
ical depths of the Jordan valley. Num. 
22 : 1, etc. The Israelites, in entering the 
promised land, did not pass through the 
Moabites, Judges 11 : 18, but conquered 
the Amorites, who occupied the country 
from which the Moabites had been so 
lately expelled. After the conquest of 
Canaan the relations of Moab with Israel 
were of a mixed character, sometimes 
warlike and sometimes peaceable. With 
the tribe of Benjamin they had at least 
one severe struggle, in union with their 
kindred the Ammonites. Judges 3 : 12-30. 
The story of Ruth, on the other hand, 
testifies to the existence of a friendly in- 
tercourse between Moab and Bethlehem, 
one of the towns of Judah. By his de- 
scent from Ruth, David may be said to 
have had Moabite blood in liis veins. He 
committed his parents to the protection 
of the king of Moab, when hard pressed 
by Saul. 1 Sam. 22 : 3, 4. But here all 
friendly relations stop forever. The next 
time the name is mentioned is in the ac- 
count of David's war, who made the Mo- 
abites tributary. 2 Sam. 8 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 
18 : 2. At the disruption of the kingdom 
Moab seems to have fall Q n to the northern 
realm. At the death of Ahab the Moab- 
411 



MOA 



MOA 



ites refused to pay tribute and asserted 
their independence, making war upon 
the kingdom of Judah. 2 Chron. 22. As 
a natural consequence of the late events, 
Israel, Judah and Edom united in an at- 
tack on Moab, resulting in the complete 
overthrow of the Moabites. Falling back 
into their own country, they were fol- 
lowed and their cities and farms de- 



stroyed. Finally, shut up within the 
walls of his own capital, the king, Mesha, 
in the sight of the thousands who covered 
the sides of that vast amphitheatre, killed 
and burnt his child as a propitiatory sac- 
rifice to the cruel gods of his country. 
Isaiah, chs. 15, 16, 25 : 10-12, predicts the 
utter annihilation of the Moabites; and 
they are frequently denounced by the 



■ 




Mountains of Moab. 



subsequent prophets. For the religion of 
the Moabites see Chemosh; Molech; 
Peoe. See also Tristram's " Land of 
Moab." Present condition. — (Noldeke 
says that the extinction of the Moabites 
was about A.d. 200, at the time when the 
Yemen tribes Galib and Gassara entered 
the eastern districts of the Jordan. Since 
A.D. 536 the last trace of the name Moab, 
which lingered in the town of Kir-moab, 
has given place to Kerak, its modern 
name. Over the whole region are scat- 
tered many ruins of ancient cities; and 
while the country is almost bare of larger 
vegetation, it is still a rich pasture-ground, 
with occasional fields of grain. The land 
thus gives evidence of its former wealth 
and power. — Ed.) 
412 



Mo'afoitc Stone, The. In the year 
1868 Eev. F. Klein, of the Church Mis- 
sionary Society at Jerusalem, found at 
Dhiban (the biblical Dibon), in Moab, a 
remarkable stone, since called the Moab- 
ite Stone. It was lying on the ground, 
with the inscription uppermost, and 
measures about 3 feet 9 inches long, 2 
feet 4 inches wide and 1 foot 2 inches 
thick. It is a very heavy, compact black 
basalt. An impression was made of the 
main block, and of certain recovered 
parts broken off by the Arabs. It was 
broken by the Arabs, but the fragments 
were purchased by the French govern- 
ment for 32,000 francs, and are in the 
Louvre in Paris. The engraved face is 
about the shape of an ordinary grave- 



MOD 



MOL 



stone, rounded at the top. On this stone 
is the record in the Phoenician characters 
of the wars of Mesha, king of Moab, with 
Israel. 2 Kings 3:4. It speaks of King 
Oinri and other names of places and per- 
sons mentioned in the Bible, and belongs 
to this exact period of Jewish and Moabite 
history. The names given on the Moab- 
ite Stone, engraved by one who knew 




The Moabite Stone. (From a Photograph.) 



them in daily life, are, in nearly every 
case, identical with those found in the 
Bible itself, and testify to the wonderful 
integrity with which the Scriptures have 
been preserved. " The inscription reads 
like a leaf taken out of a lost book of 
Chronicles. The expressions are the 
same ; the names of gods, kings and of 
towns are the same." — (See Rawlinson's 
" Historical Illustrations ;" American 
Cyclopedia ; and Bibliotheca Sacra, Oct. 
20, 1870.— Ed.) 

Mo'din, a place not mentioned in 
either the Old or the New Testament, 
though rendered immortal by its connec- 
tion with the history of the Jews in the- 
interval between the two. It was the 
native city of the Maccabsean family, 1 
Mace. 13 : 25, and as a necessary conse- 
quence contained their ancestral sepul- 
chre, ch. 2 : 70 ; 9 : 19 ; 13 : 25-30. At 



Modin the Maccabsean armies encamped 
on the eves of two of their most memo- 
rable victories — that of Judas over Anti- 
ochus Eupator, 2 Mace. 13 : 14, and that 
of Simon over Cendebeus. 1 Mace. 16 : 4. 
The only indication of the position of the 
place to be gathered from the above no- 
tices is contained in the last, from which 
we may infer that it was near " the 
plain," i. e. the great maritime lowland 
of Philistia. ver. 5. The description of 
the monument seems to imply that the 
spot was so lofty as to be visible from the 
sea, and so near that even the details of 
the sculpture were discernible therefrom. 
All these conditions, excepting the last, 
are tolerably fulfilled in either of the two 
sites called Latrdn and Kubdb. 

Mo-adi'ah. Neh. 12 : 17. Elsewhere 
(Neh. 12 : 5) called Maadiah. 

Mol'adah [birth, race), a city of Ju- 
dah, one of those which lay in the dis- 
trict of "the south." Josh. 15:26; 19: 
2. In the latter tribe it remained at any 
rate till the reign of David, 1 Chron. 4 : 
28, but by the time of the captivity it 
seems to have come back into the hands 
of Judah, by whom it was reinhabited 
after the captivity. Neh. 11 : 26. It may 
be placed at el-Milh, which is about 4 
English miles from Tell Arad, 17 or 18 
from Hebron, and 9 or 10 due east of 
Beersheba. 

Mole. 1. Tinshemeth. Lev. 11 : 30. It 
is probable that the animals mentioned 
with the tinshemeth in the above passage 
denote different kinds of lizards ; per- 
haps, therefore, the chameleon is the ani- 
mal intended. 

2. Chiphor peruth is rendered " moles" 
in Isa. 2 : 20. (The word means burrowers, 
hole-diggers, and may designate any of 
the small animals, as rats and weasels, 
which burrow among ruins. Many schol- 
ars, according to McClintock and Strong's 
" Cyclopedia," consider that the Greek 
aspalax is the animal intended by both 
the words translated mole. It is not the 
European mole, but is a kind of blind 
mole-rat, from 8 to 12 inches long, feed- 
ing on vegetables, and burrowing like a 
mole, but on a larger scale. It is very 
common in Russia, and Hasselquist says 
it is abundant on the plains of Sharon in 
Palestine. — Ed.) 

Mo'lech (king). The fire-god Molech 
was the tutelary deity of the children of 
Ammon, and essentially identical with 
the Moabitish Chemosh. Fire-gods ap- 
pear to have been common to all the 
413 



MOL 



MON 



Canaanite, Syrian and Arab tribes, who 
worshipped the destructive element under 
an outward symbol, with the most inhu- 
man rites. Accoi*ding to Jewish tradi- 
tion, the image of Molech was of brass, 
hollow within, and was situated without 
Jerusalem. " His face was (that) of a 
calf, and his hands stretched forth like a 
man who opens his hands to receive 
(something) of his neighbor. And they 
kindled it with fire, and the priests took 
the babe and put it into the hands of 
Molech, and the babe gave up the ghost." 
Many instances of human sacrifices are 
found in ancient writers, which may be 
compared with the description in the Old 
Testament of the manner in which Mo- 
lech was worshipped. Molech was the 
lord and master of the Ammonites ;• their 
country was his possession, Jer. 49 : 1, as 
Moab was the heritage of Chemosh ; the 
princes of the land were the princes of 
Malcham. Jer. 49 : 3 ; Amos 1 : 15. His 
priests were men of rank, Jer. 49 : 3, 
taking precedence of the princes. The 
priests of Molech, like those of other 
idols, were called Chemarim. 2 Kings 
23 : 5 ; Hos. 10 : 5 ; Zeph. 1 : 4. 

Mo'li. Mahli, the son of Merari. 1 
Esdr. 8 : 47 ; comp. Ezra 8 : 18. 

Mo'lid {begetter), the son of Abishur 
by his wife Abihail, and descendant of 
Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 29. 

Mo'Joch. The same as Molech. 

Money. 1. Uncoined money. — It is 
well known that ancient nations that were 
without a coinage weighed the precious 
metals, a practice represented on the 
Egyptian monuments, on which gold and 
silver are shown to have been kept in 
the form of rings. We have no evi- 
dence of the use of coined money be- 
fore the return from the Babylonian 
captivity ; but silver was used for 
money, in quantities determined by 
weight, at least as early as the time 
of Abraham ; and its earliest mention 
is in the generic sense of the price paid 
for a slave. Gen. 17 : 13. The 1000 
pieces of silver paid by Abimelech 
to Abraham, Gen. 20 : 16, and the 20 
pieces of silver for which Joseph was 
sold to the Ishmaelites, Gen. 37 : 28, were 
probably rings such as we see on the 
Egyptian monuments in the act of being 
weighed. In the first recorded transac- 
tion of commerce, the cave of Machpelah 
is purchased by Abraham for 400 shekels 
of silver. The shekel weight of silver 
was the unit of value through the whole 
414 



age of Hebrew history, down to the Baby- 
lonian captivity. 

2. Coined money. — After the captivity 
we have the earliest mention of coined 
money, in allusion, as might have been 




The Persian (or golden) Daric. 

expected, to the Persian coinage, the gold 
daric (Authorized Version dram). Ezra 
2 : 69 ; 8 : 27 ; Neh. 7 : 70, 71, 72. [Daric.J 
No native Jewish coinage appears to have 
existed till Antiochus VII. Sidetes grant- 
ed Simon Maccabseus the license to coin 
money, B.C. 140; and it is now generally 
agreed that the oldest Jewish silver coins 




Jewish Half-shekel. 

belong to this period. They are shekels 
and half-shekels, of the weight of 220 
and 110 grains. With this silver there 
was associated a copper coinage. The 
abundant money of Herod the Great, 
which is of a thoroughly Greek charac- 
ter, and of copper only, seems to have 




Shekel of the Sanctuary. 

been a continuation of the copper coinage 
of the Maccabees, with some adaptation 
to the Roman standard. In the money 
of the New Testament we see the native 
copper coinage side by side with the 
Grseeo-Roman copper, silver and gold. 
(The first coined money mentioned in 
the Bible refers to the Persian coinasre, 



MON 



MON 



1 Chron. 29 : 7 ; Ezra 2 : 69, and is trans- 
lated dram. It is the Persian daric, a 
gold coin worth about $5.50. The coins 
mentioned by the evangelists, and first ! 
those of silver, are the following : The 
stater, Matt. 17: 24-27, called piece of 
money, was a Roman coin equal to four 
drachmas. It was worth 55 to 60 cents, 
and is of about the same value as the 
Jewish stater, or coined shekel. The de- 
narius, or Roman penny, as well as the 




Denarius of Caesar. 



Greek drachma, then of about the same 
weight, are spoken of as current coins. 
Matt. 22 : 15-21 ; Luke 20 : 19-25. They 
were worth about 15 cents. Of copper 
coins the farthing and its half, the mite, 
are spoken of, and these probably formed 
the chief native currency. (The Roman 
farthing (quadrans) was a brass coin 




Assarion (farthing). Actual size, 



worth .375 of a cent. The Greek far- 
thing (as or assarion) was worth four 
Roman farthings, i. e. about one cent and 
a half. A mite was half a farthing, and 
therefore was worth about two-tenths of 
a cent if the half of the Roman farthing, 
and about 2 cents if the half of the Greek 
farthing. See table of Jewish weights and 
measures. — Ed. ) 

Money=changers» Matt. 21 : 12; 
Mark 11 : 15 ; John 2 : 15. According to 
Ex. 30 : 13-15, every Israelite who had 
reached or passed the age of twenty must 
pay into the sacred treasury, whenever 
the nation was numbered, a half-shekel 
as an offering to Jehovah. The money- 
changers whom Christ, for their impiety, 
avarice and fraudulent dealing, expelled 
from the temple were the dealers who 
supplied half-shekels, for such a premi- 



um as they might be able to exact, to the 
Jews from all parts of the world who as- 
sembled at Jerusalem during the great 
festivals, and were required to pay their 
tribute or ransom money in the Hebrew 
coin. 

Month. From the time of the insti- 
tution of the Mosaic law downward the 
month was a lunar one. The cycle of 
religious feasts commencing with the 
passover depended not simply on the 
mcnth, but on the moon ; the 14th of 
Abib was coincident with the full moon ; 
and the new moons themselves were the 
occasions of regular festivals. Num. 10 : 
10; 28:11-14. The commencement of 
the month was generally decided by ob- 
servation of the new moon. The usual 
number of months in a year was twelve, 
as implied in 1 Kings 4 : 7 ; 1 Chron. 27 : 
1-15 ; but since twelve lunar months 
would make but 354i days, the years 
would be short twelve days of the* true 
year, and therefore it follows as a matter 
of course that an additional month must 
have been inserted about every third 
year, which would bring the number up 
to thirteen. No notice, however, is taken 
of this month in the Bible. In the mod- 
ern Jewish calendar the intercalary 
month is introduced seven times in every 
nineteen years. The usual method of des- 
ignating the months was by their numer- 
ical order, e. g. "the second month," Gen. 
7 : 11, "the fourth month," 2 Kings 25 : 
3 ; and this was generally retained even 
when the names were given, e. g. "in the 
month Zif, which is the second month." 
1 Kings 6:1. The names of the months 
belong to two distinct periods. In the 
first place we have those peculiar to the 
period of Jewish independence, of which 
four only, even including Abib, which we 
hardly regard as a proper name, are men- 
tioned, viz. : Abib, in which the passover 
fell, Ex. 13 : 4 ; 23 : 15 ; 34 : 18 ; Deut. 16 : 
1, and which was established as the first 
month in commemoration of the exodus, 
Ex. 12:2; Zif, the second month, 1 Kings 
6 : 1, 37 ; Bui, the eighth, 1 Kings 6 : 38 ; 
and Ethanim, the seventh. 1 Kings 8 : 2. 
In the second place we have the names 
which prevailed subsequent to the Baby- 
lonish captivity; of these the following 
seven appear in the Bible: Nisan, the 
first, in which the passover was held, 
Neh. 2:1; Esther 3:7; Sivan, the third, 
Esther 8:9; Bar. 1:8; Elul, the sixth, 
Neh. 6 : 15 ; 1 Mace. 14 : 27 ; Chisleu, the 
ninth, Neh. 1:1; Zech. 7:1; 1 Mace. 1 : 



MOO 



MOR 



54 ; Tebeth, the tenth, Esther 2:16; Se- 
bat, the eleventh, Zech. 1:7; 1 Mace. 
16 : 14 ; and Adar, the twelfth. Esther 3 : 
7 ; 8 : 12 ; 2 Mace. 15 : 36. The names of 
the remaining five occur in the Talmud 
and other works; they were, Iyar, the 
second, Targum ; 2 Chron. 30 : 2 ; Tam- 
muz, the fourth ; Ab, the fifth ; Tisri, the 
seventh ; and Marcheshvan, the eighth. 
The name of the intercalary month was 
Ve-adar, i. e. the additional Adar. The 



identification of the Jewish months with 
our own cannot be effected with precision 
on account of the variations that must in- 
evitably exist between the lunar and the 
solar month. Nisan (or Abib) answers 
to March ; Zif or Iyar to May ; Sivan to 
June ; Tammuz to July ; Ab to August ; 
Elul to September ; Ethanim or Tisri to Oc- 
tober ; Bui or Marcheshvan to November ; 
Chisleu to December ; Tebeth to January ; 
Sebat to February ; and Adar to March. 



Sacred Civil 
Year. Year. 



I. 

II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 
VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 
X. 

XL 
XII. 
XIII. 



VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 
X. 

XI. 
XII. 

I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 
VI. 



Jewish Name. 



Abib or Nisan 



Iyar or Zif.. 
Sisan or Siv£ 

Tammuz 

Ab 

Elul 



Tisri. 



Bui 

Cbisleu 

Tebetb 

Shebat 

Adar 

Ve-adar, intercalary. 



Beginning with the 
new moon and 
corresponding to 
our 



March, April.... 

April and May. 
May and June.. 

June, July 

July, August.... 
August, Sept .... 



Sept., Oct. 



Oct., Nov 

Nov., Dec 

Dec, Jan 

Jan., Feb 

Feb., March. 



Barley Bipe. ) 
Fig in blossom, j 
Barley harvest. 
Wheat harvest... 
Early vintage. 
Ripe figs. 
General vintage.. 

Ploughing and\ 
sowing J 

Latter grapes. 
Snow. 

Grass after rain. 
Winter fig. 
Almond blossom. 



Jewish Festivals. 



Passover. 

Unleavened Bread. 



Pentecost. 



Feast of Trumpets. 

Atonement. 

Feast of Tabernacles. 



Dedication. 



Purim. 



Moon. The moon held an important 
place in the kingdom of nature, as known 
to the Hebrews. Conjointly with the 
sun, it was appointed " for signs and for 
seasons, and for days and years ;" though 
in this respect it exercised a more im- 
portant influence, if by the "seasons" 
we understand the great religious festi- 
vals of the Jews, as is particularly stated 
in Ps. 104 : 19, and more at length in 
Ecclus. 43 : 6, 7. The worship of the 
moon prevailed extensively among the 
nations of the East, and under a variety 
of aspects. It was one of the only two 
deities which commanded the reverence 
of all the Egyptians. The worship of 
the heavenly bodies is referred to in Job 
31 : 26, 27, and Moses directly warns the 
Jews against it. Deut. 4 : 19. In the fig- 
urative language of Scripture, the moon 
is frequently noticed as presaging events 
of the greatest importance through the 
temporary or permanent withdrawal of 
its light. Isa. 13 : 10 ; Joel 2 : 31 ; Matt. 
24 : 29 ; Mark 13 : 24. 
Moon, New. [New moon.] 
Mor'asthite, The, that is, the native 
of a place named Moresheth. It occurs 
twice — Jer. 26 : 18 ; Micah 1:1 — each 
416 



time as the description of the prophet 
Micah. 

Mor'deca=i (little man, or worship- 
per of Mars), the deliverer, under divine 
Providence, of the Jews from the destruc- 
tion plotted against them by Haman the 
chief minister of Xerxes ; the institutor 
of the feast of Purim. The incidents of 
his history are too well known to need to 
be dwelt upon. [Esther.] Three things 
are predicated of Mordecai in the book 
of Esther : (1) That he lived in Shushan ; 
(2) That his name was Mordecai, son of 
Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish the Ben- 
jamite who was taken captive with Jeho- 
iachin; (3) That he brought up Esther. 

Mo'reh [teacher). 1. The plain or 
plains (or, as it should rather be ren- 
dered, the oak or oaks) of Moreh. The 
oak of Moreh was the first recorded halt- 
ing-place of Abram after his entrance 
into the land of Canaan. Gen. 12 : 6. It 
was at the "place of Shechem," ch. 12: 
6, close to the mountains of Ebal and 
Gerizim. Deut. 11 : 30. 

2. The hill of Moreh, at the foot of 
which the Midianites and Amalekites 
were encamped before Gideon's attack 
upon them. Judges 7:1. It lay in the 



MOB 



MOS 



valley of Jezreel, rather on the north ! 
side of the valley, and north also of the j 
eminence on which Gideon's little band 
of heroes was clustered. These condi- 
tions are most accurately fulfilled if we 
assume Jebel ed-Duhy, the " Little Her- 
mon" of the modern travellers, 1815 feet 
above the Mediterranean, to be Moreh, 
the Ain-Jalood to be the spring of Harod, 
and Gideon's position to have been on the 
northeast slope of Jebel Fukua (Mount 
Gilboa), between the village of Nuris 
and the last-mentioned spring. 

Mor'esheth-gath ( jiossession of 
Gath), a place named by the prophet Mi- 
cah. Micah 1 : 14. The prophet was him- 
self a native of a place called Moresheth. 

Mori'ah {chosen by Jehovah). 1. The j 
land of Moriah. — On " one of the mount- < 
ains" in this district took place the sac- | 
rifice of Isaac. Gen. 22 : 2. Its position is j 
doubtful, some thinking it to be Mount j 
Moriah, others that Moreh, near Shechem, 
is meant. [See Mount Moriah.] 

2. Mount Moriah. — The elevation on 
which Solomon built the temple, where j 
God appeared to David " in the threshing- 
floor of Araunah the Jebusite." It is the j 
eastern eminence of Jerusalem, separated j 
from Mount Zion by the Tyropceon valley, j 
The top was levelled by Solomon, and im- J 
mense walls were built around it from the j 
base to enlarge the level surface for the ' 
temple area. A tradition which first ap- 
pears in a definite shape in Josephus, and 
is now almost universally accepted, asserts 
that the " Mount Moriah " of the Chroni- j 
cles is identical with the "mountain" in j 
" the land of Moriah " of Genesis, and that ! 
the spot on which Jehovah appeared to j 
David, and on which the temple was built, i 
was the very spot of the sacrifice of Isaac. 
(Smith, Stanley and Grove are, however, 
inclined to doubt this tradition.) 

Mortar, "a wide-mouthed vessel in 
form of an inverted bell, in which sub- 
stances are pounded or bruised with a 
pestle." — Webster. The simplest and 
probably most ancient method of prepar- 
ing corn for food was by pounding it be- 
tween two stones. The Israelites in the 
desert appear to have possessed mortars 
and handmills among their necessary do- 
mestic utensils. When the manna fell 
they gathered it, and either ground it in 
the mill or pounded it in the mortar till 
it was fit for use. Num. 11:8. So in the 
present day stone mortars are used by 
the Arabs to pound wheat for their . 
national dish kibby. Another word oc- i 
27 



curring in Prov. 27 : 22 probably denotes 
a mortar of a larger kind in which corn 
was pounded: "Though thou shouldest 
bray a fool in a mortar among wheat 
with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness 
depart from him." Corn may be sep- 
arated from its husk and all" its good 
properties preserved by such an opera- 
tion, but the fool's folly is so essential a 
part of himself that no analogous process 
can remove it from him. Such seems the 
natural interpretation of this remarkable 
proverb. The language is intentionally 
exaggerated, and there is no necessity for 
supposing an allusion to a mode of pun- 
ishment by which criminals were put to 
death by being pounded in a mortar. A 
custom of this kind existed among the 
Turks, but there is no distinct trace of it 
among the Hebrews. Such, however, is 
supposed to be the reference in the prov- 
erb by Mr. Roberts, who illustrates it 
from his Indian experience. 

Mortar. Gen. 11 : 3; Ex. 1 : 14; Lev. 
14 : 42, 45 ; Isa. 41 : 25 ; Ezek. 13 : 10, 11, 
14, 15 ; 22 : 28 ; Nah. 3 : 14. The various 
compacting substances used in Oriental 
buildings appear to be— 1. Bitumen, as 
in the Babylonian structures; 2. Com- 
mon mud or moistened clay ; 3. A very 
firm cement compounded of sand, ashes 
and lime, in the proportions respectively 
of 1, 2, 3, well pounded, sometimes mixed 
and sometimes coated with oil, so as to 
form a surface almost impenetrable to 
wet or the weather. In Assyrian and 
also Egyptian brick buildings, stubble or 
straw, as hair or wool among ourselves, 
was added to increase the tenacity. 

Mo'serah {bonds), Deut. 10 : 0, appar- 
ently the same as Moseroth, Num. 33 : 
30, its plural form, the name of a place 
near Mount Hor. 

Mo'ses (Heb. Mosheh, "drawn," i. e. 
from the water ; in the Coptic it means 
" saved from the water "), the legislator of 
the Jewish people, and in a certain sense 
the founder of the Jewish religion. The 
immediate pedigree of Moses is as follows : 

Levi 
I 



Aniram = Jochebed 
I 



Hur= Miriam Aaron = Elisheba Moses = Zipporah 
l_ J 

II II II 

Xadab AbiUu Eleazar Ithaniar Gershom Eliezer 

I I 

Phineas Jonathan 

417 



MOS 



MOS 



The history of Moses naturally divides 
itself into three periods of 40 years each. 
Moses was born at Goshen, in Egypt, B.C. 
1571. The story of his birth is thoroughly 
Egyptian in its scene. His mother made 
extraordinary efforts for his preservation 
from the general destruction of the male 
children of Israel. For three months 
the child was concealed in the house. 
Then his mother placed him in a small 
boat or basket of papyrus, closed against 
the water by bitumen. This was placed 
among the aquatic vegetation by the side 
of one of the canals of the Nile. The 
sister lingered to watch her brother's fate. 
The Egyptian princess, who, tradition 
says, was u childless wife, came down to 
bathe in the sacred river. Her attend- 
ant slaves followed her. She saw the 
basket in the flags, and despatched divers, 
who brought it. It was opened, and the 
cry of the child moved the princess to 
compassion. She determined to rear it 
as her own. The sister was at hand to 
recommend a Hebrew nurse, the child's 
own mother. Here was the first part of 
Moses' training,- — a training at home in 
the true religion, in faith in God, in the 
promises to his nation, in the life of a 
saint, — a training which he never forgot, 
even amid the splendors and gilded 
sin of Pharaoh's court. The child was 
adopted by the princess. From this time 
for many years Moses must be considered 
as an Egyptian. In the Pentateuch this 
period is a blank, but in the New Testa- 
ment he is represented as "learned in 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and 
as " mighty in words and deeds." Acts 
7 : 22. This was the second part of Moses' 
training. 

The second period of Moses' life began 
when he was forty years old. Seeing the 
sufferings of his people, Moses determined 
to go to them as their helper, and made 
his great life-choice, " choosing rather to 
suffer affliction with the people of God 
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 
season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ 
greater riches than the treasures in 
Egypt." Heb. 11 : 25, 26. Seeing an Is- 
raelite suffering the bastinado from an 
Egyptian, and thinking that they were 
alone, he slew the Egyptian, and buried 
the corpse in the sand. But the people 
soon showed themselves unfitted as yet 
to obtain their freedom, nor was Moses 
yet fitted to be their leader. He was 
compelled to leave Egypt when the slay- 
ing of the Egvptian became known, and 
418 



he fled to the land of Midian, in the south- 
ern and southeastern part of the Sinai 
peninsula. There was a famous well 
("the well," Ex. 2:15) surrounded by 
tanks for the watering of the flocks of the 
Bedouin herdsmen. By this well the 
fugitive seated himself and watched the 
gathering of the sheep. There were the 
Arabian shepherds, and there were also 
seven maidens, whom the shepherds rude- 
ly drove away from the water. The chiv- 
alrous spirit which had already broken 
forth in behalf of his oppressed country- 
men broke forth again in behalf of the 
distressed maidens. They returned un- 
usually soon to their father, JethrO, and 
told him of their adventure. Moses, who 
up to this time had been " an Egyptian," 
Ex. 2 : 19, now became for a time an 
Arabian. He married Zipporah, daugh- 
ter of his host, to whom he also became 
the slave and shepherd. Ex. 2 : 21 ; 3 : 1. 
Here for forty years Moses communed 
with God and with nature, escaping from 
the false ideas taught him in Egypt, and 
sifting out the truths that were there. 
This was the third process of his training 
for his work ; and from this training he 
learned infinitely more than from Egypt, 
i Stanley well says, after enumerating what 
the Israelites derived from Egypt, that 
the contrast was always greater than the 
likeness. This process was completed 
when God met him on Horeb, appearing 
in a burning bush, and, communicating 
with him, appointed him to be the leader 
and deliverer of his people. 

Now begins the third period of forty 
years in Moses' life. He meets Aaron, 
his next younger brother, whom God 
permitted to be the spokesman, and to- 
gether they return to Goshen in Egypt. 
From this time the history of Moses is 
the history of Israel for the next forty 
years. Aaron spoke and acted for Moses, 
and was the permanent inheritor of the 
sacred staff of power. But Moses was 
the inspiring soul behind. He is incon- 
testably the chief personage of the his- 
tory, in a sense in which no one else is 
described before or since. He was led 
into a closer communion with the invis- 
ible world than was vouchsafed to any 
other in the Old Testament. There are 
two main characters in which he appears 
— as a leader and as a prophet. (1) As 
a leader, his life divides itself into the 
three epochs — the march to Sinai ; the 
march from Sinai to Kadesh ; and the 
conquest of the transjordanic kingdoms. 



MOS 



MOS 



On approaching Palestine the office of 
the leader becomes blended with that of 
the general or the conqueror. By Moses 
the spies were sent to explore the coun- 
try. Against his advice took place the 
first disastrous battle at Hormah. To 
his guidance is ascribed the circuitous 
route by which the nation approached 
Palestine from the east, and to his gen- 
eralship the two successful campaigns in 
which Sihon and Og were defeated. The 
narrative is told so briefly that we are in 
danger of forgetting that at this last stage 
of his life Moses must have been as much 
a conqueror and victorious soldier as was 
Joshua. (2) His character as a prophet 
is, from the nature of the case, more dis- 
tinctly brought out. Ho is the first as 
he is the greatest example of a prophet 
in the Old Testament. His brother and 
sister were both endowed with prophetic 
gifts. The seventy elders, and Eldad and 
Medad also, all " prophesied." Num. 11 : 
25-27. But Moses rose high above all 
these. With him the divine revelations 
were made "mouth to mouth." Num. 
12 : 8. Of the special modes of this more 
direct communication, four great exam- 
ples are given, corresponding to four 
critical epochs in his historical career, 
(a) The appearance of the divine pres- 
ence in the flaming acacia tree. Ex. 3 : 
2-6. (b) In the giving of the law from 
Mount Sinai, the outward form of the 
revelation was a thick darkness as of a 
thunder-cloud, out of which proceeded a 
voice. Ex. 19 : 19 ; 20 : 21. On two oc- 
casions he is described as having pene- 
trated within the darkness. Ex. 24 : 18 ; 
34 : 28. (c) It was nearly at the close of 
these communications in the mountains 
of Sinai that an especial revelation of 
God was made to him personally. Ex. 
33:21, 22; 34:5, 6, 7. God passed be- 
fore him. (d ) The fourth mode of divine 
manifestation was that which is described 
as beginning at this juncture, and which 
was maintained with more or less con- 
tinuity through the rest of his career. Ex. 
33 : 7. It was the communication with 
God in the tabernacle from out the pillar 
of cloud and fire. There is another form 
of Moses' prophetic gift, viz., the poetical 
form of composition which characterizes 
the Jewish prophecy generally. These 
poetical utterances are — 1. " The song 
which Moses and the children of Israel 
sung" (after the passage of the Red Sea). 
Ex. 15 : 1-19. 2. A fragment of a war- 
song against Amalek. Ex. 17 : 16. 3. A 



fragment of a lyrical burst of indignation. 
Ex. 32 : 18. 4. The fragments of war- 
songs, probably from either him or his 
immediate prophetic followers, in Num. 
21 : 14, 15, 27-30, preserved in the " book 
of the wars of Jehovah," Num. 21 : 14 ; 
and the address to the well. ch. 21 : 16, 
17, 18. 5. The song of Moses, Deut. 32 : 
1-43, setting forth the greatness and the 
failings of Israel. 6. The blessing of 
Moses on the tribes. Deut. 33 : 1-29. 7. 
The 90th Psalm, " A prayer of Moses, 
the man of God." The title, like all the 
titles of the psalms, is of doubtful au- 
thority, and the psalm has often been re- 
ferred to a later author. 

Character. — The prophetic office of 
Moses can only be fully considered in 
connection with his whole character and 
appearance. Hos. 12 : 13. He was in a 
sense peculiar to himself the founder and 
representative of his people ; and in ac- 
cordance with this complete identifica- 
tion of himself with his nation is the only 
strong personal trait which we are able 
to gather from his history. Num. 12 : 3. 
The word " meek " is hardly an adequate 
reading of the Hebrew term, which 
should be rather " much enduring." It 
represents what we should now designate 
by the word " disinterested." All that is 
told of him indicates a withdrawal of 
himself, a preference of the cause of his 
nation to his own interests, which makes 
him the most complete example of Jew- 
ish patriotism. (He was especially a man 
of prayer and of faith, of wisdom, courage 
and patience.) In exact conformity with 
his life is the account of his end. The 
book of Deuteronomy describes, and is, 
the long last fareweil of the prophet to 
his people. This takes place on the first 
day of the eleventh month of the fortieth 
year of the wanderings, in the plains of 
Moab. Deut. 1 : 3, 5. Moses is described 
as 120 years of age, but with his sight and 
his freshness of strength unabated. Deut. 
34 : 7. Joshua is appointed his successor. 
The law is written out and ordered to be 
deposited in. the ark. ch. 31. The song 
and the blessing of the tribes conclude 
the farewell, chs. 32, 33. And then comes 
the mysterious close. He is told that he 
is to see the good land beyond the Jor- 
dan, but not to possess it himself. He 
ascends the mount of Pisgah and stands 
on Nebo, one of its summits, and surveys 
the four great masses of Palestine west 
of the Jordan, so far as it can be dis- 
cerned from that height. The view has 



MOT 



MOU 



passed into a proverb for all nations. 
" So Moses the servant of Jehovah died 
there in the land of Moab, according to 
the word of Jehovah. And he buried 
him in a ' ravine ' in the land of Moab, 
' before ' Beth-peor : but no man knoweth 
of his sepulchre unto this day. . . 
And the children of Israel wept 
for Moses in the plains of Moab 
thirty days." Deut. 34 : 5, 0, 8. 
This is all that is said in the 
sacred record. (This burial was 
thus hidden probably — (1) To 
preserve his grave from idola- 
trous worship or superstitious 
reverence; and (2) Because it 
may be that God did not intend to 
leave his body to corruption, but 
to prepare it, as he did the body 
of Elijah, so that Moses could in 
his spiritual body meet Christ, to- 
gether with Elijah, on the mount 
of transfiguration.) 

Moses is spoken of as a likeness 
of Christ ; and as this is a point of 
view which has been almost lost in the 
Church, compared with the more familiar 
comparisons of Christ to Adam, David, 
Joshua, and yet has as firm a basis in 
fact as any of them, it may be well to 
draw it out in detail. (1) Moses is, as it 
would seem, the only character of the 
Old Testament to whom Christ expressly 
likens himself: "Moses wrote of me." 
John 5 : 46. It suggests three main 
points of likeness: (a) Christ was, like 
Moses, the great prophet of the people — 
the last, as Moses was the first, (b) 
Christ, like Moses, is a lawgiver : " Him 
shall ye hear." (c) Christ, like Moses, 
was a prophet out of the midst of the 
nation, " from their brethren." As Moses 
was the entire representative of his peo- 
ple, feeling for them more than for him- 
self, absorbed in their interests, hopes 
and fears, so, with reverence be it said, 
was Christ. (2) In Heb. 3:1-19; 12: 
24-29; Acts 7:37, Christ is described, 
though more obscurely, as the Moses of 
the new dispensation— as the apostle or 
messenger or mediator of God to the peo- 
ple — as the controller and leader of the 
flock or household of God. (3) The de- 
tails of their lives are sometimes, though 
not often, compared. Acts 7 : 24-28, 35. 
In Jude 9 is an allusion to an altercation 
between Michael and Satan over the body 
of Moses. It probably refers to a lost 
apocryphal book, mentioned by Origen, 
called the " Ascension " or " Assumption 
420 



of Moses." Bespecting the books of 
Moses, see Pentateuch. 

Moth. By the Hebrew word we are 
certainly to understand some species of 
clothes-moth (tinea). Beference to the 
destructive habits of the clothes-moth is 




Cloth Moths. 

made in Job 4 : 19 ; 13 : 28 ; Ps. 39 : 11, 
etc. (The moth is a well-known insect 
which in its caterpillar state is very de- 
structive to woollen clothing, furs, etc. 
The egg of the moth, being deposited on 
the fur or cloth, jDroduces a very small 
shining insect, which immediately forms 
a house for itself by cuttings from the 
cloth. It eats away the nap, and.finally 
ruins the fabric. There are more than 
1500 species of moths. — McClintock and 
Strong's Cyclopedia.) 

Mother. The superiority of the He- 
brew over all contemporaneous systems 
of legislation and of morals is strongly 
shown in the higher estimation of the 
mother in the Jewish family, as con- 
trasted with modern Oriental as well as 
ancient Oriental and classical usage. The 
king's mother, as appears in the case of 
Bath-sheba, was treated with special 
honor. Ex. 20 : 12 ; Lev. 19 : 3 ; Deut. 5 : 
16 ; 21 : 18, 21 ; 1 Kings 2 : 19 ; Prov. 10 : 
1 ; 15 : 20 ; 17 : 25 ; 29 : 15 ; 31 : 1, 30. 

Mount. Isa. 29:3; Jer. 6:6, etc. 
[Siege.] 

Mount, Mountain. The Hebrew 
word har, like the English "mountain," 
is employed for both single eminences 
more or less isolated, such as Sinai, Ger- 
izim, Ebal, Zion and Olivet, and for 
ranges, such as Lebanon. It is also ap- 
plied to a mountainous country or dis- 
trict. 

Mountain of the Amorites, spe- 



MOU 



MOU 



cifically mentioned Deut. 1:19, 20 ; of persons hired for the purpose of mourn- 
comp. 44. It seems to be the range which i ing. Eccles. 12:5; Jer. 9:17; Amos 5 : 
rises abruptly from the plateau of et-Tih, 16 ; Matt. 9 : 23. {n) Akin to the fore- 
south of Judea, running from a little j going usage the custom for friends or 
south of west to north of east, and of passers-by to join in the lamentations of 
which the extremities are the Jebel Araif bereaved or afflicted persons. Gen. 50 : 3 ; 
en-Nakah westward and Jebel el-Mukrah Judges 11 : 40 ; Job 2:11; 30 : 25, etc. 
eastward, and from which line the coun- (o) The sitting or lying posture in silence 
try continues mountainous all the way to j indicative of grief. Gen. 23 : 3 ; Judges 

(p) Mourning feast and cup 
of consolation. Jer. 16 : 7, 8. 
2. The period of mourning 
varied. In the case of Jacob 
it was seventy davs, Gen. 50 : 
3 ; of Aaron, Num. 20 : 29, 
and Moses, Deut. 34 : 8, 
thirty. A further period of 
seven days in Jacob's case. 
Gen. 50 : 10. Seven days for 
Saul, which may have been 
an abridged period in the 
time of national danger. 1 
Sam. 31 : 13. 

With the practices above 
mentioned, Oriental and 
other customs, ancient and 
modern, in great measure 
agree. Arab men are si- 
lent in grief, but the women 
Mourning. One marked feature of | scream, tear their hair, hands and face, 
Oriental mourning is what may be called and throw earth or sand on their heads, 
its studied publicity and the careful ob- Both Mohammedans and Christians in 
servance of the prescribed ceremonies. | Egypt hire wailing-women, and wail at 
Gen. 23 : 2 ; Job 1:20; 2:12. 1. Among j stated times. Burckhardt says the women 
the particular forms observed the follow- ' of Atbara in Nubia shave their heads on 
ing may be mentioned: (a) Bending the \ the death of their nearest relatives — a 
clothes. Gen. 37 : 29, 34 ; 44 : 13, etc. (b) I custom prevalent also among several of 
Dressing in sackcloth. Gen. 37 : 34 ; 2 the peasant tribes of upper Egypt. He 
Sam. 3 : 31 ; 21 : 10, etc. (c) Ashes, dust t also mentions wailing-women, and a 
or earth sprinkled on the person. 2 Sam. , man in distress besmearing his face with 
13:19; 15:32, etc. id) Black or sad- dirt and dust in token of grief. In the 
colored garments. 2 Sam. 14 : 2 ; Jer. 8 : j "Arabian Nights" are frequent allusions 
21, etc. (e) Bemoval of ornaments or } to similar practices. It also mentions 
neglect of person. Deut. 21 : 12, 13, etc. | ten days and forty days as periods of 
(/) Shaving the head, plucking out the I mourning. Lane, speaking of the modem 
hair of the head or beard. Lev. 10 : 6 ; 2 j Egyptians, says, " After death the women 
Sam. 19 : 24, etc. (g) Laying bare some j of the family raise cries of lamentation 
part of the body. Isa. 20 : 2 ; 47 : 2, etc. called welweleh or wilwdl, uttering the 
(h) Fasting or abstinence in meat and ! most piercing shrieks, and calling upon 
drink. 2 Sam. 1 : 12 ; 3 : 35 ; 12 : 16, 22, | the name of the deceased, ' Oh, my mas- 
etc. (i) In the same direction may be ter ! Oh, my resource ! Oh, my misfor- 
mentioned diminution in offerings to God, j tune ! Oh, my glory !' See Jer. 22 : 18. 
and prohibition to partake of sacrificial The females of the neighborhood come to 
food. Lev. 7 : 20 ; Deut. 26 : 14. (k) join with them in this conclamation : 
Covering the " upper lip," i. e. the lower [ generally, also, the family send for two 
part of the face, and sometimes the head, or more* nedddbehs or public wailing- 
in token of silence. Lev. 13 : 45 ; 2 Sam. j women. Each brings a tambourine, and 
15: 30; 19: 4. (I) Cutting the flesh, Jer. i beating them they exclaim, 'Alas for 
16 : 6, 7; 41 : 5; beating the body. Ezek. j him !' The female relatives, domestics 
21 : 12 ; Jer. 31 : 19. (m) Employment j and friends, with their hair dishevelled 




MOU 



MUS 



and sometimes with rent clothes, beating 
their faces, cry in like manner, ' Alas for 
him !' These make no alteration in dress, 
but women, in some cases, dye their 
shirts, head-veils and handkerchiefs of a 
dark-blue color. They visit the tombs 
at stated periods." — Mod. Eg. iii. 152, 
171, 195. 

Mouse (the corn-eater). The name of 
this animal occurs in Lev. 11 : 29 ; 1 Sam. 
6 : 4, 5 ; Isa. 66 : 17. The Hebrew word 




The Field Mouse. 



is in all probability generic, and is not 
intended to denote any particular species 
of mouse. The original word denotes a 
field-ravager, and may therefore compre- 
hend any destructive rodent. Tristram 
found twenty-three species of mice in 
Palestine. It is probable that in 1 Sam. 
6 : 5 the expression " the mice that mar 
the land " includes and more particularly 
refers to the short-tailed field-mice (Ar- 
vicola agrestis, Flem.), which cause great 
destruction to the corn-lands of Syria. 

Mowing. As the great heat of the 
climate in Palestine and other similarly- 
situated countries soon dries up the herb- 
age itself, hay-making in our sense of the 
term is not in use. The ''king's mow- 
ings," Amos 7 : 1, may perhaps refer to 
some royal right of early pasturage for 
the use of the cavalry. 

Mo'za [fountain). 1. Son of Caleb 
the son of Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 46. 

2. Son of Zimri and descendant of 
Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 36, 37 ; 9 : 42, 43. 

Mo'zah { fountain), one of the cities 
in the allotment of Benjamin, Josh. 18 : 
26 only, named between hac-Cephirah 
and Eekem. 

Mulberry trees (Heb. becalm). Men- 
tion of these is made only in 2 Sam. 5 : 
23, 24 and 1 Chron. 14 : 14. We are quite 
unable to determine what kind of tree is 
denoted by the Hebrew word. Some be- 
422 



lieve pear trees are meant; others the 
aspen or poplar, whose leaves tremble 
and rustle with the slightest breeze, even 
when the breeze is not otherwise percep- 
tible. It may have been to the rustling 
of these leaves that the "going in the 
tree tops " refers. 2 Sam. 5 : 23, 24. 

Mule, a hybrid animal, the offspring 
of a horse and an ass. " The mule is 
smaller than the horse, and is a remark- 
ably hardy, patient, obstinate, sure-footed 
animal, living, ordinarily, twice as long 
as a horse." — McClintock and Strong's 
Cyclopedia. It was forbidden to the Is- 
raelites to breed mules, but sometimes 
they imported them. It would appear 
that only kings and great men rode on 
mules. We do not read of mules at all in 
the New Testament; perhaps therefore 
they had ceased to be imported. 

Mup'pim (serpent), a Benjamite, and 
one of the fourteen descendants of Ra- 
chel who belonged to the original colony 
of the sons of J acob in Egvpt. Gen. 46 : 
21. (B.C. 1706.) In Num. 26 : 39 the 
name is given as Shupham. 

Murder. The law of Moses, while it 
protected the accidental homicide, de- 
fined with additional strictness the crime 
of murder. It prohibited compensation 
or reprieve of the murderer, or his pro- 
tection if he took refuge in the refuge 
city, or even at the altar of Jehovah. 
Ex. 21 : 12, 14; Lev. 24 : 17, 21 ; 1 Kings 
2 : 5, 6, 31. The duty of executing pun- 
ishment on the murderer is in the law 
expressly laid on the " revenger of blood ;" 
but the question of guilt was to be pre- 
viously decided by the Levitical tribunal. 
In regal times the duty of execution of 
justice on a murderer seems to have been 
assumed to some extent by the sovereign, 
as was also the privilege of pardon. 2 
Sam. 13 : 39 ; 14 : 7, 11 ; 1 Kings 2 : 34. It 
was lawful to kill a burglar taken at 
night in the act, but unlawful to do so 
after sunrise. Ex. 22 : 2, 3. 

Mu'shi (yielding), the son of Merari 
the son of Kohath. Ex. 6 : 19 ; Num. 3 : 
20 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 19, 47 ; 23 : 21, 23 ; 24 : 
26, 30. m 

Music. 1. The most ancient music. — 
The inventor of musical instruments, like 
the first poet and the first forger of met- 
als, was a Cainite. We learn from Gen. 
4 : 21 that Jubal the son of Lamech was 
"the father of all such as handle the 
harp and organ," that is, of all players 
upon stringed and wind instruments. 
The first mention of music in the times 



MUS 



MUS 



after the deluge is in the narrative of La- 
ban's interview with Jacob, Gen. 31 : 27 ; 
so that, whatever way it was preserved, 
the practice of music existed in 4he up- 
land country of Syria, and of the three 
possible kinds of musical instruments, 
two were known and employed to accom- 
pany the song. The three kinds are al- 
luded to in Job 21 : 12. On the banks of 
the Red Sea Moses and the children of 
Israel sang their triumphal song of de- 
liverance from the hosts of Egypt; and 
Miriam, in celebration of the same event, 
exercised one of her functions as a proph- 
etess by leading a procession of the 
women of the camp, chanting in chorus 
the burden of the song of Moses. The 
song of Deborah and Barak is cast in a 
distinctly metrical form, and was prob- 
ably intended to be sung with a musical 
accompaniment as one of the people's 
songs. The simpler impromptu with 
which the women from the cities of Israel 
greeted David after the slaughter of the 
Philistines was apparently struck off on 
the spur of the moment, under the influ- 
ence of the wild joy with which they 
welcomed their national champion, " the 
darling of the sons of Israel." 1 Sam. 
18 : 6, 7. Up to this time we meet with 
nothing like a systematic cultivation of 
music among the Hebrews, but the es- 
tablishment of the schools of the proph- 
ets appears to have supplied this want. 
Whatever the students of these schools 
may have been taught, music was an es- 
sential part of their practice. Profes- 
sional musicians soon became attached to 
the court. 

2. The golden age of Hebrew music. — 
David seems to have gathered round him 
"singing men and singing women." 2 
Sam. 19 : 35. Solomon did the same, 
Eccles. 2 : 8, adding to the luxury of his 
court by his patronage of art, and ob- 
taining a reputation himself as no mean 
composer. 1 Kings 4 : 32. But the tem- 
ple was the great school of music, and it 
was consecrated to its highest service in 
the worship of Jehovah. Before, how- 
ever, the elaborate arrangements had been 
made by David for the temple choir, there 
must have been a considerable body of 
musicians throughout the country. 2 Sam. 
6 : 5. (David chose 4000 musicians from 
the 38,000 Levites in his reign, or one in 
ten of the whole tribe. Of these music- 
ians 288 were specially trained and skill- 
ful. 1 Chron 25 : 6, 7. The whole num- 
ber was divided into 24 courses, each of 



which would thus consist of a full band 
of 154 musicians, presided over by a body 
of 12 specially-trained leaders, under one 
of the twenty-four sons of Asaph, He- 
man or Jeduthun as conductor. The 
leaders appear to have played on the 
cymbals, perhaps to mark the time. 1 
Chron. 15 : 19 ; 16 : 5. All these joined in 
a special chant which David taught them, 
and which went by his name. 1 Chron. 
23 : 5. Women also took part in the tem- 
ple choir. 1 Chron. 13 : 8 ; 25 : 5, 6. These 
great choirs answered one to another in 
responsive singing ; thus the temple mu- 
sic must have been grand and inspiring 
beyond anything known before that time. 

3. Character of Hebrew music. — As in 
all Oriental nations, the music of the 
Hebrews was melody rather than har- 
mony, which latter was then unknown. 
All, old and young, men and maidens, 
singers and instruments, appear to have 
sung one part only in unison, or in oc- 
taves. " The beauty of the music con- 
sisted altogether in the melody ;" but this, 
with so many instruments and voices, 
was so charming that " the whole of an- 
tiquity is full of the praises of this music. 
By its means battles were won, cities con- 
quered, mutinies quelled, diseases cured." 
—Ed.) 

4. Uses of music. — In the private as 
well as in the religious life of the He- 
brews music held a prominent place. 
The kings had their court musicians, 2 
Chron. 35 : 25 ; Eccles. 2:8; and in the 
luxurious times of the later monarchy 
the effeminate gallants of Israel amused 
themselves with devising musical instru- 
ments while their nation was perishing 
("as Nero fiddled while Rome was burn- 
ing "). But music was also the legitimate 
expression of mirth and gladness. The 
bridal processions as they passed through 
the streets were accompanied with music 
and song. Jer. 7 : 34. The music of the 
banquets was accompanied with songs 
and dancing. Luke 15 : 25. The triumph- 
al processions which celebrated a victory 
were enlivened by minstrels and singers. 
Ex. 15 : 1, 20 ; Judges 5 : 1 ; 11 : 34. There 
were also religious songs. Isa. 30 : 29 ; 
James 5:13. Love songs are alluded to 
in Ps. 45, title, and Isa. 5:1. There were 
also the doleful songs of the funeral pro- 
cession, and the wailing chant of the 
mourners. The grape-gatherers sang at 
their work, and the women sang as they 
toiled at the mill, and on every occasion 
the land of the Hebrews during their 

423 



MUS 



MUS 



national prosperity was a land of music 
and melody. 

Musical instruments of the He- 
brews. (There has been great obscur- 
ity as to the instruments of music in use I 
among the Hebrews, but the discoveries 
on the monuments of Egypt and Assyria 
have thrown much light upon the form 
and nature of these instruments. 

I. Stringed instruments. — 1. The 
harp or lyre. [See illustration.] 2. The 




I. Egyptian Harps. 



psaltery, the name of various large in- 
struments of the harp kind. 3. The sack- 
but, a harp-like instrument of four strings 
and of triangular form. 4. A kind of 
lute or guitar (mahalath), in titles to Ps. 
53 and 88, with a long, flat neck, and a 
hollow body of wood whose surface was 
perforated with holes. There were three 
strings, and the whole instrument was 
three or four feet long. 5. The gittilh, 
in titles to Ps. 8, 81, 84, a stringed instru- 
ment, probably found by David at Gath, 
whence its name. 

II. Instruments of percussion. — 
1. The timbrel, a form of tambourine, a 
narrow hoop covered with a tightened 
skin, and struck with the hand. On the 
Egyptian monuments are three kinds — 
the circular, the square, and another 
formed by two squares separated by a 
bar. 2. The drum (toph). Of this there 
were many varieties, some of them re- 
sembling modern drums. The Egyptians 
had a long drum, of wood or copper, 2+ 
feet long, resembling the tom-tom of In- 
dia, and beaten by the hand. Another 
form was shaped like a cask with bulging 
424 



I centre, and was made of copper. It was 
I of the same length as the other, but larger 
| around, and was beaten with sticks. An- 
i other drum was more like our kettle- 
! drum ; and one of these, the rabbins say, 
! was placed in the temple court to call 
the priests to prayer, and could be heard 




II. Instruments of Percussion. 



from Jerusalem to Jericho. 3. Bells 
(paamon), attached to the high priest's 
dress, and rung by striking against the 
knobs, shaped like pomegranates, which 
were hung near them. 4. Cymbals. The 
earliest cymbals were probably finger- 
cymbals — small plates of" metal fastened 
to the thumb and middle finger, and 
struck together. Afterward there were 
the large cymbals, played with both 
hands. 5. Systra (menaanim), 2 Sam. 6 : 
5, there translated cornets. The systrum 
was a carved bronze or copper frame, 
with a handle, in all from 8 to 18 inches 
long, with movable rings and bars. It 
was shaken with the hand, and the rings 
and bars made a piercing metallic sound 



MUS 



MUS 



by striking against the bronze frame. 6. 
The triangle {shalishim), 1 Sam. 18 : 6, a 
musical instrument (machol) used for ac- 
companying the dance, and several times 
translated dancing. Ps. 150 : 3, 45. It 
was a metallic rim or frame, sometimes 
with a handle, and had small bells at- 
tached to it, or bars across on which were 
strung metallic rings or plates. It was 
held in the hand, and was played by the 
women at weddings and merry-makings. 




III. Wind Instruments. 



III. Wind instruments. — 1. The 

syrinx, pandean pipe or bagpipe (ugab) ; 
translated " organ " in Gen. 4:21. Either, 
like the bagpipe, or a series of pipes from 
5 to 23 in number, though usually only 
7. 2. The horn, in the form of an ani- 
mal's horn even when made of metal, but 
originating in the use of the horns of cat- 
tle. 3. The trumpet (shophar), same as 
horn, 2. 4. The straight trum,pet. 5. The 
flute (halil, meaning "bored through"), 
a pipe perforated with holes, originally 
made from reeds, but afterward of wood, 
bone, horn or ivory. It was chiefly con- 
secrated to joy or pleasure. 6. The flute, 
alluded to in Dan. 3:5; probably a 
kind of double flageolet. 7. The dulci- 
mer, Dan. 3 : 5, a kind of bagpipe with 
two shrill reeds. The modern dulcimer 
is a triangular instrument strung with 
about 50 brass wires, and played upon 
with little sticks or metallic rods. It 



more resembles the ancient psaltery than 
the dulcimer of Dan. 3 : 5. — Ed.) 

Mustard is mentioned in Matt. 13 : 
31 ; 17 : 20 ; Mark 4:31; Luke 13 : 19 ; 
17 : 6. It is generally agreed that the 
mustard tree of Scripture is the black 
mustard (Sinapis nigra). The objection 




The Mustard Plant. 



commonly made against any sinapis be- 
ing the plant of the parable is that the 
seed grew into "a tree," in which the 
fowls of the air are said to come and 
lodge. As to this objection, it is urged 
with great truth that the expression is 
figurative and Oriental, and that in a 
proverbial simile no literal accuracy is 
to be expected. It is an error, for which 
the language of Scripture is not account- 
able, to assert that the passage implies 
that birds " built their nests " in the tree : 
the Greek word has no such meaning; 
the word merely means " to settle or rest 
upon" anything for a longer or shorter 
time; nor is there any occasion to sup- 
pose that the expression "fowls of the 
air" denotes any other than the smaller 
insessorial kinds — linnets, finches, etc. 
Hiller's explanation is probably the cor- 
rect one, — that the birds came and settled 
on the mustard-plant for the sake of the 
seed, of which they are very fond. Dr. 
Thomson also says he has seen the wild 
mustard on the rich plain of Akkar as 
tall as the horse and the rider. If, then, 
the wild plant on the rich plain of Akkar 
grows as nigh as a man on horseback, it 
425 



MUT 



MYR 



might attain to the same or a greater 
height when in a cultivated garden. The 
expression " which is indeed the least of 
all seeds " is in all probability hyperbol- 
ical, to denote a very small seed indeed, 
as there are many seeds which are smaller 
than mustard. " The Lord in his pop- 
ular teaching," says Trench ("Notes on 
Parables," 108), "adhered to the popular 
language;" and the mustard-seed was 




Myrrk 



used proverbially to denote anything 
very minute ; or it may mean that it was 
the smallest of all garden seeds, which it 
is in truth. 

Muth-labben. " To the chief mu- 
sician upon Muth-labben" is the title of 
Ps. 9, which has given rise to infinite 
conjecture. It may be either upon the 
death (mirth) of the fool {labben), as an 
anagram on Nabal, or as Gesenius, " to be 
chanted by boys with virgins' voices," 
i. e. in the soprano. 
426 



My'ra, an important town in Lycia, 
on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, on 
the river Andriacus, 2£ miles from its 
mouth, referred to in Acts 27 : 5. Myra 
(called Dembra by the Greeks) is remark- 
able still for its remains of various periods 
of history. 

Myrrh. This substance is mentioned 
in Ex. 30 : 23 as one of the ingredients of 
the " oil of holy ointment ;" in Esther 2 : 
12, as one of the substances used in the 
purification of women; in Ps. 45 : 8, Prov. 
7 : 17, and in several passages in Canticles, 
as a perfume. The Greek occurs in Matt. 
2 : 11 among the gifts brought by the wise 
men to the infant Jesus ; and in Mark 
15 : 23 it is said that " wine mingled with 
myrrh" was offered to, but refused by, 
our Lord on the cross. Myrrh was also 
used for embalming. See John 19 : 39 
and Herod, ii. 86. The Balsainodendron 
myrrha, which produces the myrrh of 
commerce, has a wood and bark which 




Myrtle. 



emit a strong odor ; the gum which ex- 
udes from the bark is at first oily, but be- 
comes hard by exposure to the air. (This 
myrrh is in small yellowish or white 
globules or tears. The tree is small, with 
a stunted trunk, covered with light-gray 
bark. It is found in Arabia Felix. The 
myrrh of Gen. 37 : 25 was probably lad- 



MYE 



MYS 



anum, a highly-fragrant resin and volatile 
oil used as a cosmetic, and stimulative as 
a medicine. It is yielded by the cistus, 
known in Europe as the rock rose, a 
shrub with rose-colored flowers, growing 
in Palestine and along the shores of the 
Mediterranean. — Ed.) For wine mingled 
with myrrh see Gall. 

Myrtle, a plant mentioned in Neh. 8 : 
15 ; Isa. 41 : 19 ; 55 : 13 ; Zech. 1 : 8, 10, 11. 
The modern Jews still adorn with myrtle 
the booths and sheds at the feast of taber- 
nacles. Formerly, as we learn from Ne- 
hemiah, Neh. 8 : 15, myrtles grew on the 
hills about Jerusalem. "On Olivet," 
says Dean Stanley, " nothing is now to be 
seen but the olive and the fig tree :" on 



some of the hills near Jerusalem, how- 
ever, Hasselquist observed the myrtle. 
Dr. Hooker says it is not uncommon in 
Samaria and Galilee. The Myrtus com- 
munis is the kind denoted by the Hebrew 
word. (It is a shrub or low tree, some- 
times ten feet high, with green shining 
leaves, and snow-white flowers bordered 
with purple, " which emit a perfume more 
exquisite than that of the rose." The 
seeds of the myrtle, dried before they are 
ripe, form our allspice. — Ed.) 

Mys'ia (land of beech trees). Acts 16 : 
7, 8, was the region about the frontier of 
the provinces of Asia and Bithynia. The 
term is evidently used in an ethnological, 
not a political, sense. 

427 



NAA 



NAA 



N. 



Na'am ( pleasantness), one of the sons 
of Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 1 Chron. 
4 : 15. (B.C. about 1451-1420.) 

Na'amah (loveliness). 1. One of the 
four women whose names are preserved 
in the records of the world before the 
flood ; all except Eve being Cainites. She 
was daughter of Lamech by his wife Zil- 
lah, and sister, as is expressly mentioned, 
to Tubal-cain. Gen. 4 : 22 only. (B.C. 
about 3550.) 

2. Mother of King Eehoboam. 1 Kings 
14 : 21, 31 ; 2 Chron. 12 : 13. In each of 
these passages she is distinguished by the 
title " the (not 'an,' as in Authorized Ver- 
sion) Ammonite." She was therefore one 
of the foreign women whom Solomon took 
into his establishment. 1 Kings 11:1. 
(B.C. 1015-975.) 

Na'amah, one of the towns of Jurlah 
in the district of the lowland or Shefelah. 
Josh. 15 : 41. Capt. Warren, in Report 
of Palestine Exploration Fund, 1871, lo- 
cates it at Naameh, six miles northeast 
of Yebna. 

Na'aman [pleasantness). 1. "Na- 
aman the Syrian." Luke 4 : 27. Naaman 
was commander-in-chief of the army of 
Syria, and was nearest to the person of 
the king, Ben-hadad II., whom he accom- 
panied officially and supported when he 
went to worship in the temple of Riinmon, 
2 Kings 5 : 18, at Damascus, the capital. 
(B.C. 885.) A Jewish tradition at least 
as old as the time of Josephus, and which 
may very well be a genuine one, identi- 
fies him with the archer whose arrow, 
whether at random or not, struck Ahab 
with his mortal wound, and thus " gave 
deliverance to Syria." The expression 
in 2 Kings 5 : 1 is remarkable — " because 
that by him Jehovah had given deliver- 
ance to Syria." The most natural ex- 
planation perhaps is that Naaman, in 
delivering his country, had killed one 
who was the enemy of Jehovah not less 
than he was of Syria. Whatever the par- 
ticular exploit referred to was, it had 
given Naaman a great position at the 
court of Ben-hadad. Naaman was af- 
flicted with a leprosy of the white kind 
Avhich had hitherto defied cure. A little 
Israelitish captive maiden tells him of 
the fame and skill of Elisha, and he is 
428 



cured by him by following his simple 
directions to bathe in the Jordan seven 
times. See 2 Kings 5 : 14. His first busi- 
ness after his cure is to thank his bene- 
factor and gratefully acknowledge the 
power of the God of Israel, and promise 
"henceforth to offer neither burnt offer- 
ing nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto 
the Lord." How long Naaman lived to 
continue a worshipper of Jehovah while 
assisting officially at the worship of Rim- 
mon we are not told ; ("but his memory 
is perpetuated by a leper hospital which 
occupies the traditional site of his house 
in Damascus, on the banks of the Ab- 
ana." — Schaff.) 

2. One of the family of Benjamin who 
came down to Egypt with Jacob, as read 
in Gen. 46 : 21. He was the son of Bela, 
and head of the family of the Naamites. 
Num. 26 : 40; 1 Chron. 8 : 3, 4. (B.C. 
1706.) 

Na'amathite, the gentilic name of 
one of Job's friends, Zophar the Naam- 
athite. Job 2 : 11 ; 11:1; 20 : 1 ; 42 : 9. 
There is no other trace of this name in 
the Bible, and the town whence it is de- 
rived is unknown. (But as Uz was in 
Arabia, probably the Naamah where he 
lived was on the Arabian borders of 
Syria.) 

Na'amites, The, the family descend- 
ed from Naaman, the grandson of Ben- 
jamin. Num. 26 : 40 only. 

Na'arah (a maiden), the second Avife 
of Ashur; a descendant of Judah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 5, 6. 

Na'ara-i (handmaid), one of the val- 
iant men of David's armies. 1 Chron. 11 : 
37. In 1 Chron. he is called the son of 
Ezbai, but in 2 Sam. 23 : 35 he appears 
as " Paarai the Arbite." Kennicott de- 
cides that the former is correct. (B.C. 
about 1015.) 

Na'aran (juvenile), a city of Ephraim, 
which in a very ancient record, 1 Chron. 
7 : 28, is mentioned as the eastern limit 
of the tribe. It is very probably iden- 
tical with Naarath, or more accurately 
Naarah. 

Na'arath (juvenile) (the Hebrew is 
equivalent to Naarah, which is therefore 
the real form of the name), a place named 
Josh. 16 : 7 only as one of the landmarks 



NAA 



NAD 



on the southern boundary of Ephraim. | 
It appears to have lain between Ataroth i 
and Jericho, in the Jordan valley. Eu- 
sebius and Jerome speak of it as if well j 
known to them — "Naorath, a small vil- 
lage of the Jews, five miles from Jeri- 
cho." 

Na-ash'on. [Nahshon.] 

Na-as'son {enchanter), the Greek 
form of the name Nahshon. Matt. 1 : 4, 
Luke 3 :32, only. 

Na'bal {fool) was a sheepmaster on 
the confines of Judea and the desert, 
in that part of the country which bore 
from its great conqueror the name of 
Caleb. 1 Sam. 25 : 3; 30 : 14. (B.C. 
about 1055.) His residence was on the 
southern Carmel, in the pasture lands of 
Maon. His wealth, as might be expected 
from his abode, consisted chiefly of sheep 
and goats. It was the custom of the 
shepherds to drive them into the wild 
downs on the slopes of Carmel ; and it 
was whilst they were on one of these pas- 
toral excursions that they met a band of 
outlaws, who showed them unexpected 
kindness, protecting them by day and 
night, and never themselves committing 
any depredations. 1 Sam. 25:7, 15, It!. 
Once a year there was a grand banquet 
on Carmel, " like the feast of a king." 
ch. 25 : 2, 4, 36. It was on one of these 
occasions that ten youths from the chief 
of the freebooters approached Nabal, enu- 
merated the services of their master, and 
ended by claiming, with a mixture of 
courtesy and defiance characteristic of 
the East, " whatsoever cometh into thy 
hand for thy servants and for thy son 
David." The great sheepmaster per- 
emptorily refused. The moment that the 
messengers were gone, the shepherds that 
stood by perceived the danger that their 
master and themselves would incur. To 
Nabal himself they durst not speak, ch. 
25 : 17. To his wife, as to the good angel 
of the household, one of the shepherds 
told the state of affairs. She, with the 
offerings usual on such occasions, with 
her attendants running before her, rode 
down the hill toward David's encamp- 
ment. David had already made the fatal 
vow of extermination, ch. 25 : 22. At 
this moment, as it would seem, Abigail 
appeared, threw herself on her face be- 
fore him, and poured forth her petition 
in language which in both form and ex- 
pression almost assumes the tone of po- 
etry. She returned with the news of Da- 
vid's recantation of his vow. Nabal was 



I then at the height of his orgies, and his 
I wife dared not communicate to him either 
his danger or his escape, ch. 25 : 36. At 
! break of day she told him both. The 
stupid reveller was suddenly roused to a 
sense of that which impended over him. 
" His heart died within him, and he be- 
came as a stone." It was as if a stroke 
of apoplexy or paralysis had fallen upon 
him. Ten days he lingered, " and the 
Lord smote Nabal, and he died." ch. 25 : 
37, 38. 

Na'both {fruits), the victim of Ahab 
and Jezebel, was the owner of a small 
vineyard at Jezreel, close to the royal 
palace of Ahab. 1 Kings 21 : 1, 2. (B.C. 
897.) It thus became an object of desire 
to the king, who ottered an equivalent in 
money or another vineyard in exchange 
for this. Naboth, in the independent 
spirit of a Jewish landholder, refused : 
" The Lord forbid it me that I should 
give the inheritance of my fathers unto 
thee." Ahab was cowed by this reply ; 
but the proud spirit of Jezebel was 
aroused. She took the matter into her 
own hands. A fast was proclaimed, as 
on the announcement of some impending 
calamity. Naboth was " set on high " 
in the public place of Samaria ; two men 
of worthless character accused him of 
having " cursed God and the king." He 
and his children, 2 Kings 9 : 26, were 
dragged out of the -city and despatched 
the same night. The place of execution 
there was by the large tank or reservoir 
which still remains on the slope of the 
hill of Samaria, immediately outside the 
walls. The usual punishment for blas- 
phemy was enforced : Naboth and his 
sons were stoned; and the blood from 
their wounds ran down into the waters 
of the tank beloAV. For the signal retri- 
bution taken on this judicial murder — a 
remarkable proof of the high regard paid 
in the old dispensation to the claims of 
justice and independence — see Ahab ; 
Jehu ; Jezebel. 

Nabuchodon'osor. [Nebuchad- 
nezzar.] 

Na'chon's {prepared) threshing- 
floor), the place at which the ark had 
arrived in its progress from Kirjath-je- 
arim to Jerusalem, when Uzzah iost his 
life in his too-hasty zeal for its safety. 2 
Sam. 6:6. (B.C. 1042.) 
Na'chor. [Nahor.] 
Na'dab (liberal). 1. The eldest son 
of Aaron and Elisheba. Ex. 6 : 23 ; Num. 
3 : 2. (B.C. 1490.) He, his father and 
429 



NAG 



NAH 



brother, and seventy old men of Israel 
were led out from the midst of the as- 
sembled people, Ex. 24 : 1, and were com- 
manded to stay and worship God "afar 
off," below the lofty summit of Sinai, 
where Moses alone was to come near to 
the Lord. Subsequently, Lev. 10 : 1, Na- 
dab and his brother were struck dead j 
before the sanctuary by fire f rom the | 
Lord. Their offence was kindling the 
incense in their censers with " strange " 
fire, i. e. not taken from that which 
burned perpetually, Lev. 6 : 13, on the 
altar. 

2. King Jeroboam's son, who succeeded 
to the throne of Israel B.C. 954, and 
reigned two years. 1 Kings 15 : 25-31. 
At the siege of Gibbethon a conspiracy 
broke out in the midst of the army, and 
the king was slain by Baasha, a man of 
Issachar. 

3. A son of Shammai, 1 Chron. 2 : 28, 
of the tribe of Judah. 

4. A son of Gibeon, 1 Chron. 8 : 30; 9 : 
36, of the tribe of Benjamin. 

Nag'ga-i (illuminating), the true 
form of Nagge, Luke 3 : 25, and so given 
in the Revised Version. 

Nag'ge, one of the ancestors of Christ. 
Luke 3 : 25. [See Naggai.] 

Nahal'al, or Na'halal (pasture), one 
of the cities of Zebulun, given with its 
" suburbs " to the Merarite Levites. Josh. 
21 : 35. It is the same which in Josh. 
19 : 15 is inaccurately given in the Au- 
thorized Version as Nahallal, the Hebrew 
being in both cases identical. Elsewhere j 
it is called Nahalol. Judges 1 : 30. It ' 
is identified with the modern Malul, a 
village in the plain of Esdraelon. 

Naha'liel (torrents of God), one of the 
halting-places of Israel in the latter part 
of their progress to Canaan. Num. 21 : 
19. It lay " beyond," that is, north of, 
the Arnon, ver. 13, and between Matta- 
nah and Bamoth, the next after Bamoth 
being Pisgah. 

Na'haiol. [Nahalal.] 

Na'hara (consolation), the brother of 
Hodiah or Jehudiah, wife of Ezra. 1 
Chron. 4 : 19. 

Naham'ani (merciful), a chief man 
among those who returned from Babylon 
with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Neh. 7:7. 
(B.C. 536.) 

Nahar'a-i (snorter), the armor-bearer 
of Joab, called Nahari in the Author- 
ized Version of 2 Sam. 23 : 37. He was 
a native of Beeroth. 1 Chron. 11 : 39. (B.C. 
1013.) 

430 



Na'hari. The same as Naharai. 2 
Sam. 23 : 37. In the Authorized Version 
of 1611 the name is printed " Naharai the 
Berothite." 

Na'hash (serpent). 1. King of the 
Ammonites who dictated to the inhab- 
itants of Jabesh-gilead that cruel alter- 
native of the loss of their right eyes or 
slavery, which roused the swift wrath of 
Saul, and caused the destruction of the 
Ammonite force. 1 Sam. 11 : 2-11. (B.C. 
1092.) "Nahash" would seem to have 
been the title of the king of the Ammon- 
ites rather than the name of an individ- 
ual. Nahash the father of Hanun had 
rendered David some special and valu- 
able service, which David was anxious 
for an opportunity of requiting. 2 Sam. 
10 : 2. 

2. A person mentioned once only — 2 
Sam. 17 : 25 — in stating the parentage of 
Amasa, the commander-in-chief of Absa- 
lom's army. Amasa is there said to have 
been the son of a certain Ithra by Abi- 
gail, " daughter of Nahash and sister to 
Zeruiah." (B.C. before 1023.) 

Na'hath (rest). 1. One of the "dukes" 
of Edom, eldest son of Reuel the son of 
Esau. Gen. 36 : 13, 17 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 37. 
(B.C. 1700.) 

2. A Kohathite Levite, son of Zophai. 

1 Chron. 6 : 26. 

3. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 

2 Chron. 31 : 13. (B.C. 725.) 

Nah'bi (hidden), the son of Vophsi, a 
Naphtalite, and one of the twelve spies. 
Num. 13 : 14. 

Na'hor (snorting), the name of two 
persons in the family of Abraham. 1. 
His grandfather; the son of Serug and 
father of Terah. Gen. 11 : 22-25. (B.C. 
2174.) 

2. Grandson of the preceding, son of 
Terah and brother of Abraham and Ha- 
ran. Gen. 11 : 26, 27. (B.C. 2000.) The 
order of the ages of the family of Terah 
is not improbably inverted in the narra- 
tive; in which case Nahor, instead of 
being younger than Abraham, was really 
older. He married Milcah, the daughter 
of his brother Haran ; and when Abra- 
ham and Lot migrated to Canaan, Na- 
hor remained behind in the land of his 
birth, on the eastern side of the Eu- 
phrates. 

Nah'shon, or Na-ash'on (enchant- 
er), son of Amminadab, and prince of the 
children of Judah f as he is styled in the 
genealogy of Judnh, 1 Chron. 2 : 10) at 
the time of the first numbering in the 



NAH 



NAM 



wilderness. Ex. 6 : 23 ; Num. 1 : 7, etc. 
His sister, Elisheba, was wife to Aaron, 
and his son, Salmon, was husband to Ra- 
hab after the taking of Jericho. He died 
in the wilderness, according to Num. 26 : 
64, 65. (B.C. before 1451.) 

Na'hum {consolation). Nahum, called 
" the Elkoshite," is the seventh in order 
of the minor prophets. His personal his- 
tory is quite unknown. The site of El- 
kosh, his native place, is disputed, some 
placing it in Galilee, others in Assyria. 
Those who maintain the latter view as- 
sume that the prophet's parents were 
carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser, 
and that the prophet was born at the 
village of Alkush, on the east bank of 
the Tigris, two miles north of Mosul. On 
the other hand, the imagery of his proph- 
ecy is such as would be natural to an in- 
habitant of Palestine, Nah. 1 : 4, to whom 
the rich pastures of Bashan, the vine- 
yards of Carmel and the blossoms of 
Lebanon were emblems of all that was 
luxuriant and fertile. The language em- 
ployed in ch. 1 : 15; 2:2 is appropriate 
to one who wrote for his countrymen in 
their native land. (McClintock and 
Strong come to the conclusion that Na- 
hum was a native of Galilee, that at the 
captivity of the ten tribes he escaped 
into Judah, and prophesied in the reign 
of Hezekiah, 726-698.— Ed.) Prophecy 
of Nahum. — The date of Nahuni's proph- 
ecy can be determined with as little pre- 
cision as his birthplace. It is, however, 
certain that the prophecy was written 
before the final downfall of Nineveh and 
its capture by the Medes and Chaldeans, 
dr. B.C. 625. The allusions to the As- 
syrian power imply that it was still un- 
broken, ch. 1 : 12; 2:8, 13; 3 : 15-17. 
It is most probable that Nahum flour- 
ished in the latter half of the reign of 
Hezekiah, and wrote his prophecy either 
in Jerusalem or its neighborhood. The 
subject of the prophecy is, in accordance 
with the superscription, " the burden of 
Nineveh," the destruction of which he 
predicts. As a poet Nahum occupies a 
high place in the first rank of Hebrew 
literature. His style is clear and unin- 
volved, though pregnant and forcible ; 
his diction sonorous and rhythmical, the 
words re-echoing to the sense. Comp. 2 : 
4 ; 3:3. 

Nail. 1. Of finger, (a) A nail or 
claw of man or animal. (6) A point or 
style, e. g. for writing ; see Jer. 17 : 1. 2. 
(a) A nail, Isa. 41 : 7, a stake, Isa. 33 : 



20 ; also a tent-peg. Tent-pegs were usu- 
ally of wood and of large size ; but some- 
times, as was the case with those used to 
fasten the curtains of the tabernacle, of 
! metal. Ex. 27 : 19 ; 38 : 20. (6) A nail, 
primarily a point. We are told that 
David prepared iron for the nails to be 
used in the temple ; and as the holy of 
holies was plated with gold, the nails 
for fastening the plates were probably of 
gold. 

Na'in {beauty), a village of Galilee, 
the gate of which is made illustrious by 
the raising of the widow's son. Luke 7 : 
12. The modern Nein is situated on the 
northwestern edge of the " Little Her- 
mon," or Jebei-ed-Duhy, where the 
ground falls into the plain of Esdraelon. 
The entrance to the place, where our 
Saviour met the funeral, must probably 
always have been up the steep ascent from 
i the plain ; and here, on the west side of 
j the village, the rock is full of sepulchral 
caves. 

Na'ioth {habitations^ , or more fully, 
" Naioth in Ramah," a place of Mount 
j Ephraim, the birthplace of Samuel and 
j Saul, and in which Samuel and David 
took refuge together after the latter had 
made his escape from the jealous fury of 
Saul. 1 Sam. 19 : 18, 19, 22, 23; 20 : 1. 
It is evident from ver. 18 that Naioth 
was not actually in Ramah, Samuel's 
habitual residence. In its corrected form 
the name signifies " habitations," and 
probably means the huts or dwellings of a 
school or college of prophets over which 
Samuel presided, as Elisha did over those 
at Gilgal and Jericho. 

Names. 1. Names of places. — These 
may be divided into two general classes 
— descriptive and historical. The former 
are such as mark some peculiarity of the 
j locality, usually a natural one, e. g. 
Sharon, "plain;" Gibeah, "hill;" Pis- 
gah, "height." Of the second class of 
local names, some were given in honor 
of individual men, e. g. the city Enoch, 
Gen. 4 : 17, etc. More commonly, how- 
ever, such names were given to perpetu- 
ate the memory of some important his- 
toric occurrence. Bethel perpetuated 
through all Jewish historv the early rev- 
elations of God to Jacob. Gen. 28:19; 
35 : 15. So Jehovah-jireh, Gen. 22 : 14; 
Mahanaim, Gen. 32:2; Peniel, etc. In 
forming compounds to serve as names of 
towns or other localities, some of the 
most common terms employed were Kir, a 
" wall " or " fortress;" Kirjath, " city ;" 

431 



NAO 



NAP 




Nain and Mount Tabor. {From an original Photograph.) 



En, " fountain ;" Beer, "a well," etc. The 
names of countries were almost univer- 
sally derived from the name of the first 
settlers or earliest historic population. 

2. Names of persons. — Among the He- 
brews each person received but a single 
name. In the case of boys this was con- 
ferred upon the eighth day, in connec- 
tion with the rite of circumcision. Luke 
1:59; comp. Gen. 17:5-14. To distin- 
guish an individual from others of the 
same name it was customary to add to 
his own proper name that of his father 
or ancestors. Sometimes the mother's 
was used instead. Simple names in He- 
brew, as in all languages, were largely 
borrowed from nature ; e. g. Deborah, 
"bee;" Tamar, "a palm tree;" Jonah, 
" dove." Many names of women were 
derived from those of men by change 
of termination ; e. g. Hammelech, " the 
king ;" Hammoleketh, " the queen." The 
majority of compound names have special 
religious or social significance, being com- 
pounded either (1) with terms denoting 
relationship, as AM or Ab, father, as Abi- 
hud, " father of praise," Abimelech, 
" father of the king ;" Ben, son, as 
Benoni, " son of my sorrow," Benjamin, 
"son of the right hand;" oi* (2) nouns 
denoting natural life, as am, "people," 
melech, "king ;" or (3) with names of God, 
as El, " God," and Jah or Ja, shortened 
.432 



from "Jehovah." As outside the circle 
of Revelation, particularly among the 
Oriental nations, it is customary to mark 
one's entrance into a new relation by a 
new name, in which case the acceptance 
of the new name involves the acknowl- 
edgment of the sovereignty of the name- 
giver, so the importance and new sphere 
assigned to the organs of Revelation in 
God's kingdom are frequently indicated 
by a change of name. Examples of this 
are Abraham, Gen. 17:5; Sarah, Gen. 
17:15; Israel, as the designation of the 
spiritual character, in place of Jacob, 
which designated the natural character. 
Gen. 32 : 28. 

Na'omi, or Nao'mi (my delight), the 
wife of Elimelech and mother-in-law of 
Ruth. Ruth 1 : 2, etc. ; 2 : 1, etc. ; 3 : 1 ; 4 : 
3, etc. (B.C. 1363.) The name is derived 
from a root signifying sweetness or pleas- 
antness. Naomi left Judea with her hus- 
band and two sons, in a time of famine, 
and went to the land of Moab. Here her 
husband and sons died ; and on her re- 
turn to Bethlehem she wished to be 
known as Mara, bitterness, instead of 
Naomi, sweetness. 

Na'phish (refreshment), the last but 
one of the sons of Ishmael. Gen. 25 : 15 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 31. 

Naph'tali (wrestling), the fifth son of 
Jacob ; the second child borne to him by 



NAP 



NAZ 



Bilhah, Rachel's slave. His birth and 
the bestowal of his name are recorded in 
Gen. 30 : 8. When the census was taken 
at Mount Sinai the tribe of Naphtali 
numbered no less than 53,400 righting 
men, Num. 1 : 43 ; 2 : 30 ; but when the 
borders of the promised land were 
reached, its numbers were reduced to 
45,400. Num. 26 : 48-50. During the 
march through the wilderness Naphtali 
occupied a position on the north of the 
sacred tent with Dan and Asher. Num. 
2 : 25-31. In the apportionment of the 
land, the lot of Naphtali was enclosed on 
three sides by those of other tribes. On 
the west lay Asher, on the south Zebulun, 
and on the east the transjordanic Manas- 
seh. (In the division of the kingdom 
Naphtali belonged to the kingdom of 
Israel, and later was a part of Galilee, 
bordering on the northwestern part of 
the Sea of Galilee, and including Caper- 
naum and Bethsaida.— Ep.) 

Naph'tali, Mount, the mountainous 
district which formed the main part of 
the inheritance of Naphtali, Josh. 20 : 7, 
answering to " Mount Ephraim " in the 
centre and " Mount Judah " in the south 
of Palestine. 

Naph'tuhim (border-people), a Mizra- 
ite (Egyptian) nation or tribe, mentioned 
only in the account of the descendants 
of Noah. Gen. 10 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 11. 
If we may judge from their position in 
the list of the Mizraites, the Naphtuhim 
were probably settled, at first, either in 
Egypt or immediately to the west of it. 

Narcis'sus (stupidity), a dweller at 
Rome, Rom. 16:11, some members of 
whose household were known as Chris- 
tians to St. Paul. Some have assumed 
the identity of this Narcissus with the 
secretary of the emperor Claudius ; but 
this is quite uncertain. 

Nard. [Spikenard.] 

Na'than (a giver). 1. An eminent 
Hebrew prophet in the reigns of David 
and Solomon. (B.C. 1015.) He first ap- 
pears in the consultation with David 
about the building of the temple. 2 Sam. 
7 : 2, 3, 17. He next comes forward as 
the reprover of David for the sin with 
Bath-sheba ; and his famous apologue on 
the rich man and the ewe lamb, which is 
the only direct example of his prophetic 
power, shows it to have been of a very 
high order. 2 Sam. 12 : 1-12. 

2. A son of David ; one of the four 
who were borne to him by Bath-sheba. 1 
Chron. 3:5; comp. 14 : 4 and 2 Sam. 5 : 14. 
28 



3. Son or brother of one of the mem- 
bers of David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 36 ; 1 
Chron. 11 : 38. 

4. One of the head men who returned 
from Babylon with Ezra on his second 
expedition. Ezra 8 : 16 ; 1 Esdr. 8 : 44. It 
is not impossible that he may be the same 
with the " son of Bani." Ezra 10 : 39. 

Nathan'ael (gift of God), & disciple 
of Jesus Christ, concerning whom, under 
that name at least, we learn from Scrip- 
ture little more than his birthplace, Cana 
of Galilee, John 21 : 2, and his simple, 
truthful character. John 1 : 47. The 
name does not occur in the first three 
Gospels ; but it is commonly believed 
that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the 
same person. The evidence for that be- 
lief is as follows: St. John, who twice 
mentions Nathanael, never introduces 
the name of Bartholomew at all. St. 
Matthew, Matt. 10 : 3, St, Mark, Mark 3 : 
18, and St. Luke, Luke 6 : 14, all speak 
of Bartholomew, but never of Nathanael. 
It was Philip who first brought Nathan- 
ael to Jesus, just as Andrew had brought 
his brother Simon. 

Na'than-me'lech (the gift of the 
king), a eunuch (Authorized Version 
"chamberlain") in the court of Josiah. 
2 Kings 23 : 11. (B.C. 628.) 

Na'um (consolation), son of Esli and 
father of Amos, in the genealogy of 
Christ, Luke 3 :.25 ; about contemporary 
with the high priesthood of Jason and 
the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. (B.C. 
' 175.) 

Nave (Heb. gao), anything convex or 
arched, as the boss of a shield, Job 15 : 
26 ; the eyebrows, Lev. 14 : 9 ; an eminent 
place. .Ezek. 16 : 31. It is rendered once 
only in the plural, "naves," 1 Kings 7 : 
33, meaning the centres of the wheels in 
which the spokes are inserted, i. e. the 
hubs. In Ezek. 1 : 18 it is rendered twice 
" rings," and margin " strakes," an old 
word apparently used for the nave (hub) 
of a wheel and also more probably for the 
felloe or the tire, as making the streak 
or stroke upon the ground. 

Nazarene', an inhabitant of Naz- 
areth. This appellative is applied to 
Jesus in many passages in the New Tes- 
tament. This name, made striking in so 
many ways, and which, if first given in 
scorn, was adopted and gloried in by the 
I disciples, we are told in Matt. 2 : 23 pos- 
sesses a prophetic significance. Its ap- 
! plication to Jesus, in consequence of the 
J providential arrangements by which his 



NAZ 



NAZ 



parents were led to take up their abode 
in Nazareth, was the filling out of the 
predictions in which the promised Mes- 
siah is described as a nitser, i. e. a shoot, 
sprout, of Jesse, a humble and despised 
descendant of the decayed royal family. 
Once, Acts 24 : 5, the term Nazarenes is 
applied to the followers of Jesus by way 
of contempt. The name still exists in 
Arabic as the ordinary designation of 
Christians. 



Naz'areth {the guarded one), the or- 
dinary residence of our Saviour, is not 
mentioned in the Old Testament, but oc- 
curs first in Matt. 2 : 23. It derives its 
celebrity from its connection with the 
history of Christ, and in that respect has 
a hold on the imagination and feelings of 
men which it shares only with Jerusa- 
lem and Bethlehem. It is situated among 
the hills which constitute the south ridges 
of Lebanon, just before they sink down 




Nazareth. 



into the plain of Esdraelon. (Mr. Mer- 
rill, in " Galilee in the Time of Christ" 
(1881), represents Nazareth in Christ's 
time as a city (so always called in the 
New Testament) of 15,000 to 20,000 in- 
habitants, of some importance and con- 
siderable antiquity, and not so insignifi- 
cant and mean as has been represented. 
—Ed.) Of the identification of the an- 
cient site there can be no doubt. The 
name of the present village is en-Ndzirah, 
the same, therefore, as of old ; it is formed 
on a hill or mountain, Luke 4 : 29 ; it is 
within the limits of the province of Gal- 
ilee, Mark 1:9; it is near Cana, accord- 
ing to the implication in John 2 : 1, 2, 11 ; 
a precipice exists in the neighborhood. 
434 



Luke 4 : 29. The modern Nazareth be- 
longs to the better class of eastern villages. 
It has a population of 3000 or 4000 ; a few 
are Mohammedans, the rest Latin and 
Greek Christians. (Near this town Na- 
poleon once encamped (1799), after the 
battle of Mount Tabor.) The origin of 
the disrepute in which Nazareth stood, 
John 1 : 47, is not certainly known. All 
the inhabitants of Galilee were looked 
upon with contempt by the people of Ju- 
dea because they spoke a ruder dialect, 
were less cultivated, and were more ex- 
posed by their position to contact with 
the heathen. But Nazareth labored 
under a special opprobrium, for it was a 
Galilean and not a southern Jew who 



NAZ 



NEB 



asked the reproachful question whether 
"any good thing" could come from that 
source. Above the town are several 
rocky ledges, over which a person could 
not be thrown without almost certain de- 
struction. There is one very remarkable 
precipice, almost perpendicular and forty 
or fifty feet high, near the Maronite 
church, which may well be supposed to 
be the identical one over which his in- 
furiated fellow townsmen attempted to 
hurl Jesus. 

Naz'arite, more properly Naz'irite 
(one separated), one of either sex who 
was bound by a vow of a peculiar kind 
to be set apart from others for the service 
of God. The obligation was either for 
life or for a defined time. There is no 
notice in the Pentateuch of Nazarites for 
life ; but the regulations for the vow of a 
Nazarite of days are given Num. 6 : 1-21. 
The Nazarite, during the term of his con- 
secration, was bound to abstain from wine, 
grapes, with every production of the vine, 
and from every kind of intoxicating 
drink. He was forbidden to cut the hair J 
of his head, or to approach any dead I 
body, even that of his nearest relation. 
When the period of his vow was fulfilled, [ 
he was brought to the door of the taber- \ 
nacle, and was required to offer a he j 
lamb for a burnt ottering, a ewe lamb for j 
a sin offering, and a ram for a peace of- j 
fering, with the usual accompaniments 
of peace offerings, Lev. 7 : 12, 13, and of ' 
the offering made at the consecration of 
priests. Ex. 29:2; Num. 6:15. He 
brought also a meat offering and a drink 
offering, which appear to have been pre- 
sented by themselves as a distinct act of 
service, ver. 17. He was to cut off the 
hair of " the head of his separation " (that 
is, the hair which had grown during the 
period of his consecration) at the door of 
the tabernacle, and to put it into the fire 
under the sacrifice on the altar. Of the 
Nazarites for life three are mentioned in 
the Scriptures — Samson, Samuel and St. 
John the Baptist. The only one of these 
actually called a Nazarite is Samson. 
We do not know whether the vow for life 
was ever voluntarily taken by the indi- 
vidual. In all the cases mentioned in 
the sacred history, it was made by the 
parents before the birth of the Nazarite 
himself. The consecration of the Naz- 
arite bore a striking resemblance to that 
of the high priest. Lev. 21 : 10-12. The 
meaning of the Nazarite vow has been 
regarded in different lights. It may be 



regarded as an act of self-sacrifice. That 
it was essentially a sacrifice of the person 
to the Lord is obviously in accordance 
with the terms of the law. Num. 6 : 2. 
As the Nazarite was a witness for the 
straitness of the law, as distinguished 
from the freedom of the gospel, his sac- 
rifice of himself was a submission to the 
letter of the rule. Its outward manifes- 
tations were restraints and eccentricities. 
The man was separated from his brethren 
that he might be peculiarly devoted to 
the Lord. This was consistent with the 
purpose of divine wisdom for the time for 
which it was ordained. 

Ne'ah {shaking), a place which was 
one of the landmarks on the boundary of 
Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 13 only. It has not 
yet been certainly identified. 

Ne-ap'olis (new city) is the place in 
northern Greece where Paul and his as- 
sociates first landed in Europe, Acts 16 : 
11, where, no doubt, he landed also on 
his second visit to Macedonia, Acts 20 : 1, 
and whence certainly he embarked on 
his last journey through that province to 
Troas and Jerusalem. Acts 20 : 6. Phi- 
lippi being an inland town, Neapolis was 
evidently the port, and is represented by 
the present Kavalla. (Kavalla is a city 
of 5000 or 6000 inhabitants, Greeks and 
Turks. Neapolis was situated within the 
bounds of Thrace, ten miles from Phi- 
lippi, on a high rocky promontory jutting 
out into the JEge&n Sea, while a temple 
of Diana crowned the hill-top. — Ed.) 

Ne-ari'ah (servant of Jehovah). 1. 
One of the six sons of Shemaiah in the 
line of the royal familv of Judah after 
the captivity. 1 Chron. 3 : 22, 23. (B.C. 
about 350.) 

2. A son of Ishi, and one of the cap- 
tains of the 500 Simeonites who, in the 
days of Hezekiah, drove out the Ama- 
lekites from Mount Seir. 1 Chron. 4 : 42. 
(B.C. 715.) 

Neba'i (fruitful), a family of the 
heads of the people who signed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 19. 

Neba'ioth, Neba'joth (heights), the 
"first-born of Ishmael," Gen. 25:13; 1 
Chron. 1 : 29 (B.C. about 1850), and father 
of a pastoral tribe named after him, the 
" rams of Nebaioth " being mentioned by 
the prophet Isaiah, Isa. 60 : 7, with the 
flocks of Kedar. From the days of Je- 
rome this people had been identified with 
the Nabathseans of Greek and Koman 
history. Petra was their capital. (They 
first settled in the country southeast of 
• 435 



NEB 



NEB 



destine, and wandered gradually in 
earch of pasturage till they came to Ke- 
ar, of which Isaiah speaks. Probably 
he Nebaioth of Arabia Petrea were, as 
I. Quatremere argues, the same people 
s the Nebat of Chaldea. — McClintock 
nd Strong's Cyclopedia.) 
Nebaliat {hidden folly), a town of 
>enjamin, one of those which the Ben- 



jamites reoccupied after the captivity. 
Neh. 11 :34. 

Ne'bat {aspect), the father of Jerobo- 
am, 1 Kings 11 : 26 ; 12 : 2, 15, ete., is de- 
scribed as an Ephrathite or Ephraimite 
of Zereda. (B.C. about 1000.) 

Ne'bo (prophet), Mount, the mount- 
ain from which Moses took his first and 
last view of the promised land. Deut. 




Neapolis and the Temple of Diaua. 



2 : 49 ; 34 : 1. It is described as in the 
and of Moab, facing Jericho ; the head 
r summit of a mountain called Pisgah, 
rhich again seems to have formed a por- 
ion of the general range of Abarim. 
Notwithstanding the minuteness of this 
escription, it is only recently that any 
ne has succeeded in pointing out any 
pot which answers to Nebo. Tristram 
lentifies it with a peak ( Jebel Nebbah) 
f the Abarim or Moab mountains, about 
hree miles southwest of Heshban ( Hesh- 
»on) and about a mile and a half due 
rest of Baal-meon. " It overlooks the 
fiouth of the Jordan, over against Jeri- 
ho," Deut. 34 : 1, and the gentle slopes 
f its sides may well answer to the " field 
f Zophim." Num. 23 : 14. Jebel Neb- 
iah is 2G83 feet high. It is not an isolat- 
d peak, but one of a succession of bare 
urf-clad eminences, so linked together 
hat the depressions between them were 
aere hollows rather than valleys. • It 
ommands a wide prospect. Prof. Paine, 
f the American Exploration Society, 
ontends that Jebel Nebbah, the highest 
>oint of the ran^e, is Mount Nebo, that 
'ebel Siaghah, the extreme headland of 
he hill, is Mount Pisgah, and that " the 
436 



mountains of Abarim " are the cliffs west 
of these points, and descending toward 
the Dead Sea. Probably the whole 
mountain or range was called sometimes 
by the name of one peak and sometimes 
by that of another, as is frequently the 
case with mountains now. — Ed.) 

Ne'bo. 1. A town of Reuben on the 
east side of Jordan. Num. 32 : 3, 38. In 
the remarkable prophecy adoj>ted by 
Isaiah, Isa. 15 : 2. and Jeremiah, Jer. 48 : 
1, 22, concerning Moab, Nebo is men- 
tioned in the same connection as before, 
but in the hands of Moab. Eusebius and 
Jerome identify it with Nobah or Ke- 
nath, and place it eight miles south of 
Heshbon, where the ruins of el-Habis 
appear to stand at present. (Prof. Paine 
identifies it with some ruins on Mount 
Nebo, a mile south of its summit, and 
Dr. Robinson seems to agree with this. — 
Ed.) 

2. The children of Nebo returned from 
Babvlon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 29 ; 
10:43; Neh. 7:33.* The name occurs 
between Bethel and Ai and Lydda, which 
implies that it was situated in the ter- 
ritory of Benjamin to the northwest of 
Jerusalem. This is possibly the modern 



NEB 



NEB 



Eeit-Nubah, about 12 miles northwest by- 
west of Jerusalem, 8 from Lydda. 

3. Nebo, which occurs both in Isaiah, , 
Isa. 46 : 1, and Jeremiah, Jer. 48 : 1, as 
the name of a Chaldean god, is a well- 
known deity of the Babylonians and As- 
syrians. He was the god who presided 
over learning and letters. His general 
character corresponds to that of the 
Egyptian Thoth, the Greek Hermes and 




Nebo. 

the Latin Mercury. Astronomically he 
is identified with the planet nearest the 
sun. In Babylonia Nebo held a prom- 
inent place from an early time. The an- 
cient town of Borsippa was especially 
under his protection, and the great tem- 
ple here, the modern Birs-Nimrud, was 
dedicated to him from a very remote age. 
He was the tutelar god of the most im- 
portant Babylonian kings, in whose 
names the word Nabu or Nebo appears 
as an element. 

Nebuchadnez'zar, or Nebuchad- 
rez'zar {may Nebo protect the crown), 
was the greatest and most powerful of the 
Babylonian kings. His name is explained 
to mean " Nebo is the protector against 
misfortune." He was the son and suc- 
cessor of Nabopolassar, the founder of 
the Babylonian empire. In the lifetime 
of his father, Nebuchadnezzar led an 
army against Pharaoh-necho, king of 
Egypt, defeated him at Carchemish, B.C. 



605, in a great battle, Jer. 46 : 2-12, re- 
covered Coele-Syria, Phoenicia and Pales- 
tine, took Jerusalem, Dan. 1:1,2, pressed 
forward to Egypt, and was engaged in 




Cameo of Nebuchadnezzar. 

that country or upon its borders when 
intelligence arrived which recalled him 
hastily to Babylon. Nabopolassar, after 
reigning twenty-one years, had died and 
the throne was vacant. In alarm about 
the succession Nebuchadnezzar returned 
to the capital, accompanied only by his 
light troops ; and crossing the desert, 
probably by way of Tadmor or Palmyra, 



«1 

T 
Ti 

1 



H 
ft 

A 
» 

A 



i 



A 



A 



n 

AA 



I 



Inscribed Brick of Nebuchadnezzar. 

reached Babylon before any disturbance 
had arisen, and entered peaceably on his 
kingdom, B.C. 604. Within three years 
of Nebuchadnezzar's first expedition into 
Syria and Palestine, disaffection again 
437 



NEB 



NEB 



showed itself in those countries. Jeho- 
iakim, who, although threatened at first 
with captivity, 2 Chron. 36 : 0, had been 
finally maintained on the throne as a 
Babylonian vassal, after three years of 
service "turned and rebelled" against 
his suzerain, probably trusting to be sup- 
ported by Egypt. 2 Kings 24:1. Not 
long afterward Phoenicia seems to have 
broken into revolt, and the Chaldean 
monarch once more took the field in per- 
son, and marched first of all against 
Tyre. Having invested that city and 
left a portion of his army there to con- 
tinue the siege, he proceeded against Je- 
rusalem, which submitted without a 
struggle. According to Josephus, who is 
here our chief authority, Nebuchadnez- 
zar punished Jehoiakim with death, 
comp. Jer. 22 : IS, 19 and 30 : 30, but 
placed his son Jehoiachin upon the 
throne. Jehoiachin reigned only three 
months ; for, on his showing symptoms 
of disaffection, Nebuchadnezzar came up 
against Jerusalem for the third time, de- 
posed the young prince (whom he carried 
to Babylon, together with a large portion 
of the population of the city and the 
chief of the temple treasures)," and made 
his uncle, Zedekiah, king in his room. 
Tyre still held out; and it was not till 
the thirteenth year from the time of its 
first investment that the city of mer- 
chants fell, B.C. 5S5. Ere this happened, 
Jerusalem had been totally destroyed. 
Nebuchadnezzar had commenced the 
final siege of Jerusalem in the ninth year 
of Zedekiah — his own seventeenth year 
(B.C. 58S) — and took it two years later, 
B.C. 580. Zedekiah escaped from the city, 
but was captured near Jericho, Jer. 39 : 
5, and brought to Nebuchadnezzar at 
Biblah in the territory of Hamath, where 
his eyes were put out by the king's order, 
while his sons and his chief nobles were 
slain. Nebuchadnezzar then returned to 
Babylon with Zedekiah, whom he im- 
prisoned for the remainder of his life. 
The military successes of Nebuchadnez- 
zar cannot be traced minutely beyond 
this point. It may be gathered from the 
prophetical Scriptures and from Josephus 
that the conquest of Jerusalem was rap- 
idly followed by the fall of Tyre and the 
complete submission of Phoenicia, Ezek. 
26-28; after which the Babylonians car- 
ried their arms into Egypt, and inflicted 
severe injuries on that fertile country. 
Jer. 40 : 13-20 ; Ezek. 29 : 2-20. We are 
told that the first care of Nebuchadnez- 
438 



zar, on obtaining quiet possession of his 
kingdom after the first Syrian expedition, 
was to rebuild the temple of Bel (Bel- 
Ilerodach) at Babylon out of the spoils 
of the Syrian war. He next proceeded 
to strengthen and beautify the city, which 
he renovated throughout and surrounded 
with several lines of fortifications, him- 
self adding one entirely new quarter. 
Having finished the walls and adorned 
the gates magnificently, he constructed a 
new palace. In the grounds of this palace 
he formed the celebrated " hanging gar- 
den," which the Greeks placed among 
the seven wonders of the world. But he 
did not confine his efforts to the orna- 
| mentation and improvement of his cap- 
I ital. Throughout the empire, at Borsip- 
I pa, Sippara, Cutha, Chilmad, Duraba, 
j Teredon, and a multitude of other places, 
I he built or rebuilt cities, repaired tem- 
ples, constructed quays, reservoirs, canals 
and aqueducts, on a scale of grandeur 
| and magnificence surpassing everything 
j of the kind recorded in history, unless it" 
| be the construetions of one or two of the 
greatest Egyptian monarchs. The wealth, 
| greatness and general prosperity of Neb- 
uchadnezzar are strikingly placed before 
us in the book of Daniel. Toward the 
close of his reign the glory of Nebuchad- 
nezzar suffered a temporary eclipse. As 
a punishment for his pride and vanity, 
that strange form of madness was sent 
upon him which the Greeks called Ly- 
canthropy, wherein the sufferer imag- 
ines himself a beast, and, quitting the 
haunts of men, insists on leading the life 
of a beast. Dan. 4:33. (This strange 
malady is thought by some to receive il- 
lustration from an inscription ; and his- 
torians place at this period the reign of 
a queen to whom are ascribed the works 
which by others are declared to be Neb- 
uchadnezzar's. Probably his favorite 
wife was practically at the head of affairs 
during the malady of her husband. 
Other historians, Eusebius and Berosus, 
also confirm the account. See Rawlin- 
son's "Historical Illustrations." — Ed.) 
After an interval of four or perhaps 
seven years, Dan. 4 : 10, Nebuchadnez- 
zar's malady left him. We are told that 
" his reason returned, and for the glory 
of his kingdom his honor and brightness 
returned ;" and he " was established in 
his kingdom, and excellent majesty was 
added to him." Dan. 4 : 30. He died in 
the year B.C. 501, at an advanced age 
(eighty-three or eighty-four), having 



NEB 



NEH 



reigned forty-three years. A son, Evil- 
nierodach, succeeded him. 

Nebushas'ban (Nebo saves me), one 
of the officers of Nebuchadnezzar at the 
time of the capture of Jerusalem. He 
was Rab-saris, i. e. chief of the eunuchs. 
Jer. 39 : 13. Nebushasban's office and 
title were the same as those of Ashpenaz, 
Dan. 1 : 3, whom he probably succeeded. 

Nebuzar-a'dan {chief whom Nebo 
favors), the Rab-tabbachim, i. e. chief 
of the slaughterers (Authorized Version 
" captain of the guard"), a high officer in 
the court of Nebuchadnezzar. On the 
capture of Jerusalem he was left by Neb- 
uchadnezzar in charge of the city. Comp. 
Jer. 39:11. He seems to have quitted 
Judea when he took down the chief peo- 
ple of Jerusalem to his master at Riblah. 
2 Kings 25 : 18-20. In four years he 
again appeared. Jer. 52 : 30. Nebuchad- 
nezzar in his twenty-third year made a 
descent on the regions east of Jordan, 
including the Ammonites and Moabites, 
who escaped when Jerusalem was de- 
stroyed. Thence he proceeded to Egypt, 
and, either on the way thither or on the 
return, Nebuzar-adan again passed 
through the country and carried off more 
captives. Jer. 52 : 30. 

Ne'cho (lame). 2 Chron. 35:20,22; 
36 : 4. [Pharaoh-necho.J 

Nedabi'ah {whom Jehovah impels), 
apparently one of the sons of Jeconiah or 
Jehoiachin, king of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 
18. 

Neginah (stringed instruments), the 
singular of Neginoih. It occurs in the 
title of Ps. 61. It is the general term by 
which all stringed instruments are de- 
scribed. "The chief musician on Neg- 
inoth" was therefore the conductor of 
that portion of the temple-choir who 
played upon the stringed instruments, 
and who are mentioned in Ps. 68 : 25. 

Neginoth. [Neginah.] 

Nehel'amite, The, the designation 
of a man named Shemaiah, a false proph- 
et, who went with the captivity to Baby- 
lon. Jer. 29 : 24, 31, 32. The name is no 
doubt formed from that either of Shemai- 
ah 's native place or the progenitor of his 
family ; which of the two is uncertain. 

Nehemi'ah (consolation of the Lord). 
1. Son of Hachaliah, and apparently of 
the tribe of Judah. All that we know 
certainly concerning him is contained in 
the book which bears his name. We first 
find him at Shushan, the winter residence 
of the kings of Persia, in high office as 



the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes Lon- 
gimanus. In the twentieth year of the 
king's reign, i. e. B.C. 445, certain Jews 
arrived from Judea, and gave Nehemiah 
| a deplorable account of the state of Jeru- 
i salem. He immediately conceived the 
| idea of going to Jerusalem to endeavor 
I to better their state, and obtained the 
! king's consent to his mission. Having 
| received his appointment as governor of 
Judea, he started upon his journey, being 
under promise to return to Persia within 
a given time. Nehemiah's great work 
was rebuilding, for the first time since 
their destruction by Nebuzar-adan, the 
walls of Jerusalem, and restoring that 
city to its former state and dignity as a 
fortified town. To this great object there- 
fore Nehemiah directed his whole ener- 
gies without an hour's unnecessary delay. 
In a wonderfully short time the walls 
seemed to emerge from the heaps of burnt 
rubbish, and to encircle the city as in the 
days of old. It soon became apparent 
how wisely Nehemiah had acted in hast- 
ening on the work. On his very first 
arrival, as governor, Sanballat and Tobi- 
| ah had given unequivocal proof of their 
mortification at his appointment; but 
when the restoration was seen to be rap- 
idly progressing, their indignation knew 
no bounds. They made a great conspir- 
acy to fall ivpon the builders with an 
armed force and put a stop to the under- 
taking. The project was defeated by the 
vigilance and prudence of Nehemiah. 
Various stratagems were then resorted to 
to get Nehemiah away from Jerusalem, 
and if possible to take his life ; but that 
which most nearly succeeded was the at- 
tempt to bring him into suspicion with 
the king of Persia, as if he intended to 
set himself up as an independent king as 
soon as the walls were completed. The 
artful letter of Sanballat so far wrought 
upon Artaxerxes that he issued a decree 
stopping the work till further orders. It 
is probable that at the same time he re- 
called Nehemiah, or perhaps his leave of 
absence had previously expired. But 
after a delay, perhaps of several years, 
he was permitted to return to Jerusalem 
and to crown his work by repairing the 
temple and dedicating the walls. Dur- 
I ing his government Nehemiah firmly re- 
pressed the exactions of the nobles and 
j the usury of the rich, and rescued the 
; poor Jews from spoliation and slavery. 
I He refused to receive his lawful allow- 
I ance as governor from the people, in con- 

439 



NEH 



NEK 



sideration of their poverty, during the 
whole twelve years that he was in office, 
but kept at his own charge a table for 150 
Jews, at which any who returned from 
captivity were welcome. He made most 
careful provision for the maintenance of 
the ministering priests and Levites, and 
for the due and constant celebration of 
divine worship. He insisted upon the 
sanctity of the precincts of the temple 
being preserved inviolable, and peremp- 
torily ejected the powerful Tobiah from 
one of the chambers which Eliashib had 
assigned to him. With no less firmness 
and impartiality he expelled from all sa- 
cred functions those of the high priest's 
family who had contracted heathen mar- 
riages, and rebuked and punished those 
of the common people who had likewise 
intermarried with foreigners ; and lastly, 
he provided for keeping holy the Sabbath 
day, which was shamefully profaned by 
many, both Jews and foreign merchants, 
and by his resolute conduct succeeded in 
repressing the lawless traffic on the day 
of rest. Beyond the thirty-second year 
of Artaxerxes, to which Nehemiah's own 
narrative leads us, we have no account 
of him Avhatever. 

2. One of the leaders of the first expe- 
dition from Babylon to Jerusalem under 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7 : 7. 

3. Son of Azbuk and ruler of the half 
part of Beth-zur, who helped to repair 
the wall of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 16. 

Nehemi'ah, The book of, like the 
preceding one of Ezra, is clearly and cer- 
tainly not all by the same hand. [Ezra, 
Book OF.l By far the most important 
portion, indeed, is the work of Nehemiah ; 
but other portions are either extracts 
from various chronicles and registers or 
supplementary narratives and reflections, 
some apparently by Ezra, others, perhaps, 
the work of the same person who inserted 
the latest genealogical extracts from the 
public chronicles. The main history 
contained in the book of Nehemiah cov- 
ers about twelve vears, viz., from the 
twentieth to the thirty-second year of 
Artaxerxes Longimanus, i. e. from B.C. 
445 to 433. The whole narrative gives 
us a graphic and interesting account of 
the state of Jerusalem and the returned 
captives in the writer's times, and, inci- 
dentally, of the nature of the Persian 
government and the condition of its re- 
mote provinces. The book of Nehemiah 
has always had an undisputed place in 
the Canon, being included by the He- 
440 



brews under the general head of the book 
of Ezra, and, as Jerome tells us in the 
Prolog. Gal., by the Greeks and Latins 
under the name of the second book of 
Ezra. 

Nehiloth. The title of Ps. 5 in the 

Authorized Version is rendered " To the 
chief musician upon Nehiloth" It is 
most likely that nehiloth is the general 
term for perforated wind-instruments of 
all kinds, as neginoth denotes all manner 
of stringed instruments. 

Ne'hum (consolation), one of those 
who returned from Babylon with Zerub- 
babel. Neh. 7:7. 

Nehush'ta {brass), the daughter of 
Elnathan of Jerusalem, wife of Jehoi- 
akim and mother of Jehoiachin, kings 
of Judah. 2 Kings 24 : 8. (B.C. 616.) 

Nehush'tan (a thing of brass), the 
name by which the brazen serpent made 
by Moses in the wilderness, Num. 21 : 9, 
was worshipped in the time of Hezekiah. 
2 Kings 18 : 4. It is evident that our 
translators by their rendering " and he 
called it Nehushtan " understood that the 
subject of the sentence is Hezekiah, and 
that when he destroyed the brazen ser- 
pent he gave it the name Nehushtan, "a 
brazen thing," in token of his utter con- 
tempt. But it is better to understand the 
Hebrew as referring to the name by 
which the serpent was generally known, 
the subject of the verb being indefinite — 
" and one called it ' Nehushtan.' " 

Ne'i-el (moved by God), a place which 
formed one of the landmarks of the 
boundary of the tribe of Asher. Josh. 
19 : 27 only. It occurs between Jiphthah- 
el and Cabul. If the former of these be 
identified with Jefat, and the latter with 
Kabul, eight or nine miles east-south- 
east of Akka, then Neiel may possibly be 
represented by MVar, a village conspic- 
uously placed on a lofty mountain brow, 
just halfway between the two. 

Ne'keb (cavern), one of the towns on 
the boundary of Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 33. 
It lay between Adami and Jabneel. A 
great number of commentators have 
taken this name as being connected with 
the preceding. 

Neko'da (distinguished). 1. The de- 
scendants of Nekoda returned among the 
Nethinim after the captivity. Ezra 2 : 48; 
Neh. 7 : 50. 

2. The sons of Nekoda were among 
those who went up after the captivity 
from Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, and other 
places, but were unable to prove their 



NEM 



NER 



descent from Israel. Ezra 2 : 60 ; Neh. 7 : 
62. 

Nemu'el {day of God). 1. A Reu- 
benite, son of Eliab and eldest brother 
of Dathan and Abiram. Num. 26 : 9. 

2. The eldest son of Simeon, Num. 26 : 
12 ; 1 Chron. 4 : 24, from whom were de- 
scended the family of the Nemuelites. 
In Gen. 46 : 10 he is called Jemuel. 

Ne'pheg {sprout). 1. One of the sons 
of Izhar the son of Kohath. Ex. 6 : 21. 

2. One of David's sons born to him in 



Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 5 : 15 ; 1 Chron. 3:7; 
14:6. 

Ne'phish {refreshed), an inaccurate 
variation (found in 1 Chron. 5 : 19 only) 
of the name Naphish. 

Nephish/esim {expansions). The 
children of Nephisbesim were among the 
Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. 
Neh. 7 : 52. 

Neph'thalim, a form of the name 
Naphtali. Tob. 7:3; Matt. 4 : 13, 15 ; 
Rev. 7 : 6. 





Ain Lifta (Nephtoah). 



Neph'toah, or Nephto'ah {opening), 
The water of. The spring or source 
of the water or (inaccurately) waters of 
Nephtoah was one of the landmarks in 
the boundary line which separated Judah 
from Benjamin. Josh. 15 : 9 ; 18 : 15. It 
lay northwest of Jerusalem, in which di- 
rection it seems to have been satisfactorily 
identified in Ain Lifta, a spring situated 
a little distance above the village of the 
same name. 

Nephu'sim {expansions), the same as 
Nephishesim, of which name according 
to Gesenius it is the proper form. Ezra 2 : 
50. 

Ner {a light or lamp), son of Jehiel, 
according to 1 Chron. 8 : 33, father of 
Kish and Abner, and grandfather of 
King Saul. (B.C. 1140.) Abner was, 
therefore, uncle to Saul, as is expressly 
stated in 1 Sam. 14 : 50. 

Ne'reus {lamp), a Christian at Rome, 



saluted by St. Paul. Rom. 16 : 15. Ac- 
cording to tradition he was beheaded 
at Terracina, probably in the reign of 
Nerva. 

Ner'gal {hero), one of the chief As- 
syrian and Babylonian deifies, seems to 
have corresponded closely to the clas- 
sical Mars. 2 Kings 17 : 30. It is conjec- 
tured that he may represent the deified 
Nimrod. 

Ner'gal-shaie'zer {prince of fire) 
occurs only in Jer. 39 : 3 and 13. There 
appear to have been two persons of the 
name among the " princes of the king of 
Babylon " who accompanied Nebuchad- 
nezzar on his last expedition against Je- 
rusalem. One of these is not marked by 
any additional title ; but the other has 
the honorable distinction of Rab-mag, 
probably meaning chief of the Magi Tsee 
Rab-mag], and it is to him alone that 
any particular interest attaches. In 
.441 



NEft 



NET 



sacred Scripture he appears among the 
persons who, by command of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, released Jeremiah from prison. 
Profane history gives us reason to believe 
that he was a personage of great import- 
ance, who not long afterward mounted 
the Babylonian throne. He is the same 
as the monarch called Neriglissar or 
Neriglissor, who murdered Evil-mero- 
dach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and 
succeeded him upon the throne. His 
reign lasted from B.C. 559 to B.C. 556. 

Ne'ri, short form for Neriah ( Jeho- 
vah is my lamp), son of Melchi and father 
of Salathiel, in the genealogy of Christ. 

Neri'ah (lamp of Jehovah), the son of 
Maaseiah and father of Baruch and Se- 
rai ah. 

Net. [See Fishing.] 

Nethan'c-el {given of God). 1. The 
son of Zuar, and prince of the tribe of 
Issachar at the time of the exodus. Num. 
1:8; 2:5; 7 : 18. (B.C. 1491.) 

2. The fourth son of Jesse and brother 
of David. 1 Chron. 2 : 14. 

3. A priest in the reign of David who 
blew the trumpet before the ark when it 
was brought from the house of Obed- 
edom. 1 Chron. 15 : 24. (B.C. 1055.) 

4. A Levite, father of Shemaiah the 
scribe, in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 
24:6. 

5. A son of Obed-edom. 1 Chron. 26 : 4. 

6. One of the princes of Judah whom 
Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the cities 
of his kingdom. 2 Chron. 17 : 7. (B.C. 
912.) 

7. A chief of the Levites in the reign 
of Josiah. 2 Chron. 35 : 9. (B.C. 628.) 

8. A priest of the family of Pashur, in 
the time of Ezra, who had married a for- 
eign wife. (B.C. 458.) 

9. The representative of the priestly 
family of Jedaiah in the time of Joia- 
kim. Neh. 12 : 21. (B.C. 446.) 

10. A Levite, of the sons of Asaph, 
who with his brethren played upon the 
musical instruments of David at the ded- 
ication of the wall of Jerusalem under 
Ezra and Nehemiah. Neh. 12 : 36. (B.C. 
446.) 

Nethani'ah (given of Jehovah). 1. 
The son of Elishama, and father of Ish- 
mael who murdered Gedaliah. 2 Kings 
25 : 23, 25. He was of the royal family 
of Judah. (B.C. 620.) 

2. One of the four sons of Asaph the 
minstrel. 1 Chron. 25 : 12. (B.C. 1015.) 

3. A Levite in the reign of Jehosha- 
phat. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. (B.C. 912.) 

442 



4. The father of Jehudi. Jer. 36 : 14. 
(B.C. 638.) _ 

Neth'inim {given, dedicated). As ap- 
plied specifically to a distinct body of 
men connected with the services of the 
temple, this name first meets us in the 
later books of the Old Testament — in 1 
Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. The 
word and the ideas embodied in it may, 
however, be traced to a much earlier 
period. As derived from the verb ndthan, 
i. e. give, set apart, dedicate, it was ap- 
plied to those who were specially ap- 
pointed to the liturgical offices of the 
tabernacle. We must not forget that the 
Levites were given to Aaron and his sons, 
i. e. to the priests as an order, and were 
accordingly the first Nethinim. Num. 3 : 
9 ; 8 : 19. At first they were the only at- 
tendants, and their work must have been 
laborious enough. The first conquests, 
however, brought them their share of the 
captive slaves of the Midianites, and 320 
were given to them as having charge of 
the tabernacle, Num. 31 : 47, while 32 
only were assigned specially to the priests. 
This disposition to devolve the more la- 
borious offices of their ritual upon slaves 
of another race showed itself again in 
the treatment of the Gibeonites. No ad- 
dition to the number thus employed ap- 
pears to have been made during the 
period of the judges, and they continued 
to be known by their own name as the 
Gibeonites. Either the massacre at Nob 
had involved the Gibeonites as well as 
the priests, 1 Sam. 22 : 19, or else they 
had fallen victims to some other outburst 
of Saul's fury ; and though there were 
survivors, 2 Sam. 21 : 2, the number was 
likely to be quite inadequate for the 
greater stateliness of the new worship at 
Jerusalem. It is to this period accord- 
ingly that the origin of the class bearing 
this name may be traced. The Nethinim 
were those " whom David and the princes 
appointed (Heb. gave) for the service of 
the Levites." Ezra 8 : 20. At this time 
the Nethinim probably lived within the 
precincts of the temple, doing its rougher 
work and so enabling the Levites to take 
a higher position as the religious repre- 
sentatives and instructors of the people. 
The example set by David was followed 
by his successor. 

Neto'phah {distillation), a town the 
name of which occurs only in the cata- 
logue of those who returned with Zerub- 
babel from the captivity. Ezra 2 : 22 ; 
Neh. 7 : 26 ; 1 Esdr. 5 : 18. But, though 



NET 



NEW 



not directly mentioned till so late a pe- 
riod, Netophah was really a much older 
place. Two of David's guard, 1 Chron. 
27 : 13, 15, were Netophathites. The 
" villages of the Netophathites" were the 
residence of the Levites. 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 
From another notice we learn that the 
particular Levites who inhabited these 
villages were singers. Neh. 12 : 28. To 
judge from Neh. 7 : 26 the town was in 
the neighborhood of, or closely connected 
with, Bethlehem. 

Netoph'athite, an inhabitant of Ne- 
tophah. 




The Nettle of Palestine. 

Nettle, a well-known plant covered 
with minute sharp hairs, containing a 
poison that produces a painful, stinging 
sensation. It grows on neglected ground. 
A different Hebrew word in Job 30 : 7 ; 
Prov. 24:31; Zeph. 2r9 seems to indi- 
cate a different species. 

New Moon. The first day of the lu- 
nar month was observed as a holy day. 
In addition to the daily sacrifice there 
were offered two young bullocks, a ram 
and seven lambs of the first year as a 
burnt offering, with the proper meat of- 
ferings and drink offerings, and a kid as 
a sin offering. Num. 28 : 11-15. As on 
the Sabbath, trade and handicraft work 
were stopped, Amos 8 : 5, and the temple 
was opened for public worship. Isa. 66 : 
23 ; Ezek. 46 : 3. The trumpets were 
blown at the offering of the special sac- 



rifices for the day, as on the solemn fes- 
tivals. Num. 10 : 10 ; Ps. 81 : 3. It was 
an occasion for state banquets. 1 Sam. 
20 : 5-24. In later, if not in earlier, times 
fasting was intermitted at the new moons. 
Judith 8 : 6. The new moons are gener- 
ally mentioned so as to show that they 
were regarded as a peculiar class of holy 
days, distinguished from the solemn feasts 
and the Sabbaths. 1 Chron. 23 : 31 ; 2 
Chron. 2:4; 8 : 13 ; 31:3; Ezra 3:5; 
Neh. 10 : 33 ; Ezek. 45 : 17. The seventh 
new moon of the religious year, being 
that of Tisri, commenced the civil year, 
and had a significance and rites 
of its own. It was a day of holy 
convocation. The religious ob- 
servance of the day of the new 
moon may plainly be regarded 
as the consecration of a natural 
division of time. 

New Testament. It is pro- 
posed in this article to consider 
the text of the New Testament. 
The subject naturally divides 
itself into — I. The history of the 
written text; II. The history of 
the printed text. 

I. The History of the 
Written Text.— 1. The early 
history of the apostolic writings 
externally, as far as it can be 
traced, is the same as that of 
other contemporary books. St. 
Paul, like Cicero or Pliny, often 
employed the services of an aman- 
uensis, to whom he dictated his 
letters, affixing the salutation 
" with his own hand." 1 Cor. 16 : 
21 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 17 ; Col. 4 : 18. The 
original copies seem to have soon per- 
ished. 2. In the natural course of things 
the apostolic autographs would be likely 
to perish soon. The material which was 
commonly used for letters, the papyrus 
paper, to which St. John incidentally al- 
ludes-, 2 John 12, comp. 3 John 13, was sin- 
gularly fragile, and even thestouter kinds, 
likely to be used for the historical books, 
were not fitted to bear constant use. The 
papyrus fragments which have come 
down to the present time have been pre- 
served under peculiar circumstances, as 
at Herculaneum or in the Egyptian 
tombs. 3. In the time of the Diocletian 
persecution, A.D. 303, copies of the Chris- 
tian Scriptures were sufficiently numer- 
ous to furnish a special object for perse- 
cutors. Partly, perhaps, owing to the 
destruction thus caused, but still more 
443 



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NEW 



from the natural effects of time, no MS. | the third century, and probably were 
of the New Testament of the first three j much earlier. Bengel was the first (1734) 
centuries remains. But though no frag- who pointed out the affinity of certain 
ment of the New Testament of the first groups of MSS., which, as he remarks, 
century still remains, the Italian and . must have arisen before the first versions 
Egyptian papyri, which are of that date, were made. The honor of carefully de- 
give a clear notion of the caligraphy of termining the relations of critical author- 
the period. In these the text is written ! ities for the New Testament text belongs 
in columns, rudely divided, in somewhat j to Griesbach. According to him two 
awkward capital letters (uncials), with- ! distinct recensions of the Gospels existed 
out any punctuation or division of words; at the beginning of the third century — 
and there is no trace of accents or breath- j the Alexandrine and the Western. 8. 
ings. 4. In addition to the later MSS., j From the consideration of the earliest 
the earliest versions and patristic quota- j history of the New Testament text we 
tions give very important testimony to | now pass to the era of MSS. The quota- 
the character and history of the ante- ! tions of Dionysius Alex. (|a.D. 264), 
Nicene text; but till the last quarter of I Petrus Alex. (\cir. A.D. 312), Methodius 
the second century this source of infor- | (f A.D. 311) and Eusebius (|a.D. 340) 
mation fails us. Not only are the remains ! confirm the prevalence of the ancient 
of Christian literature up to that time j type of text; but the public establishment 
extremely scanty, but the practice of i of Christianity in the Roman empire nec- 
verbal quotation from the New Testa- essarily led to important changes. The 
ment was not yet prevalent. As soon as ' nominal or real adherence of the higher 
definite controversies arose among Chris- j ranks to the Christian faith must have 
tians, the text of the New Testament as- i largely increased the demand for costly 
sumed its true importance. 5. Several f MSS. As a natural consequence the 
very important conclusions follow from ! rude Hellenistic forms gave way before 
this earliest appearance of textual criti- \ the current Greek, and at the same time 
cism. It is in the first place evident that j it is reasonable to believe that smoother 
various readings existed in the books of j and fuller constructions were substituted 
the New Testament at a time prior to all j for the rougher turns of the apostolic 
extant authorities. History affords no ; language. In this way the foundation 
trace of the pure apostolic originals, j of the Byzantine text was laid. Mean- 
Again, from the preservation of the first j while the multiplication of copies in 
variations noticed, which are often ex- j Africa and Syria was checked by Mo- 
tremely minute, in one or more of the pri- ; hammedan conquests. 9. The appearance 
mary documents still left, we may be cer- j of the oldest MSS. has been already de- 
tain that no important changes have been scribed. The MSS. of the fourth century, 
made in the sacred text which we cannot of which Codex Vaticanus may be taken 
now detect. 6. Passing from these isolated as a type, present a close resemblance to 
quotations, we find the first great wit- these. The writing is in elegant contin- 
nesses to the apostolic text in the early nous uncials (capitals), in three columns, 
Syriac and Latin versions, and in the I without initial letters or iota subscript or 
rich quotations of Clement of Alexandria adscript. A small interval serves as a 
(fcir. A.D. 220) and Origen (A.D. 184- simple punctuation; and there are no 
254). From the extant works of Origen accents or breathings by the hand of the 
alone no inconsiderable portion of the first writer, though these have been added 
whole New Testament might be tran- | subsequently. Uncial writing continued 
scribed ; and his writings are an almost j in general use till the middle of the tenth 
inexhaustible storehouse for the history century. From the eleventh century 
of the text. There can be no doubt that downward cxirs Rewriting prevailed. The 
in Origen's time the variations in the earliest cursive biblical MS. is dated 964 
New Testament MSS. were beginning to A.D. The MSS. of the fourteenth and fif- 
lead to the formation of specific groups | teenth centuries abound in the contrac- 
of copies. 7. The most ancient MSS. and tions which afterward passed into the 
versions now extant exhibit the char- | early printed books. The oldest MSS. are 
acteristic differences which have been I written on the thinnest and finest vellum ; 
found to exist in different parts of the j in later copies the parchment is thick 
works of Origen. These cannot have had j and coarse. Papyrus was very rarely 
their source later than the beginning of j used after the ninth century. In the 
444 



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tenth century cotton paper was generally 
employed in Europe ; and one example 
at least occurs of its use in the ninth cen- 
tury. In the twelfth century the common 
linen or rag paper came into use. One 
other kind of material requires notice — 
re-dressed parchment, called palimpsests. 
Even at a very early period the original 
text of a parchment MS. was often erased, 
that the material might be used afresh. 
In lapse of time the original writing fre- 
quently reappeared in faint lines below, 
the later text, and in this way many 
precious fragments of biblical MSS., 
which had been once obliterated for the 
transcription of other works, have been 
recovered. 10. The division of the Gos- 
pels into " chapters " must have come into 
general use some time before the fifth 
century. The division of the Acts and 
Epistles into chapters came into use at a 
later time. It is commonly referred to 
Euthalius, who, however, says that he 
borrowed the divisions of the Pauline 
Epistles from an earlier father ; and there 
is reason to believe that the division of 
the Acts and Catholic Epistles which he 
published was originally the work of 
Pamphilus the martyr. The Apocalypse 
was divided into sections by Andreas of 
Csesarea about a.d. 500. The titles of 
the sacred books are from their nature 
additions to the original text. The dis- 
tinct names of the Gospels imply a col- 
lection, and the titles of the Epistles are 
notes by the possessors, and not addresses 
by the writers. 11. Very few MSS. con- 
tain the whole New Testament — twenty- 
seven in all out of the vast mass of extant 
documents. Besides the MSS. of the 
New Testament, or of parts of it, there 
are also lectionaries, which contain ex- 
tracts arranged for the church services. 
12. The number of uncial MSS. remain- 
ing, though great when compared with 
the ancient MSS. extant of other writings, 
is inconsiderable. Tischendorf reckons 
forty in the Gospels. To these must be 
added Cod. Sinait., which is entire; a 
new MS. of Tischendorf, which is nearly 
entire ; and Cod. Zacynth., which con- 
tains considerable fragments of St. Luke. 
In the Acts there are nine ; in the Cath- 
olic Epistles five ; in the Pauline Epistles 
fourteen; in the Apocalypse three. 13. 
A complete description of these MSS. is 
given in the great critical editions of the 
New Testament. Here those only can be 
briefly noticed which are of primary im- 
portance, the first place being given to 



the latest-discovered and most complete 
I Codex Sinait icus — the Cod. Frid. Aug. 
! of LXX. at St. Petersburg, obtained by 
j Tischendorf from the convent of St. Cath- 
| erine, Mount Sinai, in 1859. The New 
! Testament is entire, and the Epistle of 
I Barnabas and parts of the Shepherd of 
I Hermas are added. It is probably the 
| oldest of the MSS. of the New Testament 
| and of the fourth century. Codex Alex- 
j andrinus ( Brit. Mus.), a MS. of the entire 
j Greek Bible, with the Epistles of Clement 
I added. It was given by Cyril Lucar, 
| patriarch of Constantinople, to Charles 
I. in 1628, and is now in the British Mu- 
! seum. It contains the whole of the New 
I Testament, with some chasms. It was 
probably written in the first half of the 
j fifth century. Codex Vaticanus (1209), a 
j MS. of the entire Greek Bible, which 
I seems to have been in the Vatican Library 
j almost from its commencement {cir. a.d. 
j 1450). It contains the New Testament 
entire to Heb. 9 : 14, K a0a : the rest of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, the Pastoral 
i Epistles and the Apocalypse were added 
I in the fifteenth century. The MS. is as- 
| signed to the fourth century. Codex 
\ Ephraemi rescriptus (Paris, Biol. Imp. 
9), a palimpsest MS. which contains frag- 
ments of the LXX. and of every part of 
the New Testament. In the twelfth cen- 
tury the original writing was effaced and 
some Greek writings of Ephraem Syrus 
were written over it. The MS. was 
brought to Florence from the East at the 
beginning of the sixteenth century, and 
came thence to Paris with Catherine de 
Medici. The only entire books which 
have perished are 2 Thess. and 2 John. 

14. The number of the cursive MSS. 
{minuscules) in existence cannot be ac- 
curately calculated. Tischendorf cata- 
logues about 500 of the Gospels, 200 of 
the Acts and Catholic Epistles, 250 of the 
Pauline Epistles, and a little less than 
100 of the Apocalypse (exclusive of lec- 
tionaries) ; but this enumeration can only 
be accepted as a rough approximation. 

15. Having surveyed in outline the his- 
tory of the transmission of the written 
text and the chief characteristics of the 
MSS. in which it is preserved, we are in 
a position to consider the extent and na- 
ture of the variations which exist in dif- 
ferent copies. It is impossible to estimate 
the number of these exactly, but they 
cannot be less than 120,000 in all, though 
of these a very large proportion consists 
of differences of spelling and isolated 

445 



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NEW 



aberrations of scribes, and of the remain- 
der comparatively few alterations are 
sufficiently well supported to create rea- 
sonable doubt as to the final judgment. 
Probably there are not more than 1600- 
2000 places in which the true reading is 
a matter of uncertainty. 16. Various 
readings are due to different causes : 
some arose from accidental, others from 
intentional, alterations of the original 
text. 17. Other variations are due to er- 
rors of sight. Others may be described 
as errors of impression or memory. The 
copyist, after reading a sentence from the 
text before him, often failed to reproduce 
it exactly. Variations of order are the 
most frequent and very commonly the 
most puzzling questions of textual criti- 
cism. Examples occur in every page, 
almost in every verse, of the New Testa- 
ment. 18. Of intentional changes some 
affect the expression, others the substance 
of the passage. 19. The number of read- 
ings which seem to have been altered for 
distinctly dogmatic reasons is extremely 
small. In spite of the great revolutions 
in thought, feeling and practice through 
which the Christian Church passed in 
fifteen centuries, the copyists of the New 
Testament faithfully preserved, accord- 
ing to their ability, the sacred trust com- 
mitted to them. There is not any trace 
of intentional revision designed to give 
support to current opinions. Matt. 17 : 21, 
Mark 9 : 29, 1 Cor. 7 : 5, need scarcely be 
noticed. 20. The great mass of various 
readings are simply variations in form. 
There are, however, one or two greater 
variations of a different character. The 
most important of these are Mark 16 : 9- 
end ; John 7 : 53-8 : 12 ; Rom. 16 : 25-27. 
The first stands quite by itself ; and there 
seems to be little doubt that it contains 
an authentic narrative, but not by the 
hand of St. John. The two others, taken 
in connection with the last chapter of St. 
John's Gospel, suggest the possibility 
that the apostolic writings may have un- 
dergone in some cases authoritative re- 
vision. 21. Manuscripts, it must be re- 
membered, are but one of the three 
sources of textual criticism. The ver- 
sions and patristic quotations are scarcely 
less important in doubtful cases. 

II. The History of the Printed 
Text.— The history of the printed text 
of the New Testament may be divided 
into three periods. The first of these 
extends from the labors of the Complu- 
tensian editors to those of Mill ; the sec- 
446 



ond from Mill to Scholz ; the third from 
Lachmann to the present time. The 
criticism of the first period was neces- 
sarily tentative and partial : the mate- 
rials available for the construction of the 
text were few and imperfectly known. 
The second period marks a great prog- 
ress: the evidence of MSS., of versions, 
of the fathers, was collected with the 
greatest diligence and success; author- 
ities were compared and classified ; prin- 
ciples of observation and judgment were 
laid down. But the influence of the for- 
mer period still lingered. The third pe- 
riod was introduced by the declaration 
of a new and sounder law. It was laid 
down that no right of possession could 
be pleaded against evidence. The "re- 
ceived " text, as such, was allowed no 
weight whatever. Its authority, on this 
view, must depend solely on critical 
worth. From first to last, in minute de- 
tails of order and orthography, as well 
as in graver questions of substantial al- 
teration, the text must be formed by a 
free and unfettered judgment. 

The following are the earliest editions : 
1. The Complutensian Polyglot. — The 
glory of printing the first Greek Testa- 
ment is due to the princely Cardinal 
Ximenes. This great prelate as early as 
1502 engaged the services of a number of 
scholars to superintend an edition of the 
whole Bible in the original Hebrew and 
Greek, with the addition of the Chaldee 
Targum of Onkelos, the LXX. version 
and the Vulgate. The volume contain- 
ing the New Testament was printed first, 
and was completed on January 10, 1514. 
The whole work was not finished till 
July 10, 1517. (It was called Complu- 
tensian because it was printed at Complu- 
tum, in Spain. — Ed.) 2. The edition of 
Erasmus. — The edition of Erasmus was 
the first published edition of the New 
Testament. Erasmus had paid consider- 
able attention to the study of the New 
Testament, when he received an applica- 
tion from Froben, a printer of Basle with 
whom he was acquainted, to prepare a 
Greek text for the press. The request 
was made on April 17, 1515, and the 
whole work was finished in February, 
1516. 3. The edition of Stephens.— The 
scene of our history now changes from 
Basle to Paris. In 1543, Simon de Colines 
(Colinaeus) published a Greek text of the 
New Testament, corrected in about 150 
places on fresh MS. authority. Not long 
after it appeared, R. Estienne (Stephanus) 



NEW 



NIC 



published his first edition (1546), which 
was based on a collation of MSS. in the 
Royal Library with the Coniplutensian 
text. 4. The editions of Beza and El- 
zevir. — The Greek text of Beza (dedicat- 
ed to Queen Elizabeth) was printed by 
H. Stephens in 1565, and a second edi- 
tion in 1576 ; but the chief edition was the 
third, printed in 1582, which contained 
readings from Codex Bezce and Codex 
Claromo ntanus. 

The literal sense of the apostolic writ- 
ings must be gained in the same way as 
the literal sense of any other writings — 
by the fullest use of every appliance of 
scholarship, and the most complete con- 
fidence in the necessary and absolute con- 
nection of words and thoughts. No vari- 
ation of phrase, no peculiarity of idiom, 
no change of tense, no change of order, 
can be neglected. The truth lies in the 
whole expression, and no one can pre- 
sume to set aside any part as trivial or 
indifferent. The importance of investi- 
gating most patiently and most faithfully 
the literal meaning of the sacred text 
must be felt with tenfold force when it is 
remembered that the literal sense is the 
outward embodiment of a spiritual sense, 
which lies beneath and quickens every 
part of Holy Scripture. [Bible.] 

New Year. [Trumpets, Feast of.] 

Nezi'ah {pre-eminent). The descend- 
ants of Neziah were among the Nethinim 
who returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
54; Neh. 7 : 56. (B.C. 536.) 

Ne'zib {garrison, pillar), a city of 
Judah, Josh. 15 : 43 only, in the district 
of the Shefelah or lowland, one of the 
same group with Keilah and Mareshah. 
To Eusebius and Jerome it was evidently 
known. They place it on the road be- 
tween Eleutheropolis and Hebron, seven 
or nine miles from the former, and there 
it still stands under the almost identical 
name of Beit Nusib or Chirbeh Nasib. 

Nib'haz (the barker), a deity of the 
Avites, introduced by them into Samaria 
in the time of Shalmaneser. 2 Kings 17 : 
31. The rabbins derived , the name from 
a Hebrew root ndbach, " to bark," and 
hence assigned to it the figure of a dog, 
.or a dog-headed man. The Egyptians 
worshipped the dog. Some indications 
of this worship have been found in Syria, 
a colossal figure of a dog having formerly 
stood at a point between Berytus and 
Tripolis. 

Nib'shan (soft soil), one of the six 
cities of Judah, Josh. 15 : 62, which were 



i in the district of the Midbar (Author- 
| ized Version " wilderness "). 

Nica'nor (conqueror). 1. Son of Pa- 
' troclus, 2 Mace. 8 : 9, a general who was 
| engaged in the Jewish wars under Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes and Demetrius I. 1 
Mace. 3 : 38; 4; 7 : 26, 49. (B.C. 160.) 

2. One of the first seven deacons. Acts 
6:5. 

Nicode'mus (conqueror of the peo- 
ple), a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews and 
a teacher of Israel, John 3 : 1, 10, whose 
secret visit to our Lord was the occasion 
of the discourse recorded only by St. 
John. In Nicodemus a noble candor and 
a simple love of truth shine out in the 
midst of hesitation and fear of man. He 
finally became a follower of Christ, and 
came with Joseph of Arimathaea to take 
down and embalm the body of Jesus. 

Nicola'itans (followers of JVicolas), 
a sect mentioned in Rev. 2 : 6, 15, whose 
deeds were strongly condemned. They 
may have been identical with those who 
held the doctrine of Balaam. They seem 
to have held that it was lawful to eat 
things sacrificed to idols, and to commit 
fornication, in opposition to the decree of 
the Church rendered in Acts 15 : 20, 29. 
The teachers of the Church branded them 
with a name which expressed their true 
character. The men who did and taught 
such things were followers of Balaam. 2 
Pet. 2 : 15 ; Jude 11. They, like the false 
prophet of Pethor, united brave words 
with evil deeds. In a time of persecu- 
tion, when the eating or not eating of 
things sacrificed to idols was more than 
ever a crucial test of faithfulness, they 
persuaded men more than ever that it 
was a thing indifferent. Rev. 2 : 13, 14. 
This was bad enough, but there was a yet 
worse evil. Mingling themselves in the 
orgies of idolatrous feasts, they brought 
the impurities of those feasts into the 
meetings of the Christian Church. And 
all this was done, it must be remembered, 
not simply as an indulgence of appetite, 
but as a part of a system, supported by a 
" doctrine," accompanied by the boast of 
a prophetic illumination. 2 Pet. 2:1. It 
confirms the view which has been taken 
of their character to find that stress is 
laid in the first instance on the " deeds" 
of the Nicolaitans. To hate those deeds 
is a sign of life in a Church that other- 
wise is weak and faithless. Rev. 2:6. To 
tolerate them is wellnigh to forfeit the 
glory of having been faithful under per- 
secution. Rev. 2 : 14, 15. 

447 



NIC 



NIL 



Nic'olas {victor of the people), Acts 
6 : 5, a native of Antioch and a proselyte 
to the Jewish faith. When the church 
was still confined to Jerusalem, he be- 
came a convert; and being a man of 
honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and 
of wisdom, he was chosen by the whole 
multitude of the disciples to be one of the 
first seven deacons, and was ordained by 
the apostles. There is no reason except 
the similarity of name for identifying 
Nicolas with the sect of Nicolaitans 
which our Lord denounces, for the tra- 
ditions on the subject are of no value. 

Nicop'olis {city of victory) is men- 
tioned in Titus 3 : 12 as the place where 
St. Paul was intending to pass the com- 
ing winter. Nothing is to be found in the 
epistle itself to determine which Nicop- 
olis is here intended. One Nicopolis was 
in Thrace, near the borders of Macedo- 
nia. The subscription (which, however, 
is of no authority) fixes on this place, 
calling it the Macedonian Nicopolis. But 
there is little doubt that Jerome's view is 
correct, and that the Pauline Nicopolis 
was the celebrated city of Epirus. This 
city (the " city of victory ") was built by 
Augustus in memory of the battle of Ac- 
tium. It was on a peninsula to the west 
of the bay of Actium. 

Ni'ger {black) is the additional or dis- 
tinctive name given to the Simeon who 
was one of the teachers and prophets in 
the church at Antioch. Acts 13 : 1. 

Night. |Day.J 

Night-hawk. The Hebrew word so 
translated, Lev. 11 : 16 ; Deut. 14 : 15, 
probably denotes some kind of owl. 

Nile {blue, dark), the great river of 
Egypt. The word Nile nowhere occurs 
in the Authorized Version ; but it is 
spoken of under the names of Sihor [Sl- 
HOR] and the " river of Egypt." Gen. 
15 : 18. We cannot as yet determine the 
length of the Nile, although recent dis- 
coveries have narrowed the question. 
There is scarcely a doubt that its largest 
confluent is fed by the great lakes on 
and south of the equator. It has been 
traced upward for about 2700 miles, meas- 
ured by its course, not in a direct line, 
and its extent is probably over 1000 miles 
more. (The course of the river has been 
traced for 3300 miles. For the first 1800 
miles (McClintock and Strong say 2300) 
from its mouth it receives no tributary ; 
but at Kartoom, the capital of Nubia, is 
the junction of the two great branches, 
the White Nile and the Blue Nile, so 
448 



called from the color of the clay which 
tinges their waters. The Blue Nile rises 
in the mountains of Abyssinia, and is 
the chief source of the deposit which the 
Nile brings to Egypt. The White Nile 
is the larger branch. Late travellers 
have found its source in Lake Victoria 
Nyanza, three degrees south of the equa- 
tor. From this lake to the mouth of the 
Nile the distance is 2300 miles in a 
straight line — one eleventh the circum- 
ference of the globe. From the First Cat- 
aract, at Syene, the river flows smoothly 
at the rate of two or three miles an hour, 
with a width of half a mile, to Cairo. 
A little north of Cairo it divides into 
two branches, one flowing to Rosetta and 
the other to Damietta, from which places 
the mouths are named. See Bartlett's 
" Egypt and Palestine," 1879. The great 
peculiarity of the river is its annual 
overflow, caused by the periodical trop- 
ical rains. " With wonderful clock-like 
regularity the river begins to swell about 
the end of June, rises 24 feet at Cairo be- 
tween the 20th and 30th of September, 
and falls as much by the middle of May. 
Six feet higher than this is devastation ; 
six feet lower is destitution." — Bartlett. 
So that the Nile increases one hundred 
days and decreases one hundred days, and 
the culmination scarcely varies three 
days from September 25, the autumnal 
I equinox. Thus " Egypt is the gift of the 
Nile." As to the cause of the years of 
plenty and of famine in the time of Jo- 
| seph, Mr. Osburn, in his " Monumental 
j History of Egypt," thinks that the cause 
of the seven years of plenty was the 
i bursting of the barriers (and gradually 
| wearing them away) of " the great lake 
j of Ethiopia," which once existed on the 
i upper Nile, thus bringing more water and 
J more sediment to lower Egypt for those 
! years. And he shows how this same de- 
I struction of this immense sea would cause 
the absorption of the waters of the Nile 
over its dry bed for several years after, 
thus causing the famine. There is an- 
I other instance of a seven-years famine — 
A.D. 1064-1071.— Ed.) The great differ- 
I ence between the Nile of Egypt in the 
I present day and in ancient times is caused 
by the failure of some of its branches 
and the ceasing of some of its chief veg- 
etable products ; and the chief change in 
the aspect of the cultivable land, as de- 
pendent on the Nile, is the result of the 
ruin of the fish-pools and their conduits 
and the consequent decline of the fish- 



NIM 



NIN 



eries. The river was famous for its seven 
branches, and under the Roman dominion 
eleven were counted, of which, however, 
there were but seven principal ones. The 
monuments and the narratives of ancient 
writers show us in the Nile of Egypt in 
old times a stream bordered by flags and 
reeds, the covert of abundant wild fowl, 
and bearing on its waters the fragrant 
flowers of the various-colored lotus. Now 
in Egypt scarcely any reeds or water- 
plants— the famous papyrus being nearly 



events of his life are recorded in Gen. 10 : 
8 fl\, from which we learn (1) that he was 
a Cushite ; (2) that he established an em- 
pire in Shinar (the classical Babylonia), 
the .chief towns being Babel, Erech, Ac- 
cad and Calneh ; and (3) that he extended 
this empire northward along the course 
of the Tigris over Assyria, where he 
founded a second group of capitals, Nin- 
eveh, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen. 

Nim'shi (rescued), the grandfather of 
Jehu, who is generally called " the son 



if not quite extinct, and the lotus almost j of Nimshi." 1 Kings 19 : 16; 2 Kings 9 : 

' 2, 14, 20 ; 2 Chron. 22 : 7. 

Nin'eveh {abode of Ninus), the capital 
of the ancient kingdom and empire of 
Assyria. The name appears to be com- 
pounded from that of an Assyrian deity, 
" Mi« » corresponding, it is conjectured, 



unknown — are to be seen, excepting in 
the marshes near the Mediterranean. Of 
old the great river must 
have shown a more fair 
and busy scene than 
now. Boats of many 
kinds were ever passing 
along it, by the painted 
walls of temples and the 
gardens that extended 
around the light sum- 
mer pavilions, from the 
pleasure-galley, with 
one great square sail, 
white or with variegated 
pattern and many oars, 
to the little papyrus skiff 
dancing on the water 
and carrying the seekers 
of pleasure where they 
could shoot with arrows 
or knock down with the 
throw-stick the wild 
fowl that abounded 
among the reeds, or en- 
gage in the dangerous 
chase of the hippopota- 
mus or the crocodile 




Cherubim on Doorway at Nineveh. 



The Nile is con- 
stantly before us in the history of Israel 
in Egypt. 

Nim'rah {limpid, pure), a place men- 
tioned by this name in Num. 32 : 3 only. 
If it is the same as Beth-nimrah, ver. 
36, it belonged to the tribe of Gad. It 
was ten miles north of the Dead Sea and 
three miles east of the Jordan, on the 
hill of Nimrim. 

Nim'rim (limpid, pure), The waters 
of, a stream or brook within the country 
of Moab, which is mentioned in the de- 
nunciations of that nation by Isaiah, Isa. 
15 : 6, and Jeremiah. Jer. ~48 : 34. We 
should perhaps look for the site of Nim- 
rim in Moab proper, i. e. on the south- 
eastern shoulder of the Dead Sea. 

Nim'rod (rebellion ; or the valiant^, a 
son of Cush and grandson of Ham. The 
29 



with the Greek Hercules, and occurring 
in the names of several Assyrian kings, 
as in "Ninus," the mythic founder, ac- 
cording to Greek tradition, of the city. 
Nineveh is situated on the eastern bank 
of the river Tigris, 550 miles from its 
mouth and 250 miles north of Babylon. 
It is first mentioned in the Old Testa- 
ment in connection with the primitive 
dispersement and migrations of the hu- 
man race. Asshur, or according to the 
marginal reading, which is generally 
preferred, Nimrod, is there described, 
Gen. 10 : 11, as extending his kingdom 
from the land of Shinar or Babylonia, in 
the south, to Assyria in the north, and 
founding four cities, of which the most 
famous was Nineveh. Hence Assyria 
was subsequently known to the Jews as 
"the land of Nimrod," cf. Mieah 5 : 6, 
449 



NIN 



NIN 



and was believed to have been first peo- 
pled by a colony from Babylon. The 
kingdom of Assyria and of the Assyrians 
is referred to in the Old Testament as 
connected with the Jews at a very early 
period, as in Num. 24 : 22, 24 and Ps. 83': 
8 ; but after the notice of the foundation 
of Nineveh in Genesis no further mention 
is made of the city until the time of the 
book of Jonah, or the eighth century B.C. 
In this book no mention is made of As- 
syria or the Assyrians, the king to whom 
the prophet was sent being termed the 
" king of Nineveh," and his subjects " the 
people of Nineveh." Assyria is first 
called a kingdom in the time of Mena- 
hem, about B.C. 770. Nahum (? B.C. 645) 
directs his prophecies against Nineveh ; 
onlv once against the king of Assyria, ch. 
3 : i8. In 2 Kings 19 : 36 and Isa. 37 : 37, 
the city is first distinctly mentioned as 
the residence of the monarch. Senna- i 
cherib was slain there when worshipping 
in the temple of Nisroch his god. Zeph- i 
aniah, about B.C. 630, couples the capital 
and the kingdom together, Zeph. 2 : 13 ; j 
and this is the last mention of Nineveh 
as an existing city. The destruction of ! 
Nineveh occurred B.C. 606. The city was J 
then laid waste, its monuments destroyed, j 
and its inhabitants scattered or carried ! 
away into captivity. It never rose again 
from its ruins. This total disappearance j 
of Nineveh is fully confirmed by the rec- j 
ords of profane history. The political ! 
history of Nineveh is that of Assyria, of j 
which a sketch has already been given, j 
[Assyeia.] Previous to recent excava- [ 
tions and researches, the ruins which oc- 
cupied the presumed site of Nineveh ! 
seemed to consist of mere shapeless heaps j 
or mounds of earth and rubbish. Unlike 
the vast masses of brick masonry which 
mark the site of Babylon, they showed j 
externally no signs of artificial construe- j 
tion, except perhaps here and there the j 
traces of a rude wall of sun-dried bricks. 
Some of these mounds were of enormous j 
dimensions, looking in the distance ; 
rather like natural elevations than the 
work of men's hands. They differ greatly j 
in form, size and height. Some are mere ! 
conical heaps, varying from 50 to 150 feet 
high; others have a broad flat summit, i 
and very precipitous cliff-like sides fur- | 
rowed by deep ravines worn by the win- ! 
ter rains. The principal ruins are — (1) ! 
the group immediately opposite Mosul, 
including the great mounds of Kouyun- . 
jik and Nebbi Yunus; [2) that near the 
450 



junction of the Tigris and Zab, compris- 
ing the mounds of Nimroud and Athur ; 
(3) Khorsabad, about ten miles to the 
east of the former river; (4) Shereef 
Khan, about 51 miles to the north of 
Kouyunjik; and (5) Selamiyah, three 
miles to the north of Nimroud. 

Discoveries. — The first traveller who 
carefully examined the supposed site of 
Nineveh was Mr. Kich, formerly political 
agent for the East India Company at 
Bagdad ; but his investigations were al- 
most entirely confined to Kouyunjik and 
the surrounding mounds, of which he 
made a survey in 1820. In 1843 M. Botta, 
the French consul at Mosul, fully ex- 
plored the ruins. M. Botta's discoveries 
at Khorsabad were followed by those of 
Mr. Layard at Nimroud and Kouyunjik, 
made between the years 1845 and 1850. 
(Since then very many and important 
discoveries have been made at Nineveh, 
more especially those by George Smith, 
of the British Museum. He has discov- 
ered not only the buildings, but the re- 
mains of an ancient library written on 
stone tablets. These leaves or tablets 
were from an inch to a foot square, made 
of terra-cotta clay, on which when soft 
the inscriptions were written ; the tablets 
were then hardened and placed upon the 
walls of the library rooms, so as to cover 
the walls. This royal library contained 
over 10,000 tablets. It was begun by 
Shalmaneser B.C. 860; his successors 
added to it, and Sardanapalus (B.C. 673) 
almost doubled it. Stories or subjects 
were begun on tablets, and continued on 
tablets of the same size sometimes to the 
number of one hundred. Some of the 
most interesting of these give accounts of 
the creation and of the deluge, and all 
agree with or confirm the Bible. — Ed.) 

Description of remains. — The Assyrian 
edifices were so nearly alike in general 
plan, construction and decoration that 
one description will suffice for all. They 
were built upon artificial mounds or 
platforms, varying in height, but gener- 
ally from 30 to 50 feet above the level of 
the surrounding country, and solidly con- 
structed of regular layers of sun-dried 
bricks, as at Nimroud, or consisting 
merely of earth and rubbish heaped up, 
as at Kouyunjik. This platform was 
probably faced with stone masonry, re- 
mains of which were discovered at Nim- 
roud, and broad flights of steps or inclined 
ways led up to its summit. Although 
only the general plan of the ground -floor 



NIN 



NIN 



can now be traced, it is evident that the 
palaces had several stories built of wood 
and sun-dried bricks, which, when the 
building was deserted and allowed to fall 
to decay, gradually buried the lower 
chambers with their ruins, and protected 
the sculptured slabs from the effects of 
the weather. The depth of soil and rub- 
bish above the alabaster slabs varied 
from a few inches to about 20 feet. It is 
to this accumulation of rubbish above 
them that the bas-reliefs owe their ex- 
traordinary preservation. The portions 
of the edifices still remaining consist of 
halls, chambers and galleries, opening 
for the most part into large uncovered 
courts. The wall above the wainscoting 
of alabaster was plastered, and painted 
with figures and ornaments. The sculp- 
tures, With the exception of the human- i 
headed lions and bulls, were for the most 
part in low relief. The colossal figures j 
usually represent the king, his attendants 
and the gods; the smaller sculptures, 
which either cover the whole face of the 
slab or are divided into two compart- 
ments by bands of inscriptions, represent 
battles, sieges, the chase, single combats ! 
with wild beasts, religious ceremonies, | 
etc., etc. All refer to public or national j 
events; the hunting-scenes evidently re- 
cording the prowess and personal valor 
of the king as the head of the people — 
"the mighty hunter before the Lord." 
The sculptures appear to have been 
painted, remains of color having been 
found on most of them. Thus decorated j 
without and within, the Assyrian palaces j 
must have displayed a barbaric magnif- j 
icence, not, however, devoid of a certain 
grandeur and beauty which probably no 
ancient or modern edifice has exceeded. 
These great edifices, the depositories of 
the national records, appear to have been 
at the same time the abode of the king 
and the temple of the gods. 

Prophecies relating to Nineveh, and il- 
lustrations of the Old Testament. — These 
are exclusively contained in the books of 
Nahum and Zephaniah. Nahum threat- 
ens the entire destruction of the city, so 
that it shall not rise again from its ruins. 
The city was to be partly destroyed by 
fire. Nah. 3 : 13, 15. The gateway in the 
northern wall of the Kouyunjik enclosure 
had been destroyed by fire, as well as the 
palaces. The population was to be sur- 
prised when unprepared: "while they 
are drunk as drunkards they shall be de- 
voured as stubble fully dry."" Nah. 1 : 10. 



Diodorus states that the last and fatal as- 
sault was made when they were overcome 
with wine. The captivity of the inhab- 
itants and their removal to distant prov- 
inces are predicted. Nah. 3 : 18. The 
fullest and the most vivid and poetical 
picture of Nineveh's ruined and deserted 
condition is that given by Zephaniah, 
who probably lived to see its fall. Zeph. 
2 : 13-15. 

Site of the city. — Much diversity of 
opinion exists as to the identification of 
the ruins which may be properly included 
within the site of ancient Nineveh. Ac- 
cording to Sir H. Rawlinson and those 
who concur in his interpretation of the 
cuneiform characters, each group of 
mounds already mentioned represents a 
separate and distinct city. On the other 
hand, it has been conjectured, with much 
probability, that these groups of mounds 
are not nuns of separate cities, but of 
fortified royal residences, each combining 
palaces, temples, propylsea, gardens and 
parks, and having its peculiar name ; and 
that they all formed part of one great 
city built and added to at different pe- 
riods, and consisting of distinct quarters 
scattered over a very large area, and fre- 
quently very distant one from the other. 
Thus the city would be, as Layard says, 
in the form of a parallelogram 18 to 20 
miles long by 12 to 14 wide; or, as Di- 
odorus Siculus says, 55 miles in circum- 
ference. 

Writing and language. — The ruins of 
Nineveh have furnished a vast collection 
of inscriptions partly carved on marble 
or stone slabs and partly impressed upon 
bricks and upon clay cylinders, or six- 
sided and eight-sided prisms, barrels and 
tablets, which, used for the purpose when 
still moist, were afterward baked in a 
furnace or kiln. Comp. Ezek. 4 : 4. The 
character employed was the arrow-headed 
or cuneiform — so called from each letter 
being formed by marks or elements re- 
! sembling an arrow-head or a wedge. 
! These inscribed bricks are of the greatest 
value in restoring the royal dynasties. 
\ The most important inscription hitherto 
j discovered in connection with biblical 
j history is that upon a pair of colossal 
I human-headed bulls from Kouyunjik, 
now in the British Museum, containing 
the records of Sennacherib, and describ- 
J ing, among other events, his wars with 
! Hezekiah. It is accompanied by a series 
of bas-reliefs believed to represent the 
I siege and capture of Lachish. A list of 



NIN 



NOA 



nineteen or twenty kings can already be 
compiled, and the annals of the greater 
number of them will probably be restored 
to the lost history of one of the most 
powerful empires of the ancient world, and 
of one which appears to have exercised 
perhaps greater influence than any other 
upon the subsequent condition and de- 
velopment of civilized man. The people 
of Nineveh spoke a Shemitic dialect, con- 
nected with the Hebrew and with the so- 
called Chaldee of the books of Daniel 
and Ezra. This agrees with the testi- 
mony of the Old Testament. 

Nin'evites, the inhabitants of Nin- 
eveh. Luke 11 : 30. 

Ni'san. [Month.] 




Nisroch. 

Nis'roch {the great eagle), an idol of 
Nineveh, in whose temple Sennacherib 
was worshipping when assassinated by 
his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer. 2 
Kings 19 : 37 ; Isa. 37 : 38. This idol is 
identified with the eagle-headed human 
figure, which is one of the most prominent 
on the earliest Assyrian monuments, and 
is always represented as contending with 
and conquering the lion or the bull. 

Nitre. Mention of this substance is 
made in Prov. 25 : 20 — " and as vinegar 
upon nitre" — and in Jer. 2 : 22. The 
article denoted is not that which we now 
understand by the term nitre, i. e. nitrate 
of potassa — " saltpetre " — but the nitrum 
of the Latins and the natron or native 
carbonate of soda of modern chemistry. 
Natron was and still is used by the 
452 



Egyptians for washing linen. The value 
of soda in this respect is well known. 
This explains the passage in Jeremiah. 
Natron is found in great abundance in 
the well-known soda lakes of Egypt. 
No. [NO-AMON.] 

No-adi'ah {whom Jehovah meets). 1. 
A Levite, son of Binnui, who with Mer- 
! emoth, Eleazar and Jozabad weighed the 
vessels of gold and silver belonging to 
the temple which were brought back 
from Babylon. Ezra 8 : 33. (B.C. 459.) 

2. The prophetess Noadiah joined San- 
ballat and Tobiah in their attempt to in- 
timidate Nehemiah. Neh. 6 : 14. (B.C. 
445.) 

No'ah {rest), the tenth in descent from 
Adam, in the line of Seth,was the son of 
Lamech and grandson of Methuselah. 
(B.C. 2948-1998.) We hear nothing of 
Noah till he is 500 years old, when it is 
said he begat three sons, Shem, Ham and 
Japhet. In consequence of the grievous 
and hopeless wickedness of the world at 
this time, God resolved to destroy it. Of 
Noah's life during this age of almost 
universal apostasy we are told but little. 
It is merely said that he was a righteous 
man and perfect in his generations {i. e. 
among his contemporaries), and that he, 
like Enoch, walked with God. St. Peter 
calls him " a preacher of righteousness." 
2 Pet. 2 : 5. Besides this we are merely 
told that he had three sons, each of whom 
had married a wife ; that he built the 
ark in accordance with divine direction ; 
and that he was 600 years old when the 
flood came. Gen. 6 : 7. 

The ark. — The precise meaning of the 
Hebrew word {tebdh) is uncertain. The 
word occurs only in Genesis and in Ex- 
odus 2:3. In all probability it is to the 
old Egyptian that we are to look for its 
original form. Bunsen, in his vocabulary, 
gives tba, " a chest," tpt, " a boat," and 
in the Coptic version of Ex. 2 : 3, 5, thebi 
is the rendering of tebdh. This "chest" 
| or " boat " was to be made of gopher {i. 
\ e. cypress) wood, a kind of timber which 
j both for its lightness and its durability 
j was employed by the Phoenicians for 
: building their vessels. The planks of 
j the ark, after being put together, were to 
! be protected by a coating of pitch, or 
| rather bitumen, both inside and outside, 
j to make it water-tight, and perhaps also 
| as a protection against the attacks of 
j marine animals. The ark was to consist 
! of a number of "nests" or small com- 
| partments, with a view, no doubt, to the 



NO A 



NOA 



convenient distribution of the different ■ 
animals and their food. These were to | 
be arranged in three tiers, one above an- j 
other ; " with lower, second and third j 
(stories) shalt thou make it." Means ; 
were also to be provided for letting light | 
into the ark. There was to be a door; 
this was to be placed in the side of the 
ark. Of the shape of the ark nothing is 
said, but its dimensions are given. It was 
to be 300 cubits in 'length, 50 in breadth 
and 30 in height. Taking 21 inches for 
the cubit, the ark would be 525 feet in 
length, 87 feet 6 inches in breadth and 
52 feet 6 inches in height. This is very 
considerably larger than the largest Brit- 
ish man-of-war, but not as large as some 
modern ships. It should be remembered 
that this huge structure was only intended 
to float on the water, and was not in the 
proper sense of the word a ship. It had 
neither mast, sail nor rudder ; it was in 
fact nothing but an enormous floating 
house, or rather oblong box. The inmates 
of the ark were Noah and his wife and 
his three sons with their wives. Noah was 
directed to take also animals of all kinds 
into the ark with him, that they might 
be preserved alive. (The method of 
speaking of the animals that were taken 
into the ark, " clean " and " unclean," im- 
plies that only those which were useful 
to man were preserved, and that no wild 
animals were taken into the ark ; so that 
there is no difficulty from the great num- 
ber of different species of animal life ex- 
isting in the world. — Ed.) 

The flood. — The ark was finished, and 
all its living freight was gathered into 
it as a place of safety. Jehovah shut 
him in, says the chronicler, speaking of 
Noah ; and then there ensued a solemn 
pause of seven days before the threatened 
destruction was let loose. At last the 
flood came; the waters were upon the 
earth. A very simple but very powerful 
and impressive description is given of the 
appalling catastrophe. The waters of the 
flood increased for a period of 190 davs 
(40+150, comparing Gen. 7 : 12 and 24) ; 
and then " God remembered Noah," and 
made a wind to pass over the earth, so 
that the waters were assuaged. The ark 
rested on the seventeenth day of the 
seventh month on the mountains of Ar- 
arat. After this the waters gradually 
decreased till the first day of the tenth 
month, when the tops of the mountains 
were seen ; but Noah and his family did 
not disembark till they had been in the 



ark a year and a month and twenty days. 
Whether the flood was universal or par- 
tial has given rise to much controversy ; 
but there can be no doubt that it was 
universal, so far as man was concerned : 
we mean that it extended to all the then 
known world. The literal truth of the 
narrative obliges us to believe that the 
whole human race, except eight persons, 
perished by the waters of the flood. 
The language of the book of Genesis does 
not compel us to suppose that the whole 
surface of the globe was actually covered 
with water, if the evidence of geology 
requires us to adopt the hypothesis of a 
partial deluge. It is natural to suppose 
that the writer, when he speaks of " all 
flesh," "all in whose nostrils was the 
breath of life," refers only to his own 
locality. This sort of language is com- 
mon enough in the Bible when only a 
small part of the globe is intended. Thus, 
for instance, it is said that " all countries 
came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn;" 
and that " a decree went out from Caesar 
j Augustus that all the world should be 
! taxed." The truth of the biblical nar- 
| rative is confirmed by the numerous tra- 
| ditions of other nations, which have pre- 
served the memory of a great and destruc- 
I five flood, from which but a small part 
! of mankind escaped. They seem to point 
back to a common centre, whence they 
| were carried by the different families of 
j man as they wandered east and west, 
j The traditions which come nearest to the 
I biblical account are those of the nations 
of western Asia. Foremost among these 
is the Chaldean. Other notices of a flood 
may be found in the Phoenician mythol- 
j ogy. There is a medal of Apamea in 
I Phrygia, struck as late as the time of 
i Septimius Severus, in which the Phrygian 
j deluge is commemorated. This medal 
represents a kind of a square vessel float- 
ing in the water. Through an opening 
| in it are seen two persons, a man and a 
woman. Upon the top of this chest or 
ark is perched a bird, whilst another 
flies toward it carrying a branch between 
its feet. Before the vessel are represented 
the same pair as having just quitted it 
and got upon the dry land. Singularly 
enough, too, on some specimens of this 
medal the letters NO or NfiE have been 
found on the vessel, as in the cut on p. 
454. (Tayler Lewis deduces " the partial 
extent of the flood from the very face of 
the Hebrew text." " Earth," where it 
speaks of " all the earth," often is, and 
453 



NOA 



NOA 



here should be, translated "land," the 
home of the race, from which there ap- 
pears to have been little inclination to 
wander. Even after the flood God had to 
compel them to disperse. " Under the 




Apamean Coin showing the word " noe" on the Ark. 



whole heavens" simply includes the ho- 
rizon reaching around "all the land" — 
the visible horizon. We still use the 
words in the same sense, and so does the 
Bible. Nearly all commentators now 
agree on the partial extent of the deluge. 
It is probable also that the crimes and 
violence of the previous age had greatly 
diminished the population, and that they 
would have utterly exterminated the race 
had not God in this way saved out some 
good seed from their destruction. So that 
the flood, by appearing to destroy the 
race, really saved the world from destruc- 
tion.— Ed.) 

{The scene of the deluge. — Hugh Mil- 
ler, in his " Testimony of the Rocks," 
argues that there is a remarkable portion 
of the globe, chiefly on the Asiatic con- 
tinent, though it extends into Europe, and 
which is nearly equal to all Europe in 
extent, whose rivers (some of them the 
Volga, Oural, Sihon, Kour and the Amoo, 
of great size) do not fall into the ocean, 
but, on the contrary, are all turned in- 
ward, losing themselves, in the eastern 
part of the tract, in the lakes of a rain- 
less district ; in the western parts, into 
such seas as the Caspian and the Aral. 
In this region there are extensive districts 
still under the level of the ocean. Vast 
plains, white with salt and charged with 
sea-shells, show that the Caspian Sea was 
at no distant period greatly more exten- 
sive than it is now. With the well-known 
facts, then, before us regarding this de- 
pressed Asiatic region, let us suppose that 
454 



the human family, still amounting to 
several millions, though greatly reduced 
by exterminating wars and exhausting 
vices, were congregated in that tract of 
country which, extending eastward from 
the modern 
Ararat to far 
beyond the 
Sea of Aral, 
includes the 
original Cau- 
casian centre 
of the race. 
Let us sup- 
pose that, the 
hour of judg- 
ment having 
arrived, the 
land began 
gradually to 
sink (as the 
tract in the 
Hun of Cutch 
sank in the year 1819) equably for forty 
days at the rate of about 400 feet per day— 
a rate not twice greater than that at which 
the tide rises in the Straits of Magellan, 
and which would have rendered itself ap- 
parent as but a persistent inward flowing 
of the sea. The depression, which, by ex- 
tending to the Euxine Sea and the Per- 
sian Gulf on the one hand and the Gulf of 
Finland on the other, would open up by 
three separate channels the " fountains 
of the great deep," and which included 
an area of 2000 miles each way, would, at 
the end of the fortieth day, be sunk in its 
centre. to the depth of 16,000 feet, — suffic- 
ient to bury the loftiest mountains of the 
district; and yet, having a gradient of 
declination of but sixteen feet per mile, 
the contour of its hills and plains would 
remain apparently what they had been 
before, and the doomed inhabitants would 
see but the water rising along the mount- 
ain sides, and one refuge after another 
swept away. — Ed.) 

After the flood. — Noah's first act after 
he left the ark was to build an altar and 
to offer sacrifices. This is the first altar 
of which we read in Scripture, and the 
first burnt sacrifice. Then follows the 
blessing of God upon Noah and his sons. 
Noah is clearly the head of a new human 
family, the representative of the whole 
race. It is as such that God makes his 
covenant with him ; and hence selects a 
natural phenomenon as the sign of that 
covenant. The bow in the cloud, seen by 
every nation under heaven, is an unfail- 



NO A 



NOS 



ing witness to the truth of God. Noah 
now for the rest of his life betook himself 
to agricultural pursuits. It is partic- 
ularly noticed that he planted a vineyard. 
Whether in ignorance of its properties or 
otherwise we are not informed, but he 
drank of the juice of the grape till he 
became intoxicated and shamefully ex- i 
posed himself in his own tent. One of 
his sons, Ham, mocked openly at his 
father's disgrace. The others, with duti- 
ful care and reverence, endeavored to hide 
it. When he recovered from the effects 
of his intoxication, he declared that a 
curse should rest upon the sons of Ham. | 
With the curse on his youngest son was 
joined a blessing on the other two. After ' 
this prophetic blessing we hear no more j 
of the patriarch but the sum of his years, 
950. 

No'ah (motion), one of the five daugh- 
ters of Zelophehad. Num. 26 : 33 ; 27 : 1 ; ; 
36 : 11 ; Josh. 17 : 3. (B.C. 1450.) 

No-a'mon (temple of Anion), Nah. 3: 
8 ; No, Jer. 46 : 25 ; Ezek. 30 : 14, 15, 16, 
a city of Egypt, better known under the 
name of Thebes or Diospolis Magna, the 
ancient and splendid metropolis of upper 
Egypt. The second part of the first form 
is the name of Amen, the chief divinity 
of Thebes, mentioned or alluded to in 
connection with this place in Jeremiah. 
There is a difficulty as to the meaning of 
No. It seems most reasonable to suppose 
that No is a Shemitic name, and that 
Amon is added in Nahuni (I. c.) to dis- 
tinguish Thebes from some other place j 
bearing the same name, or on account of 
the connection of Amen with that city. 
The description of No-amon as " situate 
among the rivers, the waters round about 
it" (Nah. I. c), remarkably characterizes I 
Thebes. (It lay on both sides of the Nile, j 
and was celebrated for its hundred gates, j 
for its temples, obelisks, statues, etc. It i 
was emphatically the city of temples, in 
the ruins of which many monuments of 
ancient Egypt are preserved. The plan 
of the city was a parallelogram, two \ 
miles from north to south and four from 
east to west, but none suppose that in its 
glory it really extended 33 miles along ' 
both sides of the Nile. Thebes was de- 
stroyed by Ptolemy, B.C. 81, and since 
then its population has dwelt in villages 
only.— Ed.) 

Nob (fdghplace), 1 Sam. 22 : 19 ; Neh. 
11 : 32, a sacerdotal city in the tribe of 
Benjamin, and situated on some eminence 
near Jerusalem. It was one of the places 



where the ark of Jehovah was kept for 
a time during the days of its wander- 
ings. 2 Sam. 6:1, etc. But the event 
for which Nob was most noted in the 
Scripture annals was a frightful mas- 
sacre which occurred there in the reign 
of Saul. 1 Sam. 22 : 17-19. 

No'bah (barking), an Israelite war- 
rior, Num. 32 : 42, who during the con- 
quest of the territory on the east of Jor- 
dan possessed himself of the town of 
Kenath and the villages or hamlets de- 
pendent upon it, and gave them his own 
name. (B.C. 1450.) For a certain period 
after the establishment of the Israelite 
rule the new name remained, Judges 8 : 
11 ; but it is not again heard of, and the 
original appellation, as is usual in such 
cases, appears to have recovered its hold, 
which it has since retained ; for in the 
slightly-modified form of Kunawdt it is 
the name of the place to the present day. 

Nod (flight), the land to which Cain 
fled after the murder of Abel. [Cain.] 

No'dab (nobility), the name of an 
Arab tribe mentioned only in 1 Chron. 
5 : 19, in the account of the war of the 
Eeubenites against the Hagarites. vs. 9- 
22. It is probable that Nodab, their an- 
cestor, -was the son of Ishmael, being 
mentioned with two of his other sons in 
the passage above cited, and was there- 
fore a grandson of Abraham. 

No'gah (brightness), one of the thirteen 
sons of David who were born to him in 
Jerusalem. 1 Chron. 3:7; 14 : 6. (B.C. 
1050-1015.) 

No'hah (rest), the fourth son of Ben- 
jamin. 1 Chron. 8 : 2. 

Non {fish). Nun, the father of Joshua, 
1 Chron. 7 : 27. 

Noph. [Memphis.] 

No'pha (blast), a place mentioned only 
in Num. 21 : 30, in the remarkable song 
apparently composed by the Amorites 
after their conquest of Heshbon from the 
Moabites, and therefore of an earlier date 
than the Israelite invasion. It is named 
with Dibon and Medeba, and was pos- 
sibly in the neighborhood of Heshbon. 
A name very similar to Nophah is Nobah, 
which is twice mentioned. Ewald de- 
cides that Nophah is identical with the 
latter of these. 

Nose-jewel, Gen. 24:22, Ex. 35: 
22, "earring;" Isa. 3 : 21, Ezek. 16 : 12, 
"jewel on the forehead," a ring of metal, 
sometimes of gold or silver, passed usually 
through the right nostril, and worn by 
way of ornament by women in the East. 

455 



NUM 



NUM 




Nose-jewels worn in the East. 

Upon it are strung beads, coral or jewels. 
In Egypt it is now almost confined to the 
lower classes. 

Number. Like most Oriental nations, 
it is probable that the Hebrews in their 
written calculations made use of the let- 
ters of the alphabet. That they did so 
in post- Babylonian times we have con- 
clusive evidence in the Maccabsean coins ; 
and it is highly probable that this was 
the case also in earlier times. But 
though, on the one hand, it is certain 
that in all existing MSS. of the Hebrew 
text of the Old Testament the numerical 
expressions are written at length, yet, on 
the other, the variations in the several 
versions between themselves and from 
the Hebrew text, added to the evident 
inconsistencies in numerical statement 
between certain passages of that text 
itself, seems to prove that some shorter 
mode of writing was originally in vogue, 
liable to be misunderstood, and in fact 
misunderstood by copyists and translat- 
ors. These variations appear to have 
proceeded from the alphabetic method of 
writing numbers. There can be little 
doubt, however, that some at least of the 
numbers mentioned in Scripture are in- 
tended to be representative rather than 
determinative. Certain numbers, as 7, 
10, 40, 100, were regarded as giving the 
idea of completeness. Without entering 
into St. Augustine's theory of this usage, 
we may remark that the notion of repre- 
sentative numbers in certain cases is one 
extremely common among eastern na- 
tions, who have a prejudice against count- 
ing their possessions accurately ; that it 
enters largely into many ancient systems 
of chronology, and that it is found in the 
philosophical and metaphysical specula- 
tions not only of the Pythagorean and 
other ancient schools of philosophy, both 
Greek and Roman, but also in those of 
456 



the later Jewish writers, of the Gnostics, 
and also of such Christian writers as St. 
Augustine himself. We proceed to give 
some instances of numbers used, (a) rep- 
resentatively, and thus probably by de- 
sign indefinitely, or, {b) definitely, but, 
as we may say, preferentially, i. e. be- 
cause some meaning (which we do not 
in all cases understand) was attached to 
them. 1. Seven, as denoting either plu- 
rality or completeness, perhaps because 
seven days completed the week, is so fre- 
quent as to make a selection only of in- 
stances necessary, e. g. seven fold, Gen. 4 : 
24 ; seven times, i. e. completely, Lev. 26 : 
[24; Ps. 12:6; seven (i. e. many) ways, 
! Deut. 28 : 25. 2. Ten as a preferential 
| number is exemplified in the Ten Com- 
mandments and the law of tithe. 3. 
; Seventy, as compounded of 7 x 10, appears 
frequently, e. g. seventy fold. Gen. 4 : 24 ; 
[ Matt. 18 : 22. Its definite use appears in 
| the offerings of 70 shekels, Num. 7 : 13, 
j 19 ff. ; the 70 elders, ch. 11 : 16 ; 70 years 
( of captivity. Jer. 25 : 11. 4. Five ap- 
! pears in the table of punishments, of 
\ legal requirements, Ex. 22 : 1 ; Lev. 5 : 
16 ; 22 : 14 ; 27 : 15 ; Num. 5:7; 18 : 16, 
and in the five empires of Daniel. Dan. 
2. 5. Four is used in reference to the 
j 4 winds, Dan. 7 : 2, and the so-called 4 
! corners of the earth; the 4 creatures, 
each with 4 wings and 4 faces, of Eze- 
kiel, Ezek. 1 : 5 ff. ; 4 rivers of Paradise, 
j Gen. 2:10; 4 beasts, Dan. 7 and Rev. 4 : 
I 6 ; the 4 equal-sided temple-chamber. 
| Ezek. 40 : 47. 6. Three was regarded, 
\ by both the Jews and other nations, as a 
specially complete and mystic number. 
I 7. Twelve (3X4) appears in 12 tribes, 12 
| stones in the high priest's breastplate, 12 
apostles, 12 foundation-stones, and 12 
j gates. Rev. 21 : 19-21. 8. Lastly, the 
i mystic number 666. Rev. 13 : 18. 

Num'bers, the fourth book of the law 
or Pentateuch. It takes its name in the 
i LXX. and Vulgate (whence our "Num- 
I bers") from the double numbering or 
! census of the people ; the first of which 
! is given in chs. 1-4, and the second in 
! ch. 26. Contents. — The book may be 
said to contain generally the history of 
I the Israelites from the time of their 
leaving Sinai, in the second year after 
: the exodus, till their arrival at the bor- 
; ders of the promised land, in the fortieth 
year of their journeyings. It consists of 
; the following principal divisions: 1, 
The preparations for the departure from 
i Sinai. Num. 1 : 1-10 : 10. 2. The journey 



NUN 



NYM 



from Sinai to the borders of Canaan, ch. 
10 : 11-14 : 45. 3. A brief notice of laws 
given and events which transpired during 
the thirty-seven years wandering in the 
wilderness, ch. 15 : 1-19 : 22. 4. 
The history of the last year, from 
the second" arrival of the Israelites 
in Kadesh till they reached "the 
plains of Moab bv Jordan near Jer- 
icho." ch. 20 : 1-36 : 13. Integrity. — 
This, like the other books of the 
Pentateuch, is supposed by many 
critics to consist of a compilation 
from two or three or more earlier 
documents; but the grounds on 
which this distinction of documents 
rests are iri every respect most un- 
satisfactory, and it may, in common 
with the preceding books and Deu- 
teronomy, be regarded as the work 
of Moses. The book of Numbers is 
rich in fragments of ancient poetry, 
some of them of great beauty and 
all throwing an interesting light on 
the character of the times in which 
they were composed. Such, for in- 
stance, is the blessing of the high 
priest, ch. 6 : 24-26. Such too are 
chants which were the signal for 
the ark to move when the people 
journeyed, and for it to rest when 
they were about to encamp. In ch. 
21 we have a passage cited from 
a book called the " Book of the Wars 
of Jehovah." This was probably a col- 
lection of ballads and songs composed on 
different occasions by the watch-fires of 
the camp, and for the most part, though 
not perhaps exclusively, in commemora- 
tion of the victories of the Israelites over 
their enemies. 

Nun (fish, or posterity), the father of 
the Jewish captain Joshua. Ex. 33:11, 
etc. His genealogical descent from 
Ephraim is recorded in 1 Chron. 7. 
(B.C. before 1530.) _ 

Nurse. In ancient times the position 
of the nurse, wherever one was main- 
tained, was one of much honor and im- 
portance. See Gen. 24 : 59 ; 35 : 8 ; 2 



Sam. 4 : 4 ; 2 Kings 11 : 2. The same term 
is applied to a foster-father or mother, e.g. 
Num. 11 : 12 ; Ruth 4 : 16 ; Isa. 49 : 23. 
Nuts are mentioned among the good 




Pistachio Nuts. 

things of the land which the sons of Is- 
rael were to take as a present to Joseph 
in Egypt. Gen. 43 : 11. There can scarcely 
be a doubt that the Hebrew word, here 
translated " nuts," denotes the fruit of 
the pistachio tree (Pistacia vera), for 
which Syria and Palestine have been 
long famous. In Cant. 6 : 11 a different 
Hebrew word is translated " nuts." In 
all probability it here refers to the wal- 
nut tree. According to Josephus the 
walnut tree was formerly common, and 
grew most luxuriantly around the Lake 
of Gennesareth. 

Nym'phas (bridegroom^, a wealthy 
and zealous Christian in Laodicea. Col. 
4 : 15. (A.D. 60.) 

457 



OAK 



OB A 



Oak (Heb. strong). There is much 
difficulty in determining the exact mean- 
ings of the several varieties of the term 
mentioned above. Sometimes, evidently, 
the terebinth or elm is intended, and at 
others the oak. There are a number of 
varieties of oak in Palestine. ( Dr. Kob- 
inson contends that the oak is generally 
intended, and that it is a very common 




Oak of Palestine. 



tree in the East. Oaks grow to a large 
size, reach an old age. and are every 
way worthy the venerable associations 
connected with the tree. — Ed.) Two 
oaks, Quercus pseudo-coccifera and Q. 
mgilops, are well worthy of the name of 
mighty trees: though it is equally true 
that over a greater part of the country 
the oaks of Palestine are at present 
merely bushes. 

Oath. The principle on which an 
oath is held to be binding is incidentally 
laid down in Heb. 6 : 16, viz. as an ulti- 
mate appeal to divine authority to ratify 
an assertion. On the same principle, 
tnat oath has always been held most 
bin ling which appealed to the highest 
authority, as regards both individual- 
and communities. As a consequence of 
this principle, appeals to God's name on 
458 



the one hand, and to heathen deities on 
the other, are treated in Scripture as tests 
of allegiance. Ex. 23 : 13 ; 34 : 6 ; Deut. 
29 : 12, etc. So also the sovereign's name 
is sometimes used as a form of obligation. 
Gen. 42 : 15: 2 Sam. 11 ; 11; 14 : 19. 
Other forms of oath, serious or frivolous, 
are mentioned, some of which are con- 
demned by our Lord. Matt. 5 : 33 ; 23 : 
16-22; and see James 5:12. (There is, 
however, a world-wide difference between 
I a solemn appeal to God and profane 
swearing. | The forms of adjuration men- 
tioned in Scripture are — 1. Lifting up 
the hand. Witnesses laid their hands 
<m the head of the accused. Gen. 14 : 22 ; 
Lev. 24 : 14; Deut. 17 : 7 ; Isa. 3:7. 2. 
Putting the hand under the thigh of the 
person to whom the promise was made. 
Gen. 24 : 2 ; 47 : 29. 3. Oaths were some- 
times taken before the altar, or, as some 
understand the passage, if the persons 
were not in Jerusalem, in a position 
looking toward the temple. 1 Kings 8 : 
31 ; 2 Chron. 6 : 22. 4. Dividing a vic- 
tim and passing between or distributing 
the pieces. Gen. 15 : 10, 17 ; Jer. 34 : 18. 
As the sanctity of oaths was carefully in- 
culcated by the law, so the crime of per- 
jury was strongly condemned ; and to a 
false witness the same punishment was 
assigned which was due for the crime to 
which he testified. Ex. 20 : 7 ; Lev. 19 : 
12. 

Obadi'ah [servant of the Lord ■). 1. A 
man whose sons are enumerated in the 
genealogy of the tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 
3:21. (B.C. 470.) 

2. A descendant of Issachar and a 
chief man of his tribe. 1 Chron. 7 : 3. 
(B.C. 1014.) 

3. One of the six sons of Azel, a de- 
scendant of Saul. 1 Chron. 8:38; 9:44. 
(B.C. 72n. | 

4. A Levite, son of Shemaiah, and de- 
scended from Jeduthun. 1 Chron. 9:16; 
Neh. 12 : 25. 

5. The second of the lion-faced Gadites 
who joined David at Zikiag. 1 Chron. 
12 : 9. ( B.C. 1054.) 

6. One of the princes of Judah in the 
reign of Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 17 : 7. 
( B.C. 909. i 

7. The son of Jehiel, of the sons of 



OBA 



OFF 



Joab, who came up in the second caravan 
with. Ezra. Ezra 8:9. 

8. A priest, or family of priests, who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 5. 

9. The fourth of the twelve minor 
prophets. We know nothing of him ex- 
cept what we can gather from the short 
book which bears his name. The ques- 
tion of his date must depend upon the 
interpretation of the 11th verse of his 
prophecy. He there speaks of the con- 
quest of Jerusalem and the captivity of 
Jacob as having occurred. He probably 
refers to the captivity by Nebuchadnez- 
zar, B.C. 588. It must have been uttered 
at some time in the five years which in- 
tervened between B.C. 588 and 583. The 
book of Obadiah is a sustained denuncia- 
tion of the Edomites, melting into a vis- 
ion of the future glories of Zion when 
the arm of the Lord should have wrought 
her deliverance and have repaid double 
upon her enemies. 

10. An officer of high rank in the court 
of Ahab. 1 Kings 18 : 3. He was a devout 
worshipper of Jehovah, and at the peril 
of his life concealed over a hundred 
prophets during the persecution by Jeze- 
bel. 1 Kings 18 : 3-16. | B.C. 904.) 

11. The father of Ishmaiah, who was 
chief of the tribe of Zebulun in David's 
reign. 1 Chron. 27 : 19. (B.C. before 
1014.) 

12. A Merarite Levite in the reign of 
Josiah, and one of the overseers of the 
workmen in the restoration of the temple. 
2 Chron. 34 : 12. ( B.C. 623. ) 

O'bal (stripped bare ', a son of Joktan, 
and, like the rest of his family, appar- 
ently the founder of an Arab tribe. Gen. 
10 : 28. In 1 Chron. 1 : 22 the name is 
written Ebal. 

O'bed {serving'). 1. Son of Boaz and 
Ruth the Moabitess and father of Jesse. 
Ruth 4:17. I B.C. 1360.) The circum- 
stances of his birth, which make up all 
that we know about him, are given with 
much beauty in the book of Ruth. The 
name of Obed occurs only Ruth 4:17, 
and in the four genealogies, Ruth 4 : 21, 
22 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 12 ; Matt. 1 : 5) Luke 3 : 
32. 

2. A descendant of Jarha. the Egyptian 
slave of Sheshan, in the line of Jerah- 
meel. 1 Chron. 2 : 37,38. (B.C. after 
1014.) 

3. One of David's mighty men. 1 
Chron. 11 : 47. ( B.C. 1046. ) 

4. One of the gate-keeper> of the tem- 



ple ; son of Shemaiah the first-born of 
Obed-edom. 1 Chron. 26 : 7. (B.C. 1017. 1 

5. Father of Azariah, one of the cap- 
tains of hundreds who joined with Jeho- 
iada in the revolution by which Athaliah 
fell. 2 Chron. 23 : 1. (B.C. before 876. j 

O'bed-e'dom {servant of Edam). 1. 
A Levite, described as a Gittite, 2 Sam. 
6 : 10, 11, that is, probably, a native of 
the Levitical city of Gath-rimmon in 
Manasseh, which was assigned to the 
Kohathites. Josh. 21:25. (B.C. 10430 
After the death of Uzzah, the ark, which 
was being conducted from the house of 
Abinadab in Gibeah to the city of David, 
was carried aside into the house of Obed- 
edom, where it continued three months. 
It was brought thence by David. 2 Sam. 
6:12; 1 Chron. 15 : 25. 

2. "Obed-edom the son of Jeduthun," 
1 Chron. 16 : 38. a Merarite Levite, ap- 
pears to be a different person from the 
last-mentioned. He was a Levite of the 
j second degree and a gate-keeper f ir the 
ark, 1 Chron. 15 : 18, 24, appointed to 
sound "with harps on the Sheminith to 
excel." 1 Chron. 15:21; 16:5. (B.C. 
1043.) 

O'bil (chief of the camels), a keeper of 
the herds of camels in the reign of David. 

1 Chron. 27 : 30. ( B.C. 1050. j 
Oblation. [Sacrifice.] 
O'both (bottles), one of the encamp- 

I ments of the Israelites, east of Moab. 
Num. 21:10; 33:43. Its exact site is 
unknown (but it was probably south of 
\ the Dead Sea, on the boundary between 
Moab and Edom. — Ed. I. 

Oc'ran (troubled), an Asherite, father 
of Pagiel. Num. 1:13; 2:27; 7 : 72, 77 ; 
10:26. (B.C. before 1658.) 

O'ded ( restoring i. 1. The father of 
Azariah the prophet, in the reign of Asa. 
! 2 Chron. 15 : 1. (B.C. before 953.) 

2. A prophet of Jehovah in Samaria, 
at the time of Pekah's invasion of Judah. 

2 Chron. 28 : 9. (B.C. 739.) 
Odol'lam. [Adullam.] 
Offerings. [Sacrifice.] 
Officer. It is obvious that most, if 

not all, of the Hebrew words rendered 
"officer" are either of an indefinite char- 
acter or are synonymous terms for func- 
tionaries known under other and more 
specific names, as "scribe," "eunuch," 
etc. The two words so rendered in the 
New Testament denote — 1. An inferior 
officer of a court of justice, a messenger 
or bailiff, like the Roman viator or lictor. 
Matt. 5 : 25 ; Acts 5 : 22. 2. Officers whose 
. 459 



OG 



OIL 



duty it was to register and collect fines 
imposed by courts of justice. Luke 12 : 
58. 

Og {giant, literally long-necked), an 
Amoritish king of Bashan, whose rule 
extended over sixty cities. Josh. 13 : 12. 
He was one of the last representatives of 
the giant race of Kephaim, and was, with 
his children and his people, defeated and 



exterminated by the Israelites at Edrei 
immediately after the conquest of Sihon. 
Num. 32 : 33 ; Deut. 3 : 1-13. Also Deut. 
1:4; 4 : 47 ; 31 : 4 ; Josh. 2 : 10 ; 9 : 10 ; 
13 : 12, 30. The belief in Og's enormous 
stature is corroborated by an allusion to 
his iron bedstead preserved in "Kabbath 
of the children of Animon." Deut. 3 : 11. 
(B.C. 1451.) 




Olive Tree and Oil Press. 



Oil. Of the numerous substances, an- 
imal and vegetable, which were known to 
the ancients as yielding oil, the olive 
berry is the one of which most frequent 
mention is made in the Scriptures. 1. 
Gathering. — The olive berry was either 
gathered by hand or shaken off carefully 
with a light reed or stick. 2. Pressing. 
— In order to make oil, the fruit was 
either bruised in a mortar, crushed in a 
press loaded with wood or stones, ground 
in a mill, or trodden with the feet. The 
" beaten " oil of Ex. 27 : 20 ; 29 : 40 ; Lev. 
24 : 2 ; Num. 28 : 5 was probably made by 
bruising in a mortar. It was used — (1) 
As food. Dried wheat, boiled with either 
butter or oil, but generally the for- 
mer, is a common dish for ali classes in 
Syria. Ex. 29 : 2. (2) Cosmetic. Oil was 
used by the Jews for anointing the body, 
e. g. after the bath, and giving to the skin 
460 



and hair a smooth and comely appear- 
ance, e. g. before an entertainment. (3) 
Funereal. The bodies of the dead were 
anointed with oil. 2 Sam. 14 : 2. (4) 
Medicinal. Isaiah alludes to the use of 
oil in medical treatment. Isa. 1:6; see 
also Mark 6 : 13 ; James 5 : 14. (5) For 
light. The oil for "the light" was ex- 
pressly ordered to be olive oil, beaten. 
Matt. 25 : 3. (6) Ritual. Oil was poured 
on or mixed with the flour or meal used 

! in offerings. Lev. 8:12. Kings, priests 
and prophets were anointed with oil or 

, ointment. (7) In offerings. As so im- 

| portant a necessary of life, the Jew was 
required to include oil among his first- 

| fruit offerings. Ex. 22 : 29 ; 23 : 16 ; Num. 

j 18 : 12. Tithes of oil were also required. 
Deut. 12 : 17. [Olive.] 

Oil tree (Heb. ets shemen). The He- 
brew words occur in Neh. 8 : 15 (Author- 



OIN 



OLD 



ized Version "pine branches"), 1 Kings 

6 : 23 ("olive tree"), and in Isa. 41 : 19 
(" oil tree"). From the passage in Ne- 
hemiah, where the 6ts shemen is men- 
tioned as distinct from the olive tree, it 
may perhaps be identified with the zackum 
tree of the Arabs, the Balanites cegi/ptiaca, 
a well-known and abundant shrub or 
small tree in the plain of Jordan. The 
zackum oil is held in high repute by 
the Arabs for its medicinal properties. 
[Olive.] 

Ointment. (An oily or unctuous sub- 
stance, usually compounded of oil with 
various spices and resins and aromatics, 
and preserved in small alabaster boxes 
or cruses, in which the delicious aroma 
was best preserved. Some of the oint- 
ments have been known to retain their 
fragrance for several hundred years. 
They were a much-coveted luxury, and 
often very expensive. — Ed.) L Cosmetic. 
— The Greek and Roman practice of 
anointing the head and clothes on festive 
occasions prevailed also among the Egyp- 
tians, and appears to have had place 
among the Jews. Ruth 3:3. 2. Funereal. 
— Ointments as well as oil were used to 
anoint dead bodies and the clothes in 
which they were wrapped. Matt. 26 : 12. 
3. Medicinal. — Ointment formed an im- 
portant feature in ancient medical treat- 
ment. Isa. 1:6; Jer. 8 : 22 ; John 9:6; 
Rev. 3 : 18, etc. 4. Ritual. — Besides the 
oil used in many ceremonial observances, 
a special ointment was appointed to be 
used in consecration. Ex. 30 : 23, 33; 29 : 

7 ; 37 : 29 ; 40 : 9, 15. A person whose 
business it was to compound ointments in 
general was called an " apothecary." 
Neh. 3 : 8. The work was sometimes car- 
ried on by woman " confectionaries." 1 
Sam. 8 : 13. 

Old Testament. I. Text of the 
Old Testament.— 1. History of the text. 
— A history of the text of the Old Testa- 
ment should properly commence from 
the date of the completion of the canon. 
As regards the form in which the sacred 
writings were preserved, there can be 
little doubt that the text was ordinarily 
written on skins, rolled up into volumes, 
like the modern synagogue roils. Ps. 40 : 
7 ; Jer. 36 : 14 ; Ezek. 2:9; Zech. 5:1. 
The original character in which the text 
was expressed is that still preserved to 
us, with the exception of four letters, on 
the Maccabsean coins, and having a 
strong affinity to the Samaritan char- 
acter. At what date this was exchanged 



for the present Aramaic or square char- 
acter is still as undetermined as it is at 
what date the use of the Aramaic lan- 
guage in Palestine superseded that of the 
Hebrew. The old Jewish tradition, re- 
peated by Origen and Jerome, ascribed 
the change to Ezra. [Writing.] Of 
any logical division, in the written text, 
of the prose of the Old Testament into 
Pesukim, or verses, we find in the Tal- 
mud no mention; and even in the exist- 
ing synagogue rolls such division is gen- 
erally ignored. In the poetical books, 
the Pesukim mentioned in the Talmud 
correspond to the poetical lines, not to 
our modern verses. Of the documents 
which directly bear upon the history of 
the Hebrew text, the earliest two are the 
Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch and 
the Greek translation of the LXX. [Sa- 
maritan Pentateuch ; Seftuagint.] 
In the translations of Aquila and the 
other Greek interpreters, the fragments 
of whose works remain to us in the Hex- 
apla, we have evidence of the existence of 
a text differing but little from our own ; 
so also in the Targums of Onkelos and 
Jonathan. A few centuries later we have, 
in the Hexapla, additional evidence to 
the same effect in Origen's transcriptions 
of the Hebrew text. And yet more im- 
portant are the proofs of the firm estab- 
| lishment of the text, and of its substantial 
S identity with our own, supplied by the 
! translation of Jerome, who Avas instructed 
i.by the Palestinian Jews, and mainly re- 
| lied upon their authority for acquaintance 
| not only with the text itself, but also with 
! the traditional unwritten vocalization of 
it. This brings us to the middle of the 
! Talmudic period. The care of the Tal- 
j mudic doctors for the text is shown by 
the pains with which they counted up the 
number of verses in the different books, 
j and computed which were the middle 
j verses, words and letters in the Penta- 
I teuch and in the Psalms. The scrupu- 
; lousness with which the Talmudists noted 
what they deemed the truer readings, and 
! yet abstained from introducing them into 
the text, indicates at once both the dil- 
igence with which they scrutinized the 
text and also the care with which, even 
while acknowledging its occasional im- 
perfections, they guarded it. Critical 
procedure is also evinced in a mention of 
their rejection of manuscripts which were 
found not to agree with others in their 
readings ; and the rules given with refer- 
ence to the transcription and adoption 
461 



OLD 



OLD 



of manuscripts attest the care bestowed 
upon them. It is evident from the no- 
tices of the Talmud that a number of 
oral traditions had been gradually ac- 
cumulating respecting both the integrity 
of particular passages of the text itself 
and also the manner in which it was to 
be read. This vast heterogeneous mass 
of traditions and criticisms, compiled and 
embodied in writing, forms what is known 
as the Masorah, i. e. Tradition. Frcm 
the end of the Masoretic period onward, 
the Masorah became the great authority 
by which the text given in all the Jewish 
MSS. was settled. 2. Manuscripts. — The 
Old Testament MSS. known to us fall 
into two main classes : synagogue rolls 
and MSS. for private use. Of the latter, 
some are written in the square, others in 
the rabbinic or cursive, character. The 
synagogue rolls contain, separate from 
each other, the Pentateuch, the Haphta- 
roth or appointed sections of the Proph- 
ets, and the so-called Megilloth, viz. 
Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesi- 
astes and Esther. Private MSS. in the 
square character are in the book form, 
either on parchment or on paper, and of 
various sizes, from folio to 12mo. Some 
contain the Hebrew text alone; others 
add the Targum, or an Arabic or other 
translation, either interspersed with the 
text or in a separate column, occasional- 
ly in the margin. The upper and lower 
margins are generally occupied by the 
Masorah, sometimes by rabbinical com- 
mentaries, etc. The date of a MS. is or- 
dinarily given in the subscription ; but 
as the subscriptions are often concealed 
in the Masorah or elsewhere, it is occa- 
sionally difficult to find them ; occasion- 
ally also it is difficult to decipher them. 
No satisfactory criteria have been yet es- 
tablished by which the ages of MSS. are 
to be determined. Few existing MSS. 
are supposed to be older than the twelfth 
century. Kennicott and Bruns assigned 
one of their collation (No. 590) to the 
tenth century ; De Rossi dates it A.D. 
1018 ; on the other hand, one of his own 
(No. 634) he adjudges to the eighth cen- 
tury. Since the days of Kennicott and 
De Rossi modern research has discovered 
various MSS. beyond the limits of Europe. 
Of many of these there seems no reason 
to suppose that they will add much to 
our knowledge of the Hebrew text. It 
is different with the MSS. examined by 
Pinner at Odessa. One of these MSS. 
(A, No. l),a Pentateuch roll, unpointed, 
462 



brought from Derbend in Daghestan, 
appears by the subscription to have been 
written previous to A.D. 580, and if so is 
the oldest known biblical Hebrew MS. in 
existence. The forms of the letters are 
remarkable. Another MS. (B, No. 3) 
containing the Prophets, on parchment, 
in small folio, although only dating, ac- 
cording to the inscription, from A.D. 916, 
and furnished with a Masorah, is a yet 
greater treasure. Its vowels and accents 
are wholly different from those now in 
use, both in form and in position, being 
all above the letters : they have accord- 
ingly been the theme of much discussion 
among Hebrew scholars. 3. Printed text. 
— The history of the printed text of the 
Hebrew Bible commences with the early 
Jewish editions of the separate books. 
First appeared the Psalter, in 1477, prob- 
ably at Bologna, in 4to, with Kimchi's 
commentary interspersed among the 
verses. Only the first four psalms had 
the vowel-points, and these but clum- 
sily expressed. At Bologna there sub- 
sequently appeared, in 1482, the Penta- 
teuch, in folio, pointed, with the Targum 
and the commentary of Rashi ; and the 
five Megilloth (Ruth— Esther), in folio, 
with the commentaries of Rashi and 
Aben Ezra. From Soncino, near Cre- 
mona, issued in 1486 the Prophets priores 
(Joshua — Kings), folio, unpointed, with 
Kimchi's commentary. The honor of 
printing the first entire Hebrew Bible 
belongs to the above-mentioned town of 
Soncino. The edition is in folio, pointed 
and accentuated. Nine copies only of it 
are now known, of which one belongs to 
Exeter College, Oxford. This was fol- 
lowed, in 1494, by the 4to or 8vo edition 
printed by Gersom at Brescia, remark- 
able as being the edition from which 
Luther's German translation was made. 
After the Brescian, the next primary 
edition was that contained in the Com- 
plutensian Polyglot, published at Com- 
plutum (Alcala) in Spain, at the expense 
of Cardinal Ximenes, dated 1514-17, but 
not issued till 1522. To this succeeded 
an edition which has had more influence 
than any on the text of later times — the 
Second Rabbinical Bible, printed by 
Bomberg at Venice, 4 vols, fbl., 1525-6. 
The editor was the learned Tunisian Jew 
R. Jacob ben Chaim. The great feature 
of his work lay in the correction of the 
text by the precepts of the Masorah, in 
which he was profoundly skilled, and on 
which, as well as on the text itself, his 



OLI 



OLI 



labors were employed. The Hebrew 
Bible which became the standard to sub- 
sequent generations was that of Joseph 
Athias, a learned rabbi and printer at 
Amsterdam. His text was based on a 
comparison of the previous editions with 
two MSS.; one bearing date 1299, the 
other a Spanish MS. boasting an an- 
tiquity of 900 years. It appeared at 
Amsterdam, 2 vols. 8vo, 1661. 4. Prin- 
ciples of criticism,. — The method of pro- 
cedure required in the criticism of the 
Old Testament is widely different from 
that practiced in the criticism of the New 
Testament. Our Old Testament textus 
receptus is a far more faithful represen- 
tation of the genuine Scripture ; but, on 
the other hand, the means of detecting 
and correcting the errors contained in it 
are more precarious, the results are more 
uncertain, and the ratio borne by the 
value of the diplomatic evidence of MSS. 
to that of a good critical judgment and 
sagacity is greatly diminished. It is in- 
deed to the direct testimony of the MSS. 
that, in endeavoring to establish the true 
text, we must first have recourse. The 
comparative purity of the Hebrew text is 
probably different in different parts of 
the Old Testament. In the revision of 
Dr. Davidson, who has generally re- 
stricted himself to the admission of cor- 
rections warranted by MS., Masoretic or 
Talmudic authority, those in the book of 
Genesis do not exceed eleven ; those in 
the Psalms are proportionately three 
times as numerous; those in the histor- 
ical books and the Prophets are propor- 
tionately more numerous than those in 
the Psalms. 

II. Quotations from the Old Tes- 
tament in the New Testament. — 
The New Testament quotations from the 
Old form one of the outward bonds of 
connection between the two parts of the 
Bible. They are manifold in kind. In 
the quotations of all kinds from the Old 
Testament in the New, we find a con- 
tinual variation from the letter of the 
older Scriptures. To this variation three 
causes may be specified as having con- 
tributed : First, all the New Testament 
writers quoted from the Septuagint ; cor- 
recting it indeed more or less by the He- 
brew, especially when it was needful for 
their purpose ; occasionally deserting it 
altogether; stiJl abiding by it to so large 
an extent as to show that it was the pri- 
mary source whence their quotations 
were drawn. Secondly, the New Testa- 



ment writers must have frequently quoted 
j from memory. Thirdly, combined with 
i this there was an alteration of conscious 
I or unconscious design. Sometimes the 
j object of this was to obtain increased 
force. Sometimes an Old Testament pas- 
sage is abridged, and in the abridgment 
so adjusted, by a little alteration, as to 
present an aspect of completeness, and 
yet omit what is foreign to the imme- 
diate purpose. Acts 1 : 20; 1 Cor. 1 : 31. 
At other times a passage is enlarged by 
the incorporation of a passage from an- 
other source : thus in Luke 4 : 18, 19, 
although the contents are professedly 
those read by our Lord from Isa. 61, we 
have the words " to set at liberty them 
that are bruised," introduced from Isa. 
58 : 6 (Sept.) ; similarly in Rom. 11 : 8, 
Deut. 29 : 4 is combined with Isa. 29 : 10. 
In some cases still greater liberty of alter- 
ation is assumed. In some places, again, 
the actual words of the original are taken 
up, but employed with a new meaning. 
Almost more remarkable than any alter- 
ation in the quotation itself is the cir- 
cumstance that in Matt. 27 : 9 Jeremiah 
should be named as the author of a 
prophecy really delivered by Zechariah ; 
the reason being that the prophecy is 
based upon that in Jer. 18, 19, and that 
without a reference to this original source 
the most essential features of the fulfill- 
ment of Zechariah's prophecy would be 
misunderstood. 

Olive. The olive was among the most 
abundant and characteristic vegetation 
of Judea. The olive tree grows freely 
almost everywhere on the shores of the 
Mediterranean, but it was peculiarly 
abundant in Palestine. See Deut. 6:11; 
8 : 8 ; 28 : 40. Oliveyards are a matter of 
course in descriptions of the country, like 
vineyards and cornfields. Judges 15:5; 

1 Sam. 8 : 14. The kings had very ex- 
tensive ones. 1 Chron. 27 : 28. Even now 

| the tree is very abundant in the country. 
I Almost every village has its olive grove. 
Certain districts may be specified where 
at various times this tree has been veiy 
luxuriant. The cultivation of the olive 
tree had the closest connection with the 
domestic life of the Israelites, 2 Chron. 

2 : 10, their trade, Ezek. 27 : 17 ; Hos. 12 : 
1, and even their public ceremonies and 
religious worship. In Solomon's temple 
the cherubim were "of olive tree," 1 
Kings 6 : 23, as also the doors, vs. 31, 32, 
and the posts, ver. 33. For the various 
uses of olive oil see Oil. The wind was 

463 



OLI 



OLI 



dreaded by the cultivator of the olive, for 
the least ruffling of a breeze is apt to 
cause the flowers to fall. Job 15 : 33. It 
is needless to add that the locust was a 
formidable enemy of the olive. It hap- 
pened not unfrequently that hopes were 
disappointed, and that "the labor of the 




Olive Branches and Olives. 

olive failed." Hab. 3 : 17. As to the 
growth of the tree, it thrives best in warm 
and sunny situations. It is of moderate 
height, with knotty gnarled trunk and a 
smooth ash-colored bark. It grows slow- 
ly, but lives to an immense age. Its look 
is singularly indicative of tenacious vig- 
or ; and this is the force of what is said 
in Scripture of its " greenness," as em- 
blematic of strength and prosperity. The 
leaves, too, are not deciduous. Those 
who see olives for the first time are occa- 
sionally disappointed by the dusty color 
of their foliage ; but those who are famil- 
iar with them find an inexpressible charm 
in the rippling changes of their slender 
464 



gray-green leaves. (See Ruskin's " Stones 
of Venice," iii. 175-177.) The olive fur- 
nishes the basis of one of Paul's allego- 
ries. Rom. 11 : 16-25. The Gentiles are 
the "wild olive" grafted in upon the 
"good olive," to which once the Jews be- 
longed, and with which they may again 
be incorporated. (The olive 
grows from 20 to 40 feet high. 
In general appearance it re- 
sembles the apple tree; in 
leaves and stems, the willow. 
The flowers are white and ap- 
pear in June. The fruit is 
like a plum in shape and size, 
and at first is green, but grad- 
ually becomes purple, and 
even black, with a hard stony 
kernel, and is remarkable 
from the outer fleshy part 
being that in which much oil 
is lodged, and not, as is usual, 
in the almond of the seed. 
The fruit ripens from August 
to September. It is sometimes 
eaten green, but its chief value 
is in its oil. The wood is hard, 
fine, beautifully veined, and 
is often used for cabinet work. 
Olive trees were so abundant 
in Galilee that at the siege of 
Jotapata by Vespasian the Ro- 
man army were driven from 
the ascent of the walls by hot 
olive oil poured upon them 
and scalding them underneath 
their armor.— Josephus, Wars, 
3:7:28.— Ed.) 

Olives, Mount of. "The 
Mount of Olives" occurs in 
the Old Testament in Zech. 
14 : 4 only. In 2 Sam. 15 : 30 
it is called " Olivet ;" in other 
places simply " the mount," 
15, "the mount facing Jerusa- 
Kings 11 : 7, or "the mountain 
which is on the east side of the city." 
Ezek. 11 : 23. In the New Testament the 
usual form is "the Mount of Olives." It 
is called also "Olivet." Acts 1:12. This 
mountain is the well-known eminence on 
the east of Jerusalem, intimately con- 
nected with some of the gravest events of 
the history of the Old Testament and the 
New Testament, the scene of the flight of 
David and the triumphal progress of the 
Son of David, of the idolatry of Solomon, 
and the agony and betrayal of Christ. It 
is a ridge of rather more than a mile in 
length, running in general direction north 



Neh. 

lem," 



OLI 



OLI 



and south, covering the whole eastern side 
of the city. At its northern end the ridge 
bends round to the west, so as to form an 
enclosure to the city on that side also. On 
the north a space of nearly a mile of tol- 
erably level surface intervenes between 
the walls of the city and the rising 
ground ; on the east the mount is close to 
the walls, parted only by the narrow ra- 



vine of the Kidron. It is this portion 
which is the real Mount of Olives of the 
history. In general height it is not very 
much above the city: 300 feet higher 
than the temple mount, hardly more than 
100 above the so-called Zion. It is 
rounded, swelling and regular in form. 
Proceeding from north to south there oc- 
cur four independent summits, called — 1, 




Mount of Olives, from the Wall of Jerusalem. 



"Viri Galilaei;" 2, "Mount of Ascen- 
sion ;" 3, " Prophets " — subordinate to the 
last and almost a part of it ; 4, " Mount 
of Offence." 1. Of these the central one 
— the "Mount of Ascension" — is the 
most important. Three paths lead from 
the valley to the summit — one on the 
north, in the hollow between the two 
crests of the hill, another over the sum- 
mit, and a third winding around the 
southern shoulder, still the most fre- 
quented and the best. The central hill, 
which we are now considering, purports 
to contain the sites of some of the most 
sacred and impressive events of Christian 
history. The majority of these sacred 
spots now command little or no atten- 
tion ; but three still remain, sufficiently 
sacred — if authentic — to consecrate anv 
30 . J 



I place. These are— (1) Gethsemane, at 
the foot of the mount; (2) The spot from 

j which our Saviour ascended on the sum- 
mit; (3) The place of the lamentation of 

j Christ over Jerusalem, halfway up. Of 
these, Gethsemane is the only one which 
has any claim to be authentic. ["Geth- 
semane.] 2. Next to the central sum- 
mit, on the southern side, is a hill re- 
markable only for the fact that it con- 
tains the "singular catacomb" known as 
the "Tombs of the Prophets," probably 
in allusion to the words of Christ. Matt. 
23 : 29. 3. The most southern portion of 
the Mount of Olives is that usuallv 
known as the "Mount of Offence," Moris 
Offensionis. It rises next to that last 
mentioned. The title " Mountof Offence," 
or "Scandal," was bestowed on the sup- 
465 



OLI 



ON 



position that it is the " Mount of Corrup- 
tion" on which Solomon erected the high 
places for the gods of his foreign wives. 
2 Kings 23:13; 1 Kings 11:7. The 
southern summit is considerably lower 
than the centre one. 4. There remains 
the " Viri Galilaei," about 400 yards from 
the " Mount of Ascension." It stands 
directly opposite the northeast corner of 
Jerusalem, and is approached by the path 
between it and the " Mount of Ascension." 
The presence of a number of churches 
and other edifices must have rendered 
the Mount of Olives, during the early 
and middle ages of Christianity, entirely 
unlike what it was in the time of the 
Jewish kingdom or of our Lord. Except 
the high places on the summit, the only 
buildings then to be seen were probably 
the walls of the vineyards and gardens 
and the towers and presses which were 
their invariable accompaniment. But 
though the churches are nearly all de- 
molished, there must be a considerable 
difference between the aspect of the 
mountain now and in those days when it 
received its name from the abundance of 
its olive groves. It does not now stand 
so pre-eminent in this respect among the 
hills in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. 
It is only in the deeper and more seclud- 
ed slope leading up to the northernmost 
summit that these venerable trees spread 
into anything like a forest. The cedars 
commemorated by the Talmud and the 
date-palms implied in the name Bethany 
have fared still worse ; there is not one 
of either to be found within many miles. 
Two religious ceremonies performed there 
must have done much to increase the 
numbers who resorted to the mount. 
The appearance of the new moon was 
probably watched for, certainly pro- 
claimed, from the summit. The second 
ceremony referred to was the burning of 
the red heifer. This solemn ceremonial 
was enacted on the central mount, and in 
a spot so carefully specified that it would 
seem not difficult to fix it. It was due 
east of the sanctuary, and at such an el- 
evation on the mount that the officiating 
priest, as he slew the animal and sprinkled 
her blood, could see the facade of the 
sanctuary through the east gate of the 
temple. 

Ol'ivet {place of olives). 2 Sam. 15 : 
30 ; Acts 1 : 12. [Olives, Mount of.] 

OJym'pas (heavenly), a Christian at 
Rome. Bom. 16 : 15. (a.d. 55.) 

O'raar (eloquent, talkative), son of 
466 



Eliphaz the first-born of Esau. Gen. 36 : 
11, 15 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 36. (B.C. 1750.). 

Ome'ga, or o'mega, the last letter 
of the Greek alphabet. It is used meta- 
phoricallv to denote the end of any- 
thing. Rev. 1:8, 11. 
Omer, [Weights and Measures.] 
Om'ri (pupil of Jehovah). 1. Origin- 
ally "captain of the host" to Elah, was 
afterward himself king of Israel, and 
founder of the third dynasty. (B.C. 926.) 
Omri was engaged in the siege of Gibbe- 
thon, situated in the tribe of Dan, which 
had been occupied by the Philistines. As 
soon as the army heard of Elah's death, 
they proclaimed Omri king. Thereupon 
he broke up the siege of Gibbethon, and 
attacked Tirzah, whe>*e Zimri was hold- 
ing his court as king of Israel. The city 
was taken, and Zimri perished in the 
flames of the palace, after a reign of seven 
days. Omri, however, was not allowed 
to establish his dynasty without a strug- 
gle against Tibni, whom " half the peo- 
ple," 1 Kings 16 : 21, desired to raise to 
the throne. The civil war lasted four 
years. Comp. 1 Kings 16 : 15 with 23. 
After the defeat and death of Tibni, Omri 
reigned for six years in Tirzah. At Sa- 
maria Omri reigned for six years more. 
He seems to have been a vigorous and un- 
scrupulous ruler, anxious to strengthen 
his dynasty by intercourse and alliances 
with foreign states. 

2. One of the sons of Becher the son of 
Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7 : 8. 

3. A descendant of Pharez the son of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 9 : 4. 

4. Son of Michael, and chief of tlie 
tribe of Issachar in the reign of David. 
1 Chron. 27 : 18. (B.C. 1030.) 

On, the son of Peleth, and one of the 
chiefs of the tribe of Reuben, who took 
part with Korah, Dathau and Abiram in 
their revolt against Moses. Num. 16 : 1. 
(B.C. 1491.) His name does not again ap- 
pear in the narrative of the conspiracy, 
nor is he alluded to when reference is 
! made to the final catastrophe. 

On (abode or city of the sun), a town 
of lower Egypt, called Betu-shemesh 
in Jer. 43 : 13. On is better known under 
its Greek name Heliopolis. It was sit- 
uated on the east side of the Pelusiac 
branch of the Nile, just below the point 
of the Delta, and about twenty miles 
northeast of Memphis. The chief object 
of worship at Heliopolis was the sun, 
whose temple, described by Strabo, is now 
only represented by the single beautiful 



ONA 



ONY 



obelisk, of red granite, 68 feet 2 inches 
high above the pedestal, which has stood 
for more than 4000 years, having been 
erected by Usirtesen, the second king of 
the twelfth dynasty. Heliopolis was an- 
ciently famous for its learning, and Eu- 
doxus and Plato studied under its priests. 
The first mention of this place in the 
Bible is in the history of Joseph, to whom 
we read Pharaoh gave " to wife Asenath 
the daughter of Potipherah priest of On." 
Gen. 41 : 45, comp. ver. 50, and 46 : 20. 




Obelisk at Heliopolis (On). 

(On is to be remembered not only as the 
home of Joseph, but as the traditional 
place to which his far-off namesake took 
Mary and the babe Jesus in the flight to 
Egypt. The two famous obelisks, long 
called "Cleopatra's Needles," one of 
which now stands in London and the 
other in Central Park in New York city, 
once stood before this city, and were seen 
by the children of Israel before the ex- 
odus, having been quarried at Syene on 
the Nile, erected at On (Heliopolis) by 
Thothmes III., B.C. 1500, and inscriptions 
added by Rameses II. (Sesostris) two hun- 
dred years later. They were taken to 
Alexandria by Augustus Caesar a.d. 23, 
from which they were removed to their 
present places. — Ed.) 

O'nam (strong). 1. One of the sons 
of Shobal the son of Seir. Gen. 36 : 23 ; 
IChron. 1:40. (B.C. 1964.) 

2. The son of Jerahmeel by his wife 
Atarah. 1 Chron. 2 : 26, 28. 

O'nan (strong), the second son of Ju- 
dah by the Canaanitess, "the daughter 
of Shua." Gen. 38 : 4 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 3. 
" What he did was evil in the eyes of Je- 



hovah, and he slew him also," as he had 
slain his elder brother. Gen. 38 : 9. His 
death took place before the family of 
Jacob went down into Egypt. Gen. 46 : 
12; Num. 26 : 19. (B.C. 1706.) 

Ones'imus (profitable, useful), the 
name of the servant or slave in whose 
behalf Paul wrote the Epistle to Phile- 
mon. He was a native, or certainly an in- 
habitant, of Colosse. Col. 4 : 9. (a.d. 58.) 
He fled from his master and escaped to 
Rome, where he was led to embrace the 
gospel through Paul's instrument- 
ality. After his conversion the 
most happy and friendly relations 
sprung up between the teacher and 
disciple. Whether Paul desired 
his presence as a personal attend- 
ant or as a minister of the gospel is 
not certain from verse 13 of the 
epistle. 

Onesiph'orus (bringing profit) 
is named twice only in the New 
Testament, viz. 2 Tim. 1 : 16-18 and 
4 : 19. Paul mentions him in terms 
of grateful love as having a noble 
courage and generosity in his be- 
half, amid his trials as a prisoner 
at Rome, when others from whom 
he expected better things had de- 
serted him. 2 Tim. 4 : 16. Probably 
other members of the family were 
also active Christians. 2 Tim. 4: 
19. It is evident from 2 Tim. 1 : 18 that 
Onesiphorus had his home at Ephesus. 
(A.D. 64.) 

Oni'as, the name of five high priests 
in the period between the Old and the 
New Testament. 

Onion. This product is mentioned 
only in Num. 11 : 5, as one of the good 
things of Egypt of which the Israelites 
regretted the loss. Onions have been from 
time immemorial a favorite article of 
food among the Egyptians. The onions 
of Egypt are much milder in flavor and 
less pungent than those of this country. 

O'no (strong), one of the towns of Ben- 
jamin, is first found in 1 Chron. 8 : 12. A 
plain was attached to the town, called 
" the plain of Ono," Neh. 6 : 2, perhaps 
identical with the " valley of craftsmen." 
Neh. 11 : 35. 

Onycha, spoken of in Ex. 30 : 34, was 
one of the ingredients of the sacred per- 
fume. It consists of the shells of several 
kinds of mussels, which when burned 
emit a strong odor. 

Onyx (a nail) is the translation of the 
Hebrew shoham ; but there is some doubt 
467 



OPH 



OKA 



as to its signification. Some writers be- | 
lieve that the "beryl" is intended; but 
the balance of authority is in favor of i 
some variety of the onyx. ("The onyx 
is not a transparent stone, but as the coior 
of the flesh appears through the nail ' 
(Greek onyx) on the human body, so the 
reddish mass which is below shines deli- 
cately through the whitish surface of the i 
onyx. There are several varieties. White 
and reddish stripes alternating form the 
sardonyx; white and reddish gray, the 
chalcedony. When polished it has a fine j 
lustre, and is easily wrought into a gem j 
of great beauty." — Rosenmuller.) 

O'phel (hill), a part of ancient Je- j 
rusalem. Ophel was the swelling de- j 
clivity by which the mount of the temple 
slopes olF on its southern side into the 
valley of Hinnom — a long, narrowish, 
rounded spur or promontory, which in- 
tervenes between the mouth of the cen- 
tral valley of Jerusalem (the Tyropoeon) 
and the Kidron, or valley of Jehbshaphat. 
Halfway down it on its eastern face is 
the " Fount of the Virgin," so called ; and 
at its foot the lower outlet of the same 
spring — the Pool of Siloam. In 2 Chron. 
27 : 3 Jotham is said to have built much 
"on the wall of Ophel." Manasseh, 
among his other defensive works, " com- 
passed about Ophel." Ibid. 33 : 14. It ap- 
pears to have been near the " water-gate," 
Neh. 3:26, and the "great tower that 
lieth out." ver. 27. It was evidently the 
residence of the Levites. Neh. 11 : 21. 

O'phir [abundance). 1. The eleventh 
in order of the sons of Joktan. Gen. 10 : 
29 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 23. (B.C. after 2450.) 

2. A seaport or region from which the 
Hebrews in the time of Solomon obtained 
gold. The gold was proverbial for its 
fineness, so that " gold of Ophir " is sev- 
eral times used as'an expression for fine 
gold, 1 Chron. 29:4; Job 28:16; Ps. 
45 : 9 ; Isa. 13 : 12 ; and in one passage, Job 
22 : 24, the word " Ophir " by itself is 
used for gold of Ophir, and for gold gen- 
erally. In addition to gold, the vessels 
brought from Ophir almug wood and 
precious stones. The precise geograph- 
ical situation of Ophir has long been a 
subject of doubt and discussion. The two 
countries which have divided the opinions 
of the learned have been Arabia and In- 
dia, while some have placed it in Africa. 
In five passages Ophir is mentioned bv 
name— 1 Kings 9 : 28 ; 10 : 11 ; 22 : 48 ; 2 
Chron. 8 : 18 ; 9 : 10. If the three pas- 
sages of the book of Kings are carefully 



examined, it will be seen that all the in- 
formation given respecting Ophir is that 
it was a place or region accessible by sea 
from Ezion-geber on the Red Sea, from 
which imports of gold, almug trees and 
precious stones were brought back by the 
Tyrian and Hebrew sailors. The author 
of the tenth chapter of Genesis certainly 
regarded Ophir as the name of some city, 
region or tribe in Arabia. It is almost 
certain that the Ophir of Genesis is the 
Ophir of the book of Kings. There is no 
mention, either in the Bible or elsewhere, 
of any other Ophir ; and the idea of there 
having been two Ophirs evidently arose 
from a perception of the obvious" mean- 
ing of the tenth chapter of Genesis on 
the one hand, coupled with the erroneous 
opinion, on the other, that the Ophir of 
the book of Kings could not have been 
in Arabia. (Hence we conclude that 
Ophir was in southern Arabia, upon the 
border of the Indian Ocean ; for even if 
all the things brought over in Solomon's 
ships are not now found in Arabia, but 
are found in India, yet there is evidence 
that they once were known in Arabia; 
and, moreover, Ophir may not have been 
the original place of production of some 
of them, but the great market for traffic 
in them.) 

Oph'ni (mouldy), a town of Benjamin, 
mentioned in Josh. 18 : 24, the same as 
the Gophna of Josephus, a place which 
at the time of Vespasian's invasion was 
apparently so important as to be second 
only to Jerusalem. It still survives in 
the modern Jifna or Jvfna, 2i miles 
northwest of Bethel. 

Oph'rah (fawn). 1. A town in the 
tribe of Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 23; 1 Sam. 
13 : 17. Jerome places it five miles east 
of Bethel. It is perhaps et-Taiyibeh, a 
small village on the crown of a conspic- 
uous hill, four miles east-northeast of 
Beitin (Bethel). 

2. More fully, Opheah of the Abi- 
ezrites, the native place of Gideon, 
Judges 6:11, and the scene of his ex- 
ploits against Baal, ver. 24; his resi- 
dence after his accession to power, ch. 
9 : 5, and the place of his burial in the 
family sepulchre, ch. 8 : 32. It was prob- 
ably in Manasseh, ch. 6 : 15, and not far 
distant from Shechem. Judges 9 : 1, 5. 

3. The son of Meonothai. 1 Chron. 4 : 
14. 

Orator. 1. The Authorized Version 
rendering in Isa. 3 : 3 for what is literally 
" skillful in whisper or incantation." 2. 



ORG 



OSP 



The title applied to Tertullus, who ap- 
peared as the advocate of the Jewish ac- 
cusers of St. Paul before Felix. Acts 
24:1. 

Orchard. [Garden.] 

O'reb (raven), one of the chieftains 
of the Midianite host which invaded Is- 
rael, and was defeated and driven back 
by Gideon. Judges 7 : 25. (B.C. 1362.) 
Isaiah, Isa. 10 : 26, refers to the magni- 
tude of this disaster. Comp. Ps. 83. 

O'reb, The rock, the "raven's 
crag," the spot, east of Jordan, at which 
the Midianite chieftain Oreb, with thou- 
sands of his countrymen, fell by the 
hand of the Ephraimites, and which 
probably acquired its name therefrom. 
It is mentioned in Judges 7 : 25; Isa. 10 : 
26. Perhaps the place called 'Orbo, 
which in the Bereshith Babba is stated 
to have been in the neighborhood of 
Bethshean, may have some connection 
with it. 

O'ren (pine tree), one of the sons of 
Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron. 1 
Chron. 2 : 25. 

Organ. Gen. 4:21; Job 21 : 12 ; 30 : 
31 ; Ps. 150 : 4. The Hebrew word thus 
rendered probably denotes a pipe or per- 
forated wind-instrument. In Gen. 4 : 21 
it appears to be a general term for all 
wind-instruments. In Job 21 : 12 are 
enumerated three kinds of musical in- 
struments which are possible, under the 
general terms of the timbrel, harp and 
organ. Some identify it with the pan- 
dean pipe or syrinx, an instrument of 
unquestionably ancient origin, and com- 
mon in the East. [See Music] 

Ori/on (the giant), a large and bright 
constellation of 80 stars, 17 large ones, 
crossed by the equinoctial line. It is 
named after a mythical personage of the 
Greeks, of gigantic stature, and " the 
handsomest man in tbe world." The 
Arabs called it " the giant," referring to 
Nimrod, the mighty hunter, who was 
fabled to have been bound in the sky for 
his impiety. Job 9 : 9. Also alluded to 
in Job 38 : 31. 

Ornaments, Personal. The num- 
ber, variety and weight of the ornaments 
ordinarily worn upon the person form 
one of the characteristic features of Ori- 
ental costume, in both ancient and mod- 
ern times. The monuments of ancient 
Egypt exhibit the persons of ladies loaded 
with rings, earrings of very great size, 
anklets, armlets, bracelets of the most 
vaiied forms, richly-ornamented neck- 



laces, and chains of various kinds. There 
is sufficient evidence in the Bible that 
the inhabitants of Palestine were equally 




Anklets. 

devoted to finery. In the Old Testament, 
Isaiah, Isa. 3 : i8-23, supplies us with a 
detailed description of the articles with 
which the luxurious women of his day 
were decorated. Eliezer decorated Be- 
bekah with " a golden nose-ring of half a 
shekel (i oz.) weight, and two bracelets 
for her hands of ten shekels (4£ oz.) weight 
of gold." Gen. 24:22. Earrings were 
worn by Jacob's wives. Gen. 35 : 4. The 
number of personal ornaments worn by 
the Egyptians, particularly by the fe- 
males, is incidentally noticed in Ex. 3 : 
22. 

Or'nan (active). 1 Chron. 21:15; 2 
Chron. 3 : 1. [Araukah.] 

Or'pah (a gazelle^, a Moabite woman, 
wife of Chilion son of Naomi, and there- 
by sister-in-law to Ruth. Euth 1 : 4, 14. 
(B.C. 1360.) 

O'she-a (salvation). [Joshua.] 

Osprey. The Hebrew word occurs 
in Lev. 11 : 13 and Deut. 14 : 12, as the 
name of some unclean bird. It is prob- 
ably either the osprey (Pandion hali- 
aetus) or the white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus 
albicella). 

.469 



OSS 



OST 



Ossifrage {the bone-breaker). The 
Hebrew word occurs, as the name of an 
unclean bird, in Lev. 11 : 13 and Deut. 
14 : 12. It is probably the lammergeyer, 
or bearded vulture as it is sometimes 
called, one of the largest of the birds of 



prey. It well deserves its name ossi- 
frage, bone-breaker, for "not only does 
he push kids and lambs, and even men, 
off the rocks, but he takes the bones of 
animals that other birds of prey have de- 
nuded of the flesh high up into the air, 




Assyrian and Egyptian Ornaments. 



and lets them fall upon a stone in order 
to crack them and render them more di- 
gestible even for his enormous powers of 
deglutition. Marrow-bones are the dain- 
ties he loves. This is probably the bird 
that dropped a tortoise on the bald head 
of poor old iEschylus." — N. H. Simpson. 




The Ostrich. 



Ostrich, a large bird, native of Africa 
and Arabia, nearly ten feet high, having 
a long neck and short wings. It seeks 
retired places, Job 30 : 29 ; Lam. 4 : 3, 
and has a peculiar mournful cry that is 
sometimes mistaken by the Arabs for 
470 



that of the lion. Micah 1:8. In Job 39 : 
13-18 will be found a description of the 
bird's habits. Ostriches are polygamous ; 
the hens lay their eggs promiscuously in 
one nest, which is merely a hole scratched 
in the sand; the eggs are then covered 
over to the depth of about a foot, and 
are, in the case of those birds which are 
found within the tropics, generally left 
for the greater part of the day to the 
heat of the sun, the parent-birds taking 
their turns at incubation during the 
night. The habit of the ostrich leaving 
its eggs to be matured by the sun's heat 
is usually appealed to in order to confirm 
the scriptural account, "she leaveth her 
eg<*s to the earth ;" but this is probably 
the case only with the tropical birds. 
W e believe that the true explanation of 
this passage is that some of the eggs are 
left exposed around the nest for the 
nourishment of the young birds. It is 
a general belief among the Arabs that 
the ostrich is a very stupid bird; indeed 
they have a proverb, " stupid as an os- 
trich." As is well known, the ostrich 
will swallow almost any substance, iron, 
stones, and even has been known to 
swallow " several leaden bullets scorch- 
ing hot from the mould." But in many 
other respects the ostrich is not as stupid 
as this would indicate, and is very hard 



OTH 



OX 



to capture. It is the largest of all known 
birds, and perhaps the swiftest of all cur- 
sorial animals. The feathers so much 
prized are the long white plumes of the 
wings. The best are brought from Bar- 
bary and the west coast of Africa. 

Otb/ni {Lion of Jehovah), son of She- 
maiah, the first-born of Obed-edom. 1 
Chron. 26 : 7. (B.C. 1013.) 

Oth'ni-el (lion of God), son of Ke- 
naz and younger brother of Caleb. Josh. 
15 : 17 ; Judges 1 : 13 ; 3:9; 1 Chron. 4 : 
13. (B.C. 1430.) The first mention of 
Othniel is on occasion of the taking of 
Kirjath-sepher, or Debir as it was after- 
ward called. Caleb promised to give his 
daughter Achsah to whosoever should 
assault and take the city. Othniel won 
the prize. The next mention of him is 
in Judges 3 : 9, where he appears as the 
first judge of Israel after the death of 
Joshua, and the deliverer of his country- 
men from the oppression of Chushan- 
rishathaim Judges 3 : 8-9. 



bottom, with a hole for the extraction of 
the ashes. Each household possessed 
such an article, Ex. 8:3; and it was only 
in times of extreme dearth that the same 
oven sufficed for several families. Lev. 
26 : 26. It was heated with dry twigs 
and grass, Matt. 6 : 30, and the loaves 
were placed both inside and outside of it. 





An Eastern Oven. 

Oven. The eastern oven is of two 
kinds — fixed and portable. The former 
is found only in towns, where regular 
bakers are employed. Hos. 7 : 4. The 
latter is adapted to the nomad state. It 
consists of a large jar made of clay, about 
three feet high and widening toward the 



Owl. 

Owl. A number of species of 
the owl are mentioned in the Bible, 
Lev. 11 : 17 ; Deut. 14 : 16 ; Isa. 14 : 
23 ; 34 : 15 ; Zeph. 2 : 14 ; and in 
several other places the same He- 
brew word is used where it is trans- 
lated ostrich. Job 30 : 29 ; Jer. 50 : 
39. Some of these species were 
common in Palestine, and, as is 
well known, were often found in- 
habiting ruins. Isa. 34 : 11, 13-15. 

Ox. There was no animal in 
the rural economy of the Israel- 
ites, or indeed in that of the an- 
cient Orientals generally, that was 
j held in higher esteem than the ox ; 
and deservedly so, for the ox was the 
\ animal upon whose patient labors de- 
| pended all the ordinary operations of 
j farming. Oxen were used for ploughing, 
Deut. 22 : 10 ; 1 Sam. 14 : 14, etc. ; for 
! treading out corn, Deut. 25 : 4 ; Hos. 10 : 

471 



OZE 



OZN 



11, etc. ; for draught purposes, when they , Jews is the strict code of laws which was 
were generally yoked in pairs, Num. 7 : mercifully enacted by God for their pro- 
3; 1 Sam. 6 : 7, etc. ; as beasts of burden, tection and preservation. The ox that 
1 Chron. 12 : 40 ; their flesh was eaten, threshed the corn was by no means to be 
Deut. 14 : 4 ; 1 Kings 1 : 9, etc. ; they were muzzled ; he was to enjoy rest on the Sab- 
bath as well as his master. Ex. 23 : 
12 ; Deut. 5 : 14. The ox was seldom 
slaughtered. Lev. 17 : 1-6. It seems 
clear from Prov. 15 : 17 and 1 Kings 
4 : 23 that cattle were sometimes 
stall-fed, though as a general rule 
it is probable that they fed in the 
plains or on the hills of Palestine. 
The cattle that grazed at large in 
the open country would no doubt 
often become fierce and wild, for it 
is to be remembered that in prim- 
itive times the lion and other wild 
beasts of prey roamed about Pal- 
estine. Hence the force of the 
Psalmist's complaint of his ene- 
mies. Ps. 22 : 13. 

O'zera {power). 1. The sixth 
son of Jesse, the next eldest above 
David. 1 Chron. 2 : 15. (B.C. 1055.) 

2. Son of Jerahineel. 1 Chron. 
2 : 25. 

Ozi'as {strength from the Lord). 
1. Uzzi, one of the ancestors of 
Ezra. 2 Esd. 2 : 2. 

used in the sacrifices ; cows supplied milk, 2. Uzziah, king of Judah. Matt. 1 : 8, 9. 
butter, etc. Deut. 32:14; 2 Sam. 17:29; Oz'ni {hearing), one of the sons of 
Isa. 7 : 22. Connected with the import- Gad, Num. 26 : 16, and founder of the 
ance of oxen in the rural economy of the family of the Oznites. Num. 26 : 16. 
472 




Syrian Cattle. 



PAA 



PAL 



Pa'ara-i. In the list of 2 Sam. 23 : 
35, " Paarai the Arbite " is one of Da- 
vid's mighty men. In 1 Chron. 11:37 
he is called " Naarai the son of Ezbai." 
(B.C. 1015.) 

Pa'dan {field). Padan-aram. Gen. 
48 : 7. 

Pa'dan-a'ram. By this name, which 
signifies the table-land of Aram, i. e. Syr- 
ia, the Hebrews designated the tract of 
country which they otherwise called 
Aram-naharaim, " Aram of the two 
rivers," the Greek Mesopotamia, Gen. 
24:10, and "the field (Authorized Ver- 
sion, 'country') of Syria." Hos. 12:13. 
The term was perhaps more especially 
applied to that portion which bordered 
on the Euphrates, to distinguish it from 
the mountainous districts in the north 
and northeast of Mesopotamia. It is else- 
where called Padan simply. Gen. 48 : 7. 
Abraham obtained a wife for Isaac from 
Padan-aram. Gen. 25 : 20. Jacob's wives 
were also from Padan-aram. Gen. 28 : 2, 
5, 6, 7 ; 31 : 18 ; 33 : 18. 

Pa'don {deliverance), the ancestor of 
a family of Nethinim who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 44; Neh. 7 : 47. 
(B.C. before 529.) 

Pa'gi-el {God allots), the son of Oc- 
ran and chief of the tribe of Asher. at the 
time of the exodus. Num. 1 : 13 ; 2 : 27 ; 
7:72, 77; 10:26. (B.C. 1491.) 

Pa'hath-mo'ab {governor of 3foab), 
head of one of the chief houses of the 
tribe of Juclah. Of the individual or the 
occasion of his receiving so singular a 
name nothing is known certainly ; but 
as we read in 1 Chron. 4 : 22 of a family 
of Shilonites, of the tribe of Judah, who 
in very early times " had dominion in 
Moab," it may be conjectured that this 
was the origin of the name. 

Pa'i (bleating). [Pau.] 

Paint (as a cosmetic). The use of cos- 
metic dyes has prevailed in all ages in 
eastern countries. We have abundant 
evidence of the practice of painting the 
eyes both in ancient Egypt and in As- 
syria; and in modern times no usage is 
more general. It does not appear, how- 
ever, to have been by any means univer- 
s il among the Hebrews. The notices of 
it are few; and in each instance it seems 



to have been used as a meretricious art, 
unworthy of a woman of high character. 
The Bible gives no indication of the sub- 
stance out of which the dye was formed. 
The old versions agree in pronouncing 
l the dye to have been produced from an- 
| timony. Antimony is still used for the 
| purpose in Arabia and in Persia, but in 
| Egypt the kohl is a soot produced by 
| burning either a kind of frankincense or 
[ the shells of almonds. The dye-stuff was 
i moistened with oil and kept in a small 
j jar. Whether the custom of staining the 
hands and feet, particularly the nails, 
| now so prevalent in the East, was known 
I to the Hebrews is doubtful. Painting as 
an art was not cultivated by the Hebrews, 
but they decorated their buildings with 
paint. 

Palace. Palace in the Bible, in the 
singular and plural, is the rendering of 
several words of diverse meaning. 1 
Chron. 29 : 1 ; Ezra 4 : 14; Amos 4 : 3, 
etc. It often designates the royal res- 
idence, and usually suggests a fortress or 
battlemented house. The word occasion- 
ally included the whole city, as in Esther 
9 : 12 ; and again, as in 1 Kings 16 : 18, it 
is restricted to a part of the royal apart- 
ments. It is applied, as in 1 Chron. 29 : 
1, to the temple in Jerusalem. The site 
of the palace of Solomon was almost 
certainly in the city itself, on the brow 
opposite to the temple, and overlooking 
it and the whole city of David. It is 
impossible, of course, to be at all certain 
what was either the form or the exact 
disposition of such a palace; but, as 
we have the dimensions of the three 
principal buildings given in the book of 
Kings, and confirmed by Josephus, we 
may, by taking these as a scale, ascertain 
pretty nearly that the building covered 
somewhere about 150,000 or 160,000 square 
feet. Whether it was a square of 400 
feet each way, or an oblong of about 550 
feet by 300, must always be more or less 
a matter of conjecture. The principal 
building situated within the palace was, 
as in all eastern palaces, the great hall 
of state and audience, called " the house 
of the forest of Lebanon," apparently 
from the four rows of cedar pillars by 
which it was supported. It was 100 cu- 
473 



PAL 



PAL 



bits (175 feet) long, 50 (88 feet) wide, and 
30 (52 feet) high. Next in importance 
was the hall or " porch of judgment," a 
quadrangular building supported by col- 
umns, as we learn from Joseph us, which 
apparently stood on the other side of the 
great court, opposite the house of the 
forest of Lebanon. The third edifice is 
merely called a "porch of pillars." Its 
dimensions were 50 by 30 cubits. Its use 
cannot be considered as doubtful, as it 
was an indispensable adjunct to an east- 
ern palace. It was the ordinary place 
of business of the palace, and the i*ecep- 
tion-room when the king received or- 
dinary visitors, and sat, except on great 
state occasions, to transact the business of 
the kingdom. Behind this, we are told, 
was the inner court, adorned with gar- 
dens and fountains, and surrounded by 
cloisters for shade ; and there were other 
courts for the residence of the attendants 
and guards, and for the women of the 
harem. Apart from this palace, but at- 
tached, as Josephus tells us, to the hall 
of judgment, was the palace of Pharaoh's 
daughter — too proud and important a 
personage to be grouped with the ladies 
of the harem, and requiring a residence 
of her own. The recent discoveries at 
Nineveh have enabled us to understand 
many of the architectural details of this 
palace, which before they were made 
were nearly wholly inexplicable. Solo- 
mon constructed an ascent from his own 
house to the temple, " the house of Je- 
hovah," 1 Kings 10 : 5, which was a sub- 
terranean passage 250 feet long by 42 feet 
wide, of which the remains may still be 
traced. 

Pa'lal {judge), the son of Uzai, who 
assisted in restoring the walls of Jerusa- 
lem in the time of Nehemiah. Neh. 3 : 
25. (B.C. 446.) 

Palesti'na and Palestine {land of 
strangers). These two forms occur in the 
Authorized Version but four times in all, 
always in poetical passages ; the first in 
Ex. 15 : 14 and Isa. 14 : 29, 31 ; the second, , 
Joel 3:4. In each case the Hebrew is | 
Pelesheth, a word found, besides the above, 
only in Ps. 60 : 8, 83 : 7, 87 : 4 and 108 : J 
9, in all which our translators have ren- 
dered it by " Philistia " or " Philistines." j 
Palestine in the Authorized Version re- 
ally means nothing but Philistia. The | 
original Hebrew word Pelesheth to the 
Hebrews signified merely the long and 
broad strip of maritime plain inhabited 
bv their encroaching neighbors; nor does 
474 



| it appear that at first it signified more to 
I the Greeks. As lying next the sea, and 
\ as being also the high road from Egypt 
to Phoenicia and the richer regions north 
of it, the Philistine plain became sooner 
known to the western world than the 
country farther inland, and was called 
by them Syria Palestina — Philistine 
Syria. From thence it was gradually ex- 
tended to the country farther inland, till 
in the Roman and later Greek authors, 
both heathen and Christian, it became 
the usual appellation for the whole coun- 
try of the Jews, both west and east of 
Jordan. The word is now so commonly 
employed in our more familiar language 
to designate the whole country of Israel 
that although biblically a misnomer, it 
has been chosen here as the most con- 
venient heading under which to give a 
general description of the holy land, 
embracing those points which have not 
been treated under the separate headings 
of cities or tribes. This description will 
most conveniently divide itself into three 
sections : — I. The Names applied to the 
country of Israel in the Bible and else- 
where. II. The Land : its situation, as- 
pect, climate, physical characteristics in 
connection with its history, its structure, 
botany and natural history. III. The 
History of the country is so fully given 
under "its various headings throughout 
the work that it is unnecessary to reca- 
pitulate it here. 

I. The Names.— Palestine, then, is 
designated in the Bible by more than one 
name. 1. During the patriarchal period, 
the conquest and the age of the judges, 
and also where those early periods are 
referred to in the later literature (as Ps. 
105 : 11), it is spoken of as " Canaan," or 
more frequently "the land of Canaan," 
meaning thereby the country west of the 
Jordan, as opposed to "the land of Gil- 
ead," on the east. 2. During the mon- 
archy the name usually, though not fre- 
quently, employed is " land of Israel." 
1 Sam. 13 : 19. 3. Between the captivity 
and the time of our Lord the name " Ju- 
dea " had extended itself from the south- 
ern portion to the whole of the country, 
and even that beyond the Jordan. Matt. 
19:1; Mark 10:1. 4. The Roman di- 
vision of the country hardly coincided 
with the biblical one, and it does not ap- 
pear that the Romans had any distinct 
name for that which we understand by 
Palestine. 5. Soon after the Christian 
era we find the name Palestina in pos- 



PAL 



PAL 



session of the country. 6. The name 
most frequently used throughout the mid- 
dle ages, and down to our own time, is 
Terra Sancta— the Holy Land. 

II. The Land. — The holy land is not 
in size or physical characteristics propor- 
tioned to its moral and historical position 
as the theatre of the most momentous 
events in the world's history. It is but 
a strip of country about the size of Wales, 
less than 140 miles in length and barely 
40 in average breadth, on the very front- 
ier of the East, hemmed in between the 
Mediterranean Sea on the one hand and 
the enormous trench of the Jordan val- 
ley on the other, by which it is effectu- 
ally cut off from the mainland of Asia 
behind it. On the north it is shut in by 
the high ranges of Lebanon and Anti- 
Lebanon, and "by the chasm of the Litany. 
On the south it is no less enclosed by the 
arid and inhospitable deserts of the up- 
per part of the peninsula of Sinai. 

1. Its position. — Its position on the 
map of the world — as the world was when 
the holy land first made its appearance 
in history — is a remarkable one. (a) It 
is on the very outpost — on the extremest 
western edge' of the East. On the shore 
of the Mediterranean it stands, as if it 
had advanced as far as possible toward 
the west, separated therefrom by that 
which, when the time arrived, proved to 
be no barrier, but the readiest medium of 
communication — the wide waters of the 
" great sea." Thus it was open to all the 
gradual influences of the rising commu- 
nities of the West, while it was saved 
from the retrogression and decrepitude 
which have ultimately been the doom of 
all purely eastern states whose connec- 
tions were limited to the East only, (b) 
There was, however, one channel, and 
but one, by which it could reach and be 
reached by the great Oriental empires. 
The only road by which the two great 
rivals of the ancient world could ap- 
proach one another — by which alone 
Egypt could get to Assyria and Assyria 
to Egypt — lay along the broad flat strip 
of coast which formed the maritime por- 
tion of the holy land, and thence by the 
plain of the Lebanon to the Euphrates, 
(c) After this the holy land became (like 
the Netherlands in Europe) the conveni- 
ent arena on which in successive ages 
the hostile powers who contended for the 
empire of the East fought their battles. 

2. Physical features. — Palestine is es- 
sentiallv a mountainous countrv. Not 



that it contains independent mountain 
chains, as in Greece, for example, but 
that every part of the highland is in 
greater or less undulation. But it is not 
only a mountainous country. The mass 
of hills which occupies the* centre of the 
country is bordered or framed on both 
sides, east and west, by a broad belt of 
lowland, sunk deep below its own level. 
The slopes or clilfs which form, as it 
were, the retaining walls of this depres- 
sion are furrowed and cleft by the torrent 
beds which discharge the waters of the 
hills and form the means of communica- 
tion between the upper and lower level. 
On the west this lowland interposes be- 
tween the mountains and the sea, and is 
the plain of Philistia and of Sharon. On 
the east it is the broad bottom of the Jor- 
dan valley, deep down in which rushes 
the t>ne river of Palestine to its grave in 
the Dead Sea. Such is the first general 
impression of the physiognomy of the 
holy land. It is a physiognomy com- 
pounded of the three main features al- 
[ ready named — the plains, the highland 
| hills, and the torrent beds : features 
i which are marked in the words of its 
j earliest describers, Num. 13 : 29 ; Josh. 
I 11 : 16; 12 : 8, and which must be com- 
i prehended by every one who wishes to 
understand the country and the intimate 
connection existing between its structure 
and its history. About halfway up the 
coast the maritime plain is suddenly in- 
I terrupted by a long ridge thrown out 
j from the central mass, rising considerably 
j above the general level and terminating 
j. in a bold promontory on the very edge 
| of the Mediterranean. This ridge is 
! Mount Carmel. On its upper side, the 
! plain, as if to compensate for its ternpo- 
j rary displacement, invades the centre of 
the country, and forms an undulating 
hollow right across it from the Medi- 
terranean to the Jordan valley. This 
central lowland, which divides with 
' its broad depression the mountains of 
j Ephraim from the mountains of Galilee, 
is the plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel, the 
great battle-field of Palestine. North of 
Carmel the lowland resumes its position 
by the seaside till it is again interrupted 
and finally put an end to by the north- 
ern mountains, which push their way out 
of the sea, ending in the white promon- 
tory of the Has Nakhura. Above this 
is the ancient Phoenicia. The country 
thus roughly portrayed is to all intents 
and purposes the whole land of Israel. 

475 



PAL 



PAL 



The northern portion is Galilee; the 
centre, Samaria ; the south, Judea. This 
is the land of Canaan which was bestowed 
on Abraham, — the covenanted home of j 
his descendants. The highland district, 
surrounded and intersected by its broad 
lowland plains, preserves from north to 
south a remarkably even and horizontal 
profile. Its average height may be taken 
as 1500 to 1800 feet above the Mediterra- 
nean. It can hardly be denominated a 
plateau; yet so evenly is the general 
level preserved, and so thickly do the 
hills stand behind and between one an- 
other, that, when seen from the coast or 
the western part of the maritime plain, it 
has quite the appearance of a wall. This 
general monotony of profile is, however, 
relieved at intervals by certain centres 
of elevation. Between these elevated 
points runs the watershed of the country, 
sending off on either hand — to the Jordan 
valley on the east and the Mediterranean 
on the west — the long, tortuous arms of 
its many torrent beds. The valleys on 
the two sides of the watershed differ con- J 
siderably in character. Those on the j 
east are extremely steep and rugged ; the 
western valleys are more gradual in their 
slope. 

3. Fertility. — "When the highlands of 
the country are more closely examined, 
a considerable difference will be found to 
exist in the natural condition and ap- 
pearance of their different portions. The 
south, as being nearer the arid desert and 
farther removed from the drainage of the 
mountains, is drier and less productive 
than the north. The tract below Hebron, 
which forms the link between the hills 
of Judah and the desert, was known to 
the ancient Hebrews by a term originally 
derived from its dryness — Negeb. This ! 
wa> the south country. As the traveller 
advances north of this tract there is an j 
improvement; but perhaps no country j 
equally cultivated is more monotonous, 
bare or uninviting in its aspect than a j 
great part of the highlands of Judah and ! 
Benjamin during the larger portion of the 
year. The spring covers even those bald 
gray rocks with verdure and color, and 
fills the ravines with torrents of rushing 
water; but in summer and autumn the 
look of the country from Hebron up to 
Bethel is very dreary and desolate. At 
Jerusalem this reaches its climax. To 
the west and northwest of the highlands, 
where the sea-breezes are felt, there is ! 
considerably more vegetation. Hitherto 
476 



we have spoken of the central and north- 
ern portions of Judea. Its eastern por- 
tion — a tract some nine or ten miles in 
width by about thirty-five in length, 
which intervenes between the centre and 
the abrupt descent to the Dead Sea — is 
far more wild and desolate, and that not 
for a portion of the year only, but 
throughout it. This must have been al- 
ways what it is now — an uninhabited 
desert, because uninhabitable. No de- 
scriptive sketch of this part of the coun- 
try can be complete which does not allude 
to the caverns, characteristic of all lime- 
stone districts, but here existing in as- 
tonishing numbers. Every hill and ra- 
vine is pierced with them, some very 
large and of curious formation — perhaps 
partly natural, partly artificial — others 
mere grottos. Many of them are con- 
nected with most important and interest- 
ing events of the ancient history of the 
country. Especially is this true of the 
district now under consideration. Mach- 
pelah, Makkedah, Adullam, En-gedi, 
names inseparably connected Avith the 
lives, adventures and deaths of Abraham, 
Joshua, David and other Old-Testament 
worthies, are all within the small circle 
of the territory of Judea. The bareness 
and .dryness which prevail more or less 
in Judea are owing partly to the absence 
of wood, partly to its proximity to the 
desert, and partly to a scarcity of water 
arising from its distance from the Leb- 
anon. But to this discouraging aspect 
there are some important exceptions. 
The valley of Urtds, south of Bethlehem, 
contains springs which in abundance and 
excellence rival even those of Nablus ; 
the huge " Pools of Solomon " are enough 
to supply a district for many miles round 
them ; and the cultivation now going on 
in that neighborhood shows what might 
be done with a soil which requires only 
irrigation ami a moderate amount of labor 
to evoke a boundless produce. It is ob- 
vious that in the ancient days of the 
nation, when Judah and Benjamin pos- 
sessed the teeming population indicated 
in the Bible, the condition and aspect of 
the country must have been very differ- 
ent. Of this there are not wanting sure 
evidences. There is no country in which 
the ruined towns bear so large a propor- 
tion to those still existing. Hardly a 
hill-top of the many within sight that is 
not covered with vestiges of some fortress 
or city. But, besides this, forests appear 
to have stood in many parts of Judea 



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until the repeated invasions and sieges 
caused their fall ; and all this vegetation 
must have reacted on the moisture of the 
climate, and, by preserving the water in 
many a ravine and natural reservoir 
where now it is rapidly dried by the fierce 
sun of the early summer, must have in- 
fluenced materially the look and the re- 
sources of the country. Advancing north- 
ward from Judea, the country (Samaria) 
becomes gradually more open and pleas- 
ant. Plains of good soil occur between 
the hills, at first small, but afterward 
comparatively large. The hills assume 
here a more varied aspect than in the 
southern districts, springs are more abun- 
dant and more permanent, until at last, 
when the district of Jebel Nablus is 
reached — the ancient Mount Ephraim — 
the traveller encounters an atmosphere 
and an amount of vegetation and water 
which are greatly superior to anything 
he has met with in Judea, and even suffi- 
cient to recall much of the scenery of the 
West. Perhaps the springs are the only 
objects which in themselves, and apart 
from their associations, really strike an 
English traveller with astonishment and 
admiration. Such glorious fountains as 
those of Ain-jalud or the Ras el-Mukdtta 
— where a great body of the clearest water 
wells silently but swiftly out from deep 
blue recesses worn in the foot of a low 
cliif of limestone rock, and at once forms 
a considerable stream — are rarely to be 
met with out of irregular, rocky, mount- 
ainous countries, and being such unusual 
sights, can hardly be looked on by the 
traveller without surprise and emotion. 
The valleys which lead down from the 
upper level in this district to the valley 
of the Jordan are less precipitous than in 
Judea. The eastern district of the Jebel 
Nablus contains some of the most fertile 
and valuable spots in the holy land. 
Hardly less rich is the extensive region 
which lies northwest of the city of She- 
chem (Nablus), between it and Carmel, 
in which the mountains gradually break 
down into the plain of Sharon. But with 
all its richness and all its advance on the 
southern part of the country, there is a 
strange dearth of natural wood about this 
central district. It is this which makes 
the wooded sides of Carmel and the park- 
like scenery of the adjacent slopes and 
plains so remarkable. No sooner, how- 
ever, is the plain of Esdraelon passed 
than a considerable improvement is per- 
ceptible. The low hills which spread 



down from the mountains of Galilee, and 
form the barrier between the plains of 
I Akka and Esdraelon, are covered with 
j timber, of moderate size it is true, but of 
| thick, vigorous growth, and pleasant to 
the eye. Eastward of these hills , rises 
the round mass of Tabor, dark with its 
copses of oak, and setotf by contrast with 
the bare slopes of Jebel ed-Duhy (the so- 
called "Little Hermon") and the white 
hills of Nazareth. A few words must be 
said in general description of the mari- 
time lowland, which intervenes between 
the sea and the highlands. This region, 
only slightly elevated above the level of 
the Mediterranean, extends without in- 
terruption from el-Arish, south of Gaza, 
to Mount Carmel. It naturally divides 
itself into two portions, each of about 
half its length ; the lower one the wider, 
the upper one the narrower. The lower 
half is the plain of the Philistines — 
Philistia, or, as the Hebrews called it, 
the Shefelah or Lowland. The upper 
half is the Sharon or Saron of the Old 
and New Testaments. The Philistine 
plain is on an average 15 or 16 miles in 
width from the coast to the beginning of 
the belt of hills which forms the gradual 
approach to the high land of the mount- 
| ains of Judah. The larger towns, as 
Gaza and Ashdod, which stand near the 
shore, are surrounded with huge groves of 
olive, sycamore and palm, as in the days 
of King David. 1 Chron. 27 : 28. The 
whole plain appears to consist of brown 
loamy soil, light but rich, and almost 
without a stone. It is now, as it was 
when the Philistines possessed it, one 
enormous cornfield ; an ocean of wheat 
covers the wide expanse between the 
hills and the sand dunes of the seashore, 
without interruption of any kind — no 
break or hedge, hardly even a single 
olive tree. Its fertility is marvellous; 
for the prodigious crops which it raises 
are produced, and probably have been 
produced almost year by year for the 
last forty centuries, without any of the 
appliances which we find necessary for 
success. The plain of Sharon is much 
narrower than Philistia. It is about 10 
miles wide from the sea to the foot of the 
mountains, which are here of a more 
abrupt character than those of Philistia, 
and without the intermediate hilly region 
there occurring. The one ancient port 
of the Jews, the " beautiful " city of 
Joppa, occupied a position central be- 
tween the Shefelah and Sharon. Roads 
•477 



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PAL 



led from these various cities to each 
other, to Jerusalem, Neapolis and Se- 
baste in the interior, and to Ptolemais 
and Gaza on the north and south. The 
commerce of Damascus, and, beyond 
Damascus, of Persia and India, passed 
this way to Egypt, Kome and the infant 
colonies of the West ; and that traffic and 
the constant movement of troops back- 
ward and forward must have made this 
plain, at the time of Christ, one of the 
busiest and most populous regions of 
Syria. 

4. The Jordan valley. — The character- 
istics already described are hardly pe- 
culiar to Palestine. But there is one 
feature, as yet only alluded to, in which 
she stands alone. This feature is the 
Jordan — the one river of the country. 
The river is elsewhere described [Jor- 
dan] ; but it and the valley through 
which it rushes down its extraordinary 
descent must be here briefly character- 
ized. This valley begins with the river 
at its remotest springs of Hasbeiya, on 
the northwest side of Hermon, and ac- 
companies it to the lower end of the 
Dead Sea, a length of about 150 miles. 
During the whole of this distance its 
course is straight and its direction near- 
ly due north and south. The springs of 
Hasbeiya are 1700 feet above the level 
of the Mediterranean, and the northern 
end of the Dead Sea is 1317 feet below it, 
so that between these two points the val- 
ley falls with more or less regularity 
through a height of more than 3000 feet. 
But though the river disappears at this 
point, the valley still continues its de- 
scent below the waters of the Dead Sea 
till it reaches a further depth of 1308 feet. 
So that the bottom of this extraordinary 
crevasse is actually more than 2600 feet 
below the surface of the ocean. In width 
the valley varies. In its upper and shal- 
lower portion, as between Banias and the 
lake of Merom {Hulek), it is about five 
miles across. Between the lake of Merom 
and the Sea of Galilee it contracts, and 
becomes more of an ordinary ravine or 
glen. It is in its third and lower portion 
that the valley assumes its more definite 
and regular character. During the 
greater part of this portion it is about 
seven miles wide from the one wall to 
the other. The eastern mountains pre- 
serve their straight line of direction, and 
their massive horizontal wall-like aspect, 
during almost the whole distance. The 
western mountains are more irregular in 
478 



height, their slopes less vertical. North 
of Jericho they recede in a kind of wide 
amphitheatre, and the valley becomes 
twelve miles broad — a breadth which it 
thenceforward retains to the southern ex- 
tremity of the Dead Sea. Buried as it is 
between such lofty ranges, and shielded 
from every breeze, the climate of the Jor- 
dan valley is extremely hot and relaxing. 
Its enervating influence is shown by the 
inhabitants of Jericho. All the irriga- 
tion necessary for the cultivation which 
formerly existed is obtained from the tor- 
rents of the western mountains. For all 
purposes to which a river is ordinarily 
applied the Jordan is useless. The Dead 
Sea, which is the final receptacle of the 
Jordan, is described elsewhere. [Sea, 
The Salt.] 

5. Climate. — "Probably there is no 
country in the world of the same extent 
which has a greater variety of climate 
than Palestine. On Mount Hermon, at 
its northern border, there is perpetual 
snow. From this we descend succes- 
sively by the peaks of Bashan and upper 
Galilee, where the oak and pine flourish, 
to the hills of Judah and Samaria, where 
the vine and fig tree are at home, to the 
plains of the seaboard, where the palm 
and banana produce their fruit, down to 
the sultry snores of the Dead Sea, on 
which we find tropical heat and tropical 
vegetation." — McClintock and Strong. As 
in the time of our Saviour, Luke 12 : 54, 
the rains come chiefly from the south or 
southwest. They commence at the end 
of October or beginning of November and 
continue with greater or less constancy 
till the end of February or March. It is 
not a heavy, continuous rain so much as 
a succession of severe showers or storms, 
with intervening periods of fine, bright 
weather. Between April and November 
there is, with the rarest exceptions, an 
uninterrupted succession of fine weather 
and skies without a cloud. Thus the 
year divides itself into two and only two 
seasons — as indeed we see it constantly 
divided in the Bible — "winter and sum- 
mer," " cold and heat," " seed-time and 
harvest." 

6. Botany. — The botany of Syria and 
Palestine differs but little from that of 
Asia Minor, which is one of the most rich 
and varied on the globe. Among trees 
the oak is by far the most prevalent. 
The trees of the genus Pistacia rank 
next to the oak in abundance, and of 
these there are three species in Syria. 



PAL 



PAL 



There is also the carob or locust tree ( Ce- 
ratonia siliqua), the pine, sycamore, pop- 
lar and walnut. Of planted trees and 
large shrubs the first in importance is 
the vine, which is most abundantly cul- 
tivated all over the country, and pro- 
duces, as in the time of the Canaanites, 
enormous bunches of grapes. This is 
especially the case in the southern dis- 
tricts, those of Eshcol being still partic- 
ularly famous. Next to the vine, or even 
in some respects its superior in import- 
ance, ranks the olive, which nowhere 
grows in greater luxuriance and abun- 
dance than in Palestine, where the ol- 
ive orchards form a prominent feature 
throughout the landscape, and have 
done so from time immemorial. The lig 
forms another most important crop in 
Syria and Palestine. (Besides these are 
the almond, pomegranate, orange, pear, 
banana, quince and mulberry among 
fruit trees. Of vegetables there are many 
varieties, as the egg plant, pumpkin, as- 
paragus, lettuce, melon and cucumber. 
Palestine is especially distinguished for 
its wild flowers, of which there are more 
than five hundred varieties. The gera- 
nium, pink, poppy, narcissus, honey- 
suckle, oleander, jessamine, tulip and 
iris are abundant. The various grains 
are also very largely cultivated. — Ed.) 

7. Zoology. — It will be sufficient in this 
article to give a general survey of the 
fauna of Palestine, as the reader will find 
more particular information in the sev- 
eral articles which treat of the various 
animals under their respective names. 
Jackals and foxes are common ; the hyena 
and wolf are also occasionally observed; 
the lion is no longer a resident in Pal- 
estine or Syria. A species of squirrel 
which the Arabs term orkidaun, "the 
leaper," has been noticed on the lower 
and middle parts of Lebanon. Two kinds 
of hare, rats and mice, which are said to 
abound, the jerboa, the porcupine, the 
short-tailed field-mouse, may be consid- 
ered as the representatives of the Ro- 
dentia. Of the Pachydermata, the wild 
boar, which is frequently met with on 
Taber and Little Hermon, appears to be 
the only living wild example. There 
does not appear to be at present any wild 
ox in Palestine. Of domestic animals we 
need only mention the Arabian or one- 
humped camel, the ass, the mule and the 
horse, all of which are in general use. 
The buffalo (Bubalus buffalo) is common. 
The ox of the country is small and un- 



sightly in the neighborhood of Jerusa- 
lem, but in the richer pastures the cattle, 
though small, are not unsightly. The 
common sheep of Palestine is the broad- 
tail, with its varieties. Goats are ex- 
tremely common everywhere. Palestine 
abounds in numerous kinds of birds. 
Vultures, eagles, falcons, kites, owls of 
different kinds, represent the Raptorial 
order. In the south of Palestine espec- 
ially, reptiles of various kinds abound. 
It has been remarked that in its physical 
character Palestine presents on a small 
scale an epitome of the natural features 
of all regions, mountainous and desert, 
northern and tropical, maritime and in- 
land, pastoral, arable and volcanic. 

8. Antiquities. — In the preceding de- 
scription allusion has been made to many 
of the characteristic features of the holy 
land; but it is impossible to close this 
account without mentioning a defect 
which is even more characteristic — its 
lack of monuments and personal relics 
of the nation which possessed it for so 
many centuries and gave it its claim to 
our veneration and affection. When 
compared with other nations of equal 
antiquity — Egypt, Greece, Assyria — the 
contrast is truly remarkable. In Egypt 
and Greece, and also in Assyria, as far as 
our knowledge at present extends, we 
find a series of buildings reaching down 
from the most remote and mysterious 
antiquity, a chain of which hardly a link 
is wanting, and which records the prog- 
ress of the people in civilization, art and 
religion, as certainly as the buildings of 
the mediaeval architects do that of the 
various nations of modern Europe. But 
in Palestine it is not too much to say 
that there does not exist a single edifice 
or part of an edifice of which we can be 
sure that it is of a date anterior to the 
Christian era. And as with the build- 
ings, so with other memorials. With 
one exception, the museums of Europe 
do not possess a single piece of pottery or 
metal work, a single weapon or house- 
hold utensil, an ornament or a piece of 
armor, of Israelite make, which can give 
us the least conception of the manners 
or outward appliances of the nation be- 
fore the date of the destruction of Jeru- 
salem by Titus. The coins form the 
single exception. M. Eenan has named 
two circumstances which must have had 
a great effect in suppressing art or arch- 
itecture amongst the ancient Israelites, 
while their very existence proves that 
479 



PAL 



PAL 



the people had no genius in that direc- 
tion. These are (1) the prohibition of 
sculptured representations of living crea- 
tures, and (2 j the command not to build 
a temple anywhere but at Jerusalem. 

Pal'lu {distinguished), the second son 
of Reuben, father of Eliab, Ex. 6 : 14 ; 
Num. 26 : 5, 8 ; 1 Chron. 5 : 3, and founder 
of the family of 

Pal'luites ( descendants of Pallu ), 
The. Num. 26 : 5. 

Palmer-worm (Heb. gdzdm) occurs 
Joel 1:4; 2 : .25 ; Amos 4:9. It is main- 
tained by many that gdzdm denotes some 
species of locust, but it is more probably 
a caterpillar. 




Palm Tree, showing fruit. 

Palm tree (Heb. tdmdr). Under this 
generic term many species are botanically 
included ; but we have here only to do 
with the date palm, the Phoenix dactyl- 
ifera of Linnaeus. While this tree was 
abundant generally in the Levant, it was 
regarded by the ancients as peculiarly 
characteristic of Palestine and the neigh- 
boring regions, though now it is rare. 
(" The palm tree frequently attains a 
heightof eighty feet, but more commonly 
forty to fifty. It begins to bear fruit after 



it has been planted six or eight years, 
and continues to be productive for a cen- 
tury. Its trunk is straight, tall and un- 
broken, terminating in a crown of em- 
erald-green plumes, like a diadem of 
gigantic ostrich-feathers; these leaves are 
frequently twenty feet in length, droop 
slightly at the ends, and whisper music- 
ally in the breeze. The palm is, in truth, 
a beautiful and most useful tree. Its 
fruit is the daily food of millions; its sap 
furnishes an agreeable wine ; the fibres 
of the base of its leaves are woven into 
ropes and rigging ; its tall stem supplies 
a valuable timber; its leaves are man- 
ufactured into brushes, mats, bags, 
couches and baskets. This one tree sup- 
plies almost all the wants of the Arab or 
Egyptian." — Bible Plants.) Many places 
are mentioned in the Bible as having con- 
nection with palm trees; Elim, where 
grew three score and ten palm trees, Ex. 
15 : 27, and Elath. Deut. 2 : 8. Jericho 
was the city of " palm trees." Deut. 34 : 
3. Hazezon-tamar, " the felling of the 
palm tree," is clear in its derivation. 
There is also Tamar, " the palm." Ezek. 
47:19. Bethany means the "house of 
dates." The word Phoenicia, which oc- 
curs twice in the New Testament — Acts 
11:19; 15:3 — is in all probability de- 
rived from the Greek word for a palm. 
The striking appearance of the tree, its 
uprightness and beauty, would naturally 
suggest the giving of its name occasion- 
ally to women. Gen. 38:6; 2 Sam. 13: 
1 ; 14 : 27. There is in the Psalms, 92 : 
12, the familiar comparison, " The right- 
eous shall flourish like the palm tree," 
which suggests a world of illustration, 
whether respect be had to the orderly and 
regular aspect of the tree, its fruitfulness, 
the perpetual greenness of its foliage, or 
the height at which the foliage grows, as 
far as possible from earth and as near as 
possible to heaven. Perhaps no point is 
more worthy of mention, if we wish to 
pursue the comparison, than the elasticity 
of the fibre of the palm, and its deter- 
mined growth upward even when loaded 
with weights. The passage in Rev. 7 : 9, 
where the glorified of all nations are de- 
scribed as " clothed with white robes and 
palms in their hands," might seem to 
us a purely classical image; but palm 
branches were used by the Jews in token 
of victory and peace. (To these points of 
comparison may be added, its principle 
of growth : it is an endogen, and grows 
from within ; its usefulness : the Syrians 



PAL 



PAR 



enumerating 360 different uses to which | 
it may be put ; and the statement that it ; 
bears its best fruit in old age. — Ed.) It 
is curious that this tree, once so abundant 
in Judea, is now comparatively rare, ex- 
cept in the Philistine plain and in the 
old Phoenicia about Beyrout. 

Palsy (contracted from paralysis). 
The loss of sensation or the power of 
motion, or both, in any part of the body. 
The infirmities included under this name 
in the New Testament were various : — 1. 
The paralytic shock affecting the whole 
body, or apoplexy. 2. That affecting only 
one side. 3. Affecting the whole system 
below the neck. 4. Catalepsy, caused 
by the contraction of the muscles in the 
whole or a part of the body. This was 
very dangerous and often fatal. The 
part affected remains immovable, and di- 
minishes in size and dries up. A hand j 
thus affected was called " a withered I 
hand." Matt. 12 : 10-13. 5. Cramp. This 
was a most dreadful disease, caused by I 
the chills of the nights. The limbs re- 
main immovably fixed in the same posi- 
tion as when seized by it, and the person i 
seems like one suffering torture. It is I 
frequently followed in a few days by 
death. Several paralytics were cured by 
Jesus. Matt. 4 : 24 ; 8:13, etc. 

PaPti {whom Jehovah delivers), the 
Benjamite spy, son of Raphu. Num. 13 : 
9. (B.C. 1490.) 

PaPti-el (whom God delivers), the son 
of Azzan and prince of the tribe of Is- | 
sachar. Num. 34 : 26. He was one of the 
twelve appointed to divide the land of 
Canaan among the tribes west of Jordan. 
(B.C. 1450.) 

PaPtite, The. Helez " the Paltite " 
is named in 2 Sam. 23 : 26 among David's 
mighty men. (B.C. 1015.) 

PamphyPia (of every tribe), one of 
the coast-regions in the south of Asia 
Minor, having Cilicia on the east and 
Lycia on the west. In St. Paul's time it 
was not only a regular province, but the 
emperor Claudius had united Lycia with 
it, and probably also a good part of Pi- 
sidia. It was in Pamphylia that St. Paul 
first entered Asia Minor, after preaching 
the gospel in Cyprus. He and Barnabas 
sailed up the river Cestrus to Perga. 
Acts 13 : 13. The two missionaries final- 
ly left Pamphylia by its chief seaport, 
Attalia. Many years afterward St. Paul 
sailed near the coast. Acts 27 : 5. 

Pan. Of the six words so rendered in 
the Authorized Version, two seem to im- 
31 



ply a shallow pan or plate, such as is 
used by the Bedouins and Syrians for 
baking or dressing rapidly their cakes of 
meal, such as were used in legal obla- 
tions ; the others, a deeper vessel or cal- 
dron for boiling meat, placed during the 
process on three stones. 

Pannag (stceet), an article of com- 
merce exported from Palestine to Tyre, 
Ezek. 27 : 17, the nature of which is a 
pure matter of conjecture, as the term oc- 
curs nowhere else. A comparison of the 
passage in Ezekiel with Gen. 43 : 11 leads 
to the supposition that pannag represents 
some of the spices grown in Palestine. 

Paper. [Writing.] 

Pa'phos (boiling, or hot), a town at 
the west end of Cyprus, connected by a 
road with Salamis at the east end. It 
was founded B.C. 1184 (during the period 
of the judges in Israel). Paul and Bar- 
nabas travelled, on their first missionary 
expedition, " through the isle," from the 
latter place to the former. Acts 13 : 6. 
The great characteristic of Paphos was 
the worship of Aphrodite or Venus, who 
was fabled to have here risen from the 
sea. Her temple, however, was at " Old 
Paphos," now called Kuklia. The har- 
bor and the chief town were at " New 
Paphos," ten miles to the northwest. 
The place is still called Baffa. 

Parable. (The word parable is in 
Greek parabole UapajSoATj), which signifies 
placing beside or together, a comparison. 
A parable is therefore literally a placing 
beside, a comparison, a similitude, an 
illustration of one subject by another. — 
McClintock and Strong. As used in the 
New Testament it had a veiy wide appli- 
cation, being applied sometimes to the 
shortest proverbs, 1 Sam. 10 : 12 ; 24 : 13 ; 
2 Chron. 7 : 20, sometimes to dark pro- 
phetic utterances, Num. 23 : 7, 18 ; 24 : 3; 
Ezek. 20 : 49, sometimes to enigmatic 
maxims, Ps. 78 : 2 ; Prov. 1 : 6, or meta- 
phors expanded into a narrative. Ezek. 
12 : 22. In the New Testament itself the 
word is used with a like latitude in Matt. 
24 : 32 ; Luke 4 : 23 ; Heb. 9:9. It was 
often used in a more restricted sense to 
denote a short narrative under which 
some important truth is veiled. Of this 
sort were the parables of Christ. The 
parable differs from the fable (1) in ex- 
cluding brute and inanimate creatures 
passing out of the laws of their nature, 
and speaking or acting like men ; (2) in 
its higher ethical significance. It differs 
from the allegory in that the latter, with 
481 



PAR 



PAR 



its direct personification of ideas or attri- 
butes, and the names which designate 
them, involves really no comparison. 
The virtues and vices of mankind appear 
as in a drama, in their own character 
and costume. The allegory is self-inter- 
preting ; the parable demands attention, 
insight, sometimes an actual explanation. 
It differs from a proverb in that it must 
include a similitude of some kind, while 
the proverb may assert, without a simili- 
tude, some wide generalization of experi- 
ence. — Ed.) For some months Jesus 
taught in the synagogues and on the sea- 
shore of Galilee as he had before taught 
in Jerusalem, and as yet without a par- 
ablei But then there came a change. 
The direct teaching was met with scorn, 
unbelief, hardness, and he seemed for a 
time to abandon it for that which took 
the form of parables. The worth of par- 
ables as instruments of teaching lies in 
their being at once a test of character and 
in their presenting each form of character 
with that which, as a penalty or bless- 
ing, is adapted to it. They withdraw 
the light from those who love darkness. 
They protect the truth which they en- 
shrine from the mockery of the scoffer. 
They leave something even with the care- 
less which may be interpreted and un- 
derstood afterward. They reveal, on the 
other hand, the seekers after truth. These 
ask the meaning of the parable, and 
will not rest until the teacher has ex- 
plained it. In this way the parable did 
its work, found out the fit hearers and 
led them on. In most of the parables it 
is possible to trace something like an 
order. 1. There is a group which have 
for their subject the laws of the divine 
kingdom. Under this head we have the 
sower, Matt. 13, Mark 4, Luke 8; the 
wheat and the tares, Matt. 13, etc. 2. 
When the next parables meet us they 
are of a different type and occupy a dif- 
ferent position. They are drawn from 
the life of men rather than from the 
world of nature. They are such as these 
— the two debtors, Luke 7 ; the merciless 
servant, Matt. 18 ; the good Samaritan, 
Luke 10, etc. 3. Toward the close of 
our Lord's ministry the parables are 
again theocratic, but the phase of the 
divine kingdom on which they chiefly 
dwell is that of its final consummation. 
In interpreting parables note— (1) The 
analogies must be real, not arbitrary ; (2) 
The parables are to be considered as parts 
of a whole, and the interpretation of one 
482 



is not to override or encroach upon the 
lessons taught by others; (3) The direct 
teaching of Christ presents the standard 
to which all our interpretations are to be 
referred, and by which they are to be 
measured. 

Par'adise. This is a word of Per- 
sian origin, and is used in the Septuagint 
as the translation of Eden. It means 
" an orchard of pleasure and fruits," a 
" garden " or " pleasure ground," some- 
thing like an English park. It is applied 
figuratively to the celestial dwelling of 
the righteous, in allusion to the garden 
of Eden. 2 Cor. 12 : 4; Eev. 2:7. It has 
thus come into familiar use to denote 
both that garden and the heaven of the 
just. 

Pa'rah {heifer-town), one of the cities 
in the territory allotted to Benjamin, 
named only in the lists of the conquest. 
Josh. 18 : 23. 
Pa'ran, El-pa'ran {place of cav- 
I ems), a desert or wilderness, bounded on 
| the north by Palestine, on the east by 
the valley of Arabah, on the south by the 
desert of Sinai, and on the west by the 
wilderness of Etham, which separated it 
from the Gulf of Suez and Egypt. The 
first notice of Paran is in connection with 
the invasion of the confederate kings. 
Gen. 14 : 6. The detailed itinerary of the 
children of Israel in Num. 33 does not 
mention Paran because it was the name 
of a wide region ; but the many stations 
in Paran are recorded, chs. 17-36, and 
probably all the eighteen stations there 
mentioned between Hazeroth and Kadesh 
were in Paran. Through this very wide 
wilderness, from pasture to pasture as do 
modern Arab tribes, the Israelites wan- 
dered in irregular lines of march. This 
region through which the Israelites jour- 
neyed so long is now called by the name 
it has borne for ages — Bedu et-Tih, " the 
wilderness of wandering." (" Bible Ge- 
ography," Whitney.) "Mount" Paran 
occurs only in two poetic passages, Deut. 
33 : 2 ; Hab. 3:3. It probably denotes 
the northwestern member of the Sinaitic 
mountain group which lies adjacent to 
the Wady Teiran. (It is probably the 
ridge or series of ridges lying on the 
northeastern part of the desert of Paran, 
not far from Kadesh. — Ed.) 

Par'bar (open apartment), a word oc- 
curring in Hebrew and Authorized Ver- 
sion only in 1 Chron. 26 : 18. It would 
seem that Parbar was some place on the 
west side of the temple enclosure, prob- 



PAR 



PAR 



ably the suburb mentioned by Josephus 
as lying in the deep valley which sepa- 
rated the west wall of the temple from 
the city opposite it. 

Parchment. [Writing.] 

Parlor, a word in English usage 
meaning the common room of the family, 
and hence probably in Authorized Ver- 
sion denoting the king's audience-cham- 
ber, so used in reference to Eglon. Judges 
3 : 20-25. 

Parmash'ta (superior), one of the 
ten sons of Hainan slain by the Jews in 
Shushan. Esther 9 : 9. (B.C. 473.) 

Par'menas (abiding), one of the seven 
deacons, "men of honest report, full of 
the Holy Ghost and wisdom." Acts 6 : 5. 
There is a tradition that he suffered mar- 
tyrdom at Philippi in the reign of Trajan. 

Par'naeh delicate), father or ancestor 
of Eliza phan prince of the tribe of Zebu- 
lun. Num. 34 : 25. (B.C. before 1452.) 

Pa'rosh (flea). The descendants of 
Parosh, in numoer 2172, returned from 
Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:3; 
Neh. 7 : 8. Another detachment of 150 
males, with Zechariah at their head, ac- 
companied Ezra. Ezra 8 : 3. They as- 
sisted in the building of the wall of Jeru- 
salem, Neh. 3 : 25, and signed the cove- 
nant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 14. (B.C. 
before 535-445.) 

Parshan'datha (given by prayer), 
the eldest of Hainan's ten sons who were 
slain by the Jews in Shushan. Esther 9 : 
7. ( B.C. 473.) 

Par'thians. This name occurs only 
in Acts 2 : 9, where it designates Jews 
settled in Parthia. Parthia proper was 
the region stretching along the southern 
flank of the mountains which separate 
the great Persian desert from the desert 
of Kharesm. It lay south of Hyrcania, 
east of Media and north of Sagartia. The 
ancient Parthians are called a " Scythic" 
race, and probably belonged to the great 
Turanian family. After being subject in 
succession to the Persians and the Seleu- 
cidse, they revolted in B.C. 256, and under 
Arsaces succeeded in establishing their 
independence. Parthia, in the mind of 
the writer of the Acts, would designate 
this empire, which extended from India 
to the Tigris and from the Chorasmian 
desert to the shores of the Southern 
Ocean ; hence the prominent position of 
the name Parthians in the list of those 
present at Pentecost. Parthia was a 
power almost rivalling Rome — the only 
existing power which had tried its 



strength against Rome and not been 
worsted in the encounter. The Parthian 
dominion lasted tor nearly five centuries, 
commencing in the third century before 
1 and terminating in the third century 
after our era. The Parthians spoke the 
Persian language. 




The Greek Partridge. 



Partridge (Heb. hort) occurs only 1 
Sam. 26 : 20 and Jer. 17 : 11. The " hunt- 
ing this bird upon the mountains/' 1 
Sam. 26 : 20, entirely agrees with the 
habits of two well-known species of par- 
tridge, viz. Caccabis saxatilis, the Greek 
partridge (which is the commonest par- 
tridge of the holy land), and Ammoperdix 
heyii. Our common partridge, Perdix 
cinerea, does not occur in Palestine. 
(The Greek partridge somewhat resem- 
bles our red-legged partridge in plumage, 
but is much larger. In every part of the 
hill country it abounds, and its ringing 
call-note in early morning echoes from 
cliff to cliff alike amid the barrenness of 
the hills of Judea and in the glens of the 
forest of Carmel. — Tristrani's Nat. Hist, 
of Bible. The flesh of the partridge and 
the eggs are highly esteemed as food, and 
the search for the eggs at the proper time 
of the year is made a regular business. — 
Ed.) 

Par'uah (flourishing), the father of 
Jehoshaphat, Solomon's commissariat 
officer in Issachar. 1 Kings 4 : 17. (B.C. 
about 1017.) 

Parva'im ( Oriental regions) , the name 
of an unknown place or country whence 
the gold was procured for the decoration 
• 483 



PAS 



PAS 



of Solomon's temple. 2 Chron. 3:6. We j 
may notice the conjecture that it is de- 
rived from the Sanscrit ptirva, " eastern," 
and is a general term for the east. 

Pa'sach (cut off), son of Japhlet, of 
the tribe of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 33. 

Pas=dam'mim (boundary of blood). 
[Ephes-dammim.] 

Pase'ah (lame). 1. Son of Eshton, 
in an obscure fragment of the genealogies 
of Judah. 1 Chron. 4:12. 

2. The " sons of Paseah " were among 
the Nethinim who returned with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2: 49. 

Pash'ur (freedom). 1. One of the 
families of priests of the chief house of 
Malchijah. 1 Chron. 9:12; 24 : 9 ; Neh. 
11 : 12; Jer. 21 : 1 ; 38 : 1. In the time 
of Nehemiah this family appears to have 
become a chief hout;e, and its head the 
head of a course. Ezra 2 : 38 ; Neh. 7:41; 
10 : 3. The individual from whom the 
family was named was probably Pashur 
the son of Malchiah, who in the reign of 
Zedekiah was one of the chief princes of 
the court. Jer. 38 : 1. (B.C. 607.) He 
was sent, with others, by Zedekiah to 
Jeremiah at the time when Nebuchad- 
nezzar was preparing his attack upon 
Jerusalem. Jer. 21. Again, somewhat 
later, Pashur joined with several other 
chief men in petitioning the king that 
Jeremiah might be put to death as a 
traitor. Jer. 38 : 4. 

2. Another person of this name, also a 
priest, and chief governor of the house 
of the Lord," is mentioned in Jer. 20 : 1. 
He is described as " the son of Immer," 
1 Chron. 24 : 14, probably the same as 
Amariah. Neh. 10 : 3 ; 12:2, etc. In the 
reign of Jehoiakim he showed himself as 
hostile to Jeremiah as his namesake the 
son of Malchiah did afterward, and put 
him in the stocks by the gate of Benja- 
min. For this indignity to God's prophet 
Pashur was told by Jeremiah that his 
name was changed to Magor-missabib 
(terror on every side), and that he and 
all his house should be carried captives 
to Babylon and there die. Jer. 20 : 1-6. 
(B.C. 589.) 

Passage. Used in the plural, Jer. 
22 : 20, probably to denote the mountain 
region of Abarim, on the east side of Jor- 
dan. It also denotes a river ford or a 
mountain gorge or pass. 

Pas&'over, the first of the three great 
annual festivals of the Israelites, cele- 
brated in the month Nisan ( March-April ) , 
from the 14th to the 21st. (Strictly 
484 



speaking the Passover only applied to 
the paschal supper, and the feast of un- 
leavened bread followed, which was cele- 
brated to the 21st. ) (For the correspond- 
ing dates in our month, see Jewish cal- 
endar at the end of this volume.) The 
following are the principal passages in 
the Pentateuch relating to the Passover : 
Ex. 12 : 1-51 ; 13 : 3-10 ; 23 : 14-19 ; 34 : 
18-26; Lev. 23 : 4-14 ; Num. 9 : 1-14; 
28 : 16-25 ; Deut. 16 : 1-6. 

Why instituted. — This feast was insti- 
tuted by God to commemorate the deliv- 
erance of the Israelites from Egyptian 
bondage and the sparing of their first- 
born when the destroying angel smote 
the hrst-born of the Egyptians. The de- 
liverance from Egypt was regarded as 
the starting-point of the Hebrew nation. 
The Israelites were then raised from the 
condition of bondmen under a foreign 
tyrant to that of a free people owing al- 
legiance to no one but Jehovah. The 
prophet in a later age spoke of the event 
as a creation and a redemption of the 
nation. God declares himself to be "the 
Creator of Israel." The Exodus was 
tli us looked upon as the birth of the na- 
tion ; the Passover was its annual birth- 
day feast. It was the yearly memorial 
of the dedication of the people to him 
who had saved their first-born from the 
destroyer, in order that they might be 
made holy to himself. 

First celebration of the Passover. — On 
the tenth day of the month, the head of 
each family was to select from the flock 
either a lamb or a kid, a male of the 
first year, without blemish. If his fam- 
ily was too small to eat the whole of the 
lamb, he was permitted to invite his 
nearest neighbor to join the party. On 
the fourteenth day of the month he was 
to kill his lamb, while the sun was set- 
ting. He was then to take blood in a 
basin, and with a sprig of hyssop to 
sprinkle it on the two side-posts and the 
j lintel of the door of the house. The 
j lamb was then thoroughly roasted, whole, 
i It was expressly forbidden that it should 
be boiled, or that a bone of it should be 
broken. Unleavened bread and bitter 
j herbs were to be eaten with the flesh. 
| No male who was uncircumcised was to 
join the company. Each one was to 
have his loins girt, to hold a staff in his 
hand, and to have shoes on his feet. He 
was to eat in haste, and it would seem 
that he was to stand during the meal. 
The number of the party was to be cal- 



PAS 



PAS 



culated as nearly as possible, so that all 
the flesh of the lamb might be eaten; 
but if any portion of it happened to re- 
main, it was to be burned in the morning. 
No morsel of it was to be carried out of 
the house. The lambs were selected, on 
the fourteenth they were slain and the 
blood sprinkled, and in the following 
evening, after the fifteenth day of the 
month had commenced, the first paschal 
meal was eaten. At midnight the first- 
born of the Egyptians were smitten. The 
king and his people were now urgent that 
the Israelites should start immediately, 
and readily bestowed on them supplies 
for the journey. In such haste did the 
Israelites depart, on that very day, Num. 
33 ; 3, that they packed up their kneading- 
troughs containing the dough prepared 
for the morrow's provisions, which was 
not yet leavened. 

Observance of the Passover in later 
times. — As the original institution of the 
Passover in Egypt preceded the establish- 
ment of the priesthood and the regulation 
of the service of the tabernacle, it neces- 
sarily fell short in several particulars of 
the observance of the festival according 
to the fully-developed ceremonial law. 
The head of the family slew the lamb in 
his own house, not in the holy place ; the 
blood was sprinkled 011 the doorway, not 
on the altar. But when the law was per- 
fected, certain particulars were altered 
in order to assimilate the Passover to the 
accustomed order of religious service. In 
the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of 
Exodus there are not only distinct refer- 
ences to the observance of the festival in 
future ages {e. g. 12 : 2, 14, 17, 24-27, 42 ; 
13 : 2, 5, 8-19), but there are several in- 
junctions which were evidently not in- 
tended for the first Passover, and which 
indeed could not possibly have been ob- 
served. Besides the private family fes- 
tival, there were public and national sac- 
rifices offered each of the seven days of 
unleavened bread. Num. 28 : 19. On the 
second day also the first-fruits of the 
barley harvest were offered in the temple. 
Lev. 23 : 10. In the later notices of the 
festival in the books of the law there are 
particulars added which appear as modi- 
fications of the original institution. Lev. 
23 : 10-14; Num. 28 : 16-25; Deut. 16: 
1-6. Hence it is not without reason that 
the Jewish writers have laid great stress 
on the distinction between " the Egyp- 
tian Passover" and " the perpetual Pass- 
over." 



Mode and order of the paschal meal. — 
All work except that belonging to a few 
trades connected with daily life was sus- 
pended for some hours before the even- 
ing of the 14th Nisan. It was not lawful 
to eat any ordinary food after midday. 
No male was admitted to the table unless 
he was circumcised, even if he were of 
the seed of Israel. Ex. 12 : 48. It was 
customary for the number of a party to 
be not less than ten. When the meal 
was prepared, the family was placed 
round the table, the paterfamilias taking 
a place of honor, probably somewhat 
raised above the rest. When the party 
was arranged the first cup of wine was 
filled, and a blessing was asked by the 
head of the family on the feast, as well 
as a special one on the cup. The bitter 
herbs were then placed on the table, and 
a portion of them eaten, either with or 
without the sauce. The unleavened bread 
was handed round next, and afterward 
the lamb was placed on the table in front 
of the head of the family. The paschal 
lamb could be legally slain and the blood 
and fat offered only in the national sanc- 
tuary. Deut. 16 : 2. Before the lamb was 
eaten the second cup of wine was filled, 
and the son, in accordance with Ex. 12 : 
26, asked his father the meaning of the 
feast. In reply, an account was given 
of the sufferings of the Israelites in 
Egypt and of their deliverance, with a par- 
ticular explanation of Deut. 26 : 5, and 
the first part of the Hallel (a contraction 
from Hallelujah), Ps. 113, 114, was sung. 
This being gone through, the lamb was 
carved and eaten. The third cup of wine 
was poured out and drunk, and soon 
afterward the fourth. The second part 
of the Hallel, Ps. 115 to 118, was then 
sung. A fifth wine-cup appears to have 
been occasionally produced, but perhaps 
only in later times. What was termed 
the greater Hallel, Ps. 120 to 13S, was sung 
on such occasions. The Israelites who 
lived in the country appear to have been 
accommodated at the feast by the inhab- 
itants of Jerusalem in their houses, so far 
as there was room for them. Matt. 26 : 
18 ; Luke 22 : 10-12. Those who could 
not be received into the city encamped 
without the walls in tents, as the pilgrims 
now do at Mecca. 

The Passover as a type. — The Passover 
was not only commemorative but also 
typical. " The deliverance which it com- 
memorated was a type of the great sal- 
vation it foretold." No other shadow of 
■ 485 



PAS 



PAT 



good things to come contained in the I 
law can vie with the festival of the Pass- 
over in expressiveness and completeness. I 
(1) The paschal lamb must of course be 
regarded as the leading feature in the 
ceremonial of the festival. The lamb 
slain typified Christ the " Lamb of God," 
slain for the sins of the world. Christ 
" our Passover is sacrificed for us." 1 Cor. 
5 : 7. According to the divine purpose, the 
true Lamb of God was slain at nearly 
the same time as "the Lord's Passover," 
at the same season of the year, and at the 
same time of the day, as the daily sacri- 
fice at the temple, the crucifixion begin- 
ning at the hour of the morning sacrifice 
and ending at the hour of the evening 
sacrifice. That the lamb was to be roasted 
and not boiled has been supposed to com- 
memorate the haste of the departure of 
the Israelites. It is not difficult to de- 
termine the reason of the command, " not 
a bone of him shall be broken." The 
lamb was to be a symbol of unity — the 
unity of the family, the unity of the 
nation, the unity of God with his people 
whom he had taken into covenant with 
himself. (2) The unleavened bread ranks 
next in importance to the paschal lamb. 
We are warranted in concluding that un- 
leavened bread had a peculiar sacrificial 
character, according to the law. It seems 
more reasonable to accept St. Paul's ref- 
erence to the subject, 1 Cor. 5 : 6-8, as 
furnishing the true meaning of the sym- 
bol. Fermentation is decomposition, a 
dissolution of unity. The pure dry bis- 
cuit would be an apt emblem of un- 
changed duration, and, in its freedom 
from foreign mixture, of purity also. (3) 
The offering of the omer or first sheaf 
of the harvest, Lev. 23 : 10-14, signified 
deliverance from winter, the bondage of 
Egypt being well considered as a winter 
in the history of the nation. (4) The 
consecration of the first-fruits, the first- 
born of the soil, is an easy type of the 
consecration of the first-born of the Is- 
raelites, and of our own best selves, to 
God. (Further than this (1) the Passover 
is a type of deliverance from the slavery 
of sin. (2) It is the passing over of the 
doom we deserve for our sins, because the 
blood of Christ has been applied to us by 
faith. (3) The sprinkling of the blood 
upon the door-posts was a symbol of open 
confession of our allegiance and love. (4) 
The Passover was useless unless eaten; 
so we live upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 
(5) It was eaten with bitter herbs, as 
486 



we must eat our passover with the bitter 
herbs of repentance and confession, which 
yet, like the bitter herbs of the Passover, 
are a fitting and natural accompaniment. 
(6) As the Israelites ate the Passover all 
prepared for the journey, so do Ave with 
a readiness and desire to enter the active 
service of Christ, and to go on the journey 
toward heaven. — Ed.) 

Pat'ara (city of Patarus), a Lycian 
city situated on the southwestern shore 
of Lycia, not far from the left bank of 
the river Xanthus. The coast here is 
very mountainous and bold. Immedi- 
ately opposite is the island of Rhodes. 
Patara was practically the seaport of 
the city of Xanthus, which was ten miles 
distant. These notices of its position 
and maritime importance introduce us to 
the single mention of the place in the 
Bible— Acts 21 : 1, 2. 

Path'ros (region of the south), a part 
of Egypt, and a Mizraite tribe whose 
people were called Pathrusim. In the 
list of the Mizraites the Pathrusim occur 
after the Naphtuhim and before the Cas- 
luhim ; the latter being followed by the 
notice of the Philistines and by the 
Caphtorim. Gen. 10 : 13, 14 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 
12. Pathros is mentioned in the proph- 
ecies of Isaiah, Isa. 11 : 11, Jeremiah, 
Jer. 44 : 1, 15, and Ezekicl. Ezek. 29 : 14; 
30 : 13-18. It was probably part or all 
of upper Egypt, and we may trace its 
name in the Pathyrite nome, in which 
Thebes was situated. 

Pathru'sim, people of Pathros. 
[Pathros.] 

Pat'mos, Rev. 1 : 9, a rugged and 
bare island in the ^Egean Sea, 20 miles 
south of Samos and 24 west of Asia 
Minor. It was the scene of the banish- 
ment of St. John in the reign of Domi- 
tian, a.d. 95. Patmos is divided into 
two nearly equal parts, a northern and a 
southern, by a very narrow isthmus, 
where, on the east side, are the harbor 
and the town. On the hill to the south, 
crowning a commanding height, is the 
celebrated monastery which bears the 
name of " John the Divine." Halfway 
up the ascent is the cave or grotto where 
tradition says that St. John received the 
Revelation. 

Patriarch (father of a tribe), the 
name given to the head of a family or 
tribe in Old Testament times. In com- 
mon usage the title of patriarch is as- 
signed especially to those whose lives are 
recorded in Scripture previous to the 



PAT 



PAU 



time of Moses, as Adam, Abraham, Isaac I connections they might form. When the 
and Jacob. ("In the early history of father died the branch families did not 
the Hebrews we find the ancestor or break off and form new communities, 
father of a family retaining authority but usually united under another corn- 
over his children and his children's chil- mon head. The eldest son was generally 
dren so long as he lived, whatever new ! invested with this dignity. His author- 




Isle 



ity was paternal. He was honored as I born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia. (It is 
the central point of connection, and as not improbable that he was born between 
the representative of the whole kindred. ! a.d. and a.d. 5.) Up to the time of 
Thus each great family had its patriarch j his going forth as an avowed preacher of 
or head, and each tribe its prince, select- 1 Christ to the Gentiles, the apostle was 
ed from the several heads of the families known by the name of Saul. This was 
which it embraced." — jlcClintock and the Jewish name which he received from 
Strong.) ("After the destruction of Je- his Jewish parents. But though a He- 
rusalem, patriarch was the title of the brew of the Hebrews, he was born in a 
chief religious rulers of the Jews in Asia ; j Gentile city. Of his parents we know 
and in early Christian times it became > nothing, except that his father was of 
the designation of the bishops of Eome, the tribe of Benjamin, Philip. 3 : 5, and a 
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and ■ Pharisee, Acts 23:6; that Paul had ac- 
Jerusalem." — American Cyclopedia.) quired by some means the Roman fran- 

Pat'robas {paternal), a Christian at j chise ("I was free born," Acts 22:28), 
Pome to whom St. Paul sends his salu- ! and that he was settled in Tarsus. At 
tation. Pom. 10 : 14. Like many other ! Tarsus he must have learned to use the 
names mentioned in Rom. 16, this was ' Greek language with freedom and mas- 
borne by at least one member of the ; tery in both speaking and writing. At 
emperor's household. Suet. Galba. 20; Tarsus also he learned that trade of 
Martial, Ep. ii. 32, 3. (A.D. 55.) "tent-maker," Acts 18:3, at which he 

Pau {bleating) (but in 1 Chron. 1 : 50, afterward occasionally wrought with his 
Pai), the capital of Hadar king of Edom. own hands. There was a goat's-hair 
Gen. 36 : 39. Its position is unknown, 'cloth called cilicium manufactured in 

Paul {small, little). Nearly all the Cilicia, and largely used for tents. Saul's 
original materials for the life of St. Paul trade was probably that of making tents 
are contained in the Acts of the Apostles of this hair cloth. When St. Paul makes 
and in the Pauline epistles. Paul was his defence before his countrymen at 

■ 487 



PAU 



PAU 



Jerusalem, Acts 22, he tells them that, 
though born in Tarsus, he had been 
" brought up" in Jerusalem. He must, 
therefore, have been yet a boy when he 
was removed, in all probability for the 
sake of his education, to the holy city of 
his fathers. He learned, he says, " at 
the feet of Gamaliel." He who was to 
resist so stoutly the usurpations of the 
law had for his teacher one of the most 
eminent of all the doctors of the law. 
Saul was yet " a young man," Acts 7 : 
58, when the Church experienced that 
sudden expansion which was connected 
with the ordaining of the seven appoint- 
ed to serve tables, and with the special 
power and inspiration of Stephen. 
Among those who disputed with Stephen 
were some " of them of Cilicia." We 
naturally think of Saul as having bean 
one of these, when we find hi in afterward 
keeping the clothes of those suborned wit- 
nesses who, according to the law, Deut. 17: 
7, were the first to cast stones at Stephen. 
" Saul," says the sacred writer, signifi- 
cantly, " was consenting unto his death." 

Said's conversion. A.D. 37. — The per- 
secutor was- to be converted. Having 
undertaken to follow up the believers 
" unto strange cities," Saul naturally 
turned his thoughts to Damascus. What 
befell him as he jouimeyed thither is re- 
lated in detail three times in the Acts, 
first by the historian in his own person, 
then in the two addresses made by St. 
Paul at Jerusalem and before Agrippa. 
St. Luke's statement is to be read in Acts 
9 : 3-19, where, however, the words " it 
is hard for thee to kick against the 
pricks," included in the English version, 
ought to be omitted (as is done in the 
Revised Version). The sudden light 
from heaven ; the voice of Jesus speaking 
with authority to his persecutor; Saul 
struck to the ground, blinded, overcome ; 
the three-days suspense; the coming of 
Ananias as a messenger of the Lord, and 
Saul's baptism, — these were the leading 
features of the great event, and in these 
we must look for the chief significance 
of the conversion. It was in Damascus 
that he was received into the church by 
Ananias, and here, to the astonishment 
of all his hearers, he proclaimed Jesus 
in the synagogues, declaring him to be 
the Son of God. The narrative in the 
Acts tells us simply that he was occupied 
in this work, with increasing vigor, for 
" many days," up to the time when im- 
minent danger drove him from Damas- 
488 



cus. From the Epistle to the Galatians, 
Gal. 1 : 17, 18, we learn that the many 
days were at least a good part of " three 
years," a.d. 37-40, and that Saul, not 
thinking it necessary to procure author- 
ity to preach irom the apostles that were 
before him, went after his conversion 
into Arabia, and returned from thence to 
Damascus. We know nothing whatever 
of this visit to Arabia; but upon his 
departure from Damascus we are again 
upon historical ground, and have the 
double evidence of St. Luke in the Acts 
and of the apostle in his Second Epistle 
to the Corinthians. According to the 
former, the Jews lay in wait for Saul, 
intending to kill him, and watched the 
gates of the city that he might not escape 
from them. Knowing this, the disciples 
took him by night and let him down in 
a basket from the wall. Having escaped 
from Damascus, Saul betook himself to 
Jerusalem (a.d. 40), and there "assayed 
to join himself to the disciples ; but they 
were all afraid of him, and believed n >t 
that he was a disciple." Barnabas' in- 
troduction removed the fears of the 
apostles, and Saul " was with them com- 
ing in and going out at Jerusalem." But 
it is not strange that the former perse- 
cutor was soon singled out from the other 
believers as the object of a murderous 
hostility. He was, therefore, again urged 
to flee; and by way of Caesarea betook 
himself to his native city, Tarsus. Bar- 
nabas was sent on a special mission to 
Antioch. As the work grew under his 
hands, he felt the need of help, went 
himself to Tarsus to seek Saul, and suc- 
ceeded in bringing him to Antioch. 
There they labored together unremit- 
tingly for "a whole year." All this time 
Saul was subordinate to Barnabas. An- 
tioch was in constant communication 
with Cilicia, with Cyprus, with all the 
neighboring countries. The Church was 
pregnant with a great movement, and 
the time of her delivery was at hand. 
Something of direct expectation seems 
to be implied in what is said of the 
leaders of the Church at Antioch, that 
they were " ministering to the Lord, and 
fasting," when the Holy Ghost spoke to 
them : " Separate me Barnabas and Saul 
for the work whereunto I have called 
them." Everything was done with 
orderly gravity in the sending forth of 
the two missionaries. Their brethren, 
after fasting and prayer, laid their hands 
on them, and so they departed. 



PAU 



PAU 



The first missionary journey. A.D. 45- 
49. — As soon as Barnabas and Saul 
reached Cyprus, they began to "an- 
nounce the word of God," but at first 
they delivered their message in the syn- 
agogues of the Jews only. When they 



had gone through the island, from Sal- 
amis to Paphos, they were called upon 
to explain their doctrine to an eminent 
Gentile, Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, 
who was converted. Saul's name was 
now changed to Paul, and he began to 




Traditional Portraits of Peter and Paul. 

These portraits are copied, same size as the original, from the bottom of a gilded glass cup found in the catacombs 
of St. Sebastian at Rome. The earliest interments by the Christians in the Roman catacombs included, besides Chris- 
tian symbols, some objects of pagan regard. This having been the case in the section in which the glass cup bearing 
the group of the Saviour, Paul and Peter was discovered, it seems conclusive that the age was probably the fourth, if 
not the third, century. The absence of the nimbus (glory or circle) about the heads of Peter and Paul, and its presence 
around the Saviour's, may indicate the third century or early in the fourth ; for the nimbus was generally used around 
the heads of all saints and divine persons in the latter half of the fourth century. Tertullian speaks of glass cups 
as used in saeramental services, as also does Eusebius. In this picture the Saviour is represented as presenting a 
crown of life to the apostles; the inscription is a prayer of the friends of the dead, who was laid in the tomb in the 
faith of Christ, and may be paraphrased, " Friendship's blessing; may you live forever with thy (Saviour)." 



take precedence of Barnabas. From Pa- 
phos "Paul and his company" set sail 
for the mainland, and arrived at Perga 
in Pamphylia. Here the heart of their 
companion John failed him, and he re- 
turned to Jerusalem. From Perga they 
travelled on to a place obscure in secular 
history, but most memorable in the his- 
tory of the kingdom of Christ — Antioch 
in Pisidia. Rejected by the Jews, they 



became bold and outspoken, and turned 
from them to the Gentiles. At Antioch 
now, as in every city afterward, the un- 
believing Jews used their influence with 
their own adherents among the Gentiles 
to persuade the authorities or the pop- 
ulace to persecute the apostles and to 
drive them from the place. Paul and 
Barnabas now travelled on to Iconium, 
where the occurrences at Antioch were 



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repeated, and from thence to the Lyca- 
onian country which contained the cit- 
ies Lystra and Derbe. Here they had to 
deal with uncivilized heathen. At Lys- 
tra the healing of a cripple took place. 
Thereupon these pagans took' the apostles 
for gods, calling Barnabas, who was of 
the more imposing presence, Jupiter, and 
Paul, who was the chief speaker, Mer- 
curius. Although the people of Lystra 
had been so ready to worship Paul and 
Barnabas, the repulse of their idolatrous 
instincts appears to have provoked them, 
and they allowed themselves to be per- 
suaded into hostility by Jews who came 
from Antioch and lconium, so that they 
attacked Paul with stones, and thought 
they had killed him. He recovered, 
however, as the disciples were standing 
around him, and went again into the 
city. The next day he left it with Bar- 
nabas, and went to Derbe, and thence 
they returned once more to Lystra, and 
so to lconium and Antioch. In order to 
establish the churches after their depart- 
ure they solemnly appointed "elders" 
in every city. Then they came down to 
the coast, and from Attalia they sailed 
home to Antioch in Syria, Avhere they 
related the successes which had been 
granted to them, and especially the 
"opening of the door of faith to the 
Gentiles." And so the first missionary 
journey ended. 

The council at Jerusalem. — Upon that 
missionary journey follows most natu- 
rally the next important scene which the 
historian sets before us — the council held 
at Jerusalem to determine the relations 
of Gentile believers to the law of Moses. 
Acts 15 : 1-29 ; Gal. 2. 

Second missionary journey. A.D. 50-54. 
— The most resolute courage, indeed, was 
required for the work to which St. Paul 
was now publicly pledged. He would 
not associate with himself in that work 
one who had already shown a want of 
constancy. This was the occasion of 
what must have been a most painful dif- 
ference between him and his comrade in 
the faith and in past perils, Barnabas. 
Acts 15 : 35-40. Silas, or Silvanus, be- 
comes now a chief companion of the 
apostle. The two went together through 
Syria and Cilicia, visiting the churches, 
and so came to Derbe and Lystra. Here 
they find Timotheus, who had become a 
disciple on the former visit of the apostle. 
Him St. Paul took and circumcised. St. 
Luke now steps rapidly over a consider- 
490 



able space of the aj^ostle's life and labors. 
" They went throughout Phrygia and the 
region of Galatia." Luke 16 : 6. At this 
time St. Paul was founding " the churches 
of Galatia." Gal. 1:2. He himself gives 
some hints of the circumstances of his 
preaching in that region, of the recep- 
tion he met with, and of the ardent 
though unstable character of the people. 
Gal. 4 : 13-15. Having gone through 
Phrygia and Galatia, he intended to visit 
the western coast; but "they were for- 
bidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the 
word" there. Then, being on the bor- 
ders of Mysia, they thought of going back 
to the northeast into Bithynia ; but again 
the Spirit of Jesus " suffered them not," 
so they passed by Mysia and came down 
to Troas. St. Paul saw in a vision a man 
of Macedonia, who besought him, saying, 
" Come over into Macedonia and help 
us." The vision was at once accepted as 
a heavenly intimation ; the help wanted 
by the Macedonians was believed to be 
the preaching of the gospel. It is at this 
point that the historian, speaking of St. 
Paul's company, substitutes "we" for 
"they." He says nothing of himself; 
we can only infer that St. Luke, to what- 
ever country he belonged, became a com- 
panion of St. Paul at Troas. The party, 
thus reinforced, immediately set sail 
from Troas, touched at Samothrace, then 
landed on the continent at Neapolis, and 
thence journeyed to Philippi. The first 
convert in Macedonia was Lydia, an Asi- 
atic woman, at Philippi. Acts 16 : 13, 14. 
At Philippi Paul and Silas were arrested, 
beaten and put in prison, having cast out 
the spirit of divination from a female 
slave who had brought her masters much 
gain by her power. This cruel wrong 
was to be the occasion of a signal ap- 
pearance of the God of righteousness and 
deliverance. The narrative tells of the 
earthquake, the jailer's terror, his con- 
version and baptism. Acts 16 : 26-34. 
In the morning the magistrates sent 
word to the prison that the men might 
be let go; but Paul denounced plainly 
their unlawful acts, informing them 
moreover that those whom they had 
beaten and imprisoned without trial 
were Roman citizens. The magistrates, 
in great alarm, saw the necessity of hum- 
bling themselves. They came and begged 
them to leave the city. Paul and Silas 
consented to do so, and, after paying a 
visit to " the brethren " in the house of 
Lydia, they departed. Leaving St. Luke, 



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and perhaps Timothy for a short time, 
at Philippi, Paul and Silas travelled 
through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and 
stopped again at Thessalonica. Here 
again, as in Pisidian Antioch, the envy 
of the Jews was excited, and the mob 
assaulted the house of Jason, with whom 
Paul and Silas were staying as guests, 
and, not finding them, dragged Jason 
himself and some other brethren before 
the magistrates. After these signs of 
danger the brethi-en immediately sent 
away Paul and Silas by night. They 
next came to Berea. Here they found 
the Jews more noble than those at Thes- 
salonica had been. Accordingly they 
gained many converts, both Jews and 
Greeks ; but the Jews of Thessalonica, 
hearing of it, sent emissaries to stir up 
the people, and it was thought best that 
Paul should himself leave the city, whilst 
Silas and Timothy remained behind. 
Some of the brethren went with St. Paul 
as far as Athens, where they left him, 
carrying back a request to Silas and 
Timothy that they would speedily join 
him. Here the apostle delivered that 
wonderful discourse reported in Acts 17 : 
22-31. He gained but few converts at 
Athens, and soon took his departure and 
went to Corinth. He was testifying with 
unusual effort and anxiety, when Silas 
and Timothy came from Macedonia and 
joined him. * Their arrival was the occa- 
sion of the writing of the First Epistle to 
the Thessalonians. The two epistles to 
the Thessalonians — and these alone — be- 
long to the present missionary journey. 
They were written from Corinth A.D. 52, 
53. When Silas and Timotheus came to 
Corinth, St. Paul was testifying to the 
Jews with great earnestness, but with 
little success. Corinth was the chief city 
of the province of Achaia, and the res- 
idence of the proconsul. During St. 
Paul's stay the proconsular office was 
held by Gallio, a brother of the philos- 
opher Seneca. Before him the apostle 
was summoned by his Jewish enemies, 
who hoped to bring the Roman authority 
to bear upon him as an innovator in re- 
ligion. But Gallio perceived at once, 
before Paul could " open his mouth " to 
defend himself, that the movement was 
due to Jewish prejudice, and refused to 
go into the question. Then a singular 
scene occurred. The Corinthian spec- 
tators, either favoring Paul or actuated 
only by anger against the Jews, seized 
on the principal person of those who had 



brought the charge, and beat him before 
the judgment-seat. Gallio left these re- 
ligious quarrels to settle themselves. 
The apostle, therefore, was not allowed 
to be " hurt," and remained some time 
longer at Corinth unmolested. Having 
been the instrument of accomplishing 
this work, Paul departed tor Jerusalem, 
wishing to attend a festival there. Be- 
fore leaving Greece, he cut off" his hair at 
Cenchrese, in fulfillment of a vow. Acts 
18 : 18. Paul paid a visit to the syn- 
agogue at Ephesus, but would not stay. 
Leaving Ephesus, he sailed to Csesarea, 
and from thence went up to Jerusalem, 
spring, A.D. 54, and " saluted the church." 
It is argued, from considerations founded 
on the suspension of navigation during 
the winter months, that the festival was 
probably the Pentecost. From Jerusa- 
| lem the apostle went almost immediately 
down to Antioch, thus returning to the 
I same place from which he had started 
with Silas. 

Third missionary journey, including 
the stay at Ephesus. A.D. 54-58. Acts 
18 : 23-21 : 17.— The great epistles which 
belong to this period, those to the Gala- 
tians, Corinthians and Romans, show how 
I the " Judaizing " question exercised at 
I this time the apostle's mind. St. Paul 
" spent some time " at Antioch, and 
during this stay, as we are inclined to be- 
| lieve, his collision with St. Peter, Gal. 2 : 
11-14, took place. When he left Anti- 
och, he " went over all the country of 
Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthen- 
ing all the disciples," and giving orders 
concerning the collection for the saints. 
1 Cor. 16 : 1. It is probable that the 
Epistle to the Galatians was written soon 
after this visit — A.D. 5G-57. This letter 
was in all probability sent from Ephesus. 
This was the goal of the apostle's jour- 
neyings through Asia Minor. He came 
down to Ephesus from the upper districts 
of Phrygia. Here he entered upon his 
usual work. He went into the synagogue, 
and for three months he spoke openly, 
disputing and persuading concerning 
" the kingdom of God." At the end of 
this time the obstinacy and opposition of 
some of the Jews led him to give up fre- 
quenting the synagogue, and he estab- 
lished the believers as a separate society, 
meeting " in the school of Tyrannus." 
This continued for two years. During 
this time many things occurred of which 
the historian of the Acts chooses two ex- 
amples, the triumph over magical arts and 
401 



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the great disturbance raised by the silver- 
smiths who made shrines for Diana — 
among which we are to note further the 
writing of the First Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians, A.D. 57. Before leaving Ephesus 
Paul went into Macedonia, where he met 
Titus, who brought him news of the state 
of the Corinthian church. Thereupon he 
wrote the Second Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians, A.D. 57, and sent it by the hands of 
Titus and two other brethren to Corinth. 
After writing this epistle, St. Paul trav- 
elled through Macedonia, perhaps to the 
borders of lllyricum, Rom. 15 : 19, and 
then went to Corinth. The narrative in 
the Acts tells us that " when he had gone 
over those parts (Macedonia), and had 
given them much exhortation, he came 
into Greece, and there abode three 
months." ch. 20 : 2, 3. There is only one 
incident which we can connect with this 
visit to Greece, but that is a very import- 
ant one — the writing of his Epistle to the 
Romans, a.d. 58. That this was written 
at this time from Corinth appears from 
passages in the epistle itself, and has 
never been doubted. The letter is a sub- 
stitute for the personal visit which he 
had longed "for many years" to pay. 
Before his departure from Corinth, St. 
Paul was joined again by St. Luke, as 
we infer from the change in the narrative 
from the third to the first person. He was 
bent on making a journey to Jerusalem, 
for a special purpose and within a lim- 
ited time. With this view he was intend- 
ing to go by sea to Syria. But he was 
made aware of some plot of the Jews for 
his destruction, to be carried out through 
this voyage ; and he determined to evade 
their malice by changing his route. Sev- 
eral brethren were associated with him 
in this expedition, the bearers, no doubt, 
of the collections made in all the 
churches for the poor at Jerusalem. 
These were sent on by sea, and probably 
the money with them, to Troas, where 
they were to await Paul. He, accom- 
panied by Luke, went northward through 
Macedonia. Whilst the vessel which con- 
veyed the rest of the party sailed from 
Troas to Assos, Paul gained some time 
by making the journey by land. At As- 
sos he went on board again. Coasting 
along by Mitylene, Chios, Samos and 
Trogyllium, they arrived at Miletus. At 
Miletus, however, there was time to send • 
to Ephesus, and the elders of the church i 
were invited to come down to him there. I 
This meeting is made the occasion for re- ■ 
492 



cording another characteristic and repre- 
sentative address of St. Paul. Acts 20 : 
18-35. The course of the voyage from 
Miletus was by Coos and Rhodes to Pat- 
ara, and from Patara in another vessel 
past Cyprus to Tyre. Here Paul and his 
company spent seven days. From Tyre 
they sailed to Ptolemais, where they 
spent one day, and from Ptolemais pro- 
ceeded, apparently by land, to Csesarea. 
They now "tarried many days" at Cse- 
sarea. During this interval the prophet 
Agabus, Acts 11 : 28, came down from Je- 
rusalem, and crowned the previous inti- 
mations of danger with a prediction ex- 
pressively delivered. At this stage a final 
effort was made to dissuade Paul from 
going up to Jerusalem, by the Christians 
of Csesarea and by his travelling com- 
panions. After a while they went up to 
Jerusalem and were gladly received by 
the brethren. This is St. Paul's fifth and 
last visit to Jerusalem. 

St. Paul's imjyrisonment : Jerusalem. 
Spring, a.d. 58. — He who was thus con- 
ducted into Jerusalem by a company of 
anxious friends had become by this time 
a man of considerable fame among his 
countrymen. He was widely known as 
one who had taught with pre-eminent 
boldness that a way into God's favor was 
opened to the Gentiles, and that this way 
did not lie through the door of the Jew- 
ish law. He had thus roused against 
himself the bitter enmity of that unfath- 
omable Jewish pride which was almost as 
strong in some of those who had professed 
the faith of Jesus as in their unconverted 
brethren. He was now approaching a 
crisis in the long struggle, and the shadow 
of it has been made to rest upon his mind 
throughout his journey to Jerusalem. 
He came " ready to die for the name of 
the Lord Jesus," but he came expressly 
to prove himself a faithful Jew, and this 
purpose is shown at every point of the 
history. Certain Jews from " Asia," who 
had come up for the pentecostal feast, 
and who had a personal knowledge of 
Paul, saw him in the temple. They 
set upon him at once, and stirred up 
the people against him. There was in- 
stantly a great commotion; Paul was 
dragged out of the temple, the doors of 
which were immediately shut, and the 
people, having him in their hands, were 
proposing to kill him. Paul was rescued 
from the violence of the multitude by 
the Roman officer, who made him his 
own prisoner, causing him to be chained 



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to two soldiers, and then proceeded to in- 
quire who he was and what he had done. 
The inquiry only elicited confused out- 
cries, and the " chief captain " seems to 
have imagined that the apostle might 
perhaps be a certain Egyptian pretender 
who had recently stirred up a consider- 
able rising of the people. The account 
in the Acts, ch. 21 : 34-40, tells us with 
graphic touches how St. Paul obtained 
leave and opportunity to address the peo- 
ple in a discourse which is related at 
length. Until the hated word of a mis- 
sion to the Gentiles had been spoken, the j 
Jews had listened to the speaker. "Away i 
with such a fellow from the earth," the \ 
multitude now shouted; " it is not fit that 
he should live." The E,oman commander, 
seeing the tumult that arose, might well 
conclude that St. Paul had committed 
some heinous offence ; and carrying him 
off, he gave orders that he should be 
forced by scourging to confess his crime. 
Again the apostle took advantage of his | 
Eoman citizenship to protect himself j 
from such an outrage. The chief captain 
set him free from bonds, but on the next 
day called together the chief priests and | 
the Sanhedrin, and brought Paul as a 
prisoner before them. On the next day 
a conspiracy was formed, which the his- 
torian relates with a singular fullness of 
detail. More than forty of the Jews 
bound themselves under a curse neither 
to eat nor drink until they had killed 
Paul. The plot was discovered, and St. 
Paul was hurried away from Jerusalem. 
The chief captain, Claudius Lysias, de- 
termined to send him to Csesarea to Fe- 
lix, the governor or procurator of Judea. 
He therefore put him in charge of a 
strong guard of soldiers, who took him 
by night as far as Antipatris. From 
thence a smaller detachment conveyed 
him to Csesarea, where they delivered up 
their prisoner into the hands of the gov- 
ernor. 

Imprisonment at Ccesarea. A.D. 58-CO. 
— St. Paul was henceforth, to the end of 
the period embraced in the Acts, if not 
to the end of his life, in Roman custody. 
This custody was in fact a protection to 
him, without which he would have fallen 
a victim to the animosity of the Jews. 
He seems to have been treated through- 
out with humanity and consideration. 
The governor before whom he was now 
to be tried, according to Tacitus and Jo- 
sephus, was a mean and dissolute tyrant. 
After hearing St. Paul's accusers and the 



apostle's defence, Felix made an excuse 
lor putting off the matter, and gave orders 
that the prisoner should be treated with 
indulgence, and that his friends should 
be allowed free access to him. After a 
while he heard h.m again. St. Paul re- 
mained in custody until Felix left the 
province. The unprincipled governor 
had good reason to seek to ingratiate him- 
self with the Jews ; and to please them, 
he handed over Paul, as an untried pris- 
oner, to his successor, Festus. Upon his 
arrival in the province, Festus went up 
without delay from Csesarea to Jerusalem, 
and the leading Jews seized the oppor- 
tunity of asking that Paul might be 
brought up there for trial, intending to 
assassinate him by the way. But Festus 
would not comply with their request. 
He invited them to follow him on his 
speedy return to Csesarea, and a trial took 
place there, closely resembling that be- 
fore Felix. " They had certain questions 
against him," Festus says to Agrippa, 
"of their own superstition (or religion), 
and of one Jesus, who was dead, whom 
Paul affirmed to be alive. And being 
puzzled for my part as to such inquiries, 
I asked him whether he would go to Je- 
rusalem to be tried there." This proposal, 
not a very likely one to be accepted, was 
the occasion of St. Paul's appeal to Cse- 
sar. The appeal having been allowed, 
Festus reflected that he must send with 
the prisoner a report of " the crimes laid 
against him." He therefore took advant- 
age of an opportunity which offered it- 
self in a few days to seek some help in 
the matter. The Jewish prince Agrippa 
arrived with his sister Berenice on a visit 
to the new governor. To him Festus 
communicated his perplexity. Agrippa 
expressed a desire to hear Paul himself. 
Accordingly Paul conducted his defence 
before the king; and when it was con- 
cluded Festus and Agrippa, and their 
companions, consulted together, and came 
to the conclusion that the accused was 
guilty of nothing that deserved death or 
imprisonment. And Agrippa's final an- 
swer to the inquiry cf Festus was, " This 
man might have been set at liberty, if 
he had not appealed unto Cscsar." 

Th e voyage to Rom e and sh ipwreck. Au- 
tumn, A.D. GO. — No formal trial of St. Paul 
had yet taken place. After a while ar- 
rangements were made to carry " Paul and 
certain other prisoners," in the custody 
of a centurion named Julius, into Italy ; 
and amongst the company, whether by 
493 



PAV 



PEA 



favor or from any other reason, we find 
the historian of the Acts, who in chapters 
27 and 28 gives a graphic description of 
the voyage to Rome and the shipwreck 
on the "island of Melita or Malta. After 
a three-months stay in Malta the soldiers 
and their prisoners left in an Alexandria 
ship for Italy. They touched at Syra- 
cuse, where they stayed three days, and 
at Rhegium, from which place they were 
carried with a fair wind to Puteoli, where 
they left their ship and the sea. At Pu- 
teoli they found " brethren," for it was 
an important place, and especially a 
chief port for the traffic between Alexan- 
dria and Rome ; and by these brethren 
they were exhorted to stay a while with 
them. Permission seems to have been 
granted by the centurion; and whilst 
tney were spending seven days at Puteoli 
news of the apostle's arrival was sent to 
Rome. (Spring, a.d. 61.) 

First imprisonment of St. Paul at 
Home. A.D. 61-63. — On their arrival at 
Rome the centurion delivered up his 
prisoners into the proper custody, that 
of the praetorian prefect. Paul was at 
once treated with special consideration, j 
and was allowed to dwell by himself | 
with the soldier who guarded him. He j 
was now therefore free " to preach the 
gospel to them that were at Rome also;" j 
and proceeded without delay to act upon ! 
his rule — " to the Jews first." But as of j 
old, the reception of his message by the 
Jews was not favorable. He turned, | 
therefore, again to the Gentiles, and for I 
two years he dwelt in his own hired 
house. These are the last words of the 
Acts. But St. Paul's career is not ab- 
ruptly closed. Before he himself fades 
out of our sight in the twilight of eccle- 
siastical tradition, we have letters written 
by himself which contribute some pai"- 
ticulars to his biography. Period of the j 
later epistles. — To that imprisonment to 
which St. Luke has introduced us — the j 
imprisonment which lasted for such a j 
tedious time, though tempered by much j 
indulgence — belongs the noble group of 
letters to Philemon, to the Colossians, to i 
the Ephesians and to the Philippians. j 
The three former of these were written at j 
one time, and sent by the same messen- 
gers. Whether that to the Philippians 
was written before or after these we can- ' 
not determine ; but the tone of it seems to j 
imply that a crisis was approaching, and j 
therefore it is commonly regarded as the 
latest of the four. In this ep'stle St. 
494 



Paul twice expresses a confident hope 
that before long he may be able to visit 
j the Philippians in person. Philip. 1 : 
! 25 ; 2 : 24. Whether this hope w r as ful- 
filled or not has been the occasion of 
much controversy. According to the 
: general opinion the apostle was liberated 
from imprisonment at the end of two 
| years, having been acquitted by Nero 
| A.D. 63, and left Rome soon after writing 
| the letter to the Philippians. He spent 
some time in visits to Greece, Asia Minor 
and Spain, and during the latter part of 
this time wrote the letters (first epistles) 
to Timothy and Titus from Macedonia, 
A.D. 65. After these were written he was 
apprehended again and sent to Rome. 

Second imprisonment at Borne. A.D. 
65-67. — The apostle appears now to have 
been treated not as an honorable state 
prisoner, but as a felon, 2 Tim. 2:9; but 
he was allowed to write the second letter 
to Timothy, A.D. 67. For what remains 
we have the concurrent testimony of ec- 
clesiastical antiquity that he was be- 
headed at Rome, by Nero, in the great 
persecutions of the Christians by that 
emperor, A.D. 67 or 68. 
Pavement. [Gabbatha.] 
Pavilion, a temporary movable tent 
or habitation. 1. Sac, properly an en- 
closed place, also rendered " tabernacle," 
" covert " and " den ;" once only " pavil- 
ion." Ps. 27 : 5. (Among the Egyptians 
pavilions were built in a similar style to 
houses, though on a smaller scale, in 
various parts of the country, and in the 
foreign districts through which the Egyp- 
tian armies passed, for the use of the 
king. — Wilkinson.) 2. Succdh, usually 
"tabernacle" and "booth." 3. Shaph- 
rur and shaphrir, a word used once 
only, in Jer. 43 : 10, to signify glory or 
splendor, and hence probably to be un- 
derstood of the splendid covering of the 
royal throne. 

Peacocks (Heb. tucciyyim). Among 
the natural products which Solomon's 
fleet brought home to Jerusalem, mention 
is made of " peacocks," 1 Kings 10 : 22 ; 
2 Chron. 9 : 21, which is probably the 
correct translation. The Hebrew word 
may be traced to the Tamul or Malabaric 
togei, " peacock." 

Pearl (Heb. gdbish). The Hebrew 
word in Job 28 : 18 probably means 
"crystal." Pearls, however, are fre- 
quentlv mentioned in the New Testa- 
ment/Matt, 13:45; 1 Tim. 2:9; Rev. 
17 : 4 ; 21 : 21, and were considered by the 



PED 



PEK 




Pearl Oyster. 

fern), still found in abundance in the 
Persian Gulf and near the coasts of Cey- 
lon, Java and Sumatra. The oysters 
grow in clusters on rocks in deep water, 
and the pearl is found inside the shell, 
and is the result of a diseased secretion 



The Peacock. 

ancients among the most precious of 
gems, and w T ere highly esteemed as orna- 
ments. The kingdom of heaven is com- 
pared to a " pearl of great price." In 
Matt. 7 : 6 pearls are used metaphorically 
for anything of value, or perhaps more 
especially for " wise sayings." (The 
finest specimens of the pearl are yielded 
by the pearl oyster (Avicula margariti- 




caused by the introduction of foreign 
bodies, as sand, etc., between the mantle 
and the shell. They are obtained by 
divers trained to the business. March or 
April is the time for pearl fishing. A 
single shell sometimes yields eight to 
twelve pearls. The size of a good Ori- 
ental pearl varies from that of a pea to 
about three times that size. A hand- 
some necklace of pearls the size of peas 
is worth $15,000. Pearls have been val- 
ued as high as $200,000 or $300,000 apiece. 
—Ed.) 

Ped'ahel {whom God redeems), the 
son of Ammihud, and prince of the tribe 
of Naphtali. Num. 34 : 28. 

Pedah'zur {whom the rock {i. e. God) 
redeems), father of Gamaliel, the chief of 
the tribe of Manasseh at the time of the 
exodus. Num. 1 : 10 ; 2 : 20 ; 7 : 54, 59 ; 
10:23. (B.C. 1491.) 

Peda'iah {tvhom Jehovah redeems). 
1. The father of Zebudah, mother of King 
Jehoiakim. 2 Kings 23 : 36. (B.C. before 
648.) 

2. The brother of Salathiel or Shealtiel, 
and father of Zerubbabel, who is usually 
called the " son of Shealtiel," being, as 
Lord A. Hervey conjectures, in reality 
his uncle's successor and heir, in conse- 
quence of the failure of issue in the direct 
line. 1 Chron. 3 : 17-19. (B.C. before 
536.) 

3. Son of Parosh, that is, one of the 
family of that name, who assisted Nehe- 

miah in repairing the walls of Jerusa- 
lem. Neh. 3 : 25. (B.C. about 446.) 

4. Apparently a priest ; one of those 
who stood on the left hand of Ezra 
when he read the law to the people. 
Neh. 8:4. (B.C. 445.) 

5. A Benjamite, ancestor of Sallu. 
Neh. 11:7. 

6. A Levite in the time of Nehe- 
miah, Neh. 13:13; apparently the 
same as 4. 

7. The father of Joel, prince of the 
half tribe of Manasseh in the reign of 
David. 1 Chron. 27 : 20. (B.C. before 
1013.) 

Pe'kah {open-eyed), son of Rema- 
liah, originally a captain of Pekahiah 
king of Israel, murdered his master, 
seized the throne, and became the 18th 
sovereign of the northern kingdom, B.C. 
757-740. Under his predecessors Israel 
had been much weakened through the 
payment of enormous tribute to the As- 
syrians (see especially 2 Kings 15 : 20), 
and by internal wars and conspiracies. 

495 



PEK 



PEL 



Pekah seems to have steadily applied 
himself to the restoration of its power. 
For this purpose he contracted a for- 
eign alliance, and fixed his mind on the 
plunder of the sister kingdom of Judah. 
He mu.it have made the treaty by which 
he proposed to share its spoil with Rezin 
king of Damascus, when Jotham was 
still on the throne of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 
15 : 37 ; but its execution was long de- 
layed, probably in consequence of that 
prince's righteous and vigorous adminis- 
tration. 2 Chron. 27. When, however, 
his weak son Ahaz succeeded to the crown 
of David, the allies no longer hesitated, 
but entered upon the siege of Jerusalem, 
B.C. 742. The history of the war is found 
in 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chron. 28. It is 
famous as the occasion of the great 
prophecies in Isa. 7-9. Its chief result 
was the Jewish port of Elath on the 
Red Sea ; but the unnatural alliance of 
Damascus and Samaria was punished 
through the complete overthrow of the 
ferocious confederates by Tiglath-pileser. 
The kingdom of Damascus was finally 
suppressed and Rezin put to death, while 
Pekah was deprived of at least half his 
kingdom, including all the northern por- 
tion and the whole district to the east of 
Jordan. Pekah himself, now fallen into 
the position of an Assyrian vassal, was of 
course compelled to abstain from further 
attacks on Judah. Whether his contin- 
ued tyranny exhausted the patience of his 
subjects, or whether his weakness em- 
boldened them to attack him, is not 
known ; but, from one or the other cause, 
Hoshea the son of Elah conspired against 
him and put him to death. 

Pekahi'ah (whose eyes Jehovah 
opened), son and successor of Menahem, 
was the 17th king of the separate king- 
dom of Israel, B.C. 759-757. After a 
brief reign of scarcely two years a con- 
spiracy was organized against him by 
Pekah, who murdered him and seized 
the throne. 

Pe'kod (visitation), an appellative 
applied to the Chaldeans. Jer. 50:21; 
Ezek. 23 : 23. Authorities are undecided 
as to the meaning of the term. 

Pela'iah [distinguished by Jehovah). 
1. A son of Elioenai, of the royal line of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 24. (B.C. after 400.) 

2. One of the Levites who assisted Ezra 
in expounding the law. Neh. 8:7. He 
afterward sealed the covenant with Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 10 : 10. (B.C. 445.) 

PelalPah (judged by Jehovah), the 
496 



son of Amzi and ancestor of Adaiah. 
Neh. 11 : 12. 

PelatPah (delivered by Jehovah). 1. 
Son of Hananiah the son of Zerubbabel. 

1 Chron. 3 : 21. (B.C. after 536.) 

2. One of the captains of the marauding 
band of Simeonites who in the reign of 
Hezekiah made an expedition to Mount 
Seir and smote the Amalekites. 1 Chron. 
4 : 42. (B.C. about 700.) 

3. One of the heads of the people, and 
probably the name of a family who sealed 
the covenant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 
22. (b.c. about 440.) 

4. The son of Benaiah, and one of the 
princes of the people against whom Eze- 
kiel was directed to utter the words of 
doom recorded in Ezek. 11 : 5-12. (B.C. 
about 592.) 

Pe'Ieg (division, part), son of Eber 
and brother of Joktan. Gen. 10 : 25; 11 : 
16. The only incident connected with 
his history is the statement that " in his 
days was the earth divided," an event 
embodied in the meaning of his name — 
"division." Ihe reference is to a di- 
vision of the family of Eber himself, the 
younger branch of which (the Joktanids) 
migrated into southern Arabia, while the 
elder remained in Mesopotamia. 

Pe'let (liberation). 1. A son of Jah- 
dai in an obscure genealogy. 1 Chrcn. 

2 :47. 

2. The son of Azmaveth, that is, either 
a native of the place of that name or the 
son of one of David's heroes. 1 Chron. 
12 : 3. (B.C. about 1015.) 

Pe'leth (swiftness). 1. The father of 
On the Reubenite, who joined Dathan 
and Abiram in their rebellion. Num. 
16 : 1. (B.C. 1490.) 

2. Son of Jonathan, and a descendant 
of Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 33. 

PeMethites (couriers). [Cheretii- 

ITES.] 

Pelican (Heb. kdath, sometimes trans- 
! lated " cormorant," as Isa. 34 : 11 ; Zeph. 
| 2 : 14, though in the margin correctly 
I rendered " pelican"), a voracious water- 
bird, found most abundantly in tropical 
regions. It is equal to the swan in size. 
(It has a flat bill, fifteen inches long, and 
the female has under the bill a pouch, 
capable of great distension. It is capa- 
cious enough to hold fish sufficient for 
the dinner of half a dozen men. The 
young are fed from this pouch, which is 
emptied of the food by pressing the pouch 
against the breast. * The pelican's, bill 
has a crimson tip, and the contrast of 



PET 



PEN 



this red tip against the white breast 
probably gave rise to the tradition that 
the bird tore her own breast to feed her 
young with her blood. The flesh of the 




Tli j reliean. 



pelican was forbidden to the Jews. Lev. 
11 : 18. — Ed.) The psalmist, in compar- 
ing his pitiable condition to the pelican, 
Ps. 102 : 6, probably has reference to its 
general aspect as it sits in apparent mel- 
ancholy mood, with its bill resting on its 
breast. 

Pel'onite, The. Two of David's 
mighty men, Helez and Ahijah, are 
called Pelonites. 1 Chron. 11:27, 36. 
(B.C. about 1015.) From 1 Chron. 27 : 10 
it appears that the former was of the 
tribe of Ephraim, and " Pelonite " would 
therefore be an appellation derived from 
his place of birth or residence. " Ahijah 
the Pelonite" appears in 2 Sam. 23:34 
as " Eliam the son of Ahithophel the 
Gilonite," of which the former is a cor- 
ruption. 

Pen. TWriting.] 

Peni'el {face of God), the name which 
Jacob gave to the place in which he had 
wrestled with God : " He called the name 
of the place ' face of El,' for I have seen 
Elohim face to face." Gen. 32 : 30. In 
Gen. 32 : 31 and the other passages in 
which the name occurs, its form is 
changed to Penuel. From the narra- 
tive it is evident that Peniel lay some- 
where on the north bank of the Jabbok, 
and between that torrent and the fords 
32 



of the Jordan at Succoth, a few miles 
north of the glen where the Jabbok falls 
into the Jordan. 

Penin'nah {coral, or pearl), one of 
the two wives of Elkanah. 1 Sam. 1 : 2. 
(B.C. 1125.) 

Penny, Pennyworth. In the New 
Testament " penny," either alone or in 
the compound " pennyworth," occurs as 
the rendering of the Roman denarius. 
Matt. 20 : 2 ; 22 : 19 ; Mark 6 : 37 ; 12 : 15 ; 
Luke 20 : 24 ; John G : 7 ; Rev. 6 : 6. The 
denarius was the chief Roman silver coin, 
and was worth about 15 to 17 cents. 

Pen'tateuch, The, is the Greek 
name given to the five books commonly 
called the " five books of Moses." This 
title is derived from nevre, five, and TeCxos, 
which, meaning originally " vessel," " in- 
strument," etc., came in Alexandrine 
Greek to mean "book," hence the Jive- 
fold book. In the time of Ezra and Ne- 
hemiah it was called " the law of Moses," 
Ezra 7:6, or " the book of the law of 
Moses," Neh. 8 : 1, or simply "the book 
of Moses." 2 Chron. 25 : 4 ; 35 : 12 ; Ezra 
6 : 18 ; Nek. 13 : 1. This was beyond all 
reasonable doubt our existing Pentateuch. 
The book which was discovered in the 
temple in the reign of Josiah, and which 
is entitled, 2 Chron. 34 : 14, " a book of 
the law of Jehovah by the hand of Mo- 
ses," was substantially, it would seem, 
the same volume, though it may after- 
ward have undergone some revision by 
Ezra. The present Jews usually called 
the whole by the name of Torah, i. e. " the 
Law," or Torath Mosheh, "the Law of 
Moses." The division of the whole work 
into five parts was probably made by the 
Greek translators; for the titles of the 
several books are not of Hebrew but of 
Greek origin. The Hebrew names are 
merely taken from the first words of each 
book, and in the first instance only desig- 
nated particular sections and not whole 
books. The MSS. of the Pentateuch 
form a single roll or volume, and are di- 
vided, not into books but into the larger 
and smaller sections called Parshiyoth 
and Sedarim. The five books of the Pen- 
tateuch form a consecutive whole. The 
work, beginning with the record of crea- 
tion and the history of the primitive 
world, passes on to deal more especially 
with the early history of the Jewish fam- 
ily, and finally concludes with Moses' last 
discourses and his death. Till the mid- 
dle of the last century it was the general 
opinion of both Jews and Christians that 
497 



PEN 



PEN 




Pentateuch at Sheehem. 



the whole of the Pentateuch was written 
by Moses, with the exception of a few 
manifestly later additions, — such as the 
34th chapter of Deuteronomy, which 
gives the account of Moses' death. The 
first attempt to call in question the pop- , 
498 



ular belief was made by Astruc, doctor 
and professor of medicine in the Royal 
College at Paris, and court physician to 
Louis XIV. He had observed that 
throughout the book of Genesis, and as 
far as the 6th chapter of Exodus, traces 



PEN 



PEN 



were to be found of two original docu- 
ments, each characterized by a distinct use 
of the names of God ; the one by the name 
Elohim, and the other by the name Je- 
hovah. [GOD.] Besides these two prin- 
cipal documents, he supposed Moses to 
have made use of ten others in the com- 
position of the earlier part of his work. 
The path traced by Astruc has been fol- 
lowed by numerous German writers ; but 
the various hypotheses which have been 
formed upon the subject cannot be pre- 
sented in this work. It is sufficient here 
to state that there is evidence satisfactory 
that the main bulk of the Pentateuch, at 
any rate, was written by Moses, though 
he probably availed himself of existing 
documents in the composition of the ear- 
lier part of the work. Some detached por- 
tions would appear to be of later origin ; 
and when we remember how entirely, 
during some periods of Jewish history, 
the law seems to have been forgotten, and 
again how necessary it would be after the 
seventy years of exile to explain some of 
its archaisms, and to add hei*e and there 
short notes to make it more intelligible 
to the people, nothing can be more nat- 
ural than to suppose that such later ad- 
ditions were made by Ezra and Nehe- 
miah. 

To briefly sum up the results of our 
inquiry — 1. The book of Genesis rests 
chiefly on documents much earlier than 
the time of Moses, though it was probably 
brought to very nearly its present shape 
either by Moses himself or by one of the 
elders who acted under him. 2. The 
books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers 
are to a great extent Mosaic. Besides 
those portions which are expressly de- 
clared to have been written by him, other 
portions, and especially the legal sec- 
tions, were, if not actuaily written, in all 
probability dictated by him. 3. Deu- 
teronomy, excepting the concluding part, 
is entirely the work of Moses, as it pro- 
fesses to be. 4. It is not probable that 
this was written before the three preced- 
ing books, because the legislation in Ex- 
odus and Leviticus, as being the more 
formal, is manifestly the earlier, whilst 
Deuteronomy is the spiritual interpreta- 
tion and application of the law. But the 
letter is always before the spirit; the 
thing before its interpretation. 5. The 
first composition of the Pentateuch as a 
whole could not have taken place till 
after the Israelites entered Canaan. It 
is probable that Joshua and the elders 



who were associated with him would pro- 
vide for its formal arrangement, custody 

| and transmission. 6. The whole work 
did not finally assume its present shape 
till its revision was undertaken by Ezra 

! after the return from the Babylonish 
captivity. For an account of the separate 
books see Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 
Numbers, Deuteronomy. 

Pen'tecost, that is, the fiftieth day 
(from a Greek word meaning fiftieth), or 
Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may 
be regarded as a supplement to the Pass- 
over. It lasted for but one day. From 
the sixteenth of Nisan seven weeks were 
reckoned inclusively, and the next or fif- 
tieth day was the day of Pentecost, which 
fell on the sixth of Sivan (about the end of 
May). Ex. 23 : 16 ; 34 : 22 ; Lev. 23 : 15- 
22 ; Num. 28. See Jewish calendar at the 
end of this volume. The Pentecost was 
the Jewish harvest-home, and the people 
were especially exhorted to rejoice before 
Jehovah with their families, their serv- 
ants, the Levite within their gates, the 
stranger, the fatherless and the widow, in 
the place chosen by God for his name, as 
they brought a free-will offering of their 
hand to Jehovah their God. Deut. 16 : 10, 
11. The great feature of the celebration 
was the presentation of the tico loaves, 
made from the first-fruits of the wheat 
harvest. With the loaves two lambs 
were offered as a peace offering, and all 
were waved before Jehovah, and given to 
the priests ; the loaves, being leavened, 
could not be offered on the altar. The 
other sacrifices were, a burnt offering of 
a young bullock, two rams and seven 
lambs, with a meat and drink offering, 
and a kid for a sin offering. Lev. 23 : 18, 
19. Till the pentecostal loaves were of- 
fered, the produce of the harvest might 
not be eaten, nor could any other first- 
fruits be offered. The whole ceremony 
was the completion of that dedication of 
the harvest to God as its giver, and to 
whom both the land and the people were 
holy, which was begun by the ottering of 
the Avave-sheaf at the Passover. The in- 
terval is still regarded as a religious sea- 
son. The Pentecost is the only one of 
the three great feasts which is not men- 
tioned as the memorial of events in the 
history of the Jews; but such a signifi- 
cance has been found in the fact that the 
law was given from Sinai on the fiftieth 
day after the deliverance from Egypt. 
Comp. Ex. 12 and 19. In the exodus* the 
people were offered to God as living first- 
499 



PEN 



PEE 



fruits ; at Sinai their consecration to him 
as a nation was completed. The typical 
significance of the Pentecost is made clear 
from the events of the day recorded in 
the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2. Just 
as the appearance of God on Sinai was 
the birthday of the Jewish nation, so was 
the Pentecost the birthday of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

Penu'el. [Peniel.] 

Pe'or {cleft), a mountain peak in Moab 
belonging to the Abarim range, and near 
Pisgah, to which, after having ascended 
Pisgah, the prophet Balaam was con- 
ducted by Balak that he might look upon 
the whole host of Israel and curse them. 
Num. 23 : 14, 28. Iu four passages — Num. 
25 : 18 twice ; 31 : 16 ; Josh. 22 : 17— Peor 
occurs as a contraction for Baal-pear. 
[Baal.] 

Per'azim (a breach), Mount, a name 
which occurs in Isa. 28 : 21 only — unless 
the place which it designates is identical 
with the Baal-perazim mentioned as the 
scene of one of David's victories over the 
Philistines, which was in the valley of 
Rephaim, south of Jerusalem, on the 
road to Bethlehem. 

Pe'resh {dung), the son of Machir by 
his wife Maachah. 1 Chron. 7 : 16. 

Pe'rez (breach). The "children of 
Perez," or Pharez, the son of Judah, ap- 
pear to have been a family of importance 
for many centuries. 1 Chron. 27 : 3 ; Neh. 
11 : 4, 6. 

Pe'rez-uz'za (breaking of Uzzah), 1 
Chron. 13 : 11, and Perez-uzzah, 2 Sam. 
6 : 8, the title which David conferred on 
the threshing-floor of Nachon or Cidon, 
in commemoration of the sudden death 
of Uzzah. (B.C. 1042.) 

Perfumes. The free use of perfumes 
was peculiarly grateful to the Orientals, 
Prov. 27 : 9, whose olfactory nerves are 
more than usually sensitive to the offens- 
ive smells engendered by the heat of 
their climate. The Hebrews manufac- 
tured their perfumes chiefly from spices 
imported from Arabia, though to a cer- 
tain extent also from aromatic plants 
growing in their own country. Perfumes 
entered largely into the temple service, 
in the two forms of incense and ointment. 
Ex. 30 : 22-38. Nor were they less used 
in private life ; not only were they ap- 
plied to the person, but to garments, Ps. 
45 : 8 ; Cant. 4 : 11, and to articles of fur- 
niture, such as beds. Prov. 7 : 17. 

Per'ga (earthy), a city of Pamphylia, 
Acts 13:13, situated on the river Cestius, 
500 



at a distance of 60 stadia (7i miles) from 
its mouth, and celebrated in antiquity for 
the worship of Artemis (Diana). 

Per'gamos (in Revised Version Per- 
i gamum) (height, elevation), a city of My- 
sia, about 3 miles to the north of the 
river Caicus, and 20 miles from its present 
mouth. It was the residence of a dy- 
nasty of Greek princes founded after the 
time of Alexander the Great, and usually 
called the Attalic dynasty, from its 
founder, Attalus. The sumptuousness of 
the Attalic princes had raised Pergamos 
to the rank of the first city in Asia as 
regards splendor. The city was noted for 
its vast library, containing 200,000 vol- 
umes. Here were splendid temples of 
Zeus or Jupiter, Athene, Apollo and Ms- 
culapius. One of " the seven churches 
of Asia" was in Pergamos. Pev. 1:11; 
2 : 12-17. It is called " Satan's seat " by 
John, which some suppose to refer to the 
worship of .Esculapius, from the serpent 
being his characteristic emblem. Others 
refer it to the persecutions of Christians, 
which was the work of Satan. The 
modern name of the city is Bergama. 

Per'gamum. In the Revised Version 
for Pergamos. Pev. 1 : 11. Pergamum is 
the form usual in the classic writers. 

Peri'da (grain, kernel). The children 
of Perida returned from Babylon with 
Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 57. (B.C. before 
536.) 

Per'izzite, The, and Per'izzites 

(belonging to a village^, one of the nations 
inhabiting the land of promise before and 
at the time of its conquest by Israel. 
(B.C. 1450.) They are continually men- 
tioned in the formula so frequently oc- 
curring to express the promised land. 
Gen. 15 : 20 ; Ex. 3 : 8, 17 ; 23 : 23 ; 33 : 2; 
34 : 11. The notice in the book of Judges 
i locates them in the southern part of the 
holy land. The signification of the name 
is not by any means clear. It possibly 
meant rustics, dwellers in open, unwalled 
villages, which are denoted by a similar 
word. 

Persep'olis, mentioned only in 2 
Mace. 9 : 2, was the capital of Persia 
proper, and the occasional residence of 
the Persian court from the time of Da- 
rius Hystaspes, who seems to have been 
its founder, to the invasion of Alexander. 
Its wanton destruction by that conqueror 
is well known. Its site is now called the 
J Chehl-Minar, or Forty Pillars. Here, on 
a platform hewn out of the solid rock, 
the sides of which face the four cardinal 



PER 



PER 



points, are the remains of two great pal- ; ber of other edifices, chiefly temples, 
aces, built respectively by Darius Hys- They are of great extent and magnif- 
taspes and his son Xerxes, besides a num- 1 icence, covering an area of many acres. 




Ruins of Persepolis.— Burial-place of the Persian kings. 



Per'sia {pure, splendid)^ Per'sians. 
Persia proper was a tract of no very large 
dimensions on the Persian Gulf, which is 
stdl known as Fars or Farsistan, a cor- 
ruption of the ancient appellation. This 
tract was bounded on the west by Susi- 
ana or Elam, on the north by Media, on 
the south by the Persian Gulf and on the 
east by Carmania. But the name is more 
commonly applied, both in Scripture and 
by profane authors, to the entire tract 
which came by degrees to be included 
within the limits of the Persian empire. 
This empir3 extended at one time from 
India on the east to Egypt and Thrace on 
the west, and included, besides portions 
of Europe and Africa, the whole of Avest- 
ern Asia between the Black Sea, the Cau- 
casus, the Caspian and the Jnxartes on 
the north, the Arabian desert, the Persian 
Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the south. 
The only passage in Scripture where Per- 
sia designates the tract which has been 
called above " Persia proper " is Ezek. 
38 : 5. Elsewhere the empire is intended. 
The Persians were of the same race as 



the Medes, both being branches of the 
great Aryan stock. 

1. Character of the nation. — The Per- 
sians were a people of lively and impress- 
ible minds, brave and impetuous in war, 
witty, passionate, for Orientals truthful, 
not without some spirit of generosity, 
and of more intellectual capacity than 
the generality of Asiatics. In the times 
anterior to Cyrus they were noted for the 
simplicity of their habits, which offered 
a strong contrast to the luxuriousness of 
the Medes; but from the date of the 
Median overthrow this simplicity began 
to decline. Polygamy was commonly 
practiced among them. Thev were fond 
of the pleasures of the table. In war 
they fought bravely, but without disci- 
pline. 

2. Religion. — The religion which the 
Persians brought with them into Persia 
proper seems to ha ve been of a very simple 
character, differing from natural religion 

i in little except that it was deeply tainted 
| with Dualism. Like the other Aryans, 
: the Persians worshipped one supreme 

501 



PER 



PET 



God. They had few temples, and no al- 
tars or images. 

3. Language. — The Persian language j 
was closely akin to the Sanscrit, or an- 
cient language of India. Modern Per- 
sian is its degenerate representative, being 
largely impregnated with Arabic. 




Persian Lady. 

4. History. — The history of Persia be- 
gins with the revolt from the Medes and 
the accession of Cyrus the Great, B.C. 
558. Cyrus defeated Croesus, and added 
the Lydian empire to his dominions. This 
conquest was followed closely by the sub- 
mission of the Greek settlements on the 
Asiatic coast, and by the reduction of 
Caria and Lycia. The empire was soon 
afterward extended greatly toward the 
northeast and east. In B.C. 539 or 538, 
Babylon was attacked, and after a stout 
defence fell into the hands of Cyrus. 
This victory first brought the Persians 
into contact with the Jews. The con- 
querors found in Babylon an oppressed 
race — like themselves, abhorrers of idols, 
and professors of a religion in which to a 
great extent they could sympathize. This 
race Cyrus determined to restore to their 
own country : which he did by the re- 
markable edict recorded in the first chap- 
ter of Ezra. Ezra 1 : 2-4. He was slain 
in an expedition against the Massagetse 
or the Derbices, after a reign of twenty- 
nine years. Under his son and successor, 
Cambyses, the conquest of Egypt took 
place, B.C. 525. This prince appears to 
502 



be the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4 : 6. Gomates, 
Cambyses' successor, reversed the policy 
of Cyrus with respect to the Jews, and 
forbade by an edict the further building 
of the temple. Ezra 4 : 17-22. He reigned 
but seven months, and was succeeded by 
Darius. Appealed to, in his second year, 
by the Jews, who wished to resume the 
construction of their temple, Darius not 
only granted them this privilege, but as- 
sisted the work by grants from his own 
revenues, whereby the Jews were able to 
complete the temple as early as his sixth 
year. Ezra 6 : 1-15. Darius was succeeded 
by Xerxes, probably the Ahasuerus of 
Esther. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, 
reigned for forty years after his death, 
and is beyond doubt the king of that 
name who stood in such a friendly rela- 
tion toward Ezra, Ezra 7 : 11-28, and Ne- 
hemiah. Xeh. 2 : 1-9, etc. He is the last 
of the Persian kings who had any special 
connection with the Jews, and the last 
but one mentioned in Scripture. His 
successors were Xerxes II., Sogdianus, 
Darius Nothus, Artaxerxes Mnemon, Ar- 
taxerxes Ochus, and Darius Codomannus, 
who is probably the " Darius the Persian " 
of Nehemiah 12 : 22. These monarchs 
reigned from B.C. 424 to B.C. 330. The 
collapse of the empire under the attack 
of Alexander the Great took place B.C. 
330. 

Per'sis (a Persian woman), a Chris- 
tian woman at Rome, Rom. 16 : 12, whom 
St. Paul salutes, (a.d. 55.) 

Peru'da. The same as Perida. Ezra 
2:55. 

Pestilence. [Plague, The.] 
Pe'ter (a rock or stone). The original 
name of this disciple was Simon, i. e. 
" hearer." He was the son of a man 
named Jonas, Matt. 16:17; John 1 : 42 ; 
21 : 16, and was brought up in his father's 
occupation, that of a fisherman. He and 
his brother Andrew were partners of 
John and James, the sons of Zebedee, 
who had hired servants. Peter did not 
live, as a mere laboring man, in a hut by 
the seaside, but first at Bethsaida, and 
afterward in a house at Capernaum be- 
longing to himself or his mother-in-law, 
which must have been rather a large one, 
since he received in it not only our Lord 
and his fellow disciples, but multitudes 
who were attracted by the miracles and 
preaching of Jesus. Peter was probably 
between thirty and forty years of age at 
the date of his call. That call was pre- 
ceded by a special preparation. Peter 



PET 



PET 



and his brother Andrew, together with 
their partners James and John, the sons 
of Zebedee, were disciples of John the 
Baptist when he was first called by our 
Lord. The particulars of this call are 
related with graphic minuteness by St. 
John. It was upon this occasion that 
Jesus gave Peter the name Cephas, a 
Syriac word answering to the Greek Pe- 
ter, and signifying a stone or rock. John 
1 : 35-42. This first call led to no imme- 
diate change in Peter's external position. 
He and his fellow disciples looked hence- 
forth upon our Lord as their teacher, but 
were not commanded to follow him as 
regular disciples. They returned to Ca- 
pernaum, where they pursued their usual 
business, waiting for a further intimation 
of his will. The second call is recorded 
by the other three evangelists ; the nar- 
rative of Luke being apparently supple- 
mentary to the brief and, so to speak, 
official accounts given by Matthew and 
Mark. It took place on the Sea of Gal- 
ilee near Capernaum, where the four dis- 
ciples, Peter and Andrew, James and 
John, were fishing. Some time was 
passed afterward in attendance upon our 
Lord's public ministration? in Galilee, 
Decapolis, Penea and Judea. The spe- 
cial designation of Peter and his eleven 
fellow disciples took place some time aft- 
erward, when they were set apart as our 
Lord's immediate attendants. See Matt. 
10 : 2-4 ; Mark 3 : 13-19 (the most de- 
tailed account) ; Luke 6 : 13. They appear 
to have then first received formally the 
name of apostles, and from that time Si- 
mon bore publicly, and as it would seem 
all but exclusively, the name Peter, 
which had hitherto been used rather as a 
characteristic appellation than as a proper 
name. From this time there can be no 
doubt that Peter held the first place 
among the apostles, to whatever cause his 
precedence is to be attributed. He is 
named first in every list of the apostles ; 
he is generally addressed by our Lord as 
their representative ; and on the most sol- 
emn occasions he speaks in their name. 
The distinction which he received, and it 
may be his consciousness of ability, ener- 
gy, zeal and absolute devotion to Christ's 
person, seem to have developed a natural 
tendency to rashness and forwardness 
bordering upon presumption. In his af- 
fection and self-confidence Peter ventured 
to reject as impossible the announcement 
of the sufferings and humiliation which 
Jesus predicted, and heard the sharp 



words, " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou 
art an offence unto me ; for thou savorest 
not the things that be of God, but those 
I that be of men." It is remarkable that 
on other occasions when St. Peter signal- 
! ized his faith and devotion, he displayed 
j at the time, or immediately afterward, a 
more than usual deficiency in spiritual 
discernment and consistency. Toward 
the close of our Lord's ministry Peter's 
characteristics become especially prom- 
inent. At the last supper Peter seems to 
have been particularly earnest in the re- 
quest that the traitor might be pointed 
out. After the supper his words drew out 
the meaning of the significant act of our 
Lord in wasiiing his disciples' feet. Then 
too it was that he made those repeated 
protestations of unalterable fidelity, so 
soon to be falsified by his miserable fall. 
On the morning of the resurrection we 
have proof that Peter, though humbled, 
was not crushed by his fall. He and John 
| were the first to visit the sepulchre ; he 
j was the first who entered it. We are told 
j by Luke and by Paul that Christ appeared 
j to him first among the apostles. It is 
observable, however, that on that occa- 
sion he is called by his original name, Si- 
mon, not Peter ; the higher designation 
was not restored until he had been pub- 
licly reinstituted, so to speak, by his Mas- 
ter. That reinstitution — an event of the 
very highest import — took place at the 
! Sea of Galilee. John 21. 

The first part of the Acts of the Apos- 
tles is occupied by the record of transac- 
tions in nearly all of which Peter stands 
forth as the recognized leader of the 
apostles. He is the most prominent per- 
j son in the greatest event after the resur- 
j rection, when on the day of Pentecost 
i the Church was first invested with the 
j plenitude of gifts and power. When the 
I gospel was first preached beyond the pre- 
cincts of Judea, he and John were at once 
I sent by the apostles to confirm the con- 
verts at Samaria. Henceforth he remains 
prominent, but not exclusively promi- 
nent, among the propagators of the gos- 
pel. We have two accounts of the first 
meeting of Peter and Paul — Acts 9 : 26; 
Gal. 1 : 17, 18. This interview was fol- 
lowed by another event marking Peter's 
position — a general apostolical tour of 
visitation to the churches hitherto es- 
tablished. Acts 9 : 32. The most signal 
transaction after the day of Pentecost was 
the baptism of Cornelius. That was the 
crown and consummation of Peter's minis- 
■503 



PET 



PET 



try. The establishment of a church in 
great part of Gentile origin at Antioch, 
and the mission of Barnabas, between 
whose family and Peter there were the 
bonds of near intimacy, set the seal upon 
the work thus inaugurated by Peter. 
This transaction was soon followed by the 
imprisonment of our apostle. His mirac- 
ulous deliverance marks the close of this 
second great period of his ministry. The 
special work assigned to him was com- 
pleted. From that time we have no con- 
tinuous history of him. 

Peter was probably employed for the 
most part in building up and completing 
the organization of Christian communi- 
ties in Palestine and the adjoining dis- 
tricts. There is, however, strong reason 
to believe that he visited Corinth at an 
early period. The name of Peter as 
founder or joint founder is not associated 
with any local church save the churches 
of Corinth, Antioch or Home, by early 
ecclesiastical tradition. It may be con- 
sidered as a settled point that he did not 
visit Home before the last year of his 
life ; but there is satisfactory evidence that 
he and Paul were the founders of the 
church at Rome, and suffered death in 
that city. The time and manner of the 
apostle's martyrdom are less certain. Ac- 
cording to the early writers, he suffered 
at or about the same time with Paul, and 
in the Neronian persecution, a.d. 67, 68. 
All agree that he was crucified. Origen 
says that Peter felt himself to be unworthy 
to be put to death in the same manner 
as his Master, and Avas therefore, at his 
own request, crucified with his head 
downward. The apostle is said to have 
employed interpreters. Of far more im- 
portance is the statement that Mark wrote 
his Gospel under the teaching of Peter, 
or that he embodied in that Gospel the 
substance of our apostle's oral instruc- 
tions. [Mark.] The only written doc- 
uments which Peter has left are the First 
Epistle — about which no doubt has ever 
been entertained in the Church — and the 
Second, which has been a subject of earn- 
est conti'oversy. 

Peter, First Epistle of. The ex- 
ternal evidence of authenticity of this 
epistle is of the strongest kind ; and the 
internal is equally strong. It was ad- 
dressed to the churches of Asia Minor, 
which had for the most part been founded 
by Paul and his companions. Supposing 
it to have been written at Babylon, 1 Pet. 
5 : 13, it is a probable conjecture that Sil- 
504 



vanus, by whom it was transmitted to 
those churches, had joined Peter after a 
tour of visitation, and that his account 
of the condition of the Christians in those 
districts determined the apostle to write 
the epistle. (On the question of this epis- 
tle having been written at Babylon com- 
mentators differ. " Some refer it to the 
famous Babylon in Asia, which after its 
destruction was still inhabited by a Jew- 
ish colony ; others refer it to Babylon in 
Egypt, now called Old Cairo ; still oth- 
| ers understand it mystically of heathen 
; Rome, in which sense ' Babylon' is cer- 
I tainly used in the Apocalypse of John." 
I — Schaff.) The objects of the epistle were 
i — 1. To comfort and strengthen the Chris- 
j tians in a season of severe trial. 2. To 
enforce the practical and spiritual duties 
involved in their calling. 3. To warn 
them against special temptations attached 
to their position. ■ 4. To remove all doubt 
; as to the soundness and completeness of 
I the religious system which they had al- 
i ready received. Such an attestation was 
! especially needed by the Hebrew Chris- 
| tians, who were wont to appeal from 
; Paul's authority to that of the elder apos- 
i ties, and above all to that of Peter. The 
last, which is perhaps the very principal 
object, is kept in view throughout the 
epistle, and is distinctly stated ch. 5 : 12. 
i The harmony of such teaching with that 
| of Paul is sufficiently obvious. Peter be- 
longs to the school, or, to speak more 
correctly, is the leader of the school, 
which at once vindicates the unity of the 
law and the gospel, and puts the superi- 
I ority of the latter on its true basis — that 
of spiritual development. The date of 
j this epistle is uncertain, but Alford be- 
; lieves it to have been written between 
| a.d. 63 and 67. 

Peter, Second Epistle of. The 
following is a brief outline of the con- 
tents of this epistle : The customary 
opening salutation is followed by an enu- 
' nieration of Christian blessings and ex- 
hortation to Christian duties, ch. 1 : 1-13. 
Referring then to his approaching death, 
the apostle assigns as grounds of assur- 
ance for believers his own personal testi- 
mony as eye-witness of the transfiguration, 
and the sure word of prophecy — that is, 
the testimony of the Holy Ghost, vs. 14-21. 
! The danger of being misled by false pro- 
phets is dwelt upon with great earnest- 
ness throughout the second chapter, which 
is almost identical in language and sub- 
ject with the Epistle of J tide. The over- 



PET 



PHA 



throw of all opponents of Christian truth 
is predicted in connection with prophecies 
touching the second advent of Christ, the 
destruction of the world by fire, and the 
promise of new heavens and a new earth 
wherein dwelleth righteousness, ch. 3. 
This epistle of Peter presents questions of 
difficulty. Doubts as to its genuineness 
were entertained by the early Church; 
in the time of Eusebius it was reckoned 
among the disputed books, and was not 
formally admitted into the canon until 
the year 3. '3, at the Council of Hippo. 
These difficulties, however, are insuffi- 
cient to justify more than hesitation in 
admitting its genuineness. A majority 
of names may he quoted in support of the 
genuineness and authenticity of this epis- 
tle. (It is very uncertain as to the time 
when it was written. It was written near 
the close of Peter's life — 2 >erna P s about 
A.D. 68 — from Koine or somewhere on the 
journey thither from the East. — Alford.) 

Pethahi'ah {freed by Jehovah). 1. 
A priest, over the nineteenth course in 
the reign of David. 1 Chron. 24 : 1G. 
(B.C. 102U.) 

2. A Levite in the time of Ezra, who 
had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 23. 
He is probably the same who is men- 
tioned in Neh. 9 : 5. (B.C. 458.) 

3. The son of Meshezabeel, and de- 
scendant of Zerah. Neh. 11 : 24. (B.C. 
44(J.) 

Pe'thor (soothsayer), a town of Mes- 
opotamia, where Balaam resided, and 
situated " upon the river," possibly the 
Euphrates. Num. 22 : 5 ; Deut. 23 : 4. Its 
position is wholly unknown. 

Pethu'el {vision of God), the father 
of the prophet Joel. Joel 1 : 1. (B.C. be- 
fore 800.) 

Peultha'i {my wages), properly Peul- 
lethai, the eighth son of Obed-edom. 1 
Chron. 26:5. (B.C. 1020.) 

Pha'lec {division). Peleg the son of 
Eber. Luke 3 : 35. 

Phal'Iu {distinguished). Pallu the 
son of Keuben is so called in the Author- 
ized Version of Gen. 46 : 9. (B.C. about 
1706.) 

Phal'ti {my deliverance), the son of 
Laish of Callim, to whom Saul gave Mi- 
chal in marriage after his mad jealousy 
had driven David forth as an outlaw. 1 
Sam. 25 :44. In 2 Sam. 3 : 15 he is called 
Phalti p:l. With the exception of this 
brief mention of his name, and the touch- 
ing little episode in 2 Sam. 3 : 16, nothing 
more is heard of Phalti. (B.C. 1061.) 



Phal'ti-el. The same as Phalti. 2 
Sam. 3 : 15. 

Phanu'el {face of God), the father of 
Anna, the prophetess of the tribe of Aser. 
Luke 2 : 36. (B.C. about 80.) 

Pha'raoh, the common title of the 
native kings of Egypt in the Bible, cor- 
responding to P-ra or Ph-ra, " the sun," of 
the hieroglyphics. Brugsch, Ebers and 

; other modern Egyptologists define it to 

! mean "the great house," which would 
correspond to our " the Sublime Porte." 

j As several kings are mentioned only by 
the title " Pharaoh " in the Bible, it is 

j important to endeavor to discriminate 

j them : 

1. T he Pharaoh of Abraham. Gen. 12 : 
j 15. — At the time at which the patriarch 
! went into Egypt, it is generally held that 
; the country, or at least lower Egypt, Avas 
j ruled by the Shepherd kings, of whom 

the first and most powerful line was the 
fifteenth dynasty, the undoubted territo- 
ries of which would be first entered by 
one coming from the east. The date at 
which Abraham visited Egypt was about 
B.C. 2081, which would accord with the 
| time of Salatis, the head of the fifteenth 
dynasty, according to our reckoning. 

2. The Pharaoh of Joseph. Gen. 41. — 
One of the Shepherd kings, perhaps 
Apophis, who belonged to the fifteenth 
dynasty. He appears to have reigned 

; from Joseph's appointment (or perhaps 
somewhat earlier) until Jacob's death, a 
period of at least twenty-six years, from 
about B.C. 1876 to 1850, and to have been 

; the fifth or sixth king of the fifteenth 
dynasty. 

3. The Pharaoh of the oppression. Ex. 
1 : 8. — The first persecutor of the Israel- 

'< ites may be distinguished as the Pharaoh 
of the oppression, from the second, the 
I Pharaoh of the exodus, especially as he 
| commenced and probably long carried on 
the persecution. The general view is that 
he was an Egyptian. One class of Egypt- 
! ologists think that Amosis (Ahmes), the 
I first sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty, 
I is the Pharaoh of the oppression ; but 
I Brugsch and others identify him with 
| Eameses II. (the Sesostris of the Greeks), 
[ of the nineteenth dvnasty. (B.C. 1380- 
j 1340.) 

4. The Pharaoh of the exodus. Ex. 5 : 
i 1. — Either Thothmes III., as Wilkinson, 

or Menephthah son of Rameses II., whom 
Brugsch thinks was probably the Pha- 
raoh of the exodus, who with his army 
pursued the Israelites and was over- 
•505 



PHA 



PHA 



whelmed in the Red Sea. " The events 
which form the lamentable close of his 
rule over Egypt are passed over by the 
monuments (very naturally) with perfect 
silence. The dumb tumulus covers the 
misfortune which was suffered, for the 
record of these events was inseparably 




Portrait of Menephthah I., the Pharaoh of the 
Exodus. 



connected with the humiliating confes- 
sion of a divine visitation, to which a 
patriotic writer at the court of Pharaoh 
would hardly have brought his mind." 
The table on page 186 gives some of the 
latest opinions. 

5. Pharaoh, father-in-law of Mered. — \ 
In the genealogies of the tribe of Judah, ; 
mention is made of the daughter of a 
Pharaoh married to an Israelite — " Bi- I 
thiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which 
Mered took." 1 Chron. 4 : 18. 

6. Pharaoh, brother-in-law of Hadad \ 
the Edomite. — This king gave Hadad, as [ 
his wife, the sister of his own wife, Tah- 
penes. 1 Kings 11 : 18-20. 

7. Pharaoh, father-in-law of Solomon. — ' 
The mention that the queen was brought { 
into the city of David while Solomon's j 
house and the temple and the city wall 
were building shows that the marriage 
took place not later than the eleventh 
year of the king, when the temple was 
finished, having been commenced in the 
fourth year. 1 Kings 6 : 1, 37, 38. This 
Pharaoh led an expedition into Palestine. I 
1 Kin^s 9 : 16. 

'506 



8. Pharaoh, the opponent of Sennache- 
rib. — This Pharaoh, Isa. 36 : 6, can only 
be the Sethos whom Herodotus mentions 
as the opponent of Sennacherib, and who 
may reasonably be supposed to be the 
Zet of Manetho. 

9. Pharaoh-necho— The first mention 
in the Bible of a proper name with the 
title Pharaoh is the case of Pharaoh- 
necho, who is also called Necho simply. 
This king was of the Saite twenty-sixth 
dynasty, of which Manetho makes him 
either the fifth or the sixth ruler. He- 
rodotus calls him Nekos, and assigns to 
him a reign of sixteen years, which is 
confirmed by the monuments. He seems 
to have been an enterprising king, as he 
is related to have attempted to complete 
the canal connecting the Red Sea with 
the Nile, and to have sent an expedition 
of Phoenicians to circumnavigate Africa, 
which was successfully accomplished. 
At the commencement of his reign, B.C, 
610, he made war against the king of As- 
syria, and, being encountered on his way 
by Josiah, defeated and slew the king of 
Judah at Megiddo. 2 Kings 23 : 29, 30 ; 2 
Chron. 35 : 20-24. Necho seems to have 
soon returned to Egypt. Perhaps he was 
on his way thither when he deposed Je- 
hoahaz. The army was probably posted 
at Carchemish, and was there defeated 
by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year 
of Necho, B.C. 607, that king not being, 

! as it seems, then at its head. Jer. 46 : 1, 
: 2, 6, 10. This battle led to the loss of all 
the Asiatic dominions of Egypt. 2 Kings 
24 : 7. 

10. Pharaoh-hophra. — The next king 
I of Egypt mentioned in the Bible is Pha- 
; raoh-hophra, the second successor of 

Necho, from whom he was separated by 
! the six-years reign of Psammetichus II. 
He came to the throne about B.C. 589, 
j and ruled nineteen years. Herodotus, 
: who calls him A pries, makes him son of 
[ Psammetichus II., whom he calls Psam- 
mis, and great-grandson of Psammetichus 
I I. In the Bible it is related that Zed- 
i ekiah, the last king of Judah, was aided 
j by a Pharaoh against Nebuchadnezzar, 
| in fulfillment of a treaty, and that an 
'■ army came out of Egypt, so that the 
Chaldeans were obliged to raise the siege 
of Jerusalem. The city was first besieged 
in the ninth year of Zedekiah, B.C. 590, 
and was captured in his eleventh year, 
! B.C. 588. It was evidently continuously 
! invested for a length of time before it 
| was taken, so that it is most probable 



PHA 



PHA 



that Pharaoh's expedition took place 
during 590 or 589. The Egyptian army 
returned without effecting its purpose. 
Jer. 27 : 5-8; Ezek. 17 : 11-18; comp. 2 
Kings 25 : 1-4. No subsequent Pharaoh 
is mentioned in Scripture, but there are 
predictions doubtless referring to the mis- 
fortunes of later pi'inces until the second 
Persian conquest, when the prophecy, 
" There shall be no more a prince of the 
land of Egypt," Ezek. 30 : 13, was fulfilled. 
(In the summer of 1S81 a large number 
of the mummies of the Pharaohs were 
found in a tomb near Thebes — among 
them Raskenen, of the seventeenth dy- 
nasty, Ahmes I., founder of the eighteenth 
dynasty, Thothmes I., II. and III., and 
Pameses I. It was first thought that 
Pameses II., of the nineteenth dynasty, 
was there, but this was found to be a 
mistake. A group of coffins belonging to 
the twenty-first dynasty has been found, 
and it is probable that we will learn not 
a little about the early Pharaohs, espe- 
cially from the inscriptions on their 
shrouds. — Ed.) 




Pharaoh's Daughter. 



Pharaoh's daughter. Three Egyp- 
tian princesses, daughters of Pharaohs, 
are mentioned in the Bible : — 1. The pre- 
server of Moses, daughter of the Pharaoh 
who first, oppressed the Israelites. Ex. 
2 : 5-10. Osborn thinks her name was 
Thouoris, daughter of Rameses II., others 
that her name was Merrhis. (B.C. 1531.) 

2. Pithiah wife of Mered, an Israelite, 
daughter of a Pharaoh of an uncertain 
age, probably of about the time of the 



exodus. 1 Chron. 4 : 18. [Pharaoh, 
No. 5.] 

3. A wife of Solomon. 1 Kings 3:1; 
7 : 8 ; 9 : 24. [Pharaoh, 7.] (B.C. 1000.) 

Pharaoh, The wife of. The wife 
of one Pharaoh, the king who received 
Hadad the Edomite, is mentioned in 
Scripture. She is called "queen," and 
her name, Tahpenes, is given. [Tah- 
penes ; Pharaoh, C] 

Pha'res, Pha'rcz or Pe'rez, the 
son of Judah. Matt. 1:3; Luke 3 : 33. 

Pha'rez (Perez, 1 Chron. 27:3; Pha- 
res, Matt. 1:3; Luke 3 : 33 ; 1 Esd. 5 : 5), 
twin son, with Zarah or Zerah, of Judah 
and Tamar his daughter-in-law. (B.C. 
1730.) The circumstances of his birth 
are detailed in Gen. 38. Pharez occupied 
the rank of Judah's second son, and from 
two of his sons sprang two new chief 
houses, those of the Hezronites and Ha- 
mulites. From Hezron's second son Pam, 
or Aram, sprang David and the kings of 
Judah, and eventually Jesus Christ. In 
the reign of David the house of Pharez 
seems to have been eminently distin- 
guished. 

Phar'isees, areligious party or school 
among the Jews at the time of Christ, so 
called from perishin, the Aramaic form 
of the Hebrew word perushim, " sepa- 
rated." The chief sects among the Jews 
were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and 
the Essenes, who may be described re- 
spectively as the Formalists, the Free- 
thinkers and the Puritans. A knowledge 
of the opinions and practices of the Phar- 
isees at the time of Christ is of great im- 
portance for entering deeply into the 
genius of the Christian religion. A cur- 
sory perusal of the Gospels is sufficient 
to show that Christ's teaching was in 
some respects thoroughly antagonistic to 
theirs. He denounced them in the bit- 
terest language; see Matt. 15:7, 8; 23: 
5, 13, 14, 15, 23; Mark 7:6; Luke 11: 
42-44, and compare Mark 7:1-5; 11 : 29 ; 
12 : 19, 20 ; Luke 6 : 28, 37-42. To under- 
stand the Pharisees is by contrast an aid 
toward understanding the spirit of un- 
corrupted Christianity. 

1. The fundamental principle of the 
Pharisees, common to them with all or- 
thodox modern Jews, is that by the side 
of the written law regarded as a summary 
of the principles and general laws of the 
Hebrew people there was an oral law to 
complete and to explain the written law, 
given to Moses on Mount Sinai and trans- 
mitted by him by word of mouth. The 
•507 



PHA 



PHA 



first portion of the Talmud, called the 
Mishna or "second law," contains this 
oral law. It is a digest of the Jewish 
traditions and a compendium of the whole 
ritual law, and it came at length to be 
esteemed far above the sacred text. 

2. While it was the aim of Jesus to call 
men to the law of God itself as the su- 
preme guide of life, the Pharisees, upon 
the pretence of maintaining it intact, 
multiplied minute precepts and distinc- 
tions to such an extent that the whole 
life of the Israelite was hemmed in and 
burdened on every side by instructions 
so numerous and trifling that the law 
was almost if not wholly lost sight of. 
These "traditions," as they were called, 
had long been gradually accumulating. 
Of the trifling character of these regula- 
tions innumerable instances are to be 
found in the Mishna. Such were their 
washings before they could eat bread, 
and the special minuteness with which 
t he forms of this washing were prescribed ; 
their bathing when they returned from 
the market ; their washing of cups, pots, 
brazen vessels, etc. ; their fastings twice 
in the week, Luke 18 : 12 ; such were 
their tithings, Matt. 23 : 23 ; and such, 
finally, were those minute and vexatious 
extensions of the law of the Sabbath, 
which must have converted God's gra- 
cious ordinance of the Sabbath's rest into 
a burden and a pain. Matt. 12 : 1-13 ; 
Mark 3:1-6; Luke 13 : 10-17. 

3. It was a leading aim of the Re- 
deemer to teach men that true piety con- 
sisted not in forms, but in substance, not 
in outward observances, but in an inward 
spirit. The whole system of Pharisaic 
'piety led to exactly opposite conclusions. 

The lowliness of piety was, according to 
the teaching of Jesus, an inseparable con- 
comitant of its reality ; but the Pharisees 
sought mainly to attract the attention 
and to excite the admiration of men. 
Matt. 6:2, 6, 16 ; 23 : 5, 6 ; Luke 14 : 7. 
Indeed the whole spirit of their religion 
was summed up, not in confession of sin 
and in humility, but in a proud self- 
righteousness at variance with any true 
conception of man's relation to either God 
or his fellow creatures. 

4. With all their pretences to piety 
they were in reality avaricious, sensual 
and dissolute. Matt. 23 : 25 ; John 8 : 7. 
They looked with contempt upon every 
nation but their own. Luke 10:29. Fi- 
nally, instead of endeavoring to fulfill 
the great end of the dispensation whose 

508 



truths they professed to teach, and thus 
bringing men to the Hope of Israel, they 
devoted their energies to making converts 
to their own narrow views, who with all 
the zeal of proselytes were more exclu- 
sive and more bitterly opposed to the 
truth than they were themselves. Matt. 
22 : 15. 

5. The Pharisees at an early day se- 
cured the popular favor, and thereby ac- 
quired considerable political influence. 
This influence was greatly increased by 
the extension of the Pharisees over the 
whole land and the majority which they 
obtained in the Sanhedrin. Their num- 
ber reached more than six thousand under 
the Herods. Many of them must have 
suffered death for political agitation. In 
the time of Christ they were divided doc- 
trinally into several schools, among which 
those of Hillel and Shammai were most 
noted. — McClintock and Strong. 

6. One of the fundamental doctrines of 
the Pharisees was a belief in a future 
stale. They appear to have believed in 
a resurrection of the dead, very much in 
the same sense as the early Christians. 
They also believed in " a divine Provi- 
dence acting side by side with the free 
will of man." — iSchaff. 

7. It is proper to add that it would be 
a great mistake to suppose that the Phar- 
isees were wealthy and luxurious, much 

I more that they had degenerated into the 
' vices which were imputed to some of the 
Roman popes and cardinals during the 
two hundred years preceding the Refor- 
mation. Josephus compared the Phari- 
sees to the sect of the Stoics. He says that 
they lived frugally, in no respect giving 
in to luxury. We are not to suppose that 
there were not many individuals among 
them who were upright and pure, for 
there were such men as Nicodemus, Ga- 
maliel, Joseph of Arimathsea and Paul. 
Pha'rosh. Ezra 8: 3. [See Pakosh.] 
Phar'par {swift), the second of the 
"two rivers of Damascus" — Abana and 
Pharpar — alluded to by Naaman. 2 
Kings 5 : 12. The two principal streams 
in the district of Damascus are the Ba- 
rada and the Awaj, the former being the 
Abana and the latter the Pharpar. The 
Awaj rises on the southeast slopes of 
Hermon, and flows into the most south- 
erly of the three lakes or swamps of 
Damascus. 

Phar'zites, The, the descendants of 
Parez the son of Judah. Num. 26 : 20. 
Pha'seah. Neh. 7 : 51. [Paseah, 2.] 



PHA 



PHI 



Phase'lis, a town on the coast of Asia 
Minor, on the confines of Lycia and 
Pamphylia, and consequently ascribed 
by the ancient writers sometimes to one 
and sometimes to the other. 1 Mace. 15 : 
23. 

Phe'be. [Phcebe.] 

Pheni'ce (Acts 27 : 12, more pi*operly 
Phoenix, as it is translated in the Revised 
Version), the name of a haven in Crete 
on the south coast. The name was no 
doubt derived from the Greek word 
for the palm tree, which Theophrastus 
says was indigenous in the island. It is 
the modern Lutro. [See Phcenice; 
Phoenicia.] 

Phi'chol (strong), chief captain of the 
army of Abimelech, king of the Philis- 
tines of Gerar in the davs of both Abra- 
ham, Gen. 21 : 22, 32, and Isaac. Gen. 26 : 
26. (B.C. 1900.) 




Philadelphia. 



Philadelphia, strictly Philadel- 
phia (brotherly love), a town on the 
confines of Lydia and Phrygia Catacecau- 
mene, 25 miles southeast ot Sardis, and 
built by Attalus II., king of Pergamos, 
who died B.C. 138. It was situated on 
the lower slopes of Tmolus, and is still 
represented by a town called Allah-shehr 
(city of God). Its elevation is 952 feet 
above the sea. The original population 
of Philadelphia seems to have been Ma- 
cedonian ; but there was, as appears from 
Rev. 3 : 9, a synagogue of Hellenizing 
Jews there, as well as a Christian church. 
(It was the seat of one of "the seven 



churches of Asia.") The locality was 
subject to constant earthquakes, which in 
the time of Strabo rendered even the 
town walls of Philadelphia unsafe. The 
expense of reparation was constant, and 
hence perhaps the poverty of the mem- 
bers of the church. Rev. 3 : 8. (The 
church was highly commended. Rev. 3 : 
7-13. Even Gibbon bears the following 
well-known testimony to the truth of the 
prophecy, " Because thou hast kept the 
word of my patience, I also will keep 
thee in the hour of temptation " :' " At a 
distance from the sea, forgotten by the 
(Greek) emperor, encompassed on all 
sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens 
defended their religion and freedom above 
fourscore years. Among the Greek col- 
onies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia 
is still erect, a column in a scene of 
ruins." " The modern town (Allah-shehr, 
city of God), although spacious, contain- 
ing 3000 houses and 10,000 inhabitants, 
is badly built ; the dwellings are mean 
and the streets filthy. The inhabitants 
are mostly Turks. A few ruins are 
found, including remains of a wall and 
about twenty-five churches. In one place 
are four strong marble pillars, which 
once supported the dome of a church. 
One of the old mosques is believed by the 
native Christians to have been the church 
in which assembled the primitive Chris- 
tians addressed in the Apocalypse." — 
Whitney's Bible Geography.) 

Phile'mon, the name of the Chris- 
tian to whom Paul addressed his epistle 
in behalf of Onesimus. He was a native 
probably of Colosse, or at all events 
lived in that city when the apostle wrote 
to him : first, because Onesimus was a 
Colossian, Col. 4:9; and secondly, be- 
cause Archippus was a Colossian, Col. 4 : 
17, whom Paul associates with Philemon 
at the beginning of his letter. Phil. 1, 2. 
It is related that Philemon became 
bishop of Colosse, and died as a martyr 
under Nero. It is evident from the let- 
ter to him that Philemon was a man of 
property and influence, since he is repre- 
sented as the head of a numerous house- 
hold, and as exercising an expensive 
liberality toward his friends and the poor 
in general. He was indebted to the 
apostle Paul as the medium of his per- 
sonal participation in the gospel. It is 
not certain under what circumstances 
they became known to each other. It is 
evident that on becoming a disciple he 
gave no common proof of the sincerity 
509 



PHI 



PHI 



and power of his faith. His character, 
as shadowed forth in the epistle to him, 
is one of the noblest which the sacred 
record makes known to us. 

Philemon, The Epistle of Paul 
to, is one of the letters which the apostle 
wrote during his first captivity at Rome, 
a.d. 63 or early in a.d. 64. Nothing is 
wanted to confirm the genuineness of the 
epistle : the external testimony is unim- 
peachable ; nor does the epistle itself 
otter anything to conflict with this decis- 
ion. The occasion of the letter was that 
Onesimus, a slave of Philemon, had run 
away from him to Pome, either desiring 
liberty or, as some suppose, having com- 
mitted theft. Phil. 18. Here he was con- 
verted under the instrumentality of Paul. 
The latter, intimately connected with 
the master ami the servant, was natur- 
ally anxious to effect a reconciliation 
between them. He used his influence 
with Onesimus, ver. 12, to induce him 
to return to Colosse and place himself 
again at the disposal of his master. On 
his departure, Paul put into his hand 
this letter as evidence that Onesimus 
was a true and approved disciple of 
Christ, and entitled as such to be re- 
ceived, not as a servant, but above a 
servant, as a brother in the faith. The 
Epistle to Philemon has one peculiar 
feature — its oesthetical character it may 
be termed — which distinguishes it from 
all the other epistles. The writer had 
peculiar difficulties to overcome ; but 
Paul, it is confessed, has shown a degree 
of self-denial and a tact in dealing with 
them which in being equal to the occa- 
sion could hardly be greater. 

Phile'tus (beloved) was possibly a 
disciple of Hymenseus, with whom he 
is associated in 2 Tim. 2 : 17, and who is 
named without him in an earlier epistle. 
1 Tim. 1 : 20 (A.D. 58-64). They appear 
to have been persons who believed the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament, but 
misinterpreted them, allegorizing away 
the doctrine of the resurrection, and re- 
solving it all into figure and metaphor. 
The delivering over unto Satan seems to 
have been a form of excommunication 
declaring the person reduced to the state 
of a heathen ; and in the apostolic age 
it was accompanied with supernatural 
or miraculous effects upon the bodies of 
the persons so delivered. 

PhiPip [lover of horses^ the apostle 
was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew 
and Peter, John 1 : 44, and apparently 
510 



was among the Galilean peasants of that 
district who flocked to hear the preach- 
ing of the Baptist. The manner in 
| which St. John speaks of him indicates 
j a previous friendship with the sons of 
Jona and Zebedee, and a consequent 
participation in their messianic hopes. 
The close union of the two in John 6 
and 12 suggests that he may have owed 
to Andrew the first tidings that the hope 
had been fulfilled. The statement that 
Jesus found him, John 1 : 43, implies a 
previous seeking. In the lists of the 
twelve apostles, in the Synoptic Gospel, 
his name is as uniformly at the head of 
the second group of four as the name of 
Peter is at that of the first, Matt. 10 : 3 ; 
Mark 3:18; Luke 6 : 14 ; and the facts 
recorded by St. John give the reason of 
this priority. Philip apparently was 
among the first company of disciples 
who were with the Lord at the com- 
mencement of his ministry, at the mar- 
riage at Cana, on his first appearance as 
a prophet in Jerusalem. John 2. The 
first three Gospels tell us nothing more 
of him individually. St. John, with his 
characteristic fullness of personal rem- 
iniscences, records a few significant ut- 
terances. John 6 : 5-9 ; 12 : 20-22 ; 14:8. 
No other fact connected with the name 
of Philip is recorded in the Gospels. He 
is among the company of disciples at 
Jerusalem after the ascension, Acts 1 : 
13, and on the day of Pentecost. After 
this all is uncertain and apocryphal. 
According to tradition, he preached in 
Phrvgia, and died at Hierapolis. 

Phil'ip the evangelist is first men- 
tioned in the account of the dispute be- 
tween the Hebrew and Hellenistic dis- 
ciples in Acts 6. He is one of the seven 
| appointed to superintend the daily dis- 
j tribution of food and alms, and so to 
| remove all suspicion of partiality. The 
j persecution of which Saul was the lead- 
i er must have stopped the " daily minis- 
I trations" of the Church. The teachers 
who had been most prominent were com- 
| pelled to take flight, and Philip was 
among them. It is noticeable that the 
\ city of Samaria is the first scene of his 
activity. Acts 8. He is the precursor of 
St. Paul in his work, as Stephen had 
been in his teaching. The scene which 
brings Philip and Simon the sorcerer 
; into contact with each other, Acts 8 : 9- 
i 13, in which the magician has to ac- 
i knowledge a power over nature greater 
j than his own, is interesting. This step 



PHI 



PHI 



is followed by another. On the road riod — not less than eighteen or nineteen 
from Jerusalem to Gaza lie meets the years — we lose sight of him. The last 
Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8 : 26 If. The glimpse of him in the New Testament 
history that follows is interesting as one is in the account of St. Paul's journey to 
of the few records in the New Testament Jerusalem. It is to his house, as to one 
of the process of individual conversion, well known to them, that St. Paul and 
A brief sentence tells us that Philip ! his companions turn for shelter. He 
continued his work as a preacher at I has four daughters, who possess the gift 
Azotus (Ashdod) and among the other of prophetic utterance, and who appar- 
cities that had formerly belonged to the ently give themselves to the work of 
Philistines, and, following the coast-line, teaching instead of entering on the life 
came to Caesarea. Then for a long pe-' of home. Acts 21 : 8, 9. He is visited by 




Ruins in the Market-place of Philippi. 



the prophets and elders of Jerusalem. I St. Paul visited was a Roman colony 
One tradition places the scene of his founded by Augustus after the famous 
death at Hierapolis in Phrygia. Accord- j battle of Philippi, fought here between 
ing to another, he died bishop of Tralles. Antony and Octavius and Brutus and 
The house in which he and his daughters Cassius, B.C. 42. The remains which 
had lived was pointed out to travellers strew the ground near the modern Turk- 
in the time of Jerome. ish village Bereketli are no doubt derived 

Phil'ip Her'od I., II. [Herod.] j from that city. The original town, built 
Philip'pi (named from Philip of , by Philip of Macedonia, was probably 
Macedonia), a city of Macedonia, about j not exactly on the same site. Philip, 
nine miles from the sea, to the north- I when he acquired possession of the site, 
west of the island of Thasos, which is found there a town named Datus or 
twelve miles distant from its port Neap- | Datum, which was probably in its origin 
olis, the modern Kavalla. It is situated a factory of the Phoenicians, who were 
in a plain between the ranges of Pan- i the first that worked the gold-mines in 
gseus and Hsemus. The Philippi which : the mountains here, as in the neighbor- 

1 oil 



PHI 



PHI 



ing Thasos. The proximity of the gold- 
mines was of course the origin of so 
large a city as Philippi, but the plain in 
which it lies is of extraordinary fertility. 
The position, too, was on the main road 
from Pome to Asia, the Via Egnatia, 
which from Thessalonica to Constanti- 
nople followed the same course as the 




View at Philippi. 

existing post-road. On St. Paul's visits 
to Philippi, see the following article. 
At Philippi the gospel was first preached 
in Europe. Lydia was the first convert. 
Here too Paul and Silas were imprisoned. 
Acts 16 : 23. The Philippians sent con- 
tributions to Paul to relieve his temporal 
wants. 

Philippians, Epistle to the, was 

written by St. Paul from Rome in a.d. 02 
or 63. St. Paul's connection with Phi- 
lippi was of a peculiar character, which 
gave rise to the writing of this epistle. 
St. Paul entered its walls A.D. 52. Acts 
16 : 12. There, at a greater distance from 
Jerusalem than any apostle had yet pen- 
etrated, the long-restrained energy of St. 
Paul was again employed in laying the 
foundation of a Christian church. Phi- 
lippi was endaared to St. Paul not only 
by the hospitality of Lydia, the deep 
sympathy of the converts, and the re- 
markable miracle which set a seal on his 
preaching, but also by the successful ex- 
ercise of his missionary activity after a 
long suspense, and by the happy conse- 
quences of his undaunted endurance of 
ignominies which remained in his mem- 
ory, Philip. 1 : 30, after the long interval | 
of eleven years. Leaving Timothy and J 
Luke to watch over the infant church, 
512 1 



Paul and Silas went to Thessalonica, 1 
Thess. 2 : 2, whither they were followed 
by the alms of the Philippians, Philip. 
4 : 16, and thence southward. After the 
lapse of five years, spent chiefly at Cor- 
inth and Ephesus, St. Paul passed through 
Macedonia, a.d. 57, on his way to Greece, 
and probably visited Philippi for the 
second time, and was there joined 
by Timothy. He wrote at Philippi 
his second Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians. On returning from Greece, 
Acts 20 : 4, he again found a refuge 
among his faithful Philippians, 
where he spent some days at Easter, 
A.D. 58, with St. Luke, who accom- 
panied him when he sailed from 
Neapolis. Once more, in his Eoman 
captivity, A.D. 62, their care of him 
revived again. They sent Epaphro- 
ditus, bearing their alms for the 
apostle's support, and ready also to 
tender his personal service. Philip. 
2 : 25. St. Paul's aim in writing is 
plainly this : while acknowledging 
the alms of the Philippians and the 
personal services of their messenger, 
to give them some information re- 
specting his own condition, and 
some advice respecting theirs. Strangely 
full of joy and thanksgiving amidst ad- 
versity, like the apostle's midnight hymn 
from the depth of his Philippian dungeon, 
this epistle went forth from his prison at 
Rome. In most other epistles he writes 
Math a sustained effort to instruct, or with 
sorrow, or with indignation ; he is striving 
to supply imperfect or to correct erroneous 
teaching, to put down scandalous impu- 
rity, or to heal schism in tli3 church 
which he addresses. But in this epistle, 
though he knew the Philippians inti- 
mately and was not blind to the faults 
and tendencies to fault of some of them, 
yet he mentions no evil so characteristic 
of the whole Church as to call for general 
censure on his part or amendment on 
theirs. Of all his epistles to churches, 
none has so little of an official character 
as this. 

Philis'tia (Heb. Pelesheth) (land of 
sojourners). The word thus translated 
(in Ps. 60:8; 87:4; 108:9) is in the 
original identical with that elsewhere 
rendered Palestine, which always means 
land of the Philistines. ( Philistia was the 
plain on the southwest coast of Palestine. 
It was 40 miles long on the coast of the 
Mediterranean between Gerar and Joppa, 
and 10 miles wide at the northern end 



PHI 



PHI 



and 20 at the southern. — Ed.) This plain 
has been in all ages remarkable for the 
extreme richness of its soil. It was also 
adapted to the growth of military power ; ! 
for while the plain itself permitted the 
use of war-chariots, which were the chief 
arm of offence, the occasional elevations 
which rise out of it offered secure sites for 
towns and strongholds. It was, more- | 
over, a commercial country : from its po- | 
sition it must have been at all times the 
great thoroughfare between Phoenicia and 
Syria in the north and Egypt and Arabia 
in the south. 

Philis'tines {immigrants). The ori- 
gin of the Philistines is nowhere expressly 
stated in the Bible ; but as the prophets 
describe them as " the Philistines from 
Caphtor," Amos 9 : 7, and " the remnant 
of the maritime district of Caphtor," Jer. 
47 : 4, it is prima facie probable that they 
were the " Caphtorim which came out of 
Caphtor " who expelled the Avim from 
their territory and occupied it in their 
place, Deut, 2 : 23 ; and that these again 
were the Caphtorim mentioned in the 
Mosaic genealogical table among the de- 
scendants of Mizraim. Gen. 10:14. It 
has been generally assumed that Caphtor 
represents Crete, and that the Philistines 
migrated from that island, either directly 
or through Egypt, into Palestine. But 
the name Caphtor is more probably iden- 
tified with the Egyptian Coptos. [Caph- 

TOK.] 

History. — The Philistines must have 
settled in the land of Canaan before the 
time of Abraham ; for they are noticed in 
his dav as a pastoral tribe in the neigh- 
borhood of Gerar. Gen. 21 : 32, 34; 26 : 1, 
8. Between the times of Abraham and 
Joshua the Philistines had changed their 
quarters, and had advanced northward 
into the plain of Philistia. The Philis- 
tines had at an early period attained 
proficiency in the arts of peace. Their 
wealth was abundant, Judges 16 : 5, 18, 
and they appear in all respects to have 
been a prosperous people. Possessed of 
such elements of power, they had attained 
in the time of the judges an important 
position among eastern nations. About 
B.C. 1200 we find them engaged in suc- 
cessful war with the Sidonians. Justin 
xviii. 3. The territory of the Philistines, 
having been once occupied by the Canaan- 
ites, formed a portion of the promised 
land, and was assigned to the tribe of 
Judah. Josh. 15 : 2, 12, 45^7. No por- 
tion of it, however, was conquered in the 
33 



lifetime of Joshua, Josh. 13 : 2, and even 
after his death no permanent conquest 
was effected, Judges 3:3, though we are 
informed that the three cities of Gaza, 
Ashkelon and Ekron were taken. Judges 
1 : 18. The Philistines soon recovered 
these, and commenced an aggressive pol- 
icy against the Israelites, by which they 
gained a complete ascendency over them. 
Individual heroes were raised up from 
time to time, such as Shamgar the son of 
Anath, Judges 3 : 31, and still more Sam- 
son, Judges 13-16 ; but neither of these 
men succeeded in permanently throwing 
off the yoke. The Israelites attributed 
their past weakness to their want of unity, 
and they desired a king, with the special 
object of leading them against the foe. 1 
Sam. 8:20. Saul threw off the yoke; 
and the Philistines were defeated with 
great slaughter at Geba. 1 Sam. 13 : 3. 
They made no attentat to regain their 
supremacy for about twenty -five years, 
and the scene of the next contest shows 
the altered strength of the two parties. 
It was no longer in the central country, 
but in a ravine leading down to the 
Philistine plain, the valley of Elah, the 
position of which is about 14 miles south- 
west of Jerusalem. On this occasion the 
prowess of young David secured success 
to Israel, and the foe was pursued to the 
gates of Gath and Ekron. 1 Sam. 17. The 
power of the Philistines was, however, 
still intact on their own territory. The 
border warfare was continued. The scene 
of the next conflict was far to the north, 
in the valley of Esdraelon. The battle 
on this occasion proved disastrous to the 
Israelites ; Saul himself perished, and the 
Philistines penetrated across the Jordan 
and occupied the forsaken cities. 1 Sam. 
31 : 1-7. On the appointment of David 
to be king, he twice attacked them, and 
on each occasion with signal success, in 
the first case capturing their images, in 
the second pursuing them " from Geba 
until thou come to Gazer." 2 Sam. 5 : 17- 
25; 1 Chron. 14:8-16. Henceforth the 
Israelites appear as the aggressors. About 
seven years after the defeat at Rephaim, 
David, who had now consolidated his 
power, attacked them on their own soil, 
and took Gath with its dependencies. 
The whole of Philistia was included in 
Solomon's empire. Later, when the Phi- 
listines, joined by the Syrians and Assyr- 
ians, made war on the kingdom of Israel, 
Hezekiah formed an alliance with the 
Egvptians, as a counterpoise to the Assyr- 
513 



PHI 



PHI 



ians, and the possession of Philistia be- 
came henceforth the turning-point of the i 
struggle between the two great empires s 
of the East. The Assyrians under Tar- j 
tan, the general of Sargon, made an ex- 
pedition against Egypt, and took Ashdod, j 
as the key of that country. Isa. 20 :1,1 
4, 5. Under Sennacherib Philistia Avas 
again the scene of important operations. 
The Assyrian supremacy was restored by 
Esarhaddon, and it seems probable that 
the Assyrians retained their hold on Ash- 
dod until its capture, after a long siege, 
by Psammetichus. It was about this 
time that Philistia was traversed by a 
vast Scythian horde on their way to 
Egypt. The Egyptian ascendency was 
not as yet re-established, for we find the 
next king, Necho, compelled to besiege 
Gaza on his return from the battle of 
Megiddo. After the death of Necho the 
contest was renewed between the Egyp- 
tians and the Chaldeans under Nebu- 
chadnezzar, and the result was specially 
disastrous to the Philistines. The " old 
hatred" that the Philistines bore to the 
Jews was exhibited in acts of hostility at 
the time of the Babylonish captivity, 
Ezek. 25 : 15-17 ; but on the return this 
was somewhat abated, for some of the Jews 
married Philistian women, to the great 
scandal of their rulers. Neh. 13 : 23, 24. 
From this time the history of Philistia is 
absorbed in the struggles of the neighbor- 
ing kingdoms. The latest notices of the 
Philistines as a nation occur in 1 Macc.3-5. 

Institutions, religion, etc. — With re- 
gard to the institutions of the Philistines 
our information is very scanty. The five 
chief cities had, as early as the days of 
Joshua, constituted themselves into a 
confederacy, restricted however, in all 
probability, to matters of offence and de- 
fence. Each was under the government 
of a prince, Josh. 13 : 3 ; Judges 3 : 3, etc. ; 
1 Sam. 18 : 30; 29 : 6, and each possessed 
its own territory. The Philistines appear 
to have been deeply imbued with super- 
stition : they carried their idols with 
them on their campaigns, 2 Sam. 5 : 21, 
and proclaimed their victories in their 
presence. 1 Sam. 31 : 9. The gods whom 
they chiefly worshipped were Dagon, 
Judges 16 : 23 ; 1 Sam. 5:3-5; 1 Chron. 
10 : 10 ; 1 Mace. 10 : 83, Ashtaroth, 1 Sam. 
31:10; Herod, i. 105, and Baalzebub. 2 
Kings 1:2-6. 

Philol'ogus, a Christian at Rome to 
whom St. Paul sends his salutation. 
Rom. 16 : 15. 
514 



Philosophy. It is the object of the 
following article to give some account 
( I . ) of that development of thought among 
the Jews which answered to the philoso- 
phy of the West; (II.) of the systematic 
progress of Greek philosophy as forming 
a complete whole; and (III.) of the con- 
tact of Christianity with- philosophy. 

I. The Philosophic Discipline of 
the Jews. — Philosophy, if we limit the 
word strictly to describe the free pursuit 
of knowledge of which truth is the one 
conrplete end, is essentially of western 
growth. In the East the search after 
wisdom has always been connected with 
practice. The history of the Jews offers 
no exception to this remark : there is no 
Jewish philosophy, properly so called. 
The method of Greece was to proceed 
from life to God ; the method of Israel 
(so to speak) was to proceed from God to 
life. The axioms of one system are the 
conclusions of the other. The one led to 
the successive abandonment of the no- 
blest domains of science which man had 
claimed originally as his own, till it left 
bare systems of morality ; the other, in 
the fullness of time, prepared many to 
welcome the Christ — the Truth. The 
philosophy of the Jews, using the word 
in a large sense, is to be sought for rather 
in the progress of the national life than 
in special books. Step by step the idea 
of the family was raised into that of the 
people ; and the kingdom furnished the 
basis of those wider promises which in- 
cluded all nations in one kingdom of 
heaven. The social, the political, the 
cosmical relations of man were traced 
out gradually in relation to God. The 
philosophy of the Jews is thus essentially 
a moral philosophy, resting on a definite 
connection with God. The doctrines of 
Creation and Providence, of an infinite 
divine person and of a responsible human 
will, which elsewhere form the ultimate 
limits of speculation, are here assumed 
at the outset. The Psalms, which, among 
the other infinite lessons which they con- 
vey, give a deep insight into the need of 
a personal apprehension of truth, every- 
where declare the absolute sovereignty 
of God over the material and the moral 
world. One man among all is distin- 
guished among the Jews as "the wise 
man." The description which is given 
of his writings serves as a commentary on 
the national view of philosophy. 1 Kings 
4 : 30-33. The lesson of practical duty, 
the full utterance of " a large heart," 



PHI 



PHI 



ibid. 29, the careful study of God's crea- 
tures, — this is the sum of wisdom. Yet 
in fact the very practical aim of this 
philosophy leads to the revelation of the 
most sublime truth. Wisdom was grad- 
ually felt to be a person, throned by God 
and holding converse with men. Prov. 8. 
She was seen to stand in open enmity 
with " the strange woman," who sought 
to draw them aside by sensuous attrac- 
tions ; and thus a new step was made to- 
ward the central doctrine of Christianity 
— the incarnation of the Word. Two 
books of the Bible, Job and Ecclesiastes, 
of which the latter at any rate belongs to 
the period of the close of the kingdom, 
approach more nearly than any others to 
the type of philosophical discussions. 
But in both the problem is moral and not 
metaphysical. The one deals with the 
evils which afflict " the perfect and up- 
right;" the other with the vanity of all 
the pursuits and pleasures of earth. The 
captivity necessarily exercised a pro- 
found influence upon Jewish thought. 
The teaching of Persia seems to have 
been designed to supply important ele- 
ments in the education of the chosen peo- 
ple. But it did yet more than this. The 
contact of the Jews with Persia thus gave 
rise to a traditional mysticism. Their 
contact with Greece was marked by the 
rise of distinct sects. In the third cen- 
tury B.C. the great Doctor Antigonus of 
Socho bears a Greek name, and popular 
belief pointed to him as the teacher of 
Sadoc and Boethus, the supposed found- 
ers of Jewish rationalism. At any rate, 
we may date from this time the twofold 
division of Jewish speculation. The 
Sadducees appear as the supporters of 
human freedom in its widest scope ; the 
Pharisees of a religious Stoicism. At a 
later time the cycle of doctrine was com- 
pleted, when by a natural reaction the 
Essenes established a mystic Asceticism. 

II. The Development of Greek 
Philosophy. — The various attempts 
which have been made to derive western 
philosophy from eastern sources have 
signally failed. It is true that in some 
degree the character of Greek speculation 
may have been influenced, at least in its 
earliest stages, by religious ideas which 
were originally introduced from the East ; 
but this indirect influence does not affect 
the real originality of the Greek teach- 
ers. The very value of Greek teaching 
lies in the fact that it was, as far as is 
possible, a result of simple reason, or, if 



faith asserts its prerogative, the distinc- 
tion is sharply marked. Of the various 
classifications of the Greek schools which 
have been proposed, the simplest and 
truest seems to be that which divides the 
history of philosophy into three great 
periods, the first reaching to the era of 
the Sophists, the next to the death of 
Aristotle, the third to the Christian era. 
In the first period the world objectively 
is the great centre of inquiry; in the 
second, the "ideas" of things, truth, and 
being; in the third, the chief interest of 
philosophy falls back upon the practical 
conduct of life. After the Christian era 
philosophy ceased to have any true vital- 
ity in Greece, but it made fresh efforts to 
meet the changed conditions of life at 
Alexandria and Pome. 1. The pre-So- 
cratic schools. — The first Greek philoso- 
phy was little more than an attempt to 
follow out in thought the mythic cos- 
mogonies of earlier poets. What is the 
one permanent element which underlies 
the changing forms of things ? — this was 
the primary inquiry, to which the Ionic 
school endeavored to find an answer. 
Thales {cir. B.C. 639-543) pointed to 
moisture (water) as the one source and 
supporter of life. Anaximenes (cir. B.C. 
520-480) substituted air for water. At a 
much later date (cir. B.C. 450) Diogenes 
of Apollonia represented this element- 
ary "air" as endowed with intelligence. 
2. The Socratic schools. — In the second 
period of Greek philosophy the scene 
and subject were both changed. A phil- 
osophy of ideas, using the term in its 
widest sense, succeeded a philosophy of 
nature. In three generations Greek 
speculation reached its greatest glory in 
the teaching of Socrates, Plato and Aris- 
totle. The famous sentence in which 
Aristotle characterizes the teachings of 
Socrates (B.C. 468-399) places his scien- 
tific position in the clearest light. There 
are two things, he says, which we may 
rightly attribute to Socrates — inductive 
reasoning and general definition. By 
the first he endeavored to discover the 
permanent element which underlies the 
changing forms of appearances and the 
varieties of opinion ; by the second he 
fixed the truth which he had thus gained. 
But, besides this, Socrates rendered an- 
other service to truth. Ethics occupied 
in his investigations the primary place 
which had hitherto been held by Physics. 
The great aim of his induction was to 
establish the sovereignty of Virtue. He 
515 



PHI 



PHI 



affirmed the existence of a universal law 
of right and wrong. He connected phil- 
osophy with action, both in detail and in 
general. On the one side he upheld the 
supremacy of Conscience, on the other 
the working of Providence. 3. The post- 
Socratic schools. — After Aristotle, phil- 
osophy took a new direction. Speculation 
became mainly personal. Epicurus (B.C. 
352-270) defined the object of philosophy 
to be the attainment of a happy life. 
The pursuit of truth for its own sake he 
regarded as superfluous. He rejected 
dialectics as a useless study, and accepted 
the senses, in the widest acceptation of 
the term, as the criterion of truth. But 
he differed widely from the Cyrenaics in 
his view of happiness. The happiness 
at which the wise man aims is to be 
found, he said, not in momentary gratifi- 
cation, but in life-long pleasure. All 
things were supposed to come into being 
by chance, and so pass away. The indi- 
vidual was left master of his own life. 
While Epicurus asserted in this manner 
the claims of one part of man's nature in 
the conduct of life, Zeno of Citium (cir. 
B.C. 280), with equal partiality, advocated 
a purely spiritual (intellectual) morality. 
The opposition between the two was com- 
plete. The infinite, chance-formed worlds 
of the one stand over against the one 
harmonious world of the other. On the 
one side are gods regardless of material 
things, on the other a Being permeating 
and vivifying all creation. This differ- 
ence necessarily found its chief expression 
in Ethics. 

III. Christianity in Contact with 
Ancient Philosophy.— The only di- 
rect trace of the contact of Christianity 
with western philosophy in the New Tes- 
tament is in the account of St. Paul's 
visit to Athens, Acts 17 : 18 ; and there is 
nothing in the apostolic writings to show 
that it exercised any important influence 
upon the early Church. Comp. 1 Cor. 1 : 
22-24. But it was otherwise with eastern 
speculation, which penetrated more deep- 
ly through the mass of the people. The 
" philosophy " against which the Colos- 
sians were warned, Col. 2 : 8, seems un- 
doubtedly to have been of eastern origin, 
containing elements similar to those 
which were afterward embodied in vari- 
ous shapes of Gnosticism, as a selfish as- 
ceticism, and a superstitious reverence 
for angels, Col. 2 : 16-23 ; and in the 
Epistles to Timothy, addressed to Ephe- 
sus, in which city St. Paul anticipated 
51b' 



the rise of false teaching, Acts 20 : 30, two 
distinct forms of error may be traced in 
addition to Judaism, due more or less to 
the same influence. The writings of the 
sub-apostolic age, with the exception of 
the famous anecdote of Justin Martyr 
(Dial. 2-4), throw little light upon the 
relations of Christianity and philosophy. 
Christian philosophy may be in one sense 
a contradiction in terms, for Christianity 
confessedly derives its first principles 
from revelation, and not from simple 
reason; but there is no less a true phil- 
osophy of Christianity, which aims to 
show how completely these meet the in- 
stincts and aspirations of all ages. The 
exposition of such a philosophy would 
be the work of a modern Origen. 

Phin'ehas (mouth of brass). 1. Son 
of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron. Ex. 
G : 25. He is memorable for having while 
quite a youth, by his zeal and energy at 
the critical moment of the licentious 
idolatry of Shittim, appeased the divine 
wrath, and put a stop to the plague which 
was destroying the nation. Num. 25: 7. 
(B.C. 1452.) Eor this he was rewarded 
by the special approbation of Jehovah, 
and by a promise that the priesthood 
should remain in his family forever. 
Num. 25 : 10-13. He was appointed to 
accompany as priest the expedition by 
which the Midianites were destroyed, 
ch. 31 : 6. Many years later he also 
headed the party which was despatched 
from Shiloh to remonstrate against the 
altar which the transjordanic tribes were 
reported to have built near Jordan. Josh. 
22 : 13-32. In the partition of the coun- 
try he received an allotment of his own — 
a hill on Mount Ephraim which bore his 
name. After Eleazar's death he became 
high priest — the third .of the series. In 
this capacity he is introduced as giving 
the oracle to the nation during the whole 
struggle with the Benjamites on the mat- 
ter of Gibeah. Judges 20 : 28. The verse 
which closes the book of Joshua is as- 
cribed to Phinehas, as the description of 
the death of Moses at the end of Deuter- 
onomy is to Joshua. The tomb of Phin- 
ehas, a place of great resort to both Jews 
and Samaritans, is shown at Awertah, 
four miles southeast of Nablus. 

2. Second son of Eli. 1 Sam. 1:3; 2 : 
34 ; 4 : 4, 11, 17, 19 ; 14 : 3. Phinehas was 
killed with his brother by the Philistines 
when the ark was captured. (B.C. 1125.) 
[Eli.] 

3. A Levite of Ezra's time, Ezra 8 : 33 ; 



PHL 



PHCE 



unless the meaning be that Eleazar was 
of the family of the great Phinehas. 

Phle'gori (burning), a Christian at 
Pome whom St. Paul salutes. Pom. 16 : 
14. (a.d. 55.) Pseudo-Hippolytus makes 
him one of the seventy disciples and 
bishop of Marathon. 

Phce'be (radiant), the first and one 
of the most important of the Christian 
persons the detailed mention of whom 
fills nearly all the last chapter of the 
Epistle to the Pomans. (a.d. 55.) What 
is said of her, Rom. 16 : 1, 2, is worthy of 
special notice because of its bearing on 
the question of the deaconesses of the 
apostolic Church. 

Phccni'ce, Phoenicia {land of palm 
trees), a tract of country, of which Tyre 
and Sidon were the principal cities, to 
the north of Palestine, along the coast 
of the Mediterranean Sea; bounded by 
that sea on the west, and by the mountain 
range of Lebanon on the east. The name 
was not the one by which its native in- 
habitants called it, but was given to it by 
the Greeks, from the Greek word for the 
palm tree. The native name of Phoenicia 
was Kenaan (Canaan) or Knd, signifying 
lowland, so named in contrast to the ad- 
joining Aram, i. e. highland, the Hebrew 
name of Syria. The length of coast to 
which the name of Phoenicia was applied 
varied at different times. 1. What may 
be termed Phoenicia proper was a narrow 
undulating plain, extending from the pass 
of Rds el-Bey ad or Abyad, the Promon- 
torium Album of the ancients, about six 
miles south of Tyre, to the Nahr el-Auly, 
the ancient Bostreuus, two miles north 
of Sidon. The plain is only 28 miles in 
length. Its average breadth is about a 
mile; but near Sidon the mountains re- 
treat to a distance of two miles, and near 
Tyre to a distance of five miles. 2. A 
longer district, which afterward became 
entitled to the name of Phoenicia, ex- 
tended up the coast to a point marked by 
the island of Aradus, and by Antaradus 
toward the north ; the southern boundary 
remaining the same as in Phoenicia prop- 
er. Phoenicia, thus defined, is estimated 
to have been about 120 miles in length ; 
while its breadth, between Lebanon ancl 
the sea, never exceeded 20 miles, and was 
generally much less. The whole of Phoe- 
nicia proper is well watered by various 
streams from the adjoining hills. The 
havens of Tyre and Sidon afforded water 
of sufficient depth for all the requirements 
of ancient navigation, and the neighbor- 



ing range of the Lebanon, in its extensive 
forests, furnished what then seemed a 
nearly inexhaustible supply of timber 
for ship-building. 

Language and race. — The Phoenicians 
spoke a branch of the Semitic language 
so closely allied to Hebrew that Phoenic- 
ian and Hebrew, though difiei*ent dia- 
lects, may practically be regarded as the 
same language. Concerning the original 
race to which the Phoenicians belonged, 
nothing can be known with certainty, be- 
cause they are founol already established 
along the Mediterranean Sea at the ear- 
liest dawn of authentic history, and for 
centuries afterward there is no record of 
their origin. According to Herodotus, 
vii. 89, they saiol of themselves in his 
time that they came in days of old from 
the shores of the Ped Sea ; and in this 
there would be nothing in the slightest 
degree improbable, as they spoke a lan- 
guage cognate to that of the Arabians, 
who inhabited the east coast of that sea. 
Still neither the truth nor the falsehood 
of the tradition can now be proved. But 
there is one point respecting their race 
which can be proved to be in the highest 
degree probable, and which has peculiar 
interest as bearing on the Jews, viz., that 
the Phoenicians were of the same race as 
the Canaanites. 

Commerce, etc. — In regard to Phoenician 
trade, connected with the Israelites, it 
must be recollected that up to the time 
of David not one of the twelve tribes 
seems to have possessed a single harbor 
on the seacoast; it was impossible there- 
fore that they could become a commercial 
people. But from the time that David 
had conquered Edom, an opening for 
trade was afforded to the Israelites. Sol- 
omon continued this trade with its king, 
obtained timber from its territory and 
emploved its sailors and workmen. 2 
Sam. 5 : 11 ; 1 Kings 5 : 9, 17, 18. 

The religion of the Phoenicians, opposed 
to Monotheism, was a pantheistical per- 
sonification of the forces of nature, and 
in its most philosophical shadowing forth 
of the supreme powers it may be said to 
have represented the male and female 
principles of production. In its popular 
form it was especially a worship of the 
sun, moon and five planets, or, as it might 
have been expressed according to ancient 
notions, of the seven planets — the most 
beautiful and perhaps the most natural 
form of idolatry ever presented to the 
\ human imagination. Their worship was 

517 



PIIK 



PIE 



a constant temptation for the Hebrews 
*to Polytheism and idolatry — 1. Because 
undoubtedly the Phoenicians, as a great 
commercial people, were more generally 
intelligent, and as we should now say 
civilized, than the inland agricultural 
population of Palestine. When the sim- 
ple-minded Jews, therefore, came in con- 
tact with a people more versatile and 
apparently more enlightened than them- 
selves, but who nevertheless, either in a 
philosophical or in a popular form, ad- 
mitted a system of Polytheism, an influ- 
ence would be exerted on Jewish minds 
tending to make them regard their ex- 
clusive devotion to their own one God, 
Jehovah, however transcendent his at- 
tributes, as unsocial and morose. 2. The 
Phoenician religion had in other respects 
an injurious effect on the people of 
Palestine, being in some points essentially 
demoralizing. For example, it sanc- 
tioned the dreadful superstition of burn- 
ing children as sacrifices to a Phoenician 
god. Again, parts of the Phoenician re- 
ligion, especially the worship of Astarte, 
tended to encourage dissoluteness in the 
relations of the sexes, and even to sanc- 
tify impurities of the most abominable 
description. 

The only other fact respecting the 
Phoenicians that need be mentioned here 
is that the invention of letters was uni- 
versally asserted by the Greeks and Ro- 
mans to have been communicated by the 
Phoenicians to the Greeks. For further 
details respecting the Phoenicians, see 
Tyre and Zidon. Phoenicia is now a 
land of ruins. 

Phryg'ia ( dry, barren). Perhaps there 
is no geographical term in the New Tes- 
tament which is less capable of an exact 
definition. In fact there was no Roman 
province of Phrygia till considerably 
after the first establishment of Christian- 
ity in the peninsula of Asia Minor. The 
word was rather ethnological than po- 
litical, and denoted, in a vague manner, 
the western part of the central region of 
that peninsula. Accordingly, in two of 
the three places where it is used it is 
mentioned in a manner not intended to 
be precise. Acts 16 : 6 ; 18 : 23. By 
Phrygia we must understand an exten- 
sive district in Asia Minor, which con- 
tributed portions to several Roman prov- 
inces, and varying portions at different 
times. (All over this district the Jews 
Avere probably numerous. The Phrygians 
were a very ancient people, and were sup- 
518 



! posed to be among the aborigines of Asia 
! Minor. Several bishops from Phrygia 
I were present at the Councils of Nice, a.d. 
\ 325, and of Constantinople, a.d. 381, show- 
| ing the prevalence of Christianity at that 
| time. — Ed.) 

Phu'rah (bough), Gideon's servant, 
I probably his armor-bearer, comp. 1 Sam. 
14 : 1, who accompanied him in his mid- 
night visit to the camp of the Midianites. 
Judges 7 : 10, 11. 

Phu'rim. Esther 11 : 1. [Purim.] 
Phut, Put (a bow), the third name in 
the list of the sons of Ham, Gen. 10 : 6; 
1 Chron. 1 : 8, elsewhere applied to an 
African country or people. The few men- 
tions of Phut in the Bible clearly indi- 
cate a country or people of Africa, and, 
it must be added, probably not far from 
Egypt. Isa. 66 : 19 ; Jer. 46 : 9 ; Ezek. 27 : 
10 ; 30 : 5 ; 38 : 5 ; Nah. 3 : 9. Some 
identify it with Libya, in the northern 
j part of Africa, near the Mediterranean 
Sea; others, as Mr. Poole, with Nubia, 
south of Egypt. 

Phu'vah [mouth), one of the sons of 
Issachar, Gen. 46 : 13, and founder of the 
family of the Punites. 
Phygel'lus [fugitive). [Hermo- 

GENES.] 

Phyge'lus. Used in the Revised Ver- 
sion in 2 Tim. 1 : 15 for Phygellus. 

Phylactery. | Frontlets.] 

Pi-be'seth, a town of lower Egypt, 
mentioned in Ezek. 30 : 17, the same as 
Bubastis, so named from the goddess Bu- 
bastis. It was situated on the west bank 
of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about 
40 miles from Memphis. It was probably 
a city of great importance when Ezekiel 
foretold its doom. 

Picture. In two of the three passages 
in which " picture " is used in the Au- 
thorized Version it denotes idolatrous 
representations, either independent im- 
ages or more usually stones " portrayed," 
i. e. sculptured in low relief, or engraved 
and colored. Ezek. 23 : 14; Layard, Nin. 
and Bab. ii. 306, 308. Movable pictures; 
in the modern sense, were doubtless un- 
known to the Jews. The " pictures of 
silver" of Prov. 25:11 were probably 
wall surfaces or cornices with carvings. 

Piece of gold. The rendering 
"pieces of gold," as in 2 Kings 5 : 5, is 
very doubtful ; and " shekels of gold," as 
designating the value of the whole quan- 
tity, not individual pieces, is preferable. 
Coined money was unknown in Palestine 
till the Persian period. 



PIE 



PIL 



Piece of silver. I. In the Old Tes- tius. Pontius Pilate was the sixth Eo- 
tament the word " pieces" is used in the man procurator of Judea, and under 
Authorized Version for a word under- j him our Lord worked, suffered and died, 
stood in the Hebrew (if we except Ps. j as we learn not only from Scripture, but 
68 : 30). The phrase is always " a thou- from Tacitus {Ann. xv. 44). He was ap- 
sand," or the like, " of silver." Gen. 20 : pointed a.d. 25-6, in the twelfth year of 
16 ; 37 : 28 ; 45 : 22 ; Judges 9:4; 16:5; Tiberius. His arbitrary administration 
2 Kings 6 : 25 ; Hos. 3:2; Zech. 11 : 12, i nearly drove the Jews to insurrection on 
13. In similar passages the word " shek- two or three occasions. One of his first 
els " occurs in the Hebrew. There are acts was to remove the headquarters of 
other passages in which the Authorized ; the army from Csesarea to Jerusalem. 
Version supplies the word " shekels " in- The soldiers of course took with them 
stead of "pieces," Deut. 22 : 19, 29; Judges their standards, bearing the image of the 
17 : 2, 3, 4, 10 ; 2 Sam. 18 : 11, 12, and of enq^eror, into the holy city. No previous 
these the first two require this to be done, governor had ventured on such an out- 
The shekel, be it remembered, was the ! rage. The people poured down in crowds 
common weight for money, and therefore \ 
most likely to be understood in an ellip- j 
tical phrase. Tbe " piece " or shekel of 
silver weighed 220 grains, or about half 
an ounce, and was worth a little more 
than half a dollar (55 cents). II. In the j 
New Testament two words are rendered J 
by the phrase "piece of silver:" 1. 
Drachma, Luke 15:8,9, which was a 
Greek silver coin, equivalent, at the time 
of St. Luke, to the Roman denarius (15 I 
or 16 cents). 2. Silver occurs only in the j 
account of the betrayal of our Lord for ! 
" thirty pieces of silver." Matt. 26 : 15 ; 
27 : 3, 5, 6, 9. It is difficult to ascertain j 
what coins are here intended. If the j 
most common silver pieces be meant, they | 
would be denarii. The parallel passage j to Csesarea, where the procurator was 
in Zechariah, ch. 11 : 12, 13, must, how- \ then residing, and besought him to remove 
ever, be taken into consideration, where the images. After five days of discussion 
shekels (worth about 55 cents) must be he gave the signal to some concealed sol- 
understood. It is more probable that the diers to surround the petitioners and put 
thirty pieces of silver were tetradrachms them to death unless they ceased to trouble 
than that they were denarii (60 cents). j him; but this only strengthened their 

Piety. This word occurs but once j determination, and they declared them- 
in the Authorized Version : " Let them j selves ready rather to submit to death 
learn first to show piety at home," better, j than forego their resistance to an idol- 
" toward their own household " or fam- ! atrous innovation. Pilate then yielded, 
ily. 1 Tim. 5 : 4. The choice of this word j and the standards were by his orders 
here instead of the more usual equiv- j brought down to Csesarea. His slaughter 
alents of "godliness," "reverence," and of certain Galileans, Luke 13 : 1, led to 
the like, was probably determined by the some remarks from our Lord on the con- 
special sense of pi etas, as " erga parentes," nection between sin and calamity. It 
i. e. toward parents. must have occurred at some feast at Je- 

Pigeon. [Turtle-dove.] I rusalem, in the outer court of the temple. 

Pi-hahi'roth, a place before or at J It was the custom for the procurators to 
which the Israelites encamped, at the reside at Jerusalem during the great 
close of the third march from Rameses j feasts, to preserve order, and accordingly, 
(the last place before they crossed the I at the time of our Lord's last Passover, 
Eed Sea), when they went out of Egypt. Pilate was occupying his official residen ce 
Ex. 14 : 2, 9 ; Num. 33 : 7, 8. It is an j in Herod's palace. The history of his 
Egyptian word, signifying "the place condemnation of our Lord is familiar to 
where sedge grows." all. We learn from Josephus that Pi- 

Pi'late {armed with a spear) , Pon'- late's anxietv to avoid giving offence to 

519 




Coins struck by Pontius Pilate. 



PIL 



PIN 



Csesar did not save him from political 
disaster. The Samaritans were unquiet 
and rebellious; Pilate led his troops 
against them, and defeated them easily 
enough. The Samaritans complained to 
Vitellius, then president of Syria, and he 
sent Pilate to Rome to answer their ac- 
cusations before the emperor. When he 
reached it he found Tiberius dead and 
Caius (Caligula) on the throne, a.d. 36. 
Eusebius adds that soon afterward, " wear- 
ied with misfortunes," he killed himself. 
As to the scene of his death 
there are various traditions. 
One is that he was banished 
to Vienna Allobrogum (Vi- 
enne on the Rhone), where 
a singular monument — a 
pyramid on a quadrangular 
base, 52 feet high — is called 
Pontius Pilate's tomb. An- 
other is that he sought to 
hide his sorrows on the 
mountain by the lake of 
Lucerne, now called Mount 
Pilatus; and there, after 
spending years in its re- 
cesses, in remorse and de- 
spair rather than penitence, 
plunged into the dismal 
lake which occupies its sum- 
mit. 

Pi] 'dash {flame of fire), 
one of the eight sons of Na- 
hor, Abraham's brother, by 
his wife and niece, Milcah. 
Gen. 22:22. (B.C. 1900.) 

PiPeha (ivorship), the 
name of one of the chief 
of the people, probably a 
family, who signed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 
10 : 24. (B.C. 410.) 

Pillar, The notion of a 
pillar is of a shaft or iso- 
lated pile, either supporting 
or not supporting a roof. But perhaps 
the earliest application of the pillar was 
the votive or monumental. This in early 
times consisted of nothing but a single 
stone or pile of stones. Gen. 28 : 18 ; 31 : 
46, etc. The stone Ezel, 1 Sam. 20 : 19, 
was probably a terminal stone or a way- 
mark. The " place " set up by Saul, 1 
Sam. 15 : 12, is explained by St. Jerome 
to be a trophy. So also Jacob set up a 
pillar over Rachel's grave. Gen. 35 : 20. 
The monolithic tombs and obelisks of 
Petra are instances of similar usage. 
Lastly, the figurative use of the term 
520 



" pillar," in reference to the cloud and 
fire accompanying the Israelites on their 
march, or as in Cant. 3 : 6 and Rev. 10 : 
1, is plainly derived from the notion of 
an isolated column not supporting a roof. 

Pillar, Plain of the, or rather "oak 
of the pillar" (that being the real sig- 
nification of the Hebrew word elon), a 
tree which stood near Shechem, and at 
which the men of Shechem and the house 
of Millo assembled to crown Abimelech 
the son of Gideon. Judges 9:6. 




An Eastern Pine. 

Pilled, Gen. 30:37, 38; "peeled," 
Isa. 18 : 2 ; Ezek. 29 : 18. The verb " to 
pill" appears in old English as identical 
in meaning with " to peel, to strip." 
PiPta-i, or Pilta'i (my deliverances), 
I the representative of the priestly house 
j of Moadiah or Maadiah, in the time of 
| Joiakim the son of Jeshua. Neh. 12 : 17. 
j (B.C. 445.) 

Pine tree. 1. Heb. tidhdr. Isa. 41 : 
19 ; 60 : 13. What tree is intended is not 
certain ; but the rendering " pine " seems 
least probable of any. 2. Shemen, Neh. 
j 8 : 15, is probably the wild olive. 



PIN 



PIT 



Pinnacle (of the temple), Matt. 4 : 
5 ; Luke 4 : 9. The Greek word ought 
to be rendered not a pinnacle, but the 
pinnacle. The only part of the temple 
which answered to the modern sense of 
pinnacle was the golden spikes erected 
on the roof to prevent birds from settling 
there. Perhaps the word means the bat- 
tlement ordered by law to be added to 
every roof. (According to Alford it was 
the roof of Herod's royal portico of the 
temple, "which overhung the ravine of 
Kedron from a dizzy height" — 600 or 
700 feet.— Ed.) 

Pi'non (darkness), one of the " dukes" 
of Edom, — that is, head or founder of a 
tribe of that nation. Gen. 36 : 41 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 52. 

Pipe (Heb. chdlil). The Hebrew 
word so rendered is derived from a root 
signifying "to bore, perforate," and is 
represented with sufficient correctness by 
the English " pipe " or " flute," as in the 
margin of 1 Kings 1 : 40. The pipe was 
the type of perforated wind instruments, 
as the harp was of stringed instruments. 
It was made of reed, bronze or copper. 
It is one of the simplest, and therefore 
probably one of the oldest, of musical 
instruments. It is associated with the 
tab ret as an instrument of a peaceful and 
social character. The pipe and tabret 
were used at the banquets of the He- 
brews, Isa. 5 : 12, and accompanied the 
simpler religious services when the young 
prophets, returning from the high place, 
caught their inspiration from the har- 
mony, 1 Sam. 10 : 5 ; or the pilgrims, on 
their way to the great festivals of their 
ritual, beguiled the weariness of the 
march with psalms sung to the simple 
music of the pipe. Isa. 30 : 29. The 
sound of the pipe was apparently a soft 
wailing note, which made it appropriate 
to be used in mourning and at funerals, 
Matt. 9 : 23, and in the lament of the 
prophet over the destruction of Moab. 
Jer. 48 : 36. It was even used in the 
temple choir, as appears from Ps. 87 : 7. 
In later times the funeral and death-bed 
were never without the professional pipers 
or flute-players, Matt. 9 : 23, a custom 
which still exists. In the social and festive 
life of the Egyptians the pipe played as 
prominent a part as among the Hebrews. 

PPram {like a wild ass; fleet), the 
Amorite king of Jarmuth at the time of 
Joshua's conquest of Canaan. Josh. 10 : 
3. (B.C. 1450.) 

Pir'athon (princely), "in the land 



of Ephraim in the mount of the Amalek- 
ite," a place in Judges 12 : 15. Its site, 
now called Fer'ata, is about one mile 
and a half south of the road from Jaffa, 
by Hableh, to Nablds. Pirathonites are 
mentioned in Judges 12 : 13, 15 and 1 
Chron. 27 : 14. 

Pir'athonite, a native of or dweller 
in Pirathon. Two such are named in 
the Bible : — 1. Abdon ben-Hillel. Judges 
12 : 13, 15. 2. " Benaiah the Pirathonite, 
of the children of Ephraim." 1 Chron. 
27 : 14. 

Pis'gah (section, i. e. peak), Num. 
21 : 20; 23 : 14; Deut. 3 : 27 ; 34 : 1, a 
mountain range or district, the same as, 
or a part of, that called the mountains of 
Abarim. Comp. Deut. 32 : 49 with 34 : 1. 
It lay on the east of Jordan, contiguous 
I to the field of Moab, and immediately 
I opposite Jericho. Its highest point or 
j summit — its "head" — was Mount Nebo. 
j [See Nebo.] 

Pisid'ia (pitchy) was a district in 
Asia Minor north of Pamphylia, and 
reached to and was partly included in 
Phrygia. Thus Antioch in Pisidia was 
sometimes called a Phrygian town. St. 
Paul passed through Pisidia twice, with 
Barnabas, on the first missionary journey, 
i. e., both in going from Perga to Iconi- 
um, Acts 13 : 13, 14, 51, and in returning. 
Acts 14 : 21, 24, 25 ; comp. 2 Tim. 3:11. 
It is probable also that he traversed the 
northern part of the district, with Silas 
and Timotheus, on the second missionary 
journey, Acts 16 : 6 ; but the word Pisidia 
does not occur except in reference to the 
former journey. 
Pi'son. [Eden.] 
Pit. [Hell.] 

Pitch. The three Hebrew words so 
translated all represent the same object, 
viz., mineral pitch or asphalt in its dif- 
ferent aspects. Asphalt is an opaque, 
inflammable substance, which bubbles 
up from subterranean fountains in a 
liquid state, and hardens by exposure to 
the air, but readily melts under the in- 
fluence of heat. In the latter state it is 
very tenacious, and was used as a cement 
in lieu of mortar in Babylonia, Gen. 11 : 
3, as well as for coating the outside of 
vessels, Gen, 6 : 14, and particularly for 
making the papyrus boats of the Egyp- 
tians water-tight. Ex. 2 : 3. The Jews 
and Arabians got their supply in large 
quantities from the Dead Sea, which 
hence received its classical name of 
Lacus Asphalt ites. 

521 



PIT 



PLA 



Pitcher. This word is used in the 
Authorized Version to denote the earthen 
water-jars or pitchers with one or two 
handles, used chiefly by women for car- 
rying water, as in the story of Rebekah. 
Gen. 24 : 15-20; but see Mark 14: 13; 
Luke 22 : 10. This mode of carrying 
has been and still is customary both in 



the East and elsewhere. The vessels 
used for the purpose are generally borne 
on the head or the shoulder. The Bed- 
ouin women commonly use skin bottles. 
Such was the " bottle " carried by Hagar. 
Gen. 21 : 14. The same word is used of 
the pitchers employed by Gideon's three 
hundred men. Judges 7 : It). 




Antioch in Pisiclia. 



Pi'thom {the city oj justice), one of 
the store-cites built by the Israelites for 
the first oppressor, the Pharoah " which 
knew not Joseph." Ex. 1 : 11. It is 
probably the Patumus of Herodotus (ii. 
159), a town on the borders of Egypt, 
near which Necho constructed a canal 
from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf. 

Pi'thon (harmless), one of the four 
sons of Micah, the son of Mephibosheth. 
1 Chron. 8:35; 9 : 41. (B.C. 1050.) 

Plague, The. The plague is con- 
sidered to be a severe kind of typhis, 
accompanied by buboes (tumors). Like 
the cholera, it is most violent at the 
first outbreak, causing almost instant 
death. Great difference of opinion has 
obtained as to whether it is contagious or 
not. It was very prevalent in the East, 
and still prevails in Egypt. Several 
Hebrew words are translated "pesti- 
lence" or "plague;" but not one of 
these words can be considered as desig- 
nating by its signification the disease 
now called the plague. Whether the 
disease be mentioned must be judged 
from the sense of passages, not from the 
522 



sense of words. Those pestilences which 
were sent as special judgments, and were 
either supernaturally rapid in their 
effects or were in addition directed 
against particular culprits, are beyond 
the reach of human inquiry. But we 
also read of pestilences which, although 
sent as judgments, have the characteris- 
tics of modern epidemics, not being 
rapid bevond nature nor directed against 
individuals. Lev. 26:25; Deut. 28:21. 
In neither of these passages does it seem 
certain that the plague is specified. The 
j notices in the prophets present the same 
i difficulty. Hezekiah's disease has been 
j thought to have been the plague, and its 
fatal nature, as well as the mention of a 
boil, makes this not improbable. On 
the other hand, there is no mention of a 
pestilence among his people at-the time. 

Plagues, The ten. The occasion on 
which the plagues were sent is described 
in Ex. 3-12. 1. The plague of blood.— 
When Moses and Aaron came before 
Pharaoh, a miracle was required of them. 
Then Aaron's rod became "a serpent" 
(Authorized Version), or rather " a croco- 



PLA 



PL A 



dile." Its being changed into an animal 
reverenced by all the Egyptians, or by 
some of them, would have been an espe- 
cial warning to Pharaoh. The Egyptian 
magicians called by the king produced 
what seemed to be the same wonder, yet 
Aaron's rod swallowed up the others. 
Ex. 7 : 3-12. This passage, taken alone, 
would appear to indicate that the magi- 
cians succeeded in working wonders, but, 
if it is compared with the others which 
relate their opposition on the occasions 
of the first three plagues, a contrary in- j 
ference seems more reasonable ; for the 
very first time that Moses wrought his 
miracle without giving previous notice, 
the magicians . " did so with their en- j 
chantments," but failed. A comparison 
with other passages strengthens us in the j 
inference that the magicians succeeded j 
merely by juggling. After this warning 
to Pharaoh, Aaron, at the word of Moses, S 
waved his rod over the Nile, and the river I 
was turned into blood, with all its canals j 
and reservoirs, and every vessel of water j 
drawn from them ; the fish died, and the 
river stank. The Egyptians could not j 
drink of it, and digged around it for water. 
This plague was doubly humiliating to the" 
religion of the country, as the Nile was ' 
held sacred, as well as some kinds of its ! 
fish, not to speak of the crocodiles, which 
probably were destroyed. Ex. 7 : 16-25. ! 
Those who have endeavored to explain 
this plague by natural causes have re- 
ferred to the changes of color to which the 
Nile is subject, the appearance of the Ked 
Sea, and the so-called rain and dew of 
blood of the middle ages ; the last two oc- 
casioned by small fungi of very rapid ' 
growth. But such theories do not explain 
why the wonder happened at a time of 
year when the Nile is most clear, nor j 
why it killed the fish and made the water j 
unfit to be drunk. 

2. The plague of frogs. — When seven 
days had passed after the first plague, the 
river and all the open waters of Egypt 
brought forth countless frogs, which not 
only covered the land, but filled the j 
houses, even in their driest parts and ves- 
sels, for the ovens and . kneading-troughs 
are specified. This must have been an 
especially trying judgment to the Egyp- 
tians, as frogs were included among the 
sacred animals. Ex. 8 : 1-15. 

3. The plague of lice. — The dry land 
was now smitten by the rod, and its very 'j 
dust seemed turned into minute noxious 
insects, so thickly did they swarm on 



man and beast, or rather "in" them. 
The scrupulous cleanliness of the Egyp- 
tians would add intolerably to the bodily 
distress of this plague, by which also they 
again incurred religious defilement. As 
to the species of the vermin, there seems 
no reason to disturb the authorized trans- 
lation of the word. The magicians, who 
liad imitated by their enchantments the 
two previous miracles, were now foiled. 
They struck the ground, as Aaron did, 
and repeated their own incantations, but 
it was without effect. Ex. 8 : 16-19. 

4. The plague of flies. — After the river 
and the land, the air was smitten, being 
filled with winged insects, which swarmed 
in the houses and devoured the land, but 
Goshen was exempted from the plague. 
The word translated "swarms of flies" 
most probably denotes the great Egyptian 
beetle, Scarabceus sacer, which is con- 
stantly represented in their sculptures. 
Besides the annoying and destructive 
habits of its tribe, it was an object of 
worship, and thus the Egyptians were 
a^ain scourged by their own superstitions. 
Ex. 8 : 2(K32. 

5. The plague of the murrain of beasts. 
— Still coming closer and closer to the 
Egyptians, God sent a disease upon the 
cattle, which were not only their property 
but their deities. At the precise time of 
which Moses forewarned Pharaoh, all the 
cattle of the Egyptians were smitten with 
a murrain and died, but not one of the 
cattle of the Israelites suffered. Ex. 9 : 
1-7. 

6. The plague of boils. — From the cat- 
tle the hand of God was extended to the 
persons of the Egyptians. Moses and 
Aaron were commanded to take ashes of 
the furnace, and to " sprinkle it toward 
the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh." It 
was to become " small dust " throughout 
Egypt, and " be a boil breaking forth 
[with] blains upon man and upon beast." 
Ex. 9;8-12. This accordingly came to 
pass. The plague seems to have been the 
black leprosy, a fearful kind of elephan- 
tiasis, which was long remembered as 
" the botch of Egypt," Dent. 28 : 27, 35. 

7. The plague of hail. — The account of 
the seventh plague is preceded by a warn- 
ing which Moses was commanded to de- 
liver to Pharaoh, respecting the terrible 
nature of the plagues that were to ensue 
if he remained obstinate. Man and beast 
were smitten, and the herbs and every 
tree broken, save in the land of Goshen. 
The ruin caused bv the hail was evidentlv 

•523 



PLA 



PL A 



far greater than that effected by any of 
the earlier plagues. Hail is now ex- 
tremely rare, but not unknown, in Egypt, 
and it is interesting that the narrative 
seems to imply that it sometimes falls 
there. Ex. 9 : 13-34. 

8. The plague of locusts. — The severity 
of this plague can be well understood by 
those wno have been in Egypt in a part 
of the country where a flight of locusts 
has alighted. In this case the plague 
was greater than an ordinary visitation, 
since it extended over a far wider space, 
rather than because it was more intense ; 
for it is impossible to imagine any more 
complete destruction than that always 
caused by a swarm of locusts. Ex. 10 : 1-20. 

9. The plague of darkness. — " There 
was a thick darkness in all the land of 
Egypt three days;" while "all the chil- 
dren of Israel had light in their dwell- 
ings." It has been illustrated by reference 
to the samoom and the hot wind of the 
Khamaseen. The former is a sand-storm 
which occurs in the desert, seldom lasting 
more than a quarter of an hour or twenty 
minutes, but for the time often causing 
the darkness of twilight, and affecting 
man and beast. The hot wind of the 
Khamaseen usually blows for three days 
and nights, and carries so much sand with 
it that it produces the appearance of a 
yellow fog. It thus resembles the sa- 
moom, though far less powerful and less 
distressing in its effects. It is not known 
to cause actual darkness. The plagua 
may have been an extremely severe sand- 
storm, miraculous in its violence and 
duration, for the length of three days 
does not make it natural, since the severe 
storms are always very brief. Ex.10 :21-29. 

10. Th e death of the first-bom. — Before 
the tenth plague Moses went to warn 
Pharaoh : — " Thus saith the Lord, About 
midnight will I go out into the midst of 
Egypt ; and all the first-born in the land 
of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of 
Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, 
even to the first-born of the maidservant 
that is behind the mill ; and all the 
first-born of beasts." Ex. 11 : 4, 5. The 
clearly miraculous nature of this plague, 
in its severity, its falling upon man and 
beast, and the singling out of the first- 
born, puts it wholly beyond comparison 
with any natural pestilence, even the 
severest recorded in history, whether of 
the peculiar Egyptian plague or of other 
like epidemics. The history of the ten 
plagues strictly ends with the death of 

524 



the first-born. The gradual increase in 
severity of the plagues is perhaps the 
best key to their meaning. They seem to 
have been sent as warnings to the op- 
pressor, to afford him a means of seeing 
God's will and an opportunity of repent- 
ing before Egypt was ruined. The lesson 
that Pharaoh's career teaches us seems to 
be that there are men whom the most 
signal judgments do not affect so as to 
cause any lasting repentance. 

The following characteristics of the 
plagues may be specially noticed: (1) 
Their relation to natural phenomena. 
Each of the inflictions has a demonstrable 
connection with Egyptian customs and 
phenomena ; each is directly aimed at 
some Egyptian superstition ; all are mar- 
vellous, not for the most part as reversing, 
but as developing, forces inherent in na- 
ture, and directing them to a special end. 
— Canon Cook. (2) Their order. They 
are divided first into nine and one ; the 
last one standing clearly apart from all 
I the others. The nine are arranged in 
! threes. In the first of each three the 
warning is given to Pharaoh in the morn- 
ing. In the first and second of each three 
! the plague is announced beforehand ; in 
the third, not. At the third the ma- 
i gicians acknowledge the finger of God; 
[ at the sixth they cannot stand before 
i Moses ; and at the ninth Pharaoh refuses 
j to see the face of Moses any more. The 
gradation of the severity of these strokes 
is no less obvious. In the first three no 
distinction is made among the inhabit- 
ants of the land ; in the remaining seven 
a distinction is made between the Israel- 
ites, who are shielded from, and the 
Egyptians, who are exposed to, the stroke. 
— Kurtz, (3) Their duration. It is prob- 
able that the plagues extended through 
a period of several months. The first 
plague occurred probably during the an- 
nual inundation of the Nile, hence about 
the middle of June (Edersheim). The 
second, that of the frogs, in September, 
the time when Egypt often suffers in this 
way. The seventh (hail) came when the 
barley was in ear, and before the wheat 
was grown, and hence in February ; and 
the tenth came in the folloAving March or 
April. (4) Their significance. The first 
plague was directed against the Nile, one 
of the Egyptian deities, adored as a source 
of life, not only to the produce of the 
land, but to its inhabitants. The second 
plague, that of the frogs, struck also at 
the idolatry of Egypt ; for the frog was 



PLA 



PLO 



an object of worship. The third plague 
turned the land, which was worshipped, 
into a sou fee of torment; the dust pro- 
duced a curse. The fourth plague con- 
sisted in the torment of either flies of a 
ravenous disposition, or beetles. If the 
former, then the air, which was wor- 
shipped, was turned into a source of ex- 
quisite annoyance ; if the latter, then the 
beetle, one of the most common of the 
Egyptian idols, swai-med with voracious 
appetite, attacking even man, as the 
Egyptian beetle still does, and inflicting 
painful wounds. The fifth plague, that 
of murrain, struck at the cattle-worship 
for which Egypt was celebrated. The 
sixth plague, produced by the ashes scat- 
tered toward heaven, in conformity with 
an ancient Egyptian rite, as if in invoca- 
tion of the sun-god, continued the warfare 
of Jehovah upon Egyptian idolatry ; the 
religious ceremony which was employed 
to invoke blessing brought disease. The 
seventh plague, beginning a new series, 
seems to have been aimed, like those 
which followed, to demonstrate the power 
of Jehovah over all the elements, and 
even life itself, in contrast with the im- 
potence of the idols. The storm and the 
hail came at his bidding. The locusts 
appeared and departed at his word. The 
sun itself was veiled at his command. 
Nay, the angel of death was held and 
loosed by his hand alone. The tenth 
plague had an immediate relation to 
idolatry, since it destroyed not only the 
first-born of man, but the first-born of 
beast; so that the sacred animals in the 
temples were touched by a power higher 
than those they were supposed to repre- 
sent. The victory was complete; upon 
all the gods of Egypt, Jehovah had exe- 
cuted j udgment. — Rev. Franklin Johnson. 

Plains. This one term does duty in 
the Authorized Version for no less than 
seven distinct Hebrew words. 1. Abel. 
This word perhaps answers more nearly 
to our word " meadow " than any other. 
It occurs in the names of Abel-maim, 
Abel-meholah, Abel-shittim, and is ren- 
dered " plain " in Judges 11 : 33 — " plain 
of vineyards." 2. Bik'dh. Fortunately 
we are able to identify the most remark- 
able of the bWdhs of the Bible, and thus 
to ascertain the force of the term. The 
great plain or valley of Coele-Syria, the 
" hollow land " of the Greeks, which 
separates the two ranges of Lebanon and 
Anti-Lebanon, is the most remarkable of 
them all. Out of Palestine we find de- j 



noted by the word bik'dh the " plain of 
the land of Shinar," Gen 11 : 2, the 
" plain of Mesopotamia," Ezek. 3 : 22, 
23 ; 8:4; 37 : 1, 2, and the " plain in the 
province of Dura." Dan. 3:1. 3. Ho- 
shefeldh, the invariable designation of 
the depressed, flat or gently-undulating 
region which intervened between the 
highlands of Judah and the Mediterra- 
nean, and was commonly in possession 
of the Philistines. 4. Eton. Our trans- 
lators have uniformly rendered this word 
"plain;" but this is not the verdict of 
the majority or the most trustworthy of 
the ancient versions. They regard the 
word as meaning an " oak " or " grove of 
oaks," a rendering supported by nearly 
all the commentators and lexicographers 
of the present day. The passages in 
which the word occurs erroneously trans- 
lated " plain " are as follows : Plain of 
Moreh, Gen. 12:6; Deut. 11:30; plain 
of Mamre, Gen. 13 : 18 ; 14 : 13 ; 18:1 ; 
plain of Zaanaim, Judges 4 : 11 ; plain 
of the pillar, Judges 9:6; plain of Meo- 
nenim, Judges 9 : 37 ; plain of Tabor, 1 
Sam. 10 : 3. 
Pledge. [Loan.1 

Ple'iades. The Hebrew word (cimdh) 
so rendered occurs in Job 9:9; 38 : 31 ; 
Amos 5:8. In the last passage our Au- 
thorized Version has "the seven stars," 
although the Geneva version translates 
the word " Pleiades " as in the other 
cases. The Pleiades are a group of stars 
situated on the shoulder of the constella- 
tion Taurus. The rendering " sweet in- 
fluences " of the Authorized Version, Job 
38 : 31, is a relic of the lingering belief 
in the power which the stars exerted over 
human destiny. But SchafF thinks the 
phrase arose from the fact that the Pleia- 
des appear about the middle of April, 
and hence are associated with the return 
of spring, the season of sweet influences. 




Eastern Plough. 



Plough. The ploughs of ancient 
Egypt consisted of a share — often pointed 
525 



POC 



POE 



with iron or bronze — two handles, and a 
pole which was inserted into the base of 
the two handles. Ploughs in Palestine 
have usually but one handle, with a pole 
joined to it near the ground, and drawn 
by oxen, cows or camels. 




An Arab Ploughing. (Modern.) 

Poch/ereth. The children of Poch- 
ereth of Zebaim were among the children 
of Solomon's servants who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:57; Neh. 7 : 59. 

Poetry, Hebrew. 1. Lyrical poetry. 
— Of the three kinds of poetry which are 
illustrated by the Hebrew literature, the 
lyric occupies the foremost place. That 
literature abounds with illustrations of 
all forms of lyrical poetry, in its most 
manifold and wide-embracing compass, 
from such short ejaculations as the songs 
of the two Lamechs and Ps. 15, 117 and 
others, to the longer chants of victory 
and thanksgiving, like the songs of Deb- 
orah and David. Judges 5 ; Ps. 18. The 
Shemitic nations have nothing approach- 
ing to an epic poem, and in proportion to 
this defect the lyric element prevailed 
more greatly, commencing in the pre- 
Mosaic times, flourishing in rude vigor 
during the earlier periods of the judges, 
the heroic age of the Hebrews, growing 
with the nation's growth and strengthen- 
ing with its strength, till it reached its 
highest excellence in David, the warrior- 
poet, and from thenceforth began slowly 
to decline. 

2. Gnomic poetry. — The second grand 
division of Hebrew poetry is occupied by 
526 



a class of poems which are peculiarly She- 
mitic, and which represent the nearest ap- 
proaches made by the people of that race to 
anything like philosophic thought. Rea- 
soning there is none : we have only results, 
and those rather the product of observation 
and reflection than of 
induction or argumen- 
tation. As lyric poetry 
is the expression of the 
poet's own feelings and 
impulses, so gnomic 
poetry is the form in 
which the desire of 
communicating know- 
ledge to others finds 
vent. Its germs are 
the floating proverbs 
which pass current in 
the mouths of the peo- 
ple, and embody the 
experiences of many 
with the wit of one. 
The utterer of senten- 
tious sayings was to the 
Hebrews the wise man, 
the philosopher. Of 
the earlier isolated 
proverbs but few ex- 
amples remain. 
3. Dramatic poetry. — It is impossible 
to assert that no form of the drama ex- 
isted among the Hebrew people. It is 
unquestionably true, as Ewald observes, 
that the Arab reciters of romances will 
many times in their own persons act out 
a complete drama in recitation, changing 
their voice and gestures with the change 
of person and subject. Something of this 
kind may possibly have existed among 
the Hebrews ; still there is no evidence 
that it did exist, nor any grounds for 
making even a probable conjecture with 
regard to it. But the mere fact of the 
existence of these rude exhibitions among 
the Arabs and Egyptians of the present 
day is of no weight when the question to 
be decided is whether the Song of Songs 
was designed to be so represented, as a 
simple pastoral drama, or whether the 
book of Job is a dramatic poem or not. 
Inasmuch as it represents an action and 
a progress, it is a drama as truly and 
really as any poem can be which devel- 
ops the working of passion and the alter- 
nations of faith, hope, distrust, triumph- 
ant confidence and black despair, in the 
struggle which it depicts the human 
mind as engaged in while attempting to 
solve one of the most intricate problems 



POL 



PON 



it can be called upon to regard. It is a 
drama as life is a drama, the most power- 
ful of all tragedies ; but that it is a dra- 
matic poem, intended to be represented 
upon a stage, or capable of being so rep- 
resented, may be confidently denied. 

One characteristic of Hebrew poetry, 
not indeed peculiar to it, but shared by 
it in common with the literature of other 
nations, is its intensely national and local 
coloring. The writers were Hebrews of 
the Hebrews, drawing their inspiration 
from the mountains and rivers of Pales- 
tine, which they have immortalized in 
their poetic figures, and even while utter- 
ing the sublimest and most universal 
truths never forgetting their own nation- 
ality in its narrowest and intensest form. 
Examples of this remarkable character- 
istic of the Hebrew poets stand thick 
upon every page of these writings, and 
in striking contrast with the vague gen- 
eralizations of the Indian philosophic 
poetry. About one third of the Old Tes- 
tament is poetry in the Hebrew — a large 
part of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesias- 
tes, the Song of Solomon, besides a great 
part of the prophets. Fragments of 
poetry are also found in the historical 
books. (The form which biblical poetry 
takes is not of rhyme and metre— the 
rhythm of quantity in the syllables — as 
with us, but the rhythm of the thought, — 
there usually being two. corresponding 
members to each distich or verse, which 
is called a parallelism. To some extent '[ 
there is verbal rhythm. Sometimes there 
were alliterations, as in the 119th Psalm, 
which is divided up into sections, one for I 
each letter of their alphabet, and each of J 
the eight verses in a section begins with 
the same letter in the Hebrew ; and chap. 
31, vs. 10-31, of the book of Proverbs is : 
an alphabetical acrostic in praise of " the 
virtuous woman." The poetry of the j 
Hebrews, in its essential poetic nature, 
stands in the front rank. It abounds in 
metaphors and images and in high poetic 
feeling and feiwor. — Ed.) 

Pol 'lux. [Castor and Pollux.] 

Polygamy. [Marriage.] 

Pomegranate. The pomegranate ! 
tree, Punica granatum, derives its name j 
from the Latin pomum granatum, ! 
" grained apple." The Romans gave it \ 
the name of Punica, as the tree was in- I 
troduced from Carthage. It belongs to 
the natural order llyrtncece (Myrtle), I 
being, however, rather a tall bush than 
a tree. The foliage is dark green, the j 



flowers are crimson, the fruit, which is 
about the size of an orange, is red when 
ripe, which in Palestine is about the mid- 
dle of October. It contains a quantity 
of juice. Mention is made in Cant. 8 : 
2 of spiced wine of the juice of the 
pomegranate. The rind is used in the 
manufacture of morocco leather, and to- 
gether with the bark is sometimes used 




Pomegranate and Flower. 

medicinally. Dr. Royle (Kitto's Cyc, art 
"Rimrnon") states that this tree is a 
native of Asia, and is to be traced from 
Syria through Persia, even to the mount- 
ains of northern India. The pomegran- 
ate was early cultivated in Egypt ; hence 
the complaint of the Israelites in the 
wilderness of Zin, Num. 20:5, this "is 
no place of figs, or of vines, or of pom- 
egranates." Carved figures of the pom- 
egranate adorned the tops of the pillars 
in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 7 : 18, 20, 
etc. ; and worked representations of this 
fruit, in blue, purple and scarlet, orna- 
mented the hem of the robe of the ephod. 
Ex. 28 : 33, 34. 

Pommels, only in 2 Chron. 4 : 12, 13. 
In 1 Kings 7 : 41, " bowls." The word 
signifies convex projections belonging to 
the capitals of pillars. 

Pond. The ponds of Egypt, Ex. 7 : 
19 ; 8 : 5, were doubtless water left by the 
inundation of the Nile. Ponds for fish 
are mentioned in Isa. 19 : 10. 

Pon'tius Pi'late. [Pilate.] 

Pon'tus, a large district in the north 
of Asia Minor, extending along the coast 
of the Pontus Euxinus Sea (Pontus), from 
527 



POO 



POP 



which circumstance the name was de- 
rived. It corresponds nearly to the mod- 
ern Trebizond. It is three times men- 
tioned in the New Testament — Acts 2:9; 
18:2; 1 Pet. 1:1. All these pas- 
sages agree in showing that there were 
many Jewish residents in the district. 
As to the annals of Pontus, the one bril- 
liant passage of its history is the life of 
the great Mithridates. Under Nero the 



whole region was made a Roman prov- 
ince, bearing the name of Pontus. It was 
conquered by the Turks in a.d. 1461, and 
is still under their dominion. 

Pool. Pools, like the tanks of India, 
are in many parts of Palestine and Syria 
the only resource for water during the 
dry season, and the failure of them in- 
volves drought and calamity. Isa. 42 : 
15. Of the various pools mentioned "n 




Pools of Solomon, with Saracenic Castle. 



Scripture, perhaps the most celebrated 
are the pools of Solomon near Bethlehem, 
called by the Arabs el-Burak, from which 
an aqueduct was carried which still sup- 
plies Jerusalem with water. Eccles. 2 : 
6; Ecclus. 24:30, 31. 

Poor. The general kindly spirit of 
the law toward the poor is sufficiently 
shown by such passages as Deut. 15 : 7, for 
the reason that (ver. 11) " the poor shall 
never cease out of the land." Among the 
special enactments in their favor the fol- 
lowing must be mentioned : 1. The right 
of gleaning. Lev. 19 : 9, 10 ; Deut. 24 : 19, 
21. 2. From the produce of the land in 
sabbatical years the poor and the stran- 
ger were to have their portion. Ex. 23 : 
11 ; Lev. 25 : 6. 3. Pve-entry upon land 
in the jubilee year, with the limitation 
as to town homes. Lev. 25 : 25-30. 4. 
Prohibition of usury and of retention of 
pledges. Ex. 22 : 25-27 ; Lev. 25 : 35, 37, 
etc. 5. Permanent bondage forbidden, 
528 



and manumission of Hebrew bondmen or 
bondwomen enjoined in the sabbatical 
and jubilee years. Lev. 25 : 39-42, 47-54 ; 
Deut. 15 : 12-15. 6. Portions from the 
tithes to be shared by the poor after the 
Levites. Deut. 14 : 28 ; 26 : 12, 13. 7. The 
poor to partake in entertainments at the 
feasts of Weeks and Tabernacles. Deut. 
16 : 11, 14 ; see Neh. 8 : 10. 8. Daily pay- 
ment of wages. Lev. 19 : 13. Principles 
similar to those laid down by Moses are 
inculcated in the New Testament, as 
Luke 3 : 11 ; 14 : 13 ; Acts 6:1; Gal. 2 : 
10 : James 2 : 15. 

Poplar. This is the rendering of the 
Hebrew word Hbneh, which occurs in 
Gen. 30 : 37 and Hos. 4 : 13. Several au- 
thorities are in favor of the rendering of 
the Authorized Version, and think that 
''white poplar" (Populus alba) is the 
tree denoted ; others understand the 
"storax tree" (Styrax officinale, Linn."). 
Both poplars and storax or styrax trees 



FOR 



POT 



are common in Palestine, and either 
would suit the passages where the He- 
brew term occurs. Storax is mentioned 
in Ecclus. 24 : 15, together with other ar- 
omatic substances. The Styrax officinale 
is a shrub from nine to twelve feet high, 
with ovate leaves, which are white under- j 
neath; the flowers are in racemes, and 
are white or cream-colored. 

Por'atha, one of the ten sons of Ha- 
inan slain by the Jews in Shushan the 
palace. Esther 9 : 8. 

Porch. 1. 17am, or uldm. 1 Chron. 
28 : 11. 2. Misderdn (dam, Judges 3 : 23, 
strictly a vestibule, was probably a sort 
of veranda chamber in the works of Sol- 
omon, open in front and at the sides, but 
capable of being enclosed with awnings 
or curtains. The porch, Matt. 2G:71, 
may have been the passage from the 
street into the first court of the house, in 
which, in eastern houses, is the mastdbah 
or stone bench, for the porter or persons 
waiting, and where also the master of the 
house often receives visitors and transacts 
business. 

Por'cius Fes'tus. [Festus.] 

Porter. This word when used in 
the Authorized Version does not bear 
its modern signification of a carrier of 
burdens, but denotes in every case a 
gate-keeper, from the Latin portarius, 
the man who attended to the porta or 
gate. 

Possession. [Demoniacs.] 
Pest. 1. Probably, as Gesenius ar- 
gues, the door-case of a door, including 
the lintel and side posts. The posts of 
the doors of the temple were of olive 
wood. 1 Kings 6 : 33. 2. A courier or 
carrier of messages, used among other 
places in Job 9 : 25. 

Pet. The term "pot " is applicable to 
so many sorts of vessels that it can scarce- 
ly be restricted to any one in particular. 
1. Asuc, 2 Kings 4 : 2, an earthen jar, 
deep and narrow, without handles, prob- 
ably like the Roman and Egyptian am- 
phora, inserted in a stand of wood or 
stone. 2. Chercs, an earthen vessel for 
stewing or seething. Lev. 6 : 28 ; Ezek. 4 : 
9. 3. Dud, a vessel for culinary pur- 
poses, perhaps of smaller size. 1 Sam. 2 : 
14. The "pots" set before the Rechab- \ 
ites, Jer. 35 : 5, were probably bulging ] 
jars or bowls. The water-pots of Cana 
appear to have been large amphorae, such 
as are in use at the present day in Syria. 
These were of stone or hard earthenware. 
The water-pot of the Samaritan woman 
34 



may have been a leathern bucket, such 
as Bedouin women use. 




Stone Water-jars. 



Pot'iphar, an Egyptian name, also 
written Potipherah, signifies belonging 
to the sun. Potiphar, with whom the his- 
tory of Joseph is connected, is described 
as "an officer of Pharaoh, chief of the 
executioners, an Egyptian." Gen. 39 : 1 ; 
comp. 37:30. (B.C. 1728.) He appears 
to have been a wealthy man. Gen. 39 : 
4-6. The view we have of Potiphar's 
household is exactly in accordance with 
the representations on the monuments. 
When Joseph was accused, his master 
contented himself with casting him into 
prison. Gen. 39:19, 20. After this we 
hear no more of Potiphar. [Joseph.] 

Potiph'erah, or Potiphe'rah, was 
priest or prince of On, and his daughter 
Asenath was given Joseph to wife by 
Pharaoh. Gen. 41 : 45, 50; 46 : 20. (B.C. 
1715.) 

Potsherd, also in Authorized Version 
" sherd," a broken piece of earthenware. 
Prov. 26 : 23. 
Pottage. [Lentils.] 
Potter's field, The, a piece cf 
ground which, according to the statement 
of St. Matthew, Matt. 27 : 7, was pur- 
chased by the priests with the thirty 
pieces of silver rejected by Judas, and 
converted into a burial-place for Jews 
not belonging to the city. [ACELDAMA.] 
Pottery. The art of pottery is one of 
! the most common and most ancient of all 
manufactures. It is abundantly evident, 
both that the Hebrews used earthenware 
vessels in the wilderness and that the 
potter's trade was afterward carried on 
in Palestine. Thev had themselves been 
529 



POU 



PEA 



concerned in the potter's trade in Egypt, 
Ps. 81 : 6, and the wall-paintings minute- 
ly illustrate the Egyptian process. The 
clay, when dug, was trodden by men's 
feet so as to form a paste, Isa. 41 : 25 ; 
Wisd. 15 : 7 ; then placed by the potter 
on the wheel beside which he sat, and 
shaped by him with his hands. How 
early the wheel came into use in Palestine 
is not known, but it seems likely that it 




Eastern Potter. 

was adopted from Egypt. Isa. 45 : 9 ; Jer. 

18 : 3. The vessel was then smoothed and 
coated with a glaze, and finally burnt in 
a furnace. There was at Jerusalem a 
royal establishment of potters, 1 Chron. 
4 : 23, from whose employment, and from 
the fragments cast away in the process, 
the Potter's Field perhaps received its 
name. Isa. 30 : 14. 

Pound. 1. A weight. [See Weights 
and Measures.] 2. A sum of money, 
put in the Old Testament, 1 Kings 10 : 
17 ; Ezra 2 : 69 ; Neh. 7 : 71, for the He- 
brew maneh, worth in silver about $25. 
In the parable of the ten pounds, Luke 

19 : 12-27, the reference appears to be to a 
Greek pound, a weight used as a money 
of account, of which sixty went to the 
talent. It was worth $15 to $17. 

Praeto'rium (in the Revised Version 
translated palace, Matt. 27 : 27 ; John 18 : 
28, 33 ; 19 : 9), the headquarters of the 
Roman military governor, wherever he 
happened to be. In time of peace some 
one of the best buildings of the city which 
was the residence of the proconsul or 
przetor was selected for this purpose. 
Thus at Csesarea that of Herod the Great 
530 



was occupied by Felix, Acts 23 : 35 ; and 
at Jerusalem the new palace erected by 
the same prince was the residence of Pi- 
late. After the Roman power was estab- 
lished in Judea, a Roman guard was 
always maintained in the Antonia. The 
praetorian camp at Rome, to which St. 
Paul refers, Philip. 1 : 13, was erected by 
the emperor Tiberius, acting under the 
advice of Sejanus. It stood outside the 
walls, at some dis- 
tance short of the 
fourth milestone. St. 
Paul appears to have 
been permitted, for 
the space of two 
years, to lodge, so to 
speak, " within the 
rules" of the pra?to- 
rium, Acts 28 : 30, al- 
though still under the 
custodv of a soldier. 

Prayer. The ob- 
ject of this article 
will be to touch brief- 
ly on — 1. The doc- 
trine of Scripture as 
to the nature and ef- 
ficacy of prayer; 2. 
Its directions as to 
time, place and man- 
ner of prayer ; 3. Its 
types and examples of prayer/ 1. Scrip- 
ture does not give any theoretical expla- 
nation of the mystery which attaches to 
prayer. The difficulty of understanding 
its real efficacy arises chiefly from two 
sources : from the belief that man lives 
under general laws, which in all cases 
must be fulfilled unalterably ; and the 
opposing belief that he is master of his 
own destiny, and need pray for no exter- 
nal blessing. Now, Scripture, while, by 
the doctrine of spiritual influence, it en- 
tirely disposes of the latter difficulty, does 
not so entirely solve that part of the mys- 
tery which depends on the nature of God. 
It places it clearly before us, and empha- 
sizes most strongly those doctrines on 
which the difficulty turns. Yet, while 
this is so, on the other hand the instinct 
of prayer is solemnly sanctioned and en- 
forced on every page. Not only is its 
subjective effect asserted, but its real ob- 
jective efficacy, as a means appointed by 
God for obtaining blessing, is both im- 
plied and expressed in the plainest terms. 
Thus, as usual in the case of such mys- 
teries, the two apparently opposite truths 
are emphasized, because they are needful 



PRA 



PEA 



to man's conception of his relation to 
God ; their reconcilement is not, perhaps 
cannot be, fully revealed. For, in fact, 
it is involved in that inscrutable mystery 
which attends on the conception of any 
free action of man as necessary for the 
working out of the general laws of God's 
unchangeable will. At the same time it 
is clearly implied that such a reconcile- 
ment exists, and that all the apparently- 
isolated and independent exertions of 
man's spirit in prayer are in some way 
perfectly subordinated to the one su- 
preme will of God, so as to form a part 
of his scheme of providence. It is also 
implied that the key to the mystery lies 
in the fact of man's spiritual unity with 
God in Christ, and of the consequent gift 
of the Holy Spirit. So also is it said of 
the spiritual influence of the Holy Ghost 
on each individual mind that while " we 
know not what to pray for," the in- 
dwelling " Spirit makes intercession for 
the saints, according to the will of God." 
Eom. 8 : 26, 27. Here, as probably in all 
other cases, the action of the Holy Spirit 
on the soul is to free agents what the laws 
of nature are to things inanimate, and is 
the power which harmonizes free indi- 
vidual action with the universal will of 
God. 2. There are no directions as to 
prayer given in the Mosaic law : the duty 
is rather taken for granted, as an adjunct 
to sacrifice, than enforced or elaborated. 
It is hardly conceivable that, even from 
the beginning, public prayer did not fol- 
low every public sacrifice. Such a prac- 
tice is alluded to in Luke 1 : 10 as com- 
mon ; and in one instance, at the offering 
of the first-fruits, it was ordained in a 
striking form. Deut, 26 : 12-15. In later 
times it certainly grew into a regular | 
service both in the temple and in the j 
synagogue. But, besides this public j 
prayer, it was the custom of all at Jeru- j 
salem to go up to the temple, at regular 
hours if possible,, for private prayer, see 
Luke 18 : 10 ; Acts 3:1; and those who 
were absent were wont to "open their 
windows toward Jerusalem," and pray 
" toward " the place of God's presence. 1 
Kings 8 : 46-49 ; Ps. 5 : 7 ; 28 : 2 ; 138 : 2 ; 
Dan. 6 : 10. The regular hours of prayer 
seem to have been three (see Ps. 55 : 17 ; 
Dan. 6 : 10) : " the evening," that is, the 
ninth hour, Acts 3:1; 10:3, the hour 
of the evening sacrifice, Dan. 9 : 21 ; the 
" morning," that is, the third hour, Acts 
2 : 15, that of the morning sacrifice ; and 
the sixth hour, or " noonday." Grace 



before meat would seem to have been a 
common practice. See Matt. 15 : 36 ; Acts 
27 : 35. The posture of prayer among 
the Jews seems to have been* most often 
standing, 1 Sam. 1 : 26 ; Matt. 6:5; Mark 
| 11 : 25; Luke 18 : 11 ; unless the prayer 
; were offered with especial solemnity and 
; humiliation, which was naturally ex- 
pressed by kneeling, 1 Kings 8 : 54 ; 
comp. 2 Chron. 6 : 13 ; Ezra 9:5; Ps. 
95:6; Dan. 6:10, or prostration. Josh. 
7 : 6 ; 1 Kings 18 : 42 ; Neh. 8:6. 3. The 
only form of prayer given for perpetual 
use in the Old Testament is the one in 
Deut. 26 : 5-15, connected with the offer- 
ing of tithes and first-fruits, and con- 
taining in simple form the important el- 
ements of prayer, acknowledgment of 
God's mercy, self-dedication and prayer 
for future blessing. To this may per- 
haps be added the threefold blessing of 
Num. 6 : 24-26, couched as it is in a 
precatory form, and the short prayer of 
Moses, Num. 10 : 35, 36, at the moving 
and resting of the cloud, the former of 
which was the germ of the 68th Psalm. 
But of the prayers recorded in the Old 
Testament the two most remarkable are 
those of Solomon at the dedication of the 
temple, 1 Kings 8 : 23-53, and of Joshua 
the high priest, and his colleagues, after 
the captivity. Neh. 9:5-38. It appears 
from the question of the disciples in Luke 
11:1, and from Jewish tradition, that the 
chief teachers of the day gave special 
forms of prayer to their disciples, as the 
badge of their discipleship and the best 
fruits of their learning. All Christian 
prayer is, of course, based on the Lord's 
Prayer ; but its spirit is also guided by 
that of his prayer in Gethsemane and of 
the prayer recorded by St. John, John 
17, the beginning of Christ's great work 
of intercession. The influence of these 
prayers is more distinctly traced in the 
prayers contained in the epistles, see 
Rom. 16 : 25-27 ; Eph. 3 : 14-21 ; Philip. 
1 : 3-11 ; Col. 1 : 9-15 ; Heb. 13 : 20, 21 ; 
1 Pet. 5 : 10, 11, etc., than in those re- 
corded in the Acts. The public prayer 
probably in the first instance took much 
of its form and style from the prayers of 
the synagogues. In the record of prayers 
accepted and granted by God, we observe, 
as always, a special adaptation to the 
period of his dispensation to which they 
belong. In the patriarchal period, they 
have the simple and childlike tone of 
domestic supplication for the ordinary 
and apparently trivial incidents of do- 
531 



PRE 



PRT 



mestic life. In the Mosaic period they 
assume a more solemn tone and a na- 
tional bearing, chiefly that of direct in- 
tercession for the chosen people. More 
rarely are they for individuals. A spe- 
cial class are those which precede and 
refer to the exercise of miraculous power. 
In the New Testament they have a more 
directly spiritual bearing. It would seem 
the intention of Holy Scripture to en- 
courage all prayer, more especially in- 
tercession, in all relations and for all 
righteous objects. 

Presents. [Gift.] 

President {sdrac or sdrScd, only used 
Dan. 6, the Chaldee equivalent for He- 
brew shoter, probably from sara, Zend, a 
"head"), a high officer in the Persian 
court, a chief, a president, used of the 
three highest ministers. 

Priest. The English word is derived 
from the Greek presbyter, signifying an 
"elder" (Heb. cdhtn). Origin. — The 
idea of a priesthood connects itself in all 
its forms, pure or corrupted, with the 
consciousness, more or less distinct, of 
sin. Men feel that they have broken a 
law. The power above them is holier 
than they are, and they dare not approach 
it. They crave for the intervention of 
some one of whom they can think as 
likely to be more acceptable than them- 
selves. He must offer up their prayers, 
thanksgivings, sacrilices. He becomes 
their representative in " things pertain- 
ing unto God." He may become also 
(though this does not always follow) the 
representative of God to man. The 
functions of the priest and prophet may 
exist in the same person. No trace of a 
hereditary or caste priesthood meets us 
in the worship of the patriarchal age. 
Once and once only does the word cohen 
meet us as belonging to a ritual earlier 
than the time of Abraham. Melchizedek 
is "the priest of the most high God." 
Gen. 14 : 18. In the worship of the patri- 
archs themselves, the chief of the family, 
as such, acted as the priest. The office 
descended with the birthright, and might 
apparently be transferred with it. 

When established.— The priesthood was 
first established in the family of Aaron, 
and all the sons of Aaron were priests. 
They stood between the high priest on 
the one hand and the Levites on the 
other. [High Priest ; Levites.] The 
ceremony of their consecration is de- 
scribed in Ex. 29 ; Lev. 8. 

Dress. — The dress which the priests j 
532 



wore during their ministrations consisted 
of linen drawers, with a close-fitting cas- 
sock, also of linen, white, but with a dia- 
mond or chess-board pattern on it. This 
came nearly to the feet, and was to be 
worn in its garment shape. Comp. John 
19 : 23. The white cassock was gathered 
round the body with a girdle of needle- 
work, in which, as in the more gorgeous 




Egyptian High Priest in Full Dress. 

belt of the high priest, blue, purple and 
scarlet were intermingled with white, 
and worked in the form of flowers. Ex. 

28 : 39, 40 ; 39 : 2 ; Ezek. 44 : 17-19. Upon 
their heads they were to wear caps or 
bonnets in the form of a cup-shaped 
flower, also of fine linen. In all their 
acts of ministration they were to be bare- 
footed. 

Duties. — The chief duties of the priests 
were to watch over the fire on the altar 
of burnt offering, and to keep it burning 
evermore both by day and night, Lev. 6 : 
12; 2 Chron. 13:11; to feed the golden 
lamp outside the vail with oil, Ex. 27 : 
20, 21 ; Lev. 24 : 2 ; to offer the morning 
and evening sacrifices, each accompanied 
with a meat offering and a drink offer- 
ing, at the door of the tabernacle. Ex. 

29 : 38-44. They were also to teach the 
children of Israel the statutes of the 
Lord. Lev. 10 : 11; Deut. 33 : 10; 2 
Chron. 15 : 3 ; Ezek. 44 : 23, 24. During 
the journeys in the wilderness it belonged 
to them to cover the ark and all the ves- 
sels of the sanctuary with a purple or 



PRI 



PEI 



scarlet cloth before the Levites might 
approach them. Num. 4 : 5-15. As the 
people started on each day's march they 
were to blow "an alarm" with long sil- 
ver trumpets. Num. 10 : 1-8. Other in- 
struments of music might be used by the 
more highly-trained Levites and the 
schools of the prophets, but the trumpets 
belonged only to the priests. The pres- 
ence of the priests on the field of battle, 
1 Chron. 12 : 23, 27 ; 2 Chron. 20 : 21, 22, 
led, in the later periods of Jewish his- 
tory, to the special appointment at such 
times of a war priest. Other functions 
were hinted at in Deuteronomy which 
might have given them greater influence 
as the educators and civilizers of the 
people. They were to act (whether in- 
dividually or collectively does not dis- 
tinctly appear) as a court of appeal in 
the more difficult controversies in crim- 
inal or civil cases. Deut. 17 : 8-13. It 
must remain doubtful, however, how far 
this order kept its ground during the 
storms and changes that followed. Func- 
tions such as these were clearly incompat- 
ible with the common activities of men. 

Provision for support. — This consisted 
— 1. Of one tenth of the tithes which 
the people paid to the Levites, i. e. one 
per cent, on the whole produce of the 
country. Num. 18 : 26-28. 2. Of a special 
tithe every third year. Deut. 14 : 28 ; 26 : 
12. 3. Of the redemption money, paid 
at the fixed rate of five shekels a head, 
for the first-born of man or beast. Num. 
18 : 14-19. 4. Of the redemption money 
paid in like manner for men or things 
specially dedicated to the Lord. Lev. 
27. 5. Of spoil, captives, cattle and the 
like, taken in war. Num. 31 : 25-47. 6. 
Of the shew-bread, the flesh of the burnt 
offerings, peace offerings, trespass offer- 
ings, Lev. 6 : 26, 29; 7 : 6-10 ; Num. 18 : 
8-14, and in particular the heave-shoul- 
der and the wave-breast. Lev. 10 : 12-15. 
7. Of an undefined amount of the first- 
fruits of corn, wine and oil. Ex. 23 : 19 ; 
Lev. 2 : 14 ; Deut. 26 : 1-10. 8. On their 
settlement in Canaan the priestly families 
had thirteen cities assigned them, with 
"suburbs" or pasture-grounds for their 
flocks. Josh. 21 : 13-19. These provisions 
were obviously intended to secure the re- 
ligion of Israel against the dangers of a 
caste of pauper priests, needy and de- 
pendent, and unable to bear their wit- 
ness to the true faith. They were, on the 
other hand, as iar as possible removed 
from the condition of a wealthy order. 



Courses. — The priesthood was divided 
into four and twenty " courses " or orders, 
1 Chron. 24 : 1-19 ; 2 Chron. 23 : 8 ; Luke 
1 : 5, each of which was to serve in rota- 
tion for one week, while the further as- 
signment of special services during the 
week was determined by lot. Luke 1 : 9. 
Each course appears to have commenced 
its work on the Sabbath, the outgoing 
priests taking the morning sacrifice, and 
leaving that of the evening to their suc- 
ceasors. 2 Chron. 23 : 8. 

Numbers. — If we may accept the num- 
bers given by Jewish writers as at all 
trustworthy, the proportion of the priest- 
hood to the population of Palestine, 
during the last century of their existence 
as an order, must have been far greater 
than that of the clergy has ever been in 
any Christian nation. Over and above 
those that were scattered in the country 
and took their turn, there were not fewer 
than 24,000 stationed permanently at 
Jerusalem, and 12,000 at Jericho. It was 
almost inevitable that the great mass of 
the order, under such circumstances, 
should sink in character and reputation. 
The reigns of the two kings David and 
Solomon were the culminating period of 
the glory of the Jewish priesthood. It 
will be interesting to bring together the 
few facts that indicate the position of the 
priests in the New Testament period of 
their history. The number scattered 
throughout Palestine was, as has been 
stated, very large. Of these the greater 
number were poor and ignorant. The 
priestly order, like the nation, was di- 
vided between contending sects. In the 
scenes of the last tragedy of Jewish his- 
tory the order passes away without honor, 
" dying as a fool dieth." The high priest- 
hood is given to the lowest and vilest of 
the adherents of the frenzied Zealots. 
Other priests appear as deserting to the 
enemy. The destruction of Jerusalem 
deprived the order at one blow of all but 
an honorary distinction. 

Prince,'Princess. The only special 
uses of the word " prince " are — 1 . " Prin- 
ces of provinces," 1 Kings 20 : 14, who 
were probably local governors or mag- 
istrates. 2. The "princes" mentioned 
in Dan. 6 : 1 (see Esther 1:1) were the 
predecessors of the satraps of Darius 
Hystaspes. The word princess is seldom 
used in the Bible, but the persons to 
which it alludes — " daughters of kings " 
— are frequently mentioned. 

Principality. In several passages of 
533 



PKI 



PRO 



the New Testament the term " principal- 
ities and powers " appears to denote dif- 
ferent orders of angels, good or bad. See 
Eph. 6 : 12, . 

Pris'ca [ancient), 2 Tim. 4 : 19, or 
Priscil'la (a diminutive from Prisca), 
the wife of Aquila. [Aquila.] To what 
has been said elsewhere under the head 
of Aquila the following may be added : 
"VVe find that the name of the wife is 
placed before that of the husband in 
Bom. 16:3; 2 Tim. 4 : 19, and (accord- 
ing to some of the best MSS.) in Acts 
18 : 26. Hence we should be disposed to 
conclude that Priscilla was the more 
energetic character of the two. In fact 
we may say that Priscilla is the example 
of what the married woman may do for 
the general service of the Church, in con- 
junction with home duties, as Phoebe is 
the type of the unmarried servant of the 
Church, or deaconess. 

Prison. [For imprisonment as a pun- 
ishment, see Punishments.] It is plain 
that in Egypt special places were used as 
prisons, and that they were under the 
custody of a military officer. Gen. 40 : 3 ; 
42 : 17. During the wandering in tbe 
desert we read on two occasions of con- 
finement " in ward " — Lev. 24 : 12 ; Num. 
15 : 34 ; but as imprisonment was not di- 
rected by the law, so we hear of none till 
the time of the kings, when the prison 
appears as an appendage to the palace, 
or a special part of it. 1 Kings 22 : 27. 
Private houses were sometimes used as 
places of confinement. By the Romans 
the tower of Antonia was used as a 
prison at Jerusalem, Acts 23 : 10, and at 
Caesarea the prsetorium of Herod. The 
royal prisons in those days were doubt- 
less managed after the Roman fashion, 
and chains, fetters and stocks were used 
as means of confinement. See Acts 16 : 
24. One of the readiest places for con- 
finement was a dry or partially-dry wall 
or pit. Jer. 38 : 6-M. 

Proch'orus (leader of the chorus), one 
of the seven deacons, being the third on 
the list, and named next after Stephen 
and Philip. Acts 6 : 5. 

Proconsul (for, or in place of, the 
consul). At the division of the Roman 
provinces by Augustus, in the year B.C. 
27, into senatorial and imperial, the em- 
peror assigned to the senate such portions 
of territory as were peaceable and could 
be held without force of arms. Those 
which he retained were called imperial, 
and were governed by legates and procur- 
534 



ators. [Procurator.] Over the sen- 
atorial provinces the senate appointed 
by lot yearly an officer, who was called 
"proconsul," and who exercised purely 
civil functions. The provinces were in 
consequence called " proconsular." 

Procurator. The Greek yye/xuv, ren- 
dered " governor " in the Authorized 
Version, is applied in the New Testament 
to the officer who presided over the im- 
perial province of Judea. It is used of 
Pontius Pilate, Matt. 27, of Felix, Acts 
23, 24, and of Festus. Acts 26 : 30. It is 
explained under Proconsul that after 
the battle of Actium, B.C. 27, the prov- 
inces of the Roman empire were divided 
by Augustus into two portions, giving 
some to the senate and reserving to him- 
self the rest. The imperial provinces 
were administered by legati. No qusestor 
came into the emperor's provinces, but 
the property and revenues of the impe- 
rial treasury were administered by pro- 
curatores. Sometimes a province was 
governed by a procurator with the func- 
tions of a legatus. This was especially 
the case with the smaller provinces and 
the outlying districts of a larger province; 
and such is the relation in which Judea 
stood to Syria. The headquarters of the 
procurator were at Csesarea, Acts 23 : 23, 
where he had a judgment seat, Acts 25 : 
6, in the audience chamber, Acts 25 : 23, 
and was assisted by a council, Acts 25 : 
12, whom he consulted in cases of diffi- 
culty. He was attended by a cohort as 
body-guard, Matt. 27 : 27, and apparently 
went up to Jerusalem at the time of the 
high festivals, and there resided at the 
palace of Herod, in which was the pra?- 
torium or "judgment hall." Matt. 27 : 27 ; 
Mark 15 : 16 ; comp. Acts 23 : 35. 

Prophet. The ordinary Hebrew word 
for prophet is ndbi, derived from a verb 
signifying " to bubble forth " like a fount- 
ain ; hence the word means one who an- 
nounces or pours forth the declarations 
of God. The English word comes from 
the Greek pr ophites (jrpo^Trjs), which sig- 
nifies in classical Greek one who speaks 
for another, specially one who speaks for 
a god, and so interprets his will to man ; 
hence its essential meaning is "an inter- 
preter." The use of the word in its 
modern sense as " one who predicts " is 
post-classical. The larger sense of inter- 
pretation has not, however, been lost. In 
fact the English word prophet has al- 
ways been used in a larger and in a 
closer sense. The different meanings or 



pro 



PRO 



shades of meanings in which the abstract 
noun is employed in Scripture have been 
drawn out by Locke as follows : " Proph- 
ecy comprehends three things : predic- 
tion ; singing by The dictate of the Spirit ; 
and understanding and explaining the 
mysterious, hidden sense of Scripture by 
an immediate illumination and motion 
of the Spirit." 

Order and office. — The sacerdotal or- 
der was originally the instrument by 
which the members of the Jewish theoc- 
racy were taught and governed in things 
spiritual. Teaching by act and teaching 
by word were alike their task. But dur- 
ing the time of the judges, the priesthood 
sank into a state of degeneracy, and the 
people Mere no longer affected by the 
acted lessons of the ceremonial service. 
They required less enigmatic warnings 
and exhortations. Under these circum- 
stances a new moral power was evoked — 
the Prophetic Order. Samuel, himself a 
Levite of the family of Kohath, 1 Chron. 
6 : 28, and almost certainly a priest, was 
the instrument used at once for effecting 
a reform in the sacerdotal order, 1 Chron. 
9 : 22, and for giving to the prophets a 
position of importance which they had 
never before held. Nevertheless, it is 
not to be supposed that Samuel created 
the prophetic order as a new thing be- 
fore unknown. The germs both of the 
prophetic and of the regal order are 
found in the law as given to the Israelites 
by Moses, Deut. 13 : 1 ; 18 : 20 ; 17 : 18, but 
they were not yet developed, because 
there was not yet the demand for them. 
Samuel took measures to make his work 
of restoration permanent as well as ef- 
fective for the moment. For this pur- 
pose he instituted companies or colleges 
of prophets. One we find in his lifetime 
at Ramah, 1 Sam. 19 : 19, 20; others aft- 
erward at Bethel, 2 Kings 2:3; Jericho, 
2 Kings 2 : 2, 5 ; Gilgal, 2 Kings 4 : 38, 
and elsewhere. 2 Kings 6 : 1. Their con- 
stitution and object were similar to those 
of theological colleges. Into them were 
gathered promising students, and here 
they were trained for the office which 
they were afterward destined to fulfill. 
So successful were these institutions that 
from the time of Samuel to the closing 
of the canon of the Old Testament there 
seems never to have been wanting a due 
supply of men to keep up the line of of- 
ficial prophets. Their chief subject of 
study was, no doubt, the law and its in- 
terpretation ; oral, as distinct from sym- 



bolical, teaching being thenceforward 
tacitly transferred from the priestly to 
the prophetic order. Subsidiary subjects 
of instruction were music and sacred po- 
etry, both of which had been connected 
with prophecy from the time of Moses, 
Ex. 15 : 20, and the judges. Judges 4:4; 
5:1. But to belong to the prophetic or- 
der and to possess the prophetic gift are 
not convertible terms. Generally, the 
inspired prophet came from the college 
of the prophets, and belonged to the 
prophetic order ; but this was not always 
the case. Thus Amos, though called to 
the prophetic office, did not belong to the 
prophetic order. Amos 7 : 14. The sixteen 
prophets whose books are in the canon 
have that place of honor because they 
were endowed with the prophetic gift as 
well as ordinarily (so far as we know) 
belonging to the prophetic order. 

Characteristics. — What then are the 
i characteristics of the sixteen prophets 
thus called and commissioned, and in- 
trusted with the messages of God to his 
people? 1. They were the national poets 
of Judea. 2. They were annalists and 
historians. A great portion of Isaiah, of 
Jeremiah, of Daniel, of Jonah, of Hag- 
gai, is direct or indirect history. 3. They 
were preachers of patriotism,— their pa- 
triotism being founded on the religious 
motive. 4. They were preachers of morals 
and of sjnritual religion. The system of 
morals put forward by the prophets, if 
not higher or sterner or purer than that 
of the law, is more plainly declared, and 
with greater, because now more needed, 
vehemence of diction. 5. They were ex- 
traordinary but yet authorized exponents 
of the law. 6. They held a pastoral or 
quasi-pastoral office. 7. They were a po- 
| litical power in the state. ' 8. But the 
J prophets were something more than na- 
tional poets and annalists, preachers of 
j patriotism, moral teachers, exponents of 
the law, pastors and politicians. Their 
most essential characteristic is that they 
were instruments of revealing God's will 
! to man, as in other ways, so specially by 
predicting future events, and, in partic- 
I ular, by foretelling the incarnation of the 
I Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption 
| effected by him. We have a series of 
prophecies which are so applicable to the 
person and earthly life of Jesus Christ as 
to be thereby shown to have been de- 
signed to apply to him. And if they were 
designed to apply to him, prophetical 
prediction is proved. Objections have 



PEO 



PRO 



been urged. We notice only one, viz., 
vagueness. It has been said that the 
prophecies are too darkly and vaguely 
worded to be proved predictive by the 
events which they are alleged to foretell. 
But to this might be answered, 1. That 
God never forces men to believe, but that 
there is such a union of definiteness and 
vagueness in the prophecies as to enable 
those who are willing to discover the 
truth, while the willfully blind are not 
forcibly constrained to see it. 2. That, 
had the prophecies been couched in the 
form of direct declarations, their fulfill- 
ment would have thereby been rendered 
impossible, or at least capable of frustra- 
tion. 3. That the effect of prophecy 
would have been far less beneficial to 
believers, as being less adapted to keep 
them in a state of constant expectation. 
4. That the Messiah of revelation could 
not be so clearly portrayed in his varied 
character as God and man, as prophet, 
priest and king, if he had been the mere 
" teacher." 5. That the state of the proph- 
ets, at the time of receiving the divine rev- 
elation, was such as necessarily to make 
their predictions fragmentary, figurative, 
and abstracted from the relations of time. 
6. That some portions of the prophecies 
were intended to be of double applica- 
tion, and some portions to be understood 
only on their fulfillment. Comp. John 
14 : 29 ; Ezek. 36 : 33. 

How the prophetic gift ivas received. — 
We learn from Holy Scripture that it was 
by the agency of the Spirit of God that 
the prophets received the divine com- 
munication ; but the means by which 
the divine Spirit communicated with the 
human spirit, and the conditions of the 
latter under which the divine commun- 
ications were received, have not been 
clearly declared to us. They are, how- 
ever, indicated. In Num. 12 : 6-8 we 
have an exhaustive division of the differ- 
ent ways in which the revelations of God 
are made to man. 1. Direct declaration 
and manifestation : " I will speak mouth 
to mouth, apparently, and the similitude 
of the Lord shall he behold." 2. Vision. 
3. Dream. But though it must be al- 
lowed that Scripture language seems to 
point out the state of dream and of trance, 
or ecstasy, as a condition in which the 
human instrument received the divine 
communications, it does not follow that 
all the prophetic revelations were thus 
made. Had the prophets a full knowl- 
edge of that which they predicted ? It 
536 



follows from what we have already said 
that they had not, and could not have. 
They were the " spokesmen " of God, Ex. 
7 : 1, the " mouth " by which his words 
were uttered, or they were enabled to 
view and empowered to describe pictures 
presented to their spiritual intuition ; but 
there are no grounds for believing that, 
contemporaneously with this miracle, 
there was wrought another miracle, en- 
larging the understanding of the prophet 
so as to grasp the whole of the divine 
counsels which he was gazing into, or 
which he was the instrument of enun- 
ciating. 

Names. — Of the sixteen prophets, four 
are usually called the great prophets, 
namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and 
Daniel, and twelve the minor prophets, 
namely, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, 
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zepn- 
aniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. 
They may be divided into four groups : 
the prophets of the northern kingdom — 
Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah ; the prophets 
of the southern kingdom— Isaiah, Jere- 
miah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habak- 
kuk, Zephaniah ; the prophets of the cap- 
tivity — Ezekiel and Daniel ; the prophets 
of the return — Haggai, Zechariah, Mal- 
achi. They may be arranged in the fol- 
lowing chronological order, namely, Joel, 
Jonah, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, Na- 
hum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zech- 
ariah, Malachi. 

Use of prophecy. — Predictive prophecy 
is at once a part and an evidence of rev- 
elation ; at the time that it is delivered, 
and until its fulfillment, a part ; after it 
has been fulfilled, an evidence. As an 
evidence, fulfilled prophecy is as satis- 
factory as anything can be ; for who can 
know the future except the Ruler who 
disposes future events ? and from whom 
can come prediction except from him 
who knows the future? 

Development of Messianic prophecy. — 
Prediction, in the shape of promise and 
threatening, begins with the book of 
Genesis. Immediately upon the Fall, 
hopes of recovery and salvation are held 
out, but the manner in which this salva- 
tion is to be effected is left altogether in- 
definite. All that is at first declared is 
that it shall come through a child of 
woman. Gen. 3:15. By degrees the a rea 
is limited : it is to come through the 
family of Shem, Gen. 9 : 26, through the 
family of Abraham, Gen. 12 r 3, of Isaac, 



PEO 



PRO 



Gen. 22 : 18, of Jacob, Gen. 28 : 14, of Ju- 
dah, Gen. 49 : 10. Balaam seems to say 
that it will be wrought by a warlike ls- 
raelitish King, Num. 24 : 17 ; Jacob, by 
a peaceful Ruler of the earth. Gen. 49 : 10 ; 
Moses, by a Prophet like himself, i. e. a 
revealer of a new religious dispensation. 
Deut. 18 : 15. Nathan's announcement, 
2 Sam. 7 : 16, determines further that the 
salvation is to come through the house 
of David, and through a descendant of 
Da vid who shall be himself a king. This 
promise is developed by David himself 
in the Messianic Psalms. Between Sol- 
omon and Hezekiah intervened some two 
hundred years, during which the voice 
of prophecy was silent. The Messianic 
conception entertained at this time by 
the Jews might have been that of a King 
of the royal house of David, who would 
arise and gather under his peaceful 
sceptre his own people and strangers. 
Sufficient allusion to his prophetical and 
priestly offices had been made to create 
thoughtful consideration, but as yet there 
was no clear delineation of him in these 
characters. It was reserved for the 
prophets to bring out these features more 
distinctly. In this great period of proph- 
etism there is no longer any chronologi- 
cal development of Messianic prophecy, 
as in the earlier period previous to Sol- 
omon. Each prophet adds a feature, one 
more, another less, clearly : combine the 
feature, and we have the portrait; but it 
does not grow gradually and perceptibly 
under the hands of the several artists. 
Its culminating point is found in the 
prophecy contained in Isa. 52 : 13-15 
and 53. 

Prophets of the New Testament. — So far 
as their predictive powers are concerned, 
the Old Testament prophets find their 
New Testament counterpart in the writer 
of the Apocalypse ; but in their general 
character, as specially illumined reveal- 
ers of God's will, their counterpart will 
rather be found, first in the great Prophet 
of the Church and his forerunner, John 
the Baptist, and next in all those persons 
who were endowed with the extraordi- 
nary gifts of the Spirit in the apostolic 
age, the speakers with tongues and the 
interpreters of tongues, the prophets and 
the discerners of spirits, the teachers and 
w T orkers of miracles. 1 Cor. 12 : 10, 28. 
That predictive powers did occasionally 
exist in the New Testament prophets is 
proved by the case of Agabus, Acts 11 : 
28, but this was not their characteristic. 



The prophets of the New Testament were 
supernaturally-illuminated expounders 
and preachers. 

Proselyte (a stranger, a new comer), 
the name given by the Jews to foreigners 
who adopted the Jewish religion. The 
dispersion of the Jews in foreign coun- 
tries, which has been spoken of else- 
where [Dispersion, The], enabled them 
to make many converts to their faith. 
The converts who were thus attracted 
joined, with varying strictness, in the 
worship of the Jews. In Palestine itself, 
even Roman centurions learned to love 
the conquered nation, built synagogues 
for them, Luke 7 : 5, fasted and prayed, 
j and gave alms after the pattern of the 
j strictest Jews, Acts 10 : 2, 30, and became 
J preachers of the new faith to the soldiers 
I under them. Acts 10: 7. Such men, drawn 
by what was best in Judaism, were nat- 
| urally among the readiest receivers of 
j the new truth Avhich rose out of it, and 
! became, in many cases, the nucleus of a 
j Gentile Church. Proselytism had, how- 
I ever, its darker side. The Jews of Pal- 
estine were eager to spread their faith by 
the same weapons as those with which 
they had defended it. The ldumseans 
had the alternative offered them by John 
Hyrcanus of death, exile or circumcision. 
The Iturseans were converted in the same 
way by Aristobulus. Where force was 
not in their power, they obtained their 
ends by the most unscrupulous fraud. 
Those who were most active in prosely- 
tizing were precisely those from whose 
teaching all that was most true and liv- 
ing had departed. The vices of the Jew 
were engrafted on the vices of the hea» 
then. A repulsive casuistry released the 
convert from obligations which he had 
before recognized, while in other things 
he was bound hand and foot to an un- 
healthy superstition. It was no wonder 
that he became "twofold more the child 
of hell," Matt. 23 : 15, than the Pharisees 
themselves. We find in the Talmud a 
distinction between proselytes of the gate 
and proselytes of righteousness. 1. The 
term proselytes of the gate was derived 
from the frequently-occurring description 
in the law, " the stranger that is within 
thy gates." Ex. 20 ; 10, etc. Converts of 
this class were not bound by circumcision 
and the other special laws of the Mosaic 
code. It is doubtful, however, whether 
| the distinction made in the Talmud ever 
J really existed. 2. The proscli/tes of right- 
! eousncss, known also as proselytes of the 

537 



PRO 



PRO 



covenant, were perfect Israelites. We 
learn from the Talmud that, in addition 
to circumcision, baptism was also re- 
quired to complete their admission to 
the faith. The proselyte was placed in 
a tank or pool up to his neck in water. 
His teachers, who now acted as his spon- 
sors, repeated the great commandments 
of the law. The baptism was followed, 
as long as the temple stood, by the offer- 
ing or corban. 

Prov'erbs, Book of. The title of 
this book in Hebrew is taken from its 
first word, mashal, which originally 
meant " a comparison." It is sometimes 
translated parable, sometimes proverb as 
here. The superscriptions which are af- 
fixed to several portions of the book, in 
chs. 1:1, 10 : 1, 25 : 1, attribute the au- 
thorship of those portions to Solomon the 
son of David, king of Israel. With the 
exception of the last two chapters, which 
are distinctly assigned to other authors, 
it is probable that the statement of the 
superscriptions is in the main correct, 
and that the majority of the proverbs 
contained in the book were uttered or col- 
lected by Solomon. Speaking roughly, 
the book consists of three main divisions, 
with two appendices : — 1. Chs. 1-9 form 
a connected didactic poem, in which 
Wisdom is praised and the youth ex- 
horted to devote himself to her. This 
portion is preceded by an introduction 
and title describing the character and 
general aim of the book. 2. Chs. 10-24, 
with the title "The Proverbs of Sol- 
omon," consist of three parts : 10 : 1-22 : 
16, a collection of single proverbs and 
detached sentences out of the region of 
moral teaching and worldly prudence ; 
22 : 17-24 : 21, a more connected didactic 
poem, with an introduction, 22 : 17-22, 
which contains precepts of righteousness 
and prudence ; 24 : 23-34, with the in- 
scription " These also belong to the wise," 
a collection of unconnected maxims, 
which serve as an appendix to the pre- 
ceding. Then follows the third division, 
chs. 25-29, which, according to the super- 
scription, professes to be a collection of 
Solomon's proverbs, consisting of single 
sentences, which the men of the court of 
Hezekiah copied out. The first appen- 
dix, ch. 30, " The words of Agur the son 
of Jakeh," is a collection of partly pro- 
verbial and partly enigmatical sayings ; 
the second, ch. 31, is divided into two 
parts, " The words of King Lemuel," vs. 
1-6, and an alphabetical acrostic in praise 
538 



of a virtuous woman, which occupies the 
rest of the chapter. Who was Agur, and 
who was Jakeh, are questions which have 
been often asked and never satisfactorily 
answered. All that can be said of the 
first is that he was an unknown Hebrew 
sage, the son of an equally unknown 
Jakeh, and that he lived after the time 
of Hezekiah. Lemuel, like Agur, is un- 
known. It is even uncertain whether he 
is to be regarded as a real personage, or 
whether the name is merely symbolical. 
: The Proverbs are frequently quoted or 
alluded to in the New Testament, and 
j the canonicity of the book thereby con- 
I firmed. The following is a list of the 
principal passages : — 

Prov. 1 : 16, compare Rom. 3 : 10, 15. 
3 : 7, compare Rom. 12 : 16. 

3:11, 12. compare Heb. 12 : 5, 6 ; see also Rev. 3 : 19. 
3 : 34, compare James 4 : 6. 

10 : 12, compare 1 Pet. 4 : 8. 

11 : 31, compare 1 Pet. 4 : 18. 

17 : 13, compare Rom. 12 : 17 ; 1 Thess. 5 : 15 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 9. 
17 : 27, compare James 1 : 19. 
20 ; 9, compare 1 John 1 : 8. 
20 : 20, compare Matt. 15 : 4 ; Mark 7 : 10. 
22: 8 (LXX.), compare 2 Cor. 9 : 7. 
25 : 21, 22, compare Rom. 12 : 20. 
| 26 : 11, compare 2 Pet. 2 : 22. 
27 : 1, compare James 4 : 13, 14. 

Province. 1. In the Old Testament 
! this word appears in connection with the 
| wars between Ahab and Ben-hadad. 1 
I Kings 20 : 14, 15, 19. The victory of the 
j former is gained chiefly "by the young 
men of the princes of the provinces," i. e., 
1 probably of the chiefs of tribes in the 
i Gilead country. 2. More commonly the 
j word is used of the divisions of the Chal- 
, daean kingdom. Dan. 2 : 49 ; 3 : 1, 30, and 
I the Persian kingdom. Ezra 2:1; Neh. 
I 7 : 6 ; Esther 1 : 1, 22 ; 2 : 3, etc. In the 
New Testament we are brought into con- 
| tact with the administration of the prov- 
j inces of the Roman empire. The classi- 
fication of provinces supposed to need 
military control and therefore placed 
! under the immediate government of the 
I Caesar, and those still belonging theoretic- 
i ally to the republic and administered by 
j the senate, and of the latter again into 
: proconsular and praetorian, is recognized, 
i more or less distinctly, in the Gospels 
j and the Acts. [Proconsul ; Procu- 
; rator.] The a-rpaTriyoi of Acts 16 : 22 
("magistrates," Authorized Version), on 
the other hand, were the duumviri or 
: praetors of a Roman colony. The right 
j of any Roman citizen to appeal from a 
i provincial governor to the emperor meets 
us as asserted by St. Paul. Acts 25 : 11. 
In the council of Acts 25 : 12 we recog- 
nize the assessors who were appointed to 



PSA 



PSA 



take part in the judicial functions of the 
governor. 

Psalms, Book of. The present He- 
brew name of the book is Tehilllm, 
" Praises ;" but in the actual superscrip- 
tions of the psalms the word TehiUdh is 
applied only to one, Ps. 145, which is in- 
deed emphatically a praise-hymn. The 
LXX. entitled them ^aX^oi or " psalms,' 7 
i. e., lyrical pieces to be sung to a musical 
instrument. The Christian Church ob- 
viously received the Psalter from the 
Jews not only as a constituent portion of 
the sacred volume of Holy Scripture, but 
also as the liturgical hymn-book which 
the Jewish Church had regularly used in 
the temple. 

Division of the Psalms. — The book con- 
tains 150 psalms, and may be divided into 
five great divisions or books, which must 
have been originally formed at different 
periods. Book I. is, by the superscrip- 
tions, entirely Davidic ; nor do we find in 
it a trace of any but David's authorship. 
We may well believe that the compila- 
tion of the book was also David's work. 
Book II. appears by the date of its latest 
psalm, Ps. 46, to have been compiled in 
the reign of King Hezekiah. It would 
naturally comprise, 1st, several or most 
of the Levitical psalms anterior to that 
date ; and 2d, the remainder of the psalms 
of David previously uncompiled. To 
these latter the collector, after properly 
appending the single psalm of Solomon, 
has affixed the notice that " the prayers 
of David the son of Jesse are ended." 
Ps. 72:20. Book III., the interest of 
which centres in the times of Hezekiah, 
stretches out, by its last two psalms, to the 
reign of Manasseh : it was probably com- 
piled in the reign of Josiah. It contains 
seventeen psalms, from Ps. 73-89 — eleven 
by Asaph, four by the sons of Horah, one 
(86) by David, and one by Ethan. Book 
IV. contains the remainder of the psalms 
up to the date of the captivity. There 
are seventeen, from Ps. 90-106 — one by 
Moses, two by David, and the rest anony- 
mous. Book V., the psalms of the re- 
turn, contains forty-four, from Ps. 107- 
150 — fifteen by David, one by Solomon 
and the rest anonymous. There is noth- 
ing to distinguish these two books from 
each other in respect of outward decora- 
tion or arrangement, and they may have 
been compiled together in the days of 
Nehemiah. 

Connection of the Psalms with Israel it- 
ish history. — The psalm of Moses, Ps. 90, 



which is in point of actual date the ear- 
liest, faithfully reflects the long, weary 
wanderings, the multiplied provocations 
and the consequent punishments of the 
wilderness. It is, however, with David 
that Israelitish psalmody may be said 
virtually to commence. Previous mas- 
tery over his harp had probably already 
prepared the way for his future strains, 
when the anointing oil of Samuel de- 
scended upon him, and he began to drink 
in special measure, from that day for- 
ward, of the Spirit of the Lord. It was 
then that, victorious at home over the 
mysterious melancholy of Saul and in 
the field over the vaunting champion of 
the Philistine hosts, he sang how from 
even babes and sucklings God had or- 
dained strength because of his enemies. 
Ps. 8. His next psalms are of a different 
character ; his persecutions at the hands 
of Saul had commenced. When David's 
reign has begun, it is still with the most 
exciting incidents of his history, private 
or public, that his psalms are mainly as- 
! sociated. There are none to which the 
period of his reign at Hebron can lay 
exclusive claim. But after the conquest 
of Jerusalem his psalmody opened afresh 
with the solemn removal of the ark to 
Mount Zion; and in Pss. 24-29, which 
belong together, we have the earliest defi- 
nite instance of David's systematic com- 
position or arrangement of psalms for 
public use. Even of those psalms which 
cannot be referred to any definite occa- 
sion, several reflect the general historical 
circumstances of the times. Thus Ps. 9 
is a thanksgiving for the deliverance of 
the land of Israel from its former heathen 
oppressors. Ps. 10 is a prayer for the 
deliverance of the Church from the high- 
handed oppression exercised from within. 
The succeeding psalms dwell on the same 
theme, the virtual internal heathenism 
by which the Church of God was weighed 
down. So that there remain verv few, 
e.g. Pss. 15-17, 19, 32 (with its choral 
appendage, 23), 37, of which some his- 
torical account may not be given. A 
season of repose near the close of his reign 
induced David to compose his grand per- 
sonal thanksgiving for the deliverances of 
his whole life, Ps. 18 ; the date of which 
is approximately determined by the place 
at which it is inserted in the history. 2 
Sam. 22. It was probably at this period 
that he finally arranged for the sanctuary 
service that collection of his psalms which 
now constitutes the first book of the 
539 



PSA 



PSA 



Psalter. The course of David's reign was 
not, however, as yet complete. The sol- 
emn assembly convened by him for the 
dedication of the materials of the future 
temple, 1 Chron. 28, 29, would naturally 
call forth a renewal of his best efforts to 
glorify the God of Israel in psalms ; and 
to this occasion we doubtless owe the 
great festal hymns Pss. 05-68, contain- 
ing a large review of the past history, 
present position and prospective glories 
of God's chosen people. The supplica- 
tions of Ps. 69 suit best with the renewed 
distress occasioned by the sedition of 
Adonijah. Ps. 71, to which Ps. 70, a 
fragment of a former psalm, is introduc- 
tory, forms David's parting strain. Yet 
that the psalmody of Israel may not seem 
finally to terminate with him, the glories 
of the future are forthwith anticipated by 
his son in Ps. 72. The great prophetical 
ode, Ps. 45, connects itself most readily 
with the splendors of Jehoshaphat's reign. 
Pss. 42-44, 74, are best assigned to the 
reign of Ahaz. The reign of Hezekiah is 
naturally rich in psalmody. Pss. 46, 73, 
75, 76, connect themselves with the re- 
sistance to the supremacy of the Assyr- 
ians and the divine destruction of their 
host. 

We are now brought to a series of 
psalms of peculiar interest, springing out 
of the political and religious history of 
the separated ten tribes. In date of act- 
ual composition they commence before 
the times of Hezekiah. The earliest is 
probably Ps. 80, a supplication for the 
Israelitish people at the time of the Syrian 
oppression. All these psalms — 80-83 — 
are referred by their superscriptions to 
the Levite singers, and thus bear witness 
to the efforts of the Levites to reconcile 
the two branches of the chosen nation. 
The captivity of Manasseh himself proved 
to be but temporary; but the sentence 
which his sins had provoked upon J udah 
and Jerusalem still remained to be exe- 
cuted, and precluded the hope that God's 
salvation could be revealed till after such 
an outpouring of his judgments as the 
nation had never yet known. Labor and 
sorrow must be the lot of the present 
generation ; through these mercy might 
occasionally gleam, but the glory which 
was eventually to be manifested must be 
for posterity alone. The psalms of Book 
IV. bear generally the impress of this 
feeling. 

We pass to Book V. Ps. 107 is the 
opening psalm of the return, sung prob- 
540 



ably at the first feast of tabernacles. Ezra 
3. A directly historical character be- 
longs to Pss. 120-134, styled in our Au- 
thorized Version " Songs of Degrees." 
Internal evidence refers these to the 
period when the Jews under Nehemiah 
were, in the very face of the enemy, re- 
pairing the walls of Jerusalem, and the 
title may well signify " songs of goings 
up upon the walls," "the psalms being, 
from their brevity, well adapted to be 
sung by the workmen and guards while 
engaged in their respective duties. Ps. 
139 is a psalm of the new birth of Israel, 
from the womb of the Babylonish cap- 
tivity, to a life of righteousness ; Pss. 
140-143 may be a picture of the trials 
to which the unrestored exiles were still 
exposed in the realms of the Gentiles. 
Henceforward, as we approach the close 
of the Psalter, its strains rise in cheer- 
fulness ; and it fittingly terminates with 
Pss. 147-150, which were probably sung 
on the occasion of the thanksgiving pro- 
cession of Neh. 12, after the rebuilding 
of the walls of Jerusalem had been com- 
pleted. 

Moral characteristics of the Psalms. — 
Foremost among these meets us, un- 
doubtedly, the universal recourse to com- 
munion with God. Connected with this 
is the faith by which the psalmist every- 
where lives in God rather than in him- 
self. It is of the essence of such faith 
that his view of the perfections of God 
should be true and vivid. The Psalter 
describes God as he is : it glows with tes- 
timonies to his power and providence, 
his love and faithfulness, his holiness 
and righteousness. The Psalms not only 
set forth the perfections of God : they 
proclaim also the duty of worshipping 
him by the acknowledgment and adora- 
tion of his perfections. They encourage 
all outward rites and means of worship. 
Among these they recognize the ordinance 
of sacrifice as an expression of the wor- 
shipper's consecration of himself to God's 
service. But not the less do they repu- 
diate the outward rite when separated 

I from that which it was designed to ex- 
press. Similar depth is observable in 

I the view taken by the psalmists of hu- 
man sin. In regard to the law, the 

1 psalmist, while warmly acknowledging 

I its excellence, feels yet that it cannot so 
effectually guide his own unassisted ex- 
ertions as to preserve him from error. 
Ps. 19. The Psalms bear repeated testi- 
mony to the duty of instructing others in 



PSA 



PTO 



the ways of holiness. Pss. 32, 34, 51. | 
This brings us to notice, lastly, the faith 
of the psalmists in righteous recompense 
to all men according to their deeds. Ps. , 
37, etc. 

Prophetical character of the Psalms. — 
The moral struggle between godliness 
and ungodliness, so vividly depicted in j 
the Psalms, culminates, in Holy Scrip- ! 
ture, in the life of the Incarnate Son of | 
God upon earth. It only remains to j 
show that the Psalms themselves defi- 
nitely anticipated this culmination. Now 1 
there are in the Psalter at least three i 
psalms of which the interest evidently | 
centres in a person distinct from the 
speaker, and which, since they cannot | 
without violence to the language be in- 
terpreted of any but the Messiah, may 
be termed directly and exclusively Mes- j 
sianic. We refer to Pss. 2, 45, 110, to j 
which may perhaps be added Ps. 72. It 
would be strange if these few psalms j 
stood, in their prophetical significance, 
absolutely alone among the rest. And 
hence the impossibility of viewing the j 
psalms generally, notwithstanding the j 
historical drapery in which they are out- 
wardly clothed, as simply the past devo- 
tions of the historical David or the his- 
torical Israel. The national hymns of 
Israel are indeed also prospective ; but in j 
general they anticipate rather the strug- 
gles and the triumphs of the Christian 
Church than those of Christ himself. 

Psaltery. This was a stringed in- 
strument of music to accompany the 
voice. The Hebrew nebel or nebel is so 
rendered in the Authorized Version in 
all passages where it occurs, except in 
Isa. 5:12; 14 : 11 ; 22 : 24, marg. ; Amos 
5:23; 6:5, where it is translated viol. 
The ancient viol was a six-stringed guitar. 
In the Prayer Book version of the Psalms 
the Hebrew word is rendered " lute." 
This instrument resembled the guitar, 
but was superior in tone, being larger, 
and having a convex back, somewhat 
like the vertical section of a gourd, or 
more nearly resembling that of a pear. 
These three instruments, the psaltery or 
sautry, the viol and the lute, are fre- 
quently associated in the old English 
poets, and were clearly instruments re- 
sembling each other, though still differ- 
ent. The Greek psalter ium {^akr-qpLov) , 
from which our word is derived, denotes 
an instrument played with the fingers 
instead of a plectrum or quill, the verb 
being used of twanering the bow-string. 



It is inq^ossible to say positively with 
what instrument the nebel of the Hebrew 
exactly corresponded. From the fact 
that nebel in Hebrew also signifies a 
wine-bottle or skin, it has been conjec- 
tured that the term when applied to a 
musical instrument denotes a kind of 
bagpipe. The psalteries of David were 
made of cypress, 2 Sam. 6:5; those of 
Solomon of algum or almug trees. 2 
Chron. 9:11. Among the instruments 
of the band which played before Nebu- 
chadnezzar's golden image on the plains 
of Dura, we again meet with the psaltery. 
Dan. 3 : 5, 10, 15, pesanttrin. 

Ptclemae'us, or PtoPemy, was the 
common name of the Greek dynasty of 
Egyptian kings. Ptolem^US I. Soter, 
the son of Lagus, a Macedonian of low 
rank, distinguished himself greatly dur- 
ing the campaigns of Alexander ; at 
whose death he secured for himself the 
government of Egypt, where he proceeded 
at once to lay the foundations of a king- 
dom, B.C. 323. He abdicated in favor of 
his youngest son, Ptolemy II. Philadel- 
phus, two years before his death, which 
took place in B.C. 283. Ptolemy Soter is 
described very briefly in Daniel, Dan. 11 : 
5, as one of those who should receive part 
of the empire of Alexander when it 
was "divided toward the four winds of 
heaven." 

PTOLEMiETJS II. PHILADEIPHUS, B.C. 
285-247, the youngest son of Ptolemy I., 
was made king two years before his 
father's death, to confirm the irregular 
succession. The conflict between Egypt 
and Syria was reneM T ed during his reign 
in consequence of the intrigue of his half- 
brother Magas. Ptolemy bestowed lib- 
eral encouragement on literature and 
science, founding the great library and 
museum at Alexandria, and gathered 
about him many men of learning, as the 
poet Theocritus, the geometer Euclid and 
the astronomer Aratus. This reign was 
a critical epoch for the development of 
Judaism, as it was for the intellectual 
history of the ancient world. The crit- 
ical faculty was called forth in place of 
j the creative, and learning in some sense 
! supplied the place of original specula- 
I tion. It was impossible that the Jew, 
I who was now become as true a citizen of 
the world as the Greek, should remain 
passive in the conflict of opinions. It is 
enough now to observe the greatness of 
the consequences involved in the union 
of Greek language with Jewish thought. 

541 



PTO 



PTO 



From this time the Jew was familiarized 
with the great types of western litera- 
ture, and in some degree aimed at imi- 
tating them. A second time and in new 
fashion Egypt disciplined a people of 
God. It first impressed upon a nation 
the firm unity of a family, and then in 
due time reconnected a matured people 
with the world from which it had been 
called out. 

PTOLEMiEUS III. EUERGETES, B.C. 
247-222, was the eldest son of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus and brother of Berenice 
the wife of Antiochus II. The repudi- 
ation and murder of his sister furnished 
him with an occasion for invading Syria, 
civ. B.C. 246. Dan. 11 : 7. He extended 
his conquests as far as Antioch, and then 
eastward to Babylon, but was recalled to 
Egypt by tidings of seditions which had 
broken out there. His success was bril- 
liant and complete. He carried "cap- 
tives into Egypt their gods [of the con- I 
quered nations], with their princes, and 
with their precious vessels of silver and 
of gold." Dan. 11:8. This capture of 
sacred trophies earned for the king the 
name Ewergetes — " Benefactor." After 
his return to Egypt, cir. B.C. 243, he suf- 
fered a great part of the conquered prov- 
inces to fall again under the power of 
Seleucus. 

Ptolem^us IV. Philopator, B.C. 
222-205. After the death of Ptolemy 
Euergetes the line of the Ptolemies rapid- 
ly degenerated. Ptolemy Philopator, his 
eldest son, who succeeded him, was to the 
last degree sensual, effeminate and de- 
based. But externally his kingdom re- 
tained its power and splendor ; and when 
circumstances forced him to action, Ptol- 
emy himself showed ability not unworthy 
of his race. The description of the cam- 
paign of Raphia (B.C. 217) in the book 
of Daniel gives a vivid description of his 
character. Dan. 11 : 10-12 ; cf. Mace. 1 : 
1-3. After offering in the temple at Je- 
rusalem sacrifices for the success then 
achieved, he attempted to enter the sanc- 
tuary. A sudden paralysis hindered his 
design ; but when he returned to Alexan- 
dria he determined to inflict on the Alex- 
andrine Jews the vengeance for his dis- 
appointment. He was succeeded by his 
only child, Ptolemy V. Epiphanes, who 
was at the time only four or five years 

Ptolem^eus V. Epiphanes, b.c. 205- 
181. The reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes 
was a critical epoch in the history of the 
542 



Jews. The rivalry between the Syrian 
and Egyptian parties, which had for 
some time divided the people, came to an 
open rupture in the struggles which 
marked his minority. In the strong lan- 
guage of Daniel, " The robbers of the 
people exalted themselves to establish the 
vision." Dan. 11 : 14. The accession of 
Ptolemy and the confusion of a disputed 
regency furnished a favorable opportun- 
ity for foreign invasion. "Many stood 
up against the king of the south " under 
Antiochus the Great and Philip 111. of 
Macedonia, who formed a league for the 
dismemberment of his kingdom. "So 
the king of the north [Antiochus] came, 
and cast up a mount, and took the most 
fenced city [SidonJ, and the arms of the 
south did not withstand " [at Paneas, B.C. 
198]. Dan. 11 : 14, 15. The Romans in- 
terfered, and in order to retain the prov- 
inces of Coele-Syria, Phoenicia and.Ju- 
dea, Antiochus "gave him [Ptolemy] a 
young maiden" [his daughter Cleopatra 
as his betrothed wife]. Dan. 11 : 17. But 
in the end his policy only partially suc- 
ceeded. After the marriage of Ptolemy 
and Cleopatra was consummated, B.C. 
193, Cleopatra did " not stand on his 
side," but supported her husband in 
maintaining the alliance with Rome. 
The disputed provinces, however, re- 
mained in the possession of Antiochus; 
and Ptolemy was poisoned at the time 
when he was preparing an expedition to 
recover them from Seleucus, the unworthy 
successor of Antiochus. 

PTOLEMiEUS VI. PlIILOMETOR, B.C. 

181-145. On the death of Ptolemy Epiph- 
anes, his wife Cleopatra held the regency 
for her young son, Ptolemy Philometor, 
and preserved peace with Syria till she 
died, B.C. 173. The government then fell 
into unworthy hands, and an attempt was 
made to recover Syria. Comp. 2 Mace. 4 : 
21. Antiochus Epiphanes seems to have 
made the claim a pretext for invading 
Egypt. The generals of Ptolemy were 
defeated near Pelusium, probably at the 
close of B.C. 171, 1 Mace. 1 : 16 If.; and 
in the next year Antiochus, having se- 
cured the person of the young king, re- 
duced almost the whole of Egypt. Comp. 
2 Mace. 5 : 1. Meanwhile Ptolemy Euer- 
getes II., the younger brother of Ptolemy 
Philometor, assumed the supreme pow- 
er at Alexandria; and Antiochus, under 
the pretext of recovering the crown for 
Philometor, besieged Alexandria in B.C. 
169. By this time, however, his selfish 



PTO 



PUB 



designs were apparent : the brothers were 
reconciled, and Antiochus was obliged to 
acquiesce fur the time in the arrangement 
which they made. But while doing so he 
prepared for another invasion of Egypt, 
and was already approaching Alexandria 
wuen he was met by the Roman embassy 
led by C. Popillius Lamas, who, in the 
name of the Roman senate, insisted on 
his immediate retreat (B.C. 168), a com- 
mand which the late victory at Pydna 
made it impossible to disobey. These 
campaigns, which are intimately con- 
nected with the visits of Antiochus to 
Jerusalem in B.C. 170, 168, are briefly de- 
scribed in Dan. 11 : 25-30. The whole of 
Syria was afterward subdued by Ptolemy, 
and he was crowned at Antioch king of 
Egypt and Asia. 1 Mace. 11 : 13. Alex- 
ander, a rival claimant, attempted to se- 
cure the crown, but was defeated and aft- 
erward put to death by Ptolemy.- But 
the latter did not long enjoy his success, 
lie fell from his horse in the battle, and 
died within a few days. 1 Mace. 11 : 18. 
Ptolemy Philometor is the last king of 
Egypt who is noticed in sacred history, 
and his reign was marked also by the 
erection of the temple at Leontopolis. 

Ptolema'is. [Accho.] 

Ptol'eniee, or Ptoleme'us. 1. 
" The son of Dorymenes," 1 Mace. 3 : 38 ; 
2 Mace. 4:45; comp. Polyb. v. 61, a 
courtier who possessed great influence 
with Antiochus PCpiphanes. 

2. The son of Agesarchus, a Megalo- 
politan, surnamed Macron, 2 Mace. 10 : 
12, who was governor of Cyprus during 
the minority of Ptolemy Philometor. He 
afterward deserted the Egyptian service 
to join Antiochus Epiphanes. He stood 
high in the favor of Antiochus, and re- 
ceived from him the government of Phoe- 
nicia and Coele-Syria. 2 Mace. 8:8; 10 : 
11, 12. On the accession of Antiochus 
Eupator his conciliatory policy toward 
the Jews brought him into suspicion at 
court. He Avas deprived of his govern- 
ment, and in consequence of this disgrace 
he poisoned himself, cir. B.C. 164. 2 Mace. 
10 : 13. 

3. The son of Abubus, who mai-ried 
the daughter of Simon the Maccabee. 
He was a man of great wealth, and being j 
invested with the government of the dis- 
trict of Jericho, formed the design of 
usurping the sovereignty of Judea. 

Pu'a, properly Puvvah. Phuvah the 
son of Issachar. Num. 26 : 23. (B.C. 
1452.) 



Pu'ah {splendid). 1. The father of 
Tola, a man of the tribe of Issachar, and 
judge of Israel after Abimelech. Judges 
10:1. (B.C. 1211.) 

2. The son of Issachar, 1 Chron. 7:1, 
elsewhere called Phuvah and Pua. 

3. One of the two midwives to whom 
Pharaoh gave instructions to kill the He- 
brew male children at their birth. Ex. 1 : 
15. (B.C. 1571.) 

Publican. The class designated by 
this word in the New Testament were em- 
ployed as collectors of the Roman rev- 
enue. The Roman senate farmed the 
vectigalia (direct taxes) and the portoria 
(customs) to capitalists who undertook to 
pay a given sum into the treasury (in 
publicum), and so received the name of 
publicani. Contracts of this kind fell 
naturally into the hands of the equites, as 
the richest class of Romans. They ap- 
pointed managers, under whom were the 
portitores, the actual custom-house offi- 
cers, who examined each bale of goods, 
exported or imported, assessed its value 
more or less arbitrarily, wrote out the 
ticket, and enforced payment. The latter 
were commonly natives of the province 
in which they were stationed, as being 
brought daily into contact with all classes 
of the population. The name publicani 
was used popularly, and in the New Tes- 
tament exclusively, of the portitores. 
The system was essentially a vicious one. 
The portitores were encouraged in the 
most vexatious or fraudulent exactions, 
and a remedy was all but impossible. 
They overcharged whenever they had an 
opportunity, Luke 3:13; they brought 
false charges of smuggling in the hope of 
extorting hush-money, Luke 19:8; they 
detained and opened letters on mere sus- 
picion. It was the basest of all liveli- 
hoods. All this was enough to bring the 
class into ill favor everywhere. In Jndea 
and Galilee there were special circum- 
stances of aggravation. The employment 
brought out all the besetting vices of the 
Jewish character. The strong feeling of 
many Jews as to the absolute unlawful- 
ness of paying tribute at all made mat- 
ters worse. The scribes who discussed 
the question, Matt. 22 : 15, for the most 
part answered it in the negative. In ad- 
dition to their other faults, accordingly, 
the publicans of the New Testament were 
regarded as traitors and apostates, defiled 
by their frequent intercourse with the 
heathen, willing tools of the oppressor. 
The class thus practically excommuni- 
543 



PUB 



PUN 



cated furnished some of the earliest dis- 
ciples both of the Baptist and of our 
Lord. The position of Zacchaeus as a 
" chief among the publicans," Luke 19 : 
2, implies a gradation of some kind among 
the persons thus employed. 

Pub'lius, the chief man — probably 
the governor — of Melita, who received and 
lodged St. Paul and his companions on 
the occasion of their being shipwrecked 
off that island. Act* 28 : 7. (a.d. 55.) 

Pu'dens (modest), a Christian friend 
of Timothy at Rome. 2 Tim. 4 : 21. (a.d. 
64.) According to legend he was the host 
of St. Peter and friend of St, Paul, and 
was martyred under Nero. 

Pu'hites, The. According to 1 
Chron. 2 : 53, the " Puhites " or " Pu- 
thites " belonged to the families of Kir- 
jath-jearim. 

Pul (lord), a country or nation men- 
tioned in Isa. 66 : 19. It is spoken of with 
distant nations, and is supposed by some 
to represent the island Philse in Egypt, 
and by others Libya. 

Pui, an Assyrian king, and the first 
Assyrian monarch mentioned in Scrip- 
ture. He made an expedition against 
Menahem, king of Israel, about B.C. 770. 
2 Kings 15 : 19. 

Pulse (seeds) usually means peas, 
beans and the seeds that grow in pods. 
In the Authorized Version it occurs only 
in Dan. 1 : 12, 16, as the translation of 
words the literal meaning of which is 
" seeds " of any kind. Probably the 
term denotes uncooked grain of any kind, 
as barley, wheat, millet, vetches, etc. 

Punishments. The earliest theory 
of punishment current among mankind 
is doubtless the one of simple retaliation, 
" blood for blood." Viewed historically, 
the first case of punishment for crime 
mentioned in Scripture, next to the Fall 
itself, is that of Cain, the first murderer. 
That death was regarded as the fitting 
punishment for murder appears plain 
from the remark of Lamech. Gen. 4 : 24. 
In the post-diluvian code, if we may so 
call it, retribution by the hand of man, 
even in the case of an offending animal, 
for blood shed, is clearly laid down. Gen. 
9 : 5, 6. Passing onward to Mosaic times, 
we find the sentence of capital punish- 
ment, in the case of murder, plainly laid 
down in the law. The murderer was to 
be put to death, even if he should have 
taken refuge at God's altar or in a refuge 
city, and the same principle was to be 
carried out even in the case of an animal. 
544 



Offences punished with death. — I. The 
following offences also are mentioned in 
the law as liable to the punishment of 
death: 1. Striking, or even reviling, a 
parent. Ex. 21 : 15, 17. 2. Blasphemy. 
Lev. 24 : 14, 16, 23. 3. Sabbath-breaking. 
Ex. 31 : 14 ; 35 : 2 ; Num. 15 : 32-36. 4. 
Witchcraft, and false pretension to proph- 
ecy. Ex. 22 : 18 ; Lev. 20 : 27 ; Deut. 13 : 
5; 18:20. 5. Adultery. Lev. 20:10; 
Deut. 22 : 22. 6. Unchastity. Lev. 21:9; 
Deut. 22 : 21, 23. 7. Rape. Deut. 22 : 25. 
8. Incestuous and unnatural connections. 
Ex. 22 : 19; Lev. 20 : 11, 14, 16. 9. Man- 
stealing. Ex. 21 : 16; Deut. 24 : 7. 10. 
Idolatry, actual or virtual, in any shape. 
Lev. 20 : 2 ; Deut. 13 : 6, 10, 15 ; 17 : 2-7 ; 
see Josh. 7 and 22 : 20 and Num. 25 : 8. 
11. False witness in certain cases. Deut. 
19 : 16, 19. II. But there is a large 
number of offences, some of them in- 
cluded in this iist, which are named in 
the law as involving the penalty of " cut- 
ting off from the people." On the mean- 
ing of this expression some controversy 
has arisen. There are altogether thirty- 
six or thirty-seven cases in the Penta- 
teuch in which this formula is used. We 
may perhaps conclude that the primary 
meaning of " cutting oft"" is a sentence 
of death to be executed in some cases 
without remission, but in others void- 
able— (1) by immediate atonement on 
the offender's part; (2) by direct inter- 
position of the Almighty, i. e., a sentence 
of death always " recorded," but not al- 
ways executed. 

Kinds of punishment. — Punishments 
are twofold, Capital and Secondary. I. 
Capital. (A) The following only are pre- 
scribed by the law : 1. Stoning, which 
was the ordinary mode of execution. Ex. 
17 : 4; Luke 20 : 6 ; John 10 : 31 ; Acts 
14 : 5. In the case of idolatry, and it 
may be presumed in other cases also, the 
witnesses, of whom there were to be at 
least two, were required to cast the first 
stone. Deut. 13 : 9 ; Acts 7 : 58. 2. Hang- 
ing is mentioned as a distinct punish- 
ment. Num. 25 : 4; 2 Sam. 21 : 6, 9. 3. 
Burning, in pre Mosaic times, was the 
punishment for unchastity. Gen. 38 : 24. 
Under the law it was ordered in the case 
of a priest's daughter. Lev. 21 : 9. 4. 
Death by the sword or spear is named in 
the law, Ex. 19 : 13 ; 32 : 27 ; Num. 25 : 7 ; 
and it occurs frequently in regal and 
post-Babvlonian times. 1 Kings 2 : 25, 34 ; 
19:1; 2 Chron. 21 : 4, etc. 5. Strangling 
is said by the rabbins to have been re- 



PUN 



PUR 



garded as the most common but least 
severe of the capital punishments, and to 
have been performed by immersing the 
convict in clay or mud, and then stran- 
gling him by a cloth twisted round the 
neck. (B) Besides these ordinary capital 
punishments, we read of others, either of 
foreign introduction or of an irregular 
kind. Among the former, 1. Crucifix- 
ion is treated elsewhere. 2. Drowning, 
though not ordered under the law, was 
practiced at Rome, and is said by St. 
Jerome to have been in use among the 
Jews. 3. Sawing asunder or crushing 
beneath iron instruments. 2 Sam. 12 : 31, 
and perhaps Prov. 20 : 26; Heb. 11 : 37. 
4. Pounding in a mortar, or beating to 
death, is alluded to in Prov. 27 : 22, but 
not as a legal punishment, and cases are 
described. 2 Mace. (3 : 28, 30. 5. Precip- 
itation, attempted in the case of our Lord 
at Nazareth, and carried out in that of 
captives from the Edomites, and of St. 
James, who is said to have been cast 
from "the pinnacle" of the temple, j 
Criminals executed by law were buried 
outside the city gates, and heaps of stones j 
were flung upon their graves. Josh. 7 :25, 
26 ; 2 Sam. 18 : 17 ; Jer. 22 : 19. II. Of 
secondary punishments among the Jews 
the original principles were, 1. Retalia- 
tion, " eye for eye," etc. Ex. 21 : 24, 25. 
2. Compensation, identical (restitution) 
or analogous ; payment for loss of time or 
of power. Ex. 21 : 18-36 ; Lev. 24 : 18-21 ; 
Deut. 19 : 21. Slander against a wife's | 
honor was to be compensated to her par- j 
ents by a fine of one hundred shekels, 
and the traducer himself to be punished 
with stripes. Deut. 22 : 18, 19. 3. Stripes, 
whose number was not to exceed forty, 
Deut. 25 : 3 ; whence the Jews took care 
not to exceed thirty-nine. 2 Cor. 11 : 24. 
4. Scourging with thorns is mentioned 
Judges 8 : 16. The stocks are mentioned 
Jer. 20:2; passing through fire, 2 Sam. 
12 : 31 ; mutilation, Judges 1 : 6, 2 Mace. 
7 : 4, and see 2 Sam. 4 : 12 ; plucking out 
hair, Isa. 50 : 6 ; in later times, imprison- 
ment and confiscation or exile. Ezra 7 : 
26 ; Jer. 37 : 15 ; 38 : 6 : Acts 4:3; 5 : 18 ; 
12 : 4. 

Pu'nites, The, the descendants of 
Pua or Puvah, the son ol Issachar. Num. 
26 : 23. 

Pu'non (darkness), one of the halting- 
places of the Israelite host during the 
last portion of the wandering. Num. 33 : 
42, 43. By Eusebius and Jerome it is 
identified with Phamo, which contained 
35 



the copper-mines so well known at that 
period, and was situated between Petra 
and Zoar. 

Purification, in its legal and techni- 
cal sense, is applied to the ritual observ- 
j ances whereby an Israelite was formally 
j absolved from the taint of uncleanness. 
The essence of purification, in all cases, 
j consisted in the use of water, whether by 
way of ablution or aspersion; but in the 
majora delicta of legal uncleanness, sac- 
rifices of various kinds were added, and 
the ceremonies throughout bore an expi- 
atory character. Ablution of the person 
and of the clothes was required in the 
cases mentioned in Lev. 15 : 18 ; 11 : 25, 
40 ; 15 : 16, 17. In cases of childbirth the 
sacrifice was increased to a lamb of the 
first year, with a pigeon or turtle-dove. 
Lev. 12 : 6. The ceremonies of purifica- 
tion required in cases of contact with a 
corpse or a grave are detailed in Num. 
19. The purification of the leper was a 
yet more formal proceeding, and indi- 
cated the highest pitch of uncleanness. 
The rites are described in Lev. 14 : 4-32. 
The necessity of purification was extend- 
ed in the post-Babylonian period to a 
variety of unauthorized cases. Cups and 
pots and brazen vessels were washed as a 
matter of ritual observance. Mark 7 : 4. 
The washing of the hands before meals 
was conducted in a formal manner. Mark 
7 : 3. What may have been the specific 
causes of uncleanness in those who came 
up to purify themselves before the Pass- 
over, John 11 : 55, or in those who had 
taken upon themselves the Nazarites' 
vow, Acts 21 : 24, 26, we are not informed. 
In conclusion it may be observed that the 
distinctive feature in the Mosaic rites of 
purification is their expiatory character. 
The idea of uncleanness was not peculiar 
to the Jew ; but with all other nations 
simple ablution sufficed : no sacrifices 
were demanded. The Jew alone was 
taught by the use of expiatory offerings 
to discern to its fullest extent the con- 
nection between the' outward sign and 
the inward fount of impurity. 

Pu'rim (lots), the annual festival in- 
stituted to commemorate the preservation 
of the Jews in Persia from the massacre 
with which they were threatened through 
the machinations of Haman. Esther 9. 
It was probably called Purim by the 
Jews in irony. Their great enemy Ha- 
man appears to have been very super- 
stitious, and much given to easting lots. 
Esther 3 : 7. They gave the name Purim, 
545 



PUE 



PUR 



or " Lots," to the commemorative festival 
because he had thrown lots to ascertain 
what day would be auspicious for him to 
carry into effect the bloody decree which 
the king had issued at his instance. Es- 
ther 9 : 24. The festival lasted two days, 



and was regularly observed on the 14th 
and 15th of Adar. According to modern 
custom, as soon as the stars begin to ap- 
pear, when the 14th of the month has 
commenced, candles are lighted up in 
token of rejoicing, and the people as- 




Puteoli, Bay of Naples. 



semble in the synagogue. After a short 
prayer and thanksgiving, the reading of 
the book of Esther commences. The 
book is written in a peculiar manner, 
on a roll called "the Boll" (Megillah). 
When the reader comes to the name of 
Haman, the congregation cry out, " May 
his name be blotted out," or, " Let the 
name of the ungodly perish." When 
the Megillah is read through, the whole 
congregation exclaim, " Cursed be Ha- 
man ; blessed be Mordecai ; cursed be 
Zoresh < the wife of Haman) ; blessed be 
540 



Esther; cursed be all idolaters; blessed 
be all Israelites, and blessed be Harbonah 
who hanged Haman." In the morning 
service in the synagogue, on the 14th, 
after the prayers, the passage is read 
from the law, Ex. 17 : 8-16, which relates 
the destruction of the Amalekites, the 
people of A gag, 1 Sam. 15 : 8, the sup- 
posed ancestor of Haman. Esther 3:1. 
The Megillah is then read again in the 
same manner. The 14th of Adar, as the 
very day of the deliverance of the Jews, 
is more solemnly kept than the 13th ; 



PUE 



PYK 



but when the service in the synagogue 
is over, all give themselves up to merry- 
making. 

Purse, a bag for money. The He- 
brews, when on a journey, were provided 
with a bag, in which they carried their 
money, Gen. 42 : 35 ; Prov. 1 : 14 ; 7 : 2(J ; 
Isa. 46 : 6, and, if they were merchants, 
also their weights. Deut. 25 : 13 ; Micah 
6 : 11. This bag is described in the New 
Testament by the terms pa\dvTiov (bag), 
Luke 10 : 4 ; 12 : 33 ; 22 : 35, 36, and 
yAojo-o-oko/oiov (originally the bag in which 
musicians carried the mouth-pieces of 
their instruments). John 12 : 6 ; 13 : 29. 
The girdle also served as a purse. Matt. 
10 : 9 ; Mark 6:8. Ladies wore orna- 
mental purses. Isa. 3 : 24. 

Put. 1 Chron. 1: 8; Nah. 3 : 9. 
[Phut.] 

Pute'oli {sulphurous springs), the 
great landing-place of travellers to Italy 
from the Levant, and the harbor to which 
the Alexandrian corn-ships brought their 
cargoes. Acts 27 : 13. The celebrated bay 
which is now the Bay of Naples was 
then called " Sinus Puteolanus." The 
city was at the northeastern angle of the 
bay. The name Puteoli arose from the 
strong mineral springs which are charac- 
teristic of the place. It was a favorite 
watering-place of the Eomans, its hot 
springs being considered efficacious for 
the cure of various diseases. Here also 
ships usually discharged their passengers 
and cargoes, partly to avoid doubling the 
promontory of Circeium and partly be- 



! cause there was no commodious harbor 
; nearer to Rome. Hence the ship in which 
i Paul was conveyed from Mfelita landed 
; the prisoners at this place, where the 
I apostle stayed a week. Acts 28 : 13, 14. — 
I Whitney. The associations of Puteoli 
with historical personages are very nu- 
I merous. Scipio sailed 1'rom this place to 
i Spain ; Cicero had a villa in the neigh- 
j borhood ; here Nero planned the murder 
I of his mother; Vespasian gave to this city 
peculiar privileges ; and here Adrian 
| was buried. In the fifth century it was 
ravaged by both Alaric and Genseric, 
! and it never afterward recovered its for- 
I mer eminence. It is now a fourth-rate 
Italian town, still retaining the name of 
Pozzuoli. The remains of Puteoli are 
worthy of mention. Among them are the 
aqueduct, the reservoirs, portions (prob- 
ably) of the baths, the great amphitheatre, 
and the building called the temple of 
Serapis. No Roman harbor has left as 
solid a memorial of itself as this one, at 
which St. Paul landed in Italy. 

Pu'ti-el. One of the daughters of 
Putiel was wife of Eleazar the son of 
Aaron, and mother of Phinehas. Ex. 6: 
25. (B.C. before 1491.) 

Pygarg occurs, Deut. 14 : 5, in the 
list of clean animals as the rendering of 
the Heb. dishon, the name apparently of 
one species of antelope, though it is by 
no means easy to identity it. 

Pyr'rhus, the father of Sopater of 
Berea. Acts 20 : 4, in Revised Version. 
(a.d. 55.) 

547 



QUA 



QUA 



Q. 




The Quail. 

Quails. There can be no doubt that 
the Hebrew word in the Pentateuch, Ex. 
16 : 13 ; Num. 11 : 31, 32, and in the 105th 
Psalm, denotes the common quail, Cotur- 
nix dactylisonans. (The enormous quan- 
tity of quails taken by the Israelites has 
its parallel in modern times. Pliny states 
that they sometimes alight on vessels in 
the Mediterranean and sink them. Colo- 
nel Sykes states that 160,000 quails have 
been netted in one season on the island of 
Capri. — Ed. ) The expression " as it were 
two cubits (high) upon the face of the 
earth," Num. 11 : 31, refers probably to 
the height at which the quails flew above 
the ground, in their exhausted condition 
from their long flight. As to the enor- 
mous quantities which the least-successful 
Israelite is said to have taken, viz., "ten 
homers " (i. e. eighty bushels) in the space 
of a night and two days, there is every 
reason for believing that the " homers " 
here spoken of do not denote strictly the 
measure of that name, but simply "a 
heap." The Israelites would have had 
little difficulty in capturing large quan- 
tities of these birds, as they are known to 
arrive at places sometimes so completely 
exhausted by their flight as to be readily 
taken, not in nets only, but by the hand. 
548 



They "spread the quails round 
about the camp ; " this was fcr the 
purpose of drying them. The 
Egyptians similarly prepared 
these birds. The expression 
" quails from the sea," Num. 11 : 
31, must not be restricted to de- 
note that the birds came from the 
sea as their starting-point, but it 
must be taken to show the direc- 
tion from which they were coming. 
The quails were, at the time of 
the event narrated in the sacred 
writings, on their spring journey 
of migration northward. It is in- 
teresting to note the time speci- 
fied : " it was at even " that they 
began to arrive; and they no 
doubt continued to come all the 
night. Many observers have re- 
corded that the quail migrates by 
night. 




Assyrian and Egyptian Quivers and Bows. 



QUA 



QUI 



Quar'tus (fourth), a Christian of Cor- 
inth, Rom. 16 : 23, said to have been one 
of the seventy disciples, and afterward 
bishop of Berytus. (a.D. about 50.) 

Quaternion, a military term signi- 
fying a guard of four soldiers, two of 
whom were attached to the person of a 
prisoner, while the other two kept watch 
outside the door of his cell. Acts 12 : 4. 

Queen. This title is properly applied 
to the queen-mother, since in an Oriental 
household it is not the wife but the 
mother of the master who exercises the 
highest authority. Strange as such an 
arrangement at first sight appears, it is 
one of the inevitable results of polygamy. 
An illustration of the queen-mother's in- 
fluence is given in 1 Kings 2 : 19 If. The 
term is applied to Maachah, 1 Kings 15 : 
13; 2 Chron. 15:16, and to Jezebel, 2 
Kings 10 : 13, and to the mother of Jeho- 



iachin or Jeconiah, Jer. 13 : 18 ; compare 
2 Kings 24 : 12 ; Jer. 29 : 2. 

Queen of heaven, Jer. 7:18; 45: 
17, 18, 19, 25, is the moon, worshipped as 
Ashtaroth or Astarte, to whom the He- 
brew women offered cakes in the streets 
of Jerusalem. 

Quicksands, The, more properly 
THE Syrtis, Acts 27 : 17, the broad and 
deep bight on the north African coast 
between Carthage and Cyrene. There 
were properly two Syrtes — the eastern or 
larger, now called the Gulf of Sidra, and 
the western or smaller, now the Gulf of 
Cabes. It is the former to which our atten- 
tion is directed in this passage of the Acts. 

Quiver, a box made for the purpose 
of holding arrows. Gen. 27 : 3. There is 
nothing in the Bible to indicate either its 
form or material, or in what way it was 
carried. 

549 



KAA 



RAC 



R 



Ra'amah (horse's mane), a son of j 
Cush and father of the Cushite Sheba and 
Dedan. Gen. 10:7. (B.C. after 2513.) | 
The tribe of Raamah became afterward | 
renowned as traders. Ezek. 27 : 22. They 
were settled on the Persian Gulf. 

Ra-ami'ah {thunder of Jehovah), one 
of the chiefs who returned with Zerubba- 
bel. Neh. 7:7. In Ezra 2 : 2 he is called 
Reelaiah. (B.C. 445.) 

Ra-am'ses. Ex. 1 : 11. [Rameses.] 

Rab'bah {great). 1. A very strong 
place on the east of the Jordan, and the 
chief city of the Ammonites. In five 
passages — Deut. 3:11; 2 Sam. 12 : 26 ; 
17:27; Jer. 49:2; Ezek. 21 : 20— it is 
styled at length Rabbath of the Amnion- j 
ites, or the children of Ammon ; but else- j 
where, Josh. 13:25; 2 Sam. 11:1; 12: 
27, 29 ; 1 Chron. 20 : 1 ; Jer. 49 : 3, simply I 
Rabbah. When first named it is men- j 
tioned as containing the -bed or sarcopha- ; 
gus of the giant Og. Deut. 3:11. David | 
sent Joab to besiege Rabbah. 2 Sam. 11 : | 
1, 17, etc. Joab succeeded in capturing 
a portion of the place — the " city of j 
waters," that is, the lower town, so called i 
from its containing the perennial stream j 
which rises in and still flows through it. j 
The citadel still remained to be taken, 
but this was secured shortly after David's 
arrival. 2 Sam. 12 : 26-31. Long after, 
at the date of the invasion of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, Jer. 49 : 2, 3, it had walls and 
palaces. It is named in such terms as 
imply that it was of equal importance 
with Jerusalem. Ezek. 21 : 20. From 
Ptolemy Philadelphia (B.C. 285-247) it 
received the name of Philadelphia. It 
was one of the cities of the Decapolis, 
and became the seat of a Christian bishop. 
Its ruins, which are considerable, are 
found at Ammon, about 22 miles from 
the Jordan. It lies in a valley which is 
a branch, or perhaps the main course, of 
the Wady Zerka, usually identified with 
the Jabbok. The public buildings are 
said to be Roman, except the citadel, 
which is described as of large square 
stones put together without cement, and 
which is probably more ancient than the 
rest. 

2. A city of Judah, named Avith Kir- 
jath-jearim in Josh. 15 : 60 only. No 

550 



trace of its existence has yet been dis- 
covered. 

Rab'bath-moab. [An.] 

Rab'bath of the Children of Am- 
mon, and Rabbath of the Ammon- 
ites. [See Rabbath.] 

Rabbi, a title of respect signifying 
master, teacher, given by the Jews to 
their doctors and teachers, and often ad- 
dressed to our Lord. Matt. 23 : 7, 8 ; 26 : 
25, 49 ; Mark 9:5; 11 : 21 ; 14 : 45 ; John 
1 : 38, 49 ; 3 : 2, 26 ; 4 : 31 ; 6 : 25 ; 9:2; 
11 : 8. Another form of the title was 
Rabboni. John 20 : 16. The titles were 
used with different degrees of honor; 
the lowest being rab, master ; then rabbi, 
my master; next rabban, our master; 
and greatest of all, rabboni, my great 
master. 

Rab'bith (multitude), a town in the 
territory, perhaps on the boundary, of 
Issachar. Josh. 19 : 20 only. 

Rabbo'ni. John 20 : 16. [Rabbi.] 

Rab-mag, Jer. 39 : 3, 13, a title borne 
by Nergal-sharezer, probably identical 
with the king called by the Greeks Ne- 
riglissar. [Nergal-sharezer.] (It 
probably means chief of the magi ; at all 
events it was " an office of great power 
and dignity at the Babylonian court, and 
probably gave its possessor special facili- 
ties for gaining the throne.") 

Rab'saris (chief of the eunuchs). 1. 
An officer of the king of Assyria sent up 
with Tartan and Rabshakeh against Je- 
rusalem in the time of Hezekiah. 2 Kings 
18:17. (B.C. 713.) 

2. One of the princes of Nebuchadnez- 
zar, who was present at the capture of 
Jerusalem, B.C. 588. Jer. 39 : 3, 13. Rab- 
saris is probably rather the name of an 
office than of an individual. 

Rab'shakeh (chief cupbearer), 2 
Kings 18, 19 ; Isa. 36, 37, one of the offi- 
cers of the king of Assyria sent against 
Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. 
I [Hezekiah.] (b.c. 713.) The English 
version takes Rabshakeh as the name of 
j a person ; but it is more probably the 
i name of the office which he held at the 
court, that of chief cupbearer. 

Raca, a term of reproach derived from 
the Chaldee rtkd, worthless. ("Raca, 
denotes a certain looseness of life and 



KAH 



manners, while 'fool,' in the same pas- 
sage, means a downright wicked and rep- 
robate person.") Matt. 5 : 22. 
Race. [Games.] 

Ra'chab. Rahab the harlot. Matt. 
1:5. 



Racing. 

Ra'chal {trade), 1 Sam. 30 : 29, a town 
in the southern part of the tribe of Judah, 
one of the towns to which David sent 
presents out of the spoil of the Ama- 
lekites. 

Ra'chel (ewe, or sheep), the younger 
of the daughters of Laban, the wife of 
Jacob (B.C. 1753) and mother of Joseph 
and Benjamin. The incidents of her 
life may be found in Gen. 29-33, 35. 
The story of Jacob and Rachel has al- 
ways had a peculiar interest. The beauty 
of Rachel, Jacob's deep love and long 
servitude for her, their marriage, and 
Rachel's death on giving birth to Benja- 
min, with Jacob's grief at her loss, Gen. 
48 : 7, makes a touching tale. Yet from 
what is related to us concerning her char- 
acter there does not seem much to claim 
any high degree of admiration and es- 
teem. She appears to have shared all 
the duplicity and falsehood of her fam- 
ily. See, for instance, Rachel's stealing 
her father's images, and the ready dexter- 
ity and presence of mind with which she 
concealed her theft. Gen. 31. " Rachel 
died and was buried on the way to Eph- 
rath, which is Bethlehem. (B.C. 1729.) 
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave ; 
that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto 
this day." Gen. 35 : 19, 20. The site of 
Rachel's tomb, " on the way to Bethle- 



hem," "a little way to come to Eph- 
rath," "in the border of Benjamin," has 
never been questioned. It is about two 
miles south of Jerusalem and one mile 
north of Bethlehem. 
Rad'da-i [trampling), one of David's 
brothers, fifth son 
of Jesse. 1 Chron. 
2: 14. 

Ra'gau,one of 
the ancestors of 
our Lord, son of 
Phalec. Luke 3 : 
35. He is the same 
person with Reu, 
son of Peleg. 

Ra'ges,an im- 
portant city in 
northeastern Me- 
dia, where that 
country bordered 
upon Parthia. Its 
ruins, still known 
by the name of 
Rhey, lie about 
five miles south- 
east of Teheran. 
Ragu'el, or 
Re-u'el [friend of God). 1. Probably 
the same as Jethro. [Jethro; Hobab.J 
(B.C. 1490.) 

2. A pious Jew of "Ecbatane, a city 
of Media," father of Sara, the wife of 
Tobias. Tob. 3 : 7, 17, etc. 

Ra'hab, or Ra'chab {wide), a cel- 
ebrated woman of Jericho, who received 
the spies sent by Joshua to spy out the 
land, hid them in her house from the 
pursuit of her countrymen, was saved 
with all her family when the Israelites 
sacked the city, and became the wife of 
Salmon and the ancestress of the Messiah. 
Josh. 2:1; Matt. 1 : 5. (B.C. 1450.) She. 
was a "harlot," and probably combined 
the trade of lodging-keeper for wayfar- 
ing men. Her reception of the spies, 
the artifice by which she concealed them 
from the king, their escape, and the sav- 
ing of Rahab and her family at the cap- 
ture of the city, in accordance with their 
promise, are all told in the narrative of 
Josh. 2. As regards Rahab herself, she 
probably repented, and we learn from 
Matt. 1 : 5 that she became the wife of 
Salmon the son of Naasson, and the 
mother of Boaz, Jesse's grandfather. The 
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells 
us that "by faith the harlot Rahab per- 
ished not with them that believed not, 
when she had received the spies with 
551 




EAH 



RAI 



peace," Heb. 11 : 31 ; and St. James for- 
tifies his doctrine of justification by works 
by asking, " Was not Rahab the harlot 
justified by works, when she had received 
the messengers, and had sent them out 
another way ?" James 2 : 25. 



Ra'hab, a poetical name of Egypt, 
Ps. 89 : 10 ; Isa. 51 : 9, signifying " fierce- 
ness, insolence, pride." Rahab, as a name 
of Egypt, occurs once only without refer- 
ence to the exodus : this is in Ps. 87 : 4. 
In Isa. 30 : 7 the name is alluded to. 




Tomb of Rachel, near Bethlehem. 



Ra'ham {belly). In the genealogy of 
the descendants of Caleb the son of Hez- 
ron, 1 Chron. 2 : 44, Raham is described 
as the son of Shema and father of Jor- 
koam. 

Ra'hel, the original form in our Au- 
thorized Version of the now familiar 
Rachel. Jer. 31 : 15. 

Rain. In the Pible " early rain" sig- 
nifies the rain of the autumn, Dent. 11: 
14, and "latter rain" the rain of spring. 
Prov. 16:15. Eor six months in the 
year, from May to October, no rain falls, 
the whole land* becomes dry, parched and 
brown. The autumnal rains are eagerly 
looked for, to prepare the earth for the 
reception of the seed. These, the early 
rains, commence about the latter end of 
October, continuing through November 
and December. January and February 
552 



are the coldest months, and snow falls, 
sometimes to the depth of a foot or more, 
at Jerusalem, but it does not lie long ; it 
is very seldom seen along the coast and 
in the low plains. Rain continues to fall 
more or less during the month of March ; 
it is very rare in April. Robinson ob- 
serves that there are not, at the present 
day, "any particular periods of rain or 
succession of showers which might be 
regarded as distinct rainy seasons. The 
whole period from October to March now 
constitutes only one continued season of 
rain, without any regularly-intervening 
term of prolonged fine weather. Unless, 
therefore, there has been some change in 
the climate, the early and the latter 
rains, for which the husbandman waited 
with longing, seem rather to have im- 
plied the first showers of autumn — which 



EAI 



EAM 



revived the parched and thirsty soil and 
prepared it for the seed — and the later 
showers of spring, which continued to 
refresh and forward both the ripening 
crops and the vernal products of the 
fields." James 5:7; Prov. 16 : 15. 

Rainbow, the token of the covenant 
which God made with Noah when he 
came forth from the ark that the waters 
should no more become a flood to destroy 
all flesh. The right interpretation of Gen. 
9 : 13 seems to be that God took the rain- 
bow, whicli had hitherto been but a beau- 
tiful object shining in the heavens when 
the sun's rays fell on falling rain, and con- 
secrated it as the sign of his love and the 
witness of his promise. Ecclus.43: 11. The 
rainbow is a symbol of God's faithfulness 
and mercy. In the " rainbow around the 
throne," Rev. 4 : 3, is seen the symbol of 
hope and the bright emblem of mercy 
and love, all the more true as a symbol be- 
cause it is reflected from the storm itself. 

Raisins. [Vine.] 

Ra'kem {flower garden), a descendant 
of Machir the son of Manasseh. 1 Chron. 
7 : 16. (B.C. before 1451.) 

Rak'kath ushore), a fortified city in 
the tribe of Naph- 
tali. Josh. 19 : 35. 
It was on the west- 
ern shore of the 
S ea of Gal i 1 ee, n ot 
far from the warm 
baths of Tiberias. 

Rak'kon [the 
temple) (of the 
head), a well-wa- 
tered place in the 
inheritance of 
Dan, not far from 
Joppa. Josh. 19 : 
46. 

Ram. [See 
Battering- 

KAM.] 

Ram (high, ex- 
alted). 1. A son of 
Hezron and the 
father of Ammin- 
adab, born in Egypt after Jacob's migra- 
tion there. Ruth 4 : 19. (B.C. 1706.) In 
Matt. 1 : 3, 4 and Luke 3 : 33 he is called 
Aram in the Authorized Version, but 
Ram in the Revised Version of Matt. 1 : 
3, 4, and Arni in the Revised Version of 
Luke 3 : 33. 

2. The first-born of Jerahmeel, and 
therefore nephew of the preceding. 1 
Chron. 2 : 25, 27. (B.C. after 1706.) 



3. One of the kindred of Elihu. Job 
j 32 : 2. Ewald identified this Ram with 
j Aram in Gen. 22 : 21. 

Ra'ma, Matt. 2 : 18, referring to Jer. 
I 31 : 15. It is the Greek form of Ra- 
j mah. 

Ra'mah {a hill). This is the name 
of several places in the holy land. 1. 
One of the cities of the allotment of 
Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 25. Its site is at er- 
Rdm, about five miles from Jerusalem, 
and near to Gibeah. Judges 4:5; 19 : 13 ; 
1 Sam. 22 : 6. Its people returned after 
the captivity. Ezra 2 : 26; Neh. 7 : 30. 

2. The home of Elkanah, Samuel's 
father, 1 Sam. 1:19; 2:11, the birth- 
place of Samuel himself, his home and 
otficial residence, the site of his altar, 
eh. 7:17; 8:4; 15:34; 16:13; 19:18, 
and finally his burial-place, ch. 25 : 1 ; 
28 : 3. It is a contracted form of Ra- 
mathaim-zophim. All that is directly 
said as to its situation is that it was in 
Mount Ephraim, 1 Sam. 1 : 1, a district 
without defined boundaries. The posi- 
tion of Ramah is a much-disputed ques- 
tion. Tradition, however, places the 
residence of Samuel on the lofty and re- 




Battering-ram. A Besieged City. {Nineveh Sculphires.) 



mark able eminence of Neby Samwil, 
which rises four miles to the northwest 
of Jerusalem. Since the days of Arculf 
the tradition appears to have been con- 
tinuous. Here, then, we are inclined, in 
the present state of the evidence, to place 
the Ramah of Samuel. 

3. One of the nineteen fortified places 
of Naphtali. Josh. 19 : 36. Dr. Robinson 
has discovered a Rameh northwest of the 
553 



RAM 



RAV 



Sea of Galilee, about 8 miles east-south- 
east of Safed. 

4. One of the landmarks on the bound- 
ary of Asher, Josh. 19 : 29, apparently 
between Tyre and Zidon. Some place it 
3 miles east of Tyre, others 10 miles off j 
and east-southeast of the same city. 

5. By this name in 2 Kings 8 : 29 and j 
2 Chron. 22 : 6, only, is designated Ea- 1 
moth-gilead. 

6. A place mentioned in the catalogue 
of those reinhabited by the Benjamites 
after their return from the captivity. 
Neh. 11:33. 

Ra'math-le'hi {hill of the jawbone, 
or hill of Lehi), the name bestowed by 
Samson on the scene of his slaughter of 
the thousand Philistines with the jaw- 
bone, Judges 15 : 17 ; a place by the rock 
Elam, in western Judah, near the borders 
of the Philistines. 

Ra'math-miz'peh {high place of the 
watch-tower). TRamoth-GILEAD.] ' 

Ra'math of the south, one of the 
towns at the extreme south limit of Sim- 
eon. Josh. 19 : 8. It is in all probability 
the same place as south Ramoth. 1 Sam. 
30 : 27. 

Ramatha'im - zo'phim (the tivo 
heights of the watchers). [Eamaft, 2. | 

Ra'mathite, The. Shimei the Ra- 
mathite, i. e. a native of Ramah, had 
charge of the roval vineyards of King 
David. 1 Chron. 27 : 27. (B.C. 1050.) 

Rame'ses, or Ra-am'ses [child of 
the sun), a city and district of lower 
Egypt. Gen. 47 : 11 ; Ex. 12 : 37 ; Num. 
33 : 3, 5. This land of Rameses either 
corresponds to the land of Goshen or was 
a district of it, more probably the former. 
The city was one of the two store-cities j 
built for the Pharaoh who first oppressed j 
the children of Israel. Ex. 1 : 11. (It was j 
probably the capital of Goshen, and situ- j 
ated in the valley of the Pelusiac mouth 
of the Nile. McClintock and Strong say j 
that its location is indicated by the pres- 
ent Tell Mams is; a quadrangular mound 
near Belbeis. Dr. Brugsch thinks that ; 
it was at Zoan-Tanis, the modern San, on I 
the Tanitic branch of the Nile, and that ! 
it was built or enlarged by Rameses II. j 
and made his capital. — Ed.) 

Rami'ah, one who had taken "a! 
strange wife." Ezra 10 : 25. 

Ra'moth-gil'ead (heights of Gilead), \ 
one of the great fastnesses on the east of j 
Jordan, and the key to an important | 
district. 1 Kings 4:13. It was the city j 
of refuge for the tribe of Gad, Deut. 4 : j 
554 



43 ; Josh. 20 : 8 ; 21 : 38, and the residence 
of one of Solomon's commissariat officers. 
1 Kings 4: 13. During the invasion re- 
lated in 1 Kings 15 : 20, or some subse- 
quent incursion, this important place had 
been seized by Ben-hadad I., king of 
Syria. The incidents of Ahab's expedi- 
tion are well known. [Ahab.] Later it 
was taken by Israel, and held in spite of 
ail the efforts of Hazael, who was now on 
the throne of Damascus, to regain it. 2 
Kings 9 : 14. Henceforward Ramoth-gil- 
ead disappears from our view. Eusebius 
and Jerome specify the position of Ra- 
moth as 15 miles from Philadelphia 
(Amman). It may correspond to the site 
bearing the name oiJeVdd, exactly iden- 
tical with the ancient Hebrew Gilead, 
which is four or five miles north of es- 
Salt, 25 miles east of the Jordan and 13 
miles south of the brook Jabbok. 

Ram's horns. [Cornet; Jubilee.] 

Ra'pha (tall). 1. Son of Binea, among 
the descendants of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 37. 

2. One of Benjamin's descendants. 1 
Chron. 8 : 2. 

Ra'phael (the divine healer). Ac- 
cording to Jewish tradition, Raphael was 
one of the four angels which stood round 
the throne of God — Michael, Uriel, Ga- 
briel, Raphael. 

Ra'phon, a city of Gilead, 1 Mace. 
5 : 37, perhaps identical with Raphana, 
which is mentioned by Pliny as one of 
the cities of the Decapolis. 

Ra'phu, the father of Palti, the Ben- 
jamite spy. Num. 13 : 9. (B.C. before 
1490.) 

Raven (black). The Hebrew oreb is 
applied to the several species of the crow 
family, a number of which are found in 
Palestine. The raven belongs to the or- 
der Insessores, family Corvidw. (It re- 
sembles the crow, but is larger, weighing 
three pounds ; its black color is more 
iridescent, and it is gifted with greater 
sagacity. " There is something weird and 
shrewd in the expression of the raven's 
countenance, a union of cunning and ma- 
lignity which may have contributed to 
give it among widely-severed nations a 
reputation for preternatural knowledge." 
One writer says that the smell of death 
is so grateful to them that when in pass- 
ing over sheep a tainted smell is percep- 
tible, they cry and croak vehemently. 
It may be that in passing over a human 
habitation, if a sickly or cadaverous 
smell arises, they would make it known 
by their cries, and so has arisen the idea 



EAZ 



EEC 



that the croaking of a raven is the pre- 
monition of death. — Ed.) A raven was 
sent out by Noah from the ark. Gen. 8 : 
7. This bird was not allowed as food by 
the Mosaic law. Lev. 11 : 15. Elijah was 
cared for by ravens. 1 Kings 17 : 4, 6. 
They are expressly mentioned as instances 
of God's protecting love and goodness. 




Raven. 

Job 38:41; Luke 12:24. The raven's 
carnivorous habits, and especially his 
readiness to attack the eve, are alluded 
to in Prov. 30 : 17. To the fact of the 
raven being a common bird in Palestine, 
and to its habit of flying restlessly about 
in constant search for food to satisfy its 
voracious appetite, may perhaps be traced 
the reason for its being selected by our 
Lord and the inspired writers as the es- 
pecial object of God's providing care. 

Razor. Besides other usages, the 
practice of shaving the head after the 
completion of a vow must have created 
among the Jews a necessity for the spe- 
cial trade of a barber. Lev. 14 : 8 ; Num. 
6 : 9, 18 ; 8:7; Judges 13:5; Isa. 7 : 20 ; 
Ezek. 5:1; Acts 18 : 18. The instruments 
of his work were probably, as in modern 
times, the razor, the basin, the mirror, 
and perhaps also the scissors. See 2 Sam. 
14 : 26. Like the Levites, the Egyptian 
priests were accustomed to shave their 
whole bodies. 



Reai/a, a Reubenite, son of Micah, 
and apparently prince of his tribe. 1 
Chron. 5 : 5. The name is identical with 
Reai'ah (seen of Jehovah). 1. A de- 
scendant of Shubal the son of Judah. 1 
Chron. 4:2. 

2. The children of Reaiah were a family 
of Nethinim who returned from Babylon 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 ": 47 ; 
Neh. 7 : 50. (B.C. before 536.) 

Re'ba (four), one of the five 
kings of the Midianites slain 
by the children of Israel when 
Balaam fell. Num. 31 : 8 ; Josh. 
13 : 21. (B.C. 1450.) 

Rebec'ca. Rom. 9 : 10 only. 
[Rebekah.] 

Rebek'ah (ensnarer), 
daughter of Bethuel, Gen. 22 : 
23, and sister of Laban, mar- 
ried to Isaac. She is first pre- 
sented to us in Gen. 24, where 
the beautiful story of her mar- 
riage is related." (B.C. 1857.) 
For nineteen years she was 
childless : then Esau and Jacob 
were born, the younger being 
the mother's companion and 
favorite. Gen. 25 : 19-28. Re- 
bekah suggested the deceit that 
was practiced by Jacob on his 
blind father. She directed and 
aided him in carrying it out, 
foresaw the probable conse- 
quence of Esau's anger, and 
prevented it by moving Isaac 
to send Jacob away to Padan-aram, Gen. 
27, to her own kindred. Gen. 29 : 12. Re- 
bekah's beauty became at one time a 
source of danger to her husband. Gen. 
26 : 7. It has been conjectured that she 
died during Jacob's sojourn in Padan- 
aram. 

Re'chab (rider). 1. One of the two 
"captains of bands" whom Ish-bosheth 
took into his service, and who conspired 
to murder him. 2 Sam. 4:2. (B.C. 1046.) 

2. The father of Malchiah, ruler of 
part of Beth-haccerem. Neh. 3:14. (B.C. 
before 446.) 

3. The father or ancestor of Jehonadab. 
2 Kings 10 : 15, 23 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 55 ; Jer. 
35 : 6-19. (B.C. before 882.) It was from 
this Rechab that the tribe of the Re- 
chabites derived their name. In 1 Chron. 
2 : 55 the house of Rechab is identified 
with a section of the Kenites, a Midian- 
itish tribe who came into Canaan with 
the Israelites, and retained their nomadic 
habits. The real founder of the tribe 

555 



EEC 



EED 



was Jehonadab. [Jehonadab.] He and j 
his people had all along been worship- 
pers of Jehovah, circumcised, though Dot 
looked upon as belonging to Israel , and 
probably therefore not considering them- 
selves bound by the Mosaic law and ritual. 
The worship of Baal wasoffensive to them. 
Jehonadab inaugurated a reformation and 
compelled a more rigid adherence than 
ever to the old Arab life. They were 
neither to drink wine, nor build houses, 
nor sow seed, nor plant nor have any 
vineyard. All their days they were to 
dwell in tents. Jer. 35 : 6, 7. This was to 
be the condition of their retaining a dis- I 
tinct tribal existence. For two centuries I 
and a half they adhered faithfully to this j 
rule. The invasion of Judah by Nebu- | 
chadnezzar, in B.C. 607, drove the Re- ! 
chabites from their tents to Jerusalem, I 
where they stood proof against tempta- 
tion, and were specially blessed. Jer. 35 : 
2-19. There is much of interest in rela- 
tion to the present condition of these 
people. Dr. Wolff reports that the Jews 
of Jerusalem and Yemen told him that 
he would find the Rechabites of Jer. 35 
living near Mecca, in the mountainous 
country northeast of Medina. When he 
came near Senaa he came in contact, with 
a tribe, the Beni-Khabir, who identified 
themselves with the sons of Jehonadab. 
They claimed to number 60,000. to adhere 
to the old rules, and to be a fulfillment 
of the promise made to Jehonadab. 

Re'chabites. [Rechab.] 

Re'chah {uttermost part), probably a 
place in Judah — a village, Rashiah, three 
miles south of Jerusalem. 

Recorder, an officer of high rank in 
the Jewish state, exercising the functions, 
not simply of an annalist, but of chan- 
cellor or president of the privy council. 
In David's court the recorder appears 
among the high officers of his household. 
2 Sam. 8: 16; "20: 24; 1 Chron. 18 : 15. In 
Solomon's he is coupled with the three 
secretaries. 1 Kings 4:3; comp. 2 Kings 
18 : 18, 37 ; 2 Chron. 34 : 8. 

Red Sea. 1. Name. — The sea known 
to us as the Red Sea was by the Israelites 
called "the sea," Ex. 14 :2, 9, 16, 21, 28; 
15:1, 4, 8, 10, 19; Josh. 24:6, 7, and 
many other passages, and specially "the 
sea of sup/i." Ex. 10:19; 13:18; 15:4, 
22 ; 23 : 31 ; Num. 14 : 25, etc. This word 
signifies a sea-iveed resembling wool, and 
such sea-weed is thrown up abundantly 
on the shores of the Red Sea; hence 
Brugsch calls it the sea. of reeds or weeds. 
556 



The color of the water is not red. Ebers 
says that it is of a lovely blue-green color, 
and named Red either from its red banks 
or from the Ery thrseans, who were called 
the red people. 

2. Physical description. — In extreme 
length the Red Sea stretches from the 
straits of Bab el-Mendeb (or rather Ras 
Bab el-Mendeb), 18 miles wide, in lat. 
12° 40' N., to the modern head of the 
Gulf of Suez, lat. 30° N., a distance of 
1450 miles. Its greatest width may be 
stated at about 210 miles. At Ras Mo- 
hammed, on the north, the Red Sea is 
split by the granitic peninsula of Sinai 
into two gulfs; the westernmost, or Gulf 
of Suez, is now about 150 miles in length, 
with an average width of about 20, though 
it contracts to less than 10 miles; the 
easternmost, or Gulf of el-'Akabeh, is 
about 100 miles long, from the Straits of 
Tiran to the 'Akabeh, and 15 miles wide. 
The average depth of the Red Sea is from 
2500 to 3500 feet, though in places it is 
6000 feet deep. Journeying southward 
from Suez, on our left is the peninsula of 
Sinai ; on the right is the desert coast of 
Egypt, of limestone formation, like the 
greater part of the Nile valley in Egypt, 
the cliffs on the sea margin stretching 
landward in a great rocky plateau, while 
more inland a chain of volcanic mount- 
ains, beginning about lat. 28° 4' and run- 
ning south, rear their lofty peaks at in- 
tervals above the limestone, generally 
about 15 miles distant. 

3. Ancient limits.— The most important 
change in the Red Sea has been the dry- 
ing up of its northern extremity, " the 
tongue of the Egyptian Sea." The land 
about the head of the gulf has risen and 
that near the Mediterranean become de- 
pressed. The head of the gulf has con- 
sequently retired gradually since the 
Christian era. Thus the prophecy of 
Isaiah has been fulfilled, Isa. 11:15; 
19:5; the tongue of the Red Sea has 
dried up for a distance of at least 50 
miles from its ancient head. An ancient 
canal conveyed the waters of the Nile to 
the Red Sea, flowing through the Wadi-t- 
Tumeylat and irrigating with its system 

! of water-channels a large extent of coun- 
| try. It was 62 Roman miles long, 54 
feet wide and 7 feet deep. The drying 
up of the head of the gulf appears to 
have been one of the chief causes of the 
neglect and ruin of this canal. The 
country, for the distance above indicated, 
is now a desert of gravelly sand, with 



RED 



RED 



wide patches about the old sea-bottom, 
of rank marsh land, now called the 
" Bitter Lakes." At the northern ex- 
tremity of this salt waste is a small lake, 
sometimes called the Lake of Heroopolis ; 
the lake is now Birket-et-Timsdh, "the 
lake of the crocodile," and is supposed 
to mark the ancient head of the gulf. 
The canal that connected this with the 
Nile was of Pharaonic origin. It was 
anciently known as the " Fossa Reguni" 
and the " canal of Hero." The time at 
which the canal was extended, after the 
drying up of the head of the gulf, to the 
present head is uncertain, but it must 
have been late, and probably since the 
Mohammedan conquest. Traces of the 
ancient channel throughout its entire 
length to the vicinity of Bubastis exist 
at intervals in the present day. The j 
land north of the ancient head of the 
gulf is a plain of heavy sand, merging \ 
into marsh-land near the Mediterranean 
coast, and extending to Palestine. This \ 
region, including Wddi-t-Tumeyldt, was 
probably the frontier land occupied in j 
part by the Israelites, and open to the j 
incursions of the wild tribes of the Ara- ' 
biau desert. 

4. Navigation. — The sea, from its dan- 
gers and sterile shores, is entirely desti- 
tute of boats. The coral of the Red Sea ! 
is remarkably abundant, and beautifully 
colored and variegated; but it forms so 
many reefs and islands along the shores 
that navigation is very dangerous, and 
the shores are chiefly barren rock and 
sand, and therefore very sparsely inhab- 
ited, so that there are but three cities I 
along the whole 1450 miles of its west j 
coast— Suez, at the head, a city of 14,000 
inhabitants; Sanakin, belonging to Sou- j 
dan, of 10,000 ; and Massau, in Abyssinia, I 
of 5000. Only two ports, Elath and j 
Ezion-geber, are mentioned in the Bible. I 
The earliest navigation of the Red Sea j 
(passing by the pre-historical Phoenic- 
ians) is mentioned by Herodotus : — " Se- 
sostris (Rameses II.) was the first who, I 
passing the Arabian Gulf in a fleet of j 
long vessels, reduced under his authority 
the inhabitants of the coast bordering 
the Erythraean Sea." Three centuries 
later, Solomon's navy was built "in; 
Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on \ 
the shore of the Red Sea (Yam Suph), j 
in the land of Edom." 1 Kings 9 : 26. | 
The kingdom of Solomon extended as 
far as the Red Sea, upon which he pos- ! 
sessed the harbors of Elath and Ezion- 



geber. [Elath ; Eziox-geber.] It is 
possible that the sea has retired here as 
at Suez, and that Ezion-geber is now dry 
land. Jehoshaphat also " made ships of 
Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold ; but 
they went not ; for the ships were broken 
at Ezion-geber." 1 Kings 22 : 48. The 
scene of this wreck has been supposed to 
be Edh-Dhahab. The fleets appear to 
have sailed about the autumnal equinox, 
and returned in December or the middle 
of January. The Red Sea, as it pos- 
sessed for many centuries the most im- 
portant sea-trade of the East, contained 
ports of celebrity. The Heroopolite Gulf 
(Gulf of Suez) is of the chief interest; it 
was near to Goshen, it was the scene of 
the passage of the Red Sea, and it was 
the "tongue of the Egyptian Sea." It 
was also the seat of the Egyptian trade 
in this sea and to the Indian Ocean. 

5. Passage of the Red Sea. — The pas- 
sage of the Red Sea was the crisis of the 
exodus. It is usual to suppose that the 
most northern place at which the Red 
Sea could have been crossed is the pres- 
ent head of the Gulf of Suez. This sup- 
position depends upon the erroneous idea 
that in the time of Moses the gulf did not 
extend farther to the northward than at 
present. An examination of the country 
north of Suez has shown, however, that 
the sea has receded many miles. The 
old bed is indicated by the Birket-et- 
Timsdh, or " lake of the crocodile," and 
the more southern Bitter Lakes, the 
northernmost part of the former prob- 
ably corresponding to the head of the 
gulf at the time of the exodus. It is 
necessary to endeavor to ascertain the 
route of the Israelites before we can at- 
tempt to discover where they crossed the 
sea. The point from which they started 
was Rameses, a place certainly in the 
land of Goshen, which we identify with 
the Wddi-t-Tumeyldt. They first en- 
camped at Succoth. At the end of the 
second day's journey the camping-place 
was at Etham, " in the edge of the wil- 
derness." Ex. 13 : 20 ; Num. 33 : 6. Here 
the Wddi-t-Tumeyldt was probably left, 
as it is cultivable and terminates in the 
desert. At the end of the third day's 
march, — for each camping-place seems 
to mark the close of a day's journey, — 
the Israelites encamped by the sea. The 
place of this last encampment and that 
of the passage would be not very far 
from the Persepolitan monument at Pi- 
hahiroth. It appears that Migdol was 
557 



BED 



BED 



behind Pi-hahiroth, and on the other 
hand Baal-zephon and the sea. From 
Pi-hahiroth the Israelites crossed the sea. 
This was not far from halfway between 
the Bitter Lakes and the Gull of Suez, 
where now it is dry land. The Muslims 
suppose Memphis to have been the city 
at which the Pharaoh of the exodus re- 
sided before that event occurred. From 
opposite Memphis a broad valley leads 
to the Red Sea. It is in part called the 
Wddi-t-Teeh, or "Valley of the Wan- 
dering." From it the traveller reaches 
the sea beneath the lofty Gebel-et- 
Tdkah, which rises in the north and 
shuts off all escape in that direction 
excepting by a narrow way along the 
seashore, which Pharaoh might have 
occupied. The sea here is broad and 
deep, as the narrative is generally held 
to imply. All the local features seem 
suited for a great event. The only 
points bearing on geography in the ac- 
count of this event are that the sea was 
divided by an east wind, whence we 
may reasonably infer that it was crossed 
from west to east, and that the whole 
Egyptian army perished, which shows 
that it must have been some miles 
broad. On the whole we may reason- 
ably suppose about twelve miles as the 
smallest breadth of the sea. The nar- 
rative distinctly states that a path was 
made through the sea, and that the 
waters were a wall on either hand. The 
term "Wall " does not appear to oblige 
us to suppose, as many have done, that 
the sea stood up like a cliff on either 
side, but should rather be considered to 
mean a barrier, as the former idea im- 
plies a seemingly needless addition to 
the miracle, while the latter seems to be 
not discordant with the language of the 
narrative. It was during the night that 
the Israelites crossed, and the Egyptians 
followed. In the morning watch, the 
last third or fourth of the night, or the 
period before sunrise, Pharaoh's army 
was in full pursuit in the divided sea, 
and was there miraculously troubled, so 
that the Egyptians sought to flee. Ex. 
14 : 23-25. Then was Moses commanded 
again to stretch out his hand, and the 
sea returned to its strength, and over- 
whelmed the Egyptians, of whom not 
one remained alive. Ibid. 26-28. 

(But on the whole it is becoming more 
probable that the place where the Israel- 
ites crossed " was near the town of Suez, 
on extensive shoals which run toward the 
558 



southeast, in the direction of Ayim Musa 
(the Wells of Moses). The distance is 
about three miles at high tide. This is 
the most probable theory. Near here 
Napoleon, deceived by the tidal wave, 
attempted to cross in 1799, and nearly 
met the fate of Pharaoh. But an army 



A B Supposed cross- 
ing-place. 

C D The same ac- 
cording to Le Clerc, 
Du Bois, Aime and 
others. 



E F According to 
Bruce, Shaw, Rau- 
mer and others. 




of 600,000 could of course never have 
crossed it without a miracle." — Schaff's 
Through Bible Lands. Several routes 
and places of crossing advocated by 
learned Egyptologists can be clearly seen 
by the accompanying maps. The latest 
theory is that which Brugsch-bey has 
lately revived, that the word translated 
Red Sea is " Sea of Reeds or Weeds," and 
refers to the Serbonian bog in the north- 
eastern part of Egypt, and that the Is- 
raelites crossed here instead of the Red 
Sea. 

" A gulf profound, as that Serbonian hog . . . 
Where armies whole have sunk." — Milton. 

And among these armies that of Arta- 



REE 



REF 



xerxes, king of Persia, B. C. 350. But it 
is very difficult to make this agree with 
the Bible narrative, and it is the least 
satisfactory of all the theories. — Ed.) 

Reed. Under this name may be no- 
ticed the following Hebrew words: 1. 
Agmon occurs in Job 40 : 12, 26 ; Isa. 
9 : 14 (Authorized Version " rush "). 




Papyrus Reed. 

There can be no doubt that it denotes 
some aquatic reed-like plant, probably 
the Phragmitis communis, which, if it 
does not occur in Palestine and Egypt, is 
represented by a very closely-allied spe? 
cies, viz., the Arundo isiaca of Delisle. 
The drooping panicle of this plant will 
answer well to the " bowing down the 
head " of which Isaiah speaks. Isa. 58 : 
5. 2. Gome, translated " rush " and " bul- 
rush " by the Authorized Version, with- 
out doubt denotes the celebrated paper- 



reed of the ancients, Papyrus anti quo- 
rum, which formerly was common in 
some parts of Egypt. The papyrus reed 
is not now found in Egypt ; it grows, how- 
ever, in Syria. Dr. Hooker saw it on the 
banks of Lake Tiberias, a few miles north 
of the town. The papyrus plant has an 
angular stem from 3 to 6 feet high, though 
occasionally it grows to the height 
of 14 feet; it has no leaves; the 
flowers are in very small spikelets, 
which grow on the thread-like 
flowering branchlets which form 
a bushy crown to each stem. (It 
was used for making paper, shoes, 
sails, ropes, mattresses, etc. The 
Greek name is £i£Ao? ; from which 
came our word Bible — book — be- 
cause books were made of the pa- 
pyrus paper. This paper was al- 
ways expensive among the Greeks, 
being worth a dollar a sheet. — 
Ed.) 3. Kdneh, a reed of any kind. 
Thus there are in general four 
kinds of reeds named in the Bible : 

(1) The water reed; No. 1 above. 

(2) A stronger reed, Arundo do- 
nax, the true reed of Egypt and 
Palestine, which grows 8 or 10 feet 
high, and is thicker than a man's 
thumb. It has a jointed stalk like 
the bamboo, and is very abundant 
on the Nile. (3) The writing reed, 
Arundo scriptoria, was used for 
making pens. (4) The papyrus ; 
No. 2. 

Re-ela'iah (bearer of Jeho- 
vah), one who went up with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 2. In Neh. 7 : 7 
he is called Raamiah. (b. c. 
445.) 

Refiner. The refiner's art was 
essential to the working of the pre- 
cious metals. It consisted in the 
separation of the dross from the 
pure ore, which was effected by re- 
ducing the metal to a fluid state 
by the application of heat, and by 
! the aid of solvents, such as alkali, Isa. 
1 : 25, or lead, Jer. 6 : 29, which, amalga- 
mating with the dross, permitted the ex- 
traction of the unadulterated metal. The 
instruments required by the refiner were 
I a crucible or furnace and a bellows or 
blow-pipe. The workman sat at his work, 
Mai. 3:3: he was thus better enabled to 
watch the process, and let the metal run 
off at the proper moment. 

Refuge, Cities of. [Cities of 
Refuge.] 

559 



EEG 



REH 



Re'gem {friend), a son of Jahdai. 1 
Chron. 2 : 47. 

Re'gem-me'lech (friend of the 
king). The names of Sherezer and Re- 
gem-melech occur in an obscure passage 
of Zechariah. ch. 7 : 2. They were sent 
on behalf of some of the captivity to 
make inquiries at the temple concerning 
fasting. (B.C. 517.) 

RehaM'ah (enlarged by Jehovah), the 
only son of Eliezer the son of Moses. 1 
Chron. 23 : 17 ; 24 : 21 ; 26 : 25. (B.C. 
about 1455.) 

Re'hob. 1. The father of Hadadezer 
king of Zobah, whom David smote at the 
Euphrates. 2 Sam. 8 : 3, 12. (B.C. before 
1043.) 

2. A Levite or family of Levites who 
sealed the covenant with Neheiniah. 
Neh. 10 : 11. (B.C. 410.) 

3. The northern limit of the explora- 
tion of the spies. Num. 13 : 21. Robin- 
son fixes the position of Rehob as not far 
from Tell el-Kady and Banias. 

4. One of the towns allotted to Asher. 
Josh. 19 : 28. 

5. Asher contained another Rehob, 
Josh. 19 : 30 ; but the situation of these 
towns is unknown. 




Rehoboam, from sculpture at Karnak. The in- 
scription has been read " Kingdom of Judah." 

Rehobo'am (enlarger of the people), 
son of Solomon by the Ammonite prin- 
cess Naauiah, 1 Kings 14 : 21, 31, and his 
successor. 1 Kings 11 : 43. Rehoboam 
selected Shechem as the place of his cor- 
onation (B.C. 975), probably as an act of 
concession to the Ephraimites. The peo- 
560 



pie demanded a remission of the severe 
burdens imposed by Solomon, and Reho- 
boam, rejecting the advice of his father's 
counsellors, followed that of his young 
courtiers, and returned an insulting an- 
swer, which led to an open rebellion 
among the tribes, and he was compelled 
to fly to Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin 
alone remaining true to him. Jeroboam 
was made king of the northern tribes. 
[Jeroboam.] An expedition to recon- 
quer Israel was forbidden by the prophet 
Shemaiah, 1 Kings 12:24; still during 
Rehoboam's lifetime peaceful relations 
between Israel and Judah were never re- 
stored. 2 Chron. 12:15; 1 Kings 14:30. 
In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign the 
country was invaded by a host of Egyp- 
tians and other African nations under 
Shishak. Jerusalem itself was taken, 
and Rehoboam had to purchase an ig- 
nominious peace by delivering up all 
the treasures with which Solomon had 
adorned the temple and palace. The rest 
of Rehoboam's life was unmarked by any 
events of importance. He died B.C. 958, 
after a reign of 17 years, having ascended 
the throne B.C. 975, at the age of 41. 1 
Kings 14 : 21 ; 2 Chron. 12 : 13. He had 
18 wives, 60 concubines, 28 sons and 60 
daughters. 

Reho'both (wide places, i. e. streets). 
1. The third of the series of wells dug by 
Isaac, Gen. 26 : 22, in the Philistines' ter- 
ritory, lately identified as er-Ruheibeh, 16 
miles south of Beersheba. 

2. One of the four cities built by As- 
shur, or by Nimrod in Asshur, according 
as this difficult passage is translated. Gen. 
10 : 11. Nothing certain is known of its 
position. 

3. The city of a certain Saul or Shaul, 
one of the early kings of the Edomites. 
Gen. 36 : 37 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 48. The affix 
" by the river" fixes the situation of Re- 
hoboth as on the Euphrates. 

Re'hura (merciful). 1. One who went 
up from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 
2:2. (B.C. 536.) 

2. " Rehum the chancellor." Ezra 4 : 
8, 9, 17, 23. He was perhaps a kind of 
lieutenant-governor of the province under 
the king of Persia. ( B.C. 535.) 

3. A Levite of the family of Bani, who 
assisted in. rebuilding the walls of Jeru- 
salem. Neh. 3 : 17. (B.C. 445.) 

4. One of the chief of the people, who 
signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:25. (B.C. 410.) 

5. A priestly family, or the head of a 



KEI 



REP 



riestly house, who went up with Zerub- 
abel. Nen. 12 : 3. (B.C. 536.) 
Re'i (friendly), a person mentioned 
(in 1 Kings 1 : 8 only) as having re- 
mained firm to David's cause when Ad- 
onijah rebelled. (B.C. 1015.) 

Reins (i. e. kidneys). In the ancient 
system of physiology the kidneys were 
believed to be the seat of desire and 
longing, which accounts for their often 
being coupled with the heart. Ps. 7:9; 
26 : 2; Jer. 11 : 20; 17 : 10, etc. 

Re'kem {variegation). 1. One of the 
five kings or chieftains of Midian slain 
by the Israelites. Num. 31 : 8; Josh. 13 : 
21. 

2. One of the four sons of Hebron, and 
father of Shammai. 1 Chron. 2 : 43, 44. 

Re'kem, one of the towns of the al- 
lotment of Benjamin. Josh. 18 : 27. Its 
existing site is unknown. 

Remali/ah (protected by Jehovah), 
the father of Pekah, captain of Pekahiah 
king of Israel, who slew his master and 
usurped his throne. 2 Kings 15 : 25-37 ; 
16 : 1, 5 ; 2 Chron. 28 : 6 ; Isa. 7:1-9; 8 : 
6. (B.C. 756.) 

Re'meth (height), one of the towns 
of Issachar. Josh. 19 : 21. It is prob- 
ably, though not certainly, a distinct 
place from the Ramoth of 1 Chron. 6 : 
73. 

Rem'mon ( pomegranate), a town in 
the allotment of Simeon, Josh. 19:7; 
elsewhere accurately given in the Au- 
thorized Version as Rimmon. 

Rem'mon - meth'o-ar, a place 
which formed oik; of the landmarks of 
Zebulun. Josh. 1!> : 13 only. Methoar 
does not really form a part of the name, 
but should be translated (as in the mar- 
gin of the Authorized Version) " Rem- 
mon which reaches to Neah." Dr. Rob- 
inson and Mr. Van de Velde place Rum- 
nianeh on the south border of the plain 
of Bvttauf, three miles north-northeast 
of Seffurieh. 

Rem'phan, Acts 7 :43, and Chi'un, 
Amos 5 : 26, have been supposed to be 
names of an idol worshipped secretly by 
the Israelites in the wilderness. Much 
difficulty has been occasioned by this 
corresponding occurrence of two names 
so wholly different in sound. The most 
reasonable opinion seems to be that 
Chiun was a Hebrew or Semitic name, 
and Remphan an Egyptian equivalent I 
substituted by the LXX. This idol cor- | 
responded probably to Saturn or Molech. 
The mention of Chiun or Remphan as ' 
36 



worshipped in the desert shows that this 
idolatry was, in part at least, that of 
foreigners, and no doubt of those settled 
in lower Egypt. 

Re'pbael (healed of God), son of 
Shemaiah, the first-bom of Obed-edom. 
1 Chron. 26 : 7. (B.C. about 1015.) 

Re'phah, a son of Ephraim, and an- 
cestor of Joshua. 1 Chron. 7 : 25. 

Reph'aiah (healed of Jehovah). 1. 
The sons of Rephaiah appear among the 
descendants of Zerubbabel in 1 Chron. 
3 : 21. 

2. A Simeonite chieftain in the reign 
of Hezekiah. 1 Chron. 4 : 42. (B.C. 727.) 

3. Son of Tola the son of Issachar. 1 
Chron. 7 : 2. 

4. Son of Binea, and descendant of 
Saul. 1 Chron. 9 : 43. 

5. The son of Hur, and ruler of a por- 
tion of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 9. (B.C. 441.) 

Reph/a-im. [Giants.] 

Reph'a-im, The valley of, 2 Sam. 
5 : 18, 22 ; 23 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 15 ; 14 : 9 ; 
Isa. 17 : 5 ; also in Josh. 15 : 8 and 18 : 16, 
where it is translated in the Authorized 
Version u the valley of the giants," a spot 
which was the scene of some of David's 
most remarkable adventures. He twice 
encountered and defeated the Philistines 
there. 2 Sam. 5 : 17-25 ; 23 : 13, etc. Since 
the latter part of the sixteenth century 
the name has been attached to the upland 
plain which stretches south of Jerusalem, 
and is crossed by the road to Bethlehem 
— the el Biik'ah of the modern Arabs. 
(This valley begins near the valley of 
Hinnom, southwest of Jerusalem, ex- 
tending toward Bethlehem. It is about 
a mile long, with hills on either side. 
This agrees with Josephus and is the 
generally-accepted location of this val- 
ley. — Ed.) Tobler, however, in his last 
investigations conclusively adopts the 
Wady Dtr Jasin, on the northwest of 
Jerusalem. The valley appears to de- 
rive its name from the ancient nation of 
the Rephaim. [Giants.] 

Rephan, the reading, in the Revised 
Version, for Remphan. Acts 7 : 43. 

Reph'idim. Ex. 17:1,8 ; 19 : 2. The 
name means rests or stays, i. e. resting- 
places. The place lies in the march of 
the Israelites from Egypt to Sinai. Its 
site is not certain, but it is perhaps Wady 
Feiran, a rather broad valley about 25 
miles from Jebel Musa (Mount Sinai). 
Others place it in Wady es Sheikh, an 
eastern continuation of Feiran, and about 
12 miles from Sinai. Here the Israelites 
561 



EES 



EEV 



fought their first battle and gained their 
first victory after leaving Egypt, the 
Amalekites having attacked them ; here 
also the people murmured from thirst, 
and Moses brought water for them out 
of the rock. From this murmuring the 
place was called " Massah" and " Meri- j 
bah." 

Ile'sen {bridle), Gen. 10 : 12, one of the ! 
cities built by Asshur, " between Nineveh J 
and Calah." Assyrian remains of some j 
considerable extent are found near the j 
modern village of Selamiyeh, and it is 
perhaps the most probable conjecture 
that these represent Resen. 

Re'sheph (flame), a son of Ephraim. 
1 Chron. 7 : 25. 

Re'u (friend), son of Peleg, in the line 
of Abraham's ancestors. Gen. 11 : 18, 19, 
20, 21 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 25. ( B.C. about 2213.) 

Reu'ben (behold, a son), Jacob's first- 
born child, Gen. 29 : 32, the son of Leah. 
(B.C. 1753.) The notices of the patriarch 
Reuben give, on the whcle, a favorable 
view of his disposition. To him and him 
alone the preservation of Joseph's lite 
appears to have been due, and afterward 
he becomes responsible for his safety. 
Gen. 37 : 18-30 ; 42 : 37. Of the repulsive 
crime which mars his history, and which 
turned the blessing of his dying father 
into a curse — his adulterous connection 
with Bilhah — we know from the Scrip- 
tures only the fact. Gen. 35 : 22. He was 
of an ardent, impetuous, unbalanced but 
not ungenerous nature ; not crafty and 
cruel, as were Simeon and Levi, but 
rather, to use the metaphor of the dying 
patriarch, boiling up like a vessel of 
water over a rapid wood fire, and as 
quickly subsiding when the fuel was 
withdrawn. At the time of the migra- 
tion into Egvpt, Reuben's sons were four. 
Gen. 46 : 9 ; * 1 Chron. 5 : 3. The census 
at Mount Sinai, Num. 1 : 20, 21 ; 2 : 11, 
shows that at the exodus the men of the 
tribe above twenty years of age and fit for 
active warlike service numbered 46,500. 
The Reubenites maintained the ancient 
calling of their forefathers. Their cattle { 
accompanied them in their flight from 
Egypt, Ex. 12 : 38. 

Territory of the tribe. — The portion of I 
the promised land selected by Reuben j 
had the special name of " the Mishor," 
with reference possibly to its evenness. 
Under its modern name of the Belka it is 
still esteemed beyond all others by the 
Arab sheep-masters. It was a fine pas 



5G2 



tween the river Arnon on the south and 
Gilead on the north. Though the Israel- 
ites all aided the Reubenites in conquer- 
ing the land, and they in return helped 
their brothers to secure their own pos- 
sessions, still there was always afterward 
a bar, a difference in feeling and habits, 
between the eastern and western tribes. 
The pile of stones which they erected on 
the west bank of the Jordan to mark 
their boundary was erected in accordance 
with the unalterable habits of Bedouin 
tribes both before and since. This act 
was completely misunderstood, and was 
construed into an attempt to set up a 
rival altar to that of the sacred tent. No 
judge, no prophet, no hero cf the tribe 
of Reuben is handed down to us. The 
Reubenites disliked war, clinging to their 
fields and pastures even when their breth- 
ren were in great distress. Being remote 
from the seat of the national government 
and of the national religion, it is not to 
be wondered at that the Reubenites re- 
linquished the faith of Jehovah. The 
last historical notice which we possess of 
them, while it records this fact, records 
also as its natural consequence that they 
and the Gadites and the half-tribe of 
Manasseh were carried off by Pul and 
Tiglath-pileser. 1 Chron. 5 : 26. 

Reu'el (friend of God), one of the 
sons of Esau, by his wife Bashcmath, sis- 
ter of Ishmael. Gen. 36:4, 10, 13, 17; 1 
Chron. 1 : 35, 37. (B.C. about 1790.) 

2. One of the names of Moses' father- 
in-law. Ex. 2 : 18. (B.C. 1530.) 

3. Father of Eliasaph, the leader of the 
tribe of Gad at the time of the census at 
Sinai. Num. 2:14. (B.C. 14£ 0.) 

4. A Benjamite, ancestor of Elah. 1 
Chron. 9 : 8. 

Reu'mah (elevated), the concubine 
of Nahor, Abraham's brother. Gen. 22 : 
24. (B.C. about 1870.) 

Revela'tion of St. John, the last 
book of the New Testament. It is often 
called the Apocalypse, which is its title 
in Greek, signifying " Revelation." 1. 
(kmonical authority and authorship. — 
The inquiry as to the canonical authority 
of the Revelation resolves itself into a 
question of authorship. Was St, John 
the apostle and evangelist the writer of 
the Revelation ? The evidence adduced 
in support of his being the author consists 
of (1) the assertions of the author, and 
(2) historical tradition. (1) The author's 
description of himself in the 1st and 22d 
chapters is certainly equivalent to an 



REZ 



RHE 



assertion that he is the apostle. He 
names himself simply John, without pre- 
fix or addition. He is also described as 
a servant of Christ, one who had borne 
testimony as an eye-witness of the word 
of God and of the testimony of Christ. 
He is in Patmos for the Avord of God and 
the testimony of Jesus Christ. He is also 
a fellow sufferer with those whom he ad- 
dresses, and the authorized channel of 
the most direct and important communi- 
cation that was ever made to the Seven 
Churches of Asia, of which churches 
John the apostle was at that time the 
spiritual governor and teacher. Lastly, 
the writer was a fellow servant of angels 
and a brother of prophets. All these 
marks are found united in the apostle 
John, and in him alone of all historical 
persons. (2) A long series of writers tes- 
tify to St. John's authorship : Justin 
Martyr (cir. 150 a. d.), Eusebius, Irenseus 
(a.d. 195), Clement of Alexandria (about 
200), Tertullian (207), Origen (233). All 
the foregoing writers, testifying that the 
book came from an apostle, believed that 
it was a part of Holy Scripture. The 
book was admitted into the list of the 
Third Council of Carthage, a.d. 397. 2. 
Time and place of writing. — The date of 
the Revelation is given by the great ma- 
jority of critics as a.d 95-97. Irenseus 
says: "It (i. e. the Revelation) was seen 
no very long time ago, but almost in our 
own generation, at the close of Domitian's 
reign." Eusebius also records that, in 
the persecution under Domitian, John 
the apostle and evangelist was banished 
to the island Patmos for his testimony of 
the divine word. There is no mention in 
any writer of the first three centuries of 
any other time or place, and the style in 
which the messages to the Seven Churches 
are delivered rather suggests the notion 
that the book was written in Patmos. 3. 
Interpretation. — Modern interpreters are 
generally placed in three great divisions: 
(a) The Historical or Continuous exposi- 
tors, in whose opinion the Revelation is 
a progressive history of the fortunes of 
the Church from the first century to the 
end of time, (b) The Praterist exposi- 
tors, who are of opinion that the Revela- 
tion has been almost or altogether fulfilled 
in the time which has passed since it was 
written; that it refers principally to the 
triumph of Christianity over Judaism 
and Paganism, signalized in the downfall 
of Jerusalem and of Rome, (c) The Fu- 
turist expositors, whose views show a 



strong reaction against some extrava- 
gances of the two preceding schools. 
They believe that the whole book, ex- 
cepting perhaps the first three chapters, 
refers principally, if not exclusively, to 
events which are yet to come. Dr. Arnold, 
in his sermons " On the Interpretation of 
Prophecy," suggests that we should bear 
in mind that predictions have a lower 
historical sense as well as a higher 
spiritual sense ; that there may be one or 
more than one typical, imperfect, histor- 
ical fulfillment of the prophecy, in each 

! of which the higher spiritual fulfillment 
is shadowed forth more or less distinctly. 

Re'zeph. (a hot stone), one of the places 
which Sennacherib mentions, in his taunt- 
ing message to Hezekiah, as having been 
destroyed by his predecessor. 2 Kings 19 : 
12 ; Isa. 37 : 12. 

Rezi'a {delight), an Asherite, of the 
sons of Ulla. 1 Chron. 7 : 39. (B.C. 1444.) 

Re'zin (firm). 1. King of Damascus. 
He attacked Jotham during the latter 
part of his reign, 2 Kings 15 : 37 ; but 
his chief war was with Ahaz, whose ter- 
ritories he invaded, in conjunction with 
Pekah, about B.C. 741. Though unsuccess- 

j ful in his siege of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 16 : 
5 ; Isa. 7 : 1, he " recovered Elath to Syr- 
ia." 2 Kings 16 : 6. Soon after this he 
was attacked, defeated and slain by Tig- 
lath-pileser II., king of Assyria. 2 Kings 
16 : 9. 

2. One of the families of the Nethi- 
nim. Ezra 2:48; Neh. 7:50. (B.C. be- 
fore 536.) 

Re'zon (prince), son of Eliadah, a 
Syrian, who when David defeated Hadad- 
ezer king of Zobah, put himself at the 
head of a band of freebooters and set up 
a petty kingdom at Damascus. 1 Kings 
11 : 23. He harassed the kingdom of Sol- 
omon during his whole reign. (B.C. 1043- 
975.) 




Castor and Pollux. 



Rhe'gium (breach), an Italian town 
situated on the Bruttian coast, just at the 
southern entrance of the Straits of Mes- 

563 



RHE 



RID 



sina. The name occurs in the account of 
St. Paul's voyage from Syracuse to Pu- 
teoli, after the shipwreck at Malta. Acts 
28 : 13. By a curious coincidence, the 
figures on its coin are the very "twin 
brothers" which gave the name to St. 
Paul's ship. It was originally a Greek 
colony ; it was miserably destroyed by 
Dionysius of Syracuse. From Augustus 
it received advantages which combined 
with its geographical position in making 
it important throughout the duration of 
the Roman empire. The modern Reggio 
is a town of 10,000 inhabitants. Its dis- 
tance across the straits from Messina is 
only about six miles. 

Rhe'sa {head), son of Zorobabel in 
the genealogy of Christ. Luke 3 : 27. It 
is conjectured that BJiesa is no person, 
but merely a title. 

Rho'da {rose), the name of a maid who 
announced Peter's arrival at the door of 
Mary's house after his miraculous release 
from prison. Acts 12 : 13. (a.d. 44.) 




Didrachta of Rhodes. 



Rhodes {rosy), a celebrated island in 
the Mediterranean Sea. (It is triangular 
in form, 60 miles long from north to south, 
and about 18 wide. It is noted now, as 
in ancient times, for its delightful climate 
and the fertility of its soil. The city of 
Rhodes, its capital, was famous for its 
huge brazen statue of Apollo, called the 
Colossus of Rhodes. It stood at the en- 
trance of the harbor, and was so large 
that ships in full sail could pass between 
its legs. — Ed.) Rhodes is immediately 
opposite the high Carian and Lycian 
headlands at the southwest extremity of 
the peninsula of Asia Minor. Its position 
has had much to do with its history. Its 
real eminence began about 400 B.C. with 
the founding of the city of Rhodes, at the 
northeast extremity of the island, which 
still continues to be the capital. After 
Alexander's death it entered on a glo- 
rious period, its material prosperity being 
largely developed, and its institutions 
deserving and obtaining general esteem. 
We have notice of the Jewish residents 
564 



in Rhodes in 1 Mace. 15 : 23. The Ro- 
mans, after the defeat of Antiochus, as- 
signed, during some time, to Rhodes 
certain districts on the mainland. Its 
Byzantine history is again eminent. Un- 
der Constantine it was the metropolis of 
the " Province of the Islands." It was 
the last place where the Christians of the 
East held out against the advancing Sara- 
cens ; and subsequently it was once more 
famous as the home and fortress of the 
Knights of St. John. (It is now reduced 
to abject poverty. There are two cities — 
Rhodes the capital and Lindus — and forty 
or fifty villages. The population, accord- 
ing to Turner, is 20,000, of whom 6000 are 
Turks and the rest Greeks, together with 
a few Jews.) 

Ri'ba-i, or Riba'i {pleader with Je- 
hovah), the father of Ittai the Benjamite, 
of Gibeah. 2 Sam. 23:29; 1 Chron. 11 : 
31. (B.C. before 1020.) 

Rib-lah {fertility), one of the land- 
marks on the eastern boundary of the 
land of Israel, as specified by Moses. Num. 
34 : 11. It seems hardly possible, without 
entirely disarranging the specification of 
the boundary, that the Riblah in ques- 
tion can be the same with the following. 

2. Riblah in the land of Hamath, a 
place on the great road between Palestine 
and Babylonia, at which the kings of 
Babylonia were accustomed to remain 
while directing the operations of their 
armies in Palestine and Phoenicia. Here 
Nebuchadnezzar waited while the sieges 
of Jerusalem and of Tyre were being con- 
ducted by his lieutenants. Jer. 39 : 5, 6 ; 
52 : 9, 10, 26, 27 ; 2 Kings 25 : 6, 20, 21. In 
like manner Pharaoh-necho, after his 
victory over the Babylonians at Carche- 
mish, returned to Riblah and summoned 
Jehoahaz from Jerusalem before him. 2 
Kings 23:33. This Riblah still retains 
its ancient name, on the right (east) bank 
of the el-Asy (Orontes), upon the great 
road which connects Baalbek and Hums, 
about 35 miles northeast of the former 
and 20 miles southwest of the latter place. 

Riddle. It is known that all ancient 
nations, and especially Orientals, were 
fond of riddles. The riddles which the 
queen of Sheba came to ask of Solomon, 
1 Kings 10 : 1 ; 2 Chron. 9 : 1, were rather 
"hard questions" referring to profound 
inquiries. Solomon is said, however, to 
have been very fond of riddles. Riddles 
were generally proposed in verse, like 
the celebrated riddle of Samson. Judges 
14 : 14-19. 



KIM 



KIV 



Rim 'mo ii (pomegranate), the name 
of several towns. 1. A city of Zebulun, 
1 Chron. 6:77; Neh. 11 : 29, a Levitical 
city, the present Rummaneh, six miles 
north of Nazareth. 

2. A town in the southern portion of 
Judah, Josh. 15 : 3, allotted to Simeon, 
Josh. 19 : 7 ; 1 Chron. 4 : 32 ; probably 13 
miles southwest of Hebron. 

3. Rimmon-parez ( pomegranate of the 
breach), the name of a march-station in 
the wilderness. Num. 33 : 19, 20. No 
place now known has been identified 
with it. 

4. Rimmon the Rock, a cliff or inac- 
cessible natural fastness, in which the 
six hundred Benjamites who escaped the 
slaughter of Gibeah took refuge. Judges 
20 : 45, 47 ; 21 : 13. In the wild country 
which lies on the east of the central 
highlands of Benjamin the name is still 
found attached to a village perched on 
the summit of a conical chalky hill, vis- 
ible in all directions, and commanding 
the whole country. 

5. A Benjamite of Beeroth, the father 
of Rechab and Baanah, the murderers 
of Ish-bosheth. 2 Sam. 4 : 2, 5, 9. 

Rim 'm on, a deity worshipped by the 
Syrians of Damascus, where there was a 
temple or house of Rimmon. 2 Kings 5 : 
18. Rimmon is perhaps the abbreviated 
form of Hadad-rimmon, Hadad being 
the sun-god of the Syrians. Combining 
this with the pomegranate, which was 
his symbol, Hadad-rimmon would then 
be the sun-god of the late summer, who 
ripens the pomegranate and other fruits. 




Egyptian Weighing Rings ibr Money. (See 
Money.) 



Ring. The ring was regarded as an 
indispensable article of a Hebrew's at- 
tire, inasmuch as it contained his signet. 
It was hence the svmbol of authority. 
Gen. 41 : 42 ; Esth. *3 : 10. Rings were 
worn not only by men, but by women. 




Eings and Signets. 



Isa. 3 :21. We may conclude from Ex. 
28 : 11 that the rings contained a stone 
engraven with a device or with the own- 
er's name. The custom appears also to 
have prevailed among the Jews of the 
apostolic age. James 2 : 2. 

Rin'nah (« shout), one of the de- 
scendants of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 20. 
(B.C. 1300.) 

Ri'phath [spoken), the second son 
of Gomer. Gen. 10 : 3. The name mSy 
be identified with the Rhipsean mount- 
ains, i. e. the Carpathian range in the 
northeast of Dacia. 

Ris'sah (a ruin), a march-station 
in the wilderness. Num. 33 : 21, 22. 

Rith'mah (heath), a march-station 
in the wilderness, Num. 33 : 18, 19, 
probably northeast of Hazeroth. 

River. In the sense in which we 
employ the word, viz. for a perennial 
1 stream of considerable size, a river is a 
much rarer object in the East than in 
the West. With the exception of the 
Jordan and the Litany, the streams of 
the holy land are either entirely dried 
up in the summer months, and con- 
verted into hot lanes of glaring stones, 
or else reduced to very small stream- 
565 



EIV 



ROL 



lets, deeply sunk in a narrow bed, and 
concealed from view by a dense growth 
of shrubs. The perennial river is called 
nahar by the Hebrews. With the defi- 
nite article, " the river," it signifies in- 
variably the Euphrates. Gen. 31 : 21 ; 
Ex. 23 : 31 ; Num. 24:6; 2 Sam. 10 : 16, 
etc. It is never applied to the fleet- 
ing fugitive torrents of Palestine. The 
term for these is nachal, for which our 
translators have used promiscuously, 
and sometimes almost alternately, " val- 
ley," " brook " and " river." No one 
of these words expresses the thing in- 
tended; but the term "brook" is pecul- 
iarly unhappy. Many of the wadys of 
Palestine are deep, abrupt chasms or 
rents in the solid rock of the hills, and 
have a savage, gloomy aspect, far re- 
moved' from that of an English brook. 
Unfortunately our language does not con- 
tain any single word which has both the 
meanings of the Hebrew nachal and its 
Arabic equivalent wady, which can be 
used at once for a dry valley and for the 
stream which occasionally flows through 
it. 

River of Egypt. 1. The Nile. Gen. 
15 : 18. [Nile.J 

2. A desert stream on the border of 
Egypt, still occasionally flowing in the 
valley called Wddi-l-'Arcesh. The cen- 
tre of the valley is occupied by the bed 
of this torrent, which only flows after 
rains, as is usual in the desert valleys. 
This stream is first mentioned as the point 
where the southern border of the prom- 
ised land touched the Mediterranean, 
which formed its western border. Num. 
34 : 3-6. In the latter history we find 
Solomon's kingdom extending from the 
"entering in of Hamath unto the river 
of Egypt," 1 Kings 8 : 65, and Egypt 
limited in the same manner where the 
loss of the eastern provinces is mentioned. 
2 Kings 24 : 7. 

Riz'pah, concubine to King Saul, and 
mother of his two sons Armoni and Me- 
phibosheth. ( B.C. 1080.) The tragic 
story of the love and endurance with 
which she watched over the bodies of her 
two sons, who were killed by the Gibeon- 
ites, 2 Sam. 21 : 8-11, has made Rizpah 
one of the most familiar objects in the 
whole Bible. 

Road. This word occurs but once in 
the Authorized Version of the Bible, viz. 
in 1 Sam. 27 : 10, where it is used in the 
sense of " raid " or " inroad." Where a 
travelled road is meant " path " or " way " 
566 



is used, since the eastern roads are more 
like our paths. 

Robbery. Robbery has ever been 
one of the principal employments of 
the nomad tribes of the East. From the 
time of Ishmael to the present day the 
Bedouin has been a " wild man," and a 
robber by trade. Gen. 16 : 12. The Mo- 
saic law on the subject of theft is con- 
tained in Ex. 22. There seems no reason 
to suppose that the law underwent any 
alteration in Solomon's time. Man-steal- 
ing was punishable with death. Ex. 21 : 
16 ; Deut. 24 : 7. Invasion of right in 
land was strictly forbidden. Deut. 27 : 17 ; 
Isa. 5:8; Micah 2 : 2. 




The Wild Roe. 

Roe, Roebuck. The Hebrew words 
thus translated denote some species of 
antelope, probably the Gazella arabica 
of Syria and Arabia. The gazelle was 
allowed as food, Deut. 12 : 15, 22, etc. ; it 
is mentioned as very fleet of foot, 2 Sam. 
2 : 18 ; 1 Chron. 12 : 8 ; it was hunted, Isa. 
13 : 14 ; Pro v. 6:5; it was celebrated for 
its loveliness. Cant, 2 : 9, 17 ; 8 : 14. 

Roge'lim (fullers), the residence of 
Barzillai the Gileadite, 2 Sam. 17:27; 
19 : 31, in the highlands east of the Jor- 
dan. 

Roh'gah (clamor), an Asherite, of the 
sons of Shamer. 1 Chron. 7 : 34. (B.C. 
about 1490.) 

Roll. A book in ancient times con- 
sisted of a single long strip of paper or 
parchment, which was usually kept rolled 
upon a stick, and was unrolled when a 
person wished to read it. The roll was 



KOM 



ROM 




Roll. 



usually written on one side only, and 
hence the particular notice of one that 
was " written within 
and without." Ezek. 2 : 
10. The writing was 
arranged in columns. 

Romam'ti - e'zer, 
one of the fourteen sons 
of Heman. 1 Chron. 25 : 
4,31. (B.C. about 1014.) 

Roman empire. 1. 
The first historic men- 
tion of Rome in the 
Bible is in 1 Mace. 1 : 
10, about the year 161 
B.C. In the year 65 B.C., 
when Syria was made 
a Roman province by 
Pompey, the Jews were 
still governed by one of 
the Asmonsean princes. 
The next year Pompey 
himself marched an 
army into Judea and 
took Jerusalem. From 
this time the Jews were 
practically under the government of 
Rome. Finally, Antipater's son, Herod 
the Great, was made king by Antony's 
interest, B.C. 40, and confirmed in the 
kingdom by Augustus, B.C. 30. The 
Jews, however, were all this time trib- 
utaries of Rome, and their princes in 
reality were Roman procurators. On the 
banishment of Archelaus, A.D. 6, Judea 
became a mere appendage of the province 
of Syria, and was governed by a Roman 
procurator, who resided at Csesarea. 
Such were the relations of the Jewish 
people to the Roman government at the 
time when the New Testament history 
begins. 

2. Extent of the empire. — Cicero's de- 
scription of the Greek states and colonies 
as a " fringe on the skirts of barbarism " 
has been well applied to the Roman do- 
minions before the conquests of Pompey 
and Caesar. The Roman empire was still 
confined to a narrow strip encircling the 
Mediterranean Sea. Pompey added Asia 
Minor and Syria. Coesar added Gaul. 
The generals of Augustus overran the 
northwest portion of Spain and the coun- 
try between the Alps and the Danube. 
The boundaries of the empire were now 
the Atlantic on the west, the Euphrates 
on the east, the deserts of Africa, the 
cataracts of the Nile and the Arabian 
deserts on the south, the British Channel, 
the Rhine, the Danube and the Black 



Sea on the north. The only subsequent 
I conquests of importance were those of 
Britain by Claudius and of Dacia by 
Trajan. The only independent powers 
of importance were the Parthians on 
the east and the Germans on the north. 
The population of the empire in the 
time of Augustus has been calculated at 
85,000,000. 

3. The provinces. — The usual fate of a 
country conquered by Rome was to be- 
come a subject province, governed direct- 
ly from Rome by ofiicers sent out for that 
purpose. Sometimes, however, petty sov- 
ereigns were left in possession of a nom- 
inal independence on the borders or 
within the natural limits of the province. 

j Augustus divided the provinces into two 
classes — (1) Imperial; (2) Senatorial; 
retaining in his own hands, for obvious 
reasons, those provinces where the pres- 
ence of a large military force was neces- 
sary, and committing the peaceful and 
unarmed provinces to the senate. The 
New Testament writers invariably desig- 
nate the governors of senatorial provinces 
by the correct title avQxmaToi, proconsuls. 
Acts 13:7; 18:12; 19:38. For the gov- 
ernor of an imperial province, properly 
styled " legatus Csesaris," the word yjye^div 
(governor) is used in the New Testament. 
The provinces were heavily taxed for the 
benefit of Rome and her citizens. They 
are said to have been better governed 
under th'3 empire than under the com- 
monwealth, and those of the emperor 
better than those of the senate. 

4. The condition of the Roman empire 
at the time when Christianity appeared 
has often been dwelt upon as affording 
obvious illustrations of St. Paul's ex- 
pression that the " fullness of time had 
come." Gal. 4 : 4. The general peace 
within the limits of the empire, the for- 
mation of military roads, the suppression 
of piracy, the march of the legions, the 
voyages of the corn fleets, the general in- 
crease of traffic, the spread of the Latin 
language in the West as Greek had al- 
ready spread in the East, the external 
unity of the empire, offered facilities 
hitherto unknown for the spread of a 
world-wide religion. The tendency, too, 
of a despotism like that of the Roman em- 
pire to reduce all its subjects to a dead 
level was a powerful instrument in break- 
ing down the pride of privileged races 
and national religions, and familiarizing 
men with the truth that " God had made 
of one blood all nations on the face of the 

567 



ROM 



ROM 



earth." Acts 17 : 24, 26. But still more 
striking than this outward preparation for 
the difiusion of the gospel was the appear- 
ance of a deep and wide-spread corruption, 
which seemed to defy any human remedy. 

Romans, Epistle to the. 1. The 
date of this epistle is fixed at the time of 
the visit recorded in Acts 20 : 3, during 
the winter and spring following the apos- 
tle's long residence at Ephesus, a.d. 58. 
On this visit he remained in Greece three 
months. 2. The place of writing was 
Corinth. 3. The occasion which prompt- 
ed it, and the circumstances attending 
its writing, were as follows : — St. Paul 
had long purposed visiting Rome, and 
still retained this purpose, wishing also 
to extend his journey to Spain. Rom. 1 : 
9-13 ; 15 : 22-29. For the time, however, 
he was prevented from carrying out his 
design, as he was b >und for Jerusalem 
with the alms of the Gentile Christians, 
and meanwhile he addressed this letter 
to the Romans, to supply the lack of his 
personal teaching. Phoebe, a deaconess 
of the neighboring church of Cenchrese, 
was on the point of starting for Rome, 
ch. 10 : 1, 2, and probably conveyed the 
letter. The body of the epistle was writ- 
ten at the apostle's dictation by Tertius, 
ch. 16 : 22 ; but perhaps we may infer, 
from the abruptness of the final dox- 
ology, that it was added by the apostle 
himself. 4. The origin of the Roman 
church is involved in obscurity. If it 
had been founded by St. Peter, accord- 
ing to a later tradition, the absence of 
any allusion to him both in this epistle 
and in the letters written by St. Paul 
from Rome would admit of no explana- 
tion. It is equally clear that no other 
apostle was the founder. The statement 
in the Clementines that the first tidings 
of the gospel reached Rome during the 
lifetime of our Lord is evidently a fiction 
for the purposes of the romance. On the 
other hand, it is clear that the founda- 
tion of this church dates very far back. 
It may be that some of these Romans, 
"both" Jews and proselytes," present on 
the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 : 10, carried 
back the earliest tidings of the new doc- 
trine ; or the gospel may have first 
reached the imperial city through those 
who were scattered abroad to escape the 
persecution which followed on the death 
of Stephen. Acts 8:4; 11 : 19. At first 
we may suppose that the gospel was 
preached there in a confused and im- 
perfect form, scarcely more than a phase 
568 



of Judaism, as in the case of Apollos at 
Corinth, Acts 18 : 25, or the disciples at 
Ephesus. Acts 19: 1-3. As time advanced 
and better-instructed teachers arrived, the 
clouds would gradually clear away, till 
at length the presence of the great apostle 
himself at Rome dispersed the mists of 
Judaism which still hung about the Ro- 
man church. 5. A question next arises 
as to the composition of the Roman 
church at the time when St. Paul wrote. 
It is more probable that St. Paul ad- 
dressed a mixed church of Jews and 
Gentiles, the latter perhaps being the 
more numerous. These Gentile converts, 
however, were not for the most part na- 
tive Romans. Strange as the paradox 
appears, nothing is more certain than 
that the church of Rome was at this 
time a Greek and not a Latin church. 
All the literature of the early Roman 
church was written in the Greek tongue. 
6. The heterogeneous composition of this 
church explains the general character of 
the Epistle to the Romans. In an assem- 
blage so various Ave should expect to 
find, not the exclusive predominance of 
a single form of error, but the coinci- 
dence of different and opposing forms. 
It was therefore the business of the 
Christian teacher to reconcile the oppos- 
ing difficulties and to hold out a meet- 
ing-point in the gospel. This is exactly 
what St. Paul does in the Epistle to the 
Romans. 7. In describing the purport 
of this epistle we may start from St. 
Paul's own words, Avhich, standing at the 
beginning of the doctrinal portion, may 
be taken as giving a summary of the con- 
tents, ch. 1 : 16, 17. Accordingly the 
epistle has been described as comprising 
" the religious philosophy of the world's 
history." The atonement of Christ is 
the centre of religious history. The epis- 
tle, from its general character, lends 
itself more readily to an analysis than 
is often the case Avith St. Paul's epistles. 
While this epistle contains the fullest 
and most systematic exposition of the 
apostle's teaching, it is at the same time 
a very striking expression of his charac- 
ter. ISToAvhere do his earnest and affec- 
tionate nature and his tact and delicacy 
in handling unAvelcome topics appear 
more strongly than when he is dealing 
with the rejection of his fellow country- 
men the JeAva 8. Internal evidence is 
so strongly in favor of the genuineness 
of the Epistle to the Romans that it has 
never been seriously questioned. 



EOM 



EOM 



Rome, the famous capital of the an- 
cient world, is situated on the Tiber at a 
distance of about 15 miles from its mouth. 
The " seven hills," Rev. 17 : 9, which 
formed the nucleus of the ancient city 
stand on the left bank. On the opposite 
side of the river rises the far higher side 
of the Janiculum. Here from very early 
times was a fortress with a suburb be- 
neath it extending to the river. Modern 
Rome lies to the north of the ancient 



city, covering with its principal portion 
the plain to the north of the seven hills, 
once known as the Campus Martius, and 
on the opposite bank extending over the 
low ground beneath the Vatican to the 
north of the ancient Janiculum. Rome 
is not mentioned in the Bible except in 
the books of Maccabees and in three 
books of the New Testament, viz., the 
Acts, the Epistle to the Romans and the 
Second Epistle to Timothy. 




Ruins of Forum at Rome. 



1. Jewish inhabitants. — The conquests 
of Pompey seem to have given rise to 
the first settlement of Jews at Rome. 
The Jewish king Aristobulus and his 
son formed part of Pompey 's triumph, 
and many Jewish captives and immi- 
grants were brought to Rome at that 
time. A special district was assigned to 
them, not on the site of the modern 
Ghetto, bet wee ti the Capitol and the 
island of the Tiber, but across the Tiber. 
Many of these Jews were made freedmen. 
Julius Ca?sar showed them some kind- 
ness ; they wen; favored also by Augus- 
tus, and by Tiberius during the latter 
part of his reign. It is chiefly in con- 
nection with St. Paul's history that 



Rome comes before us in the Bible. In 
illustration of that history it may be 
useful to give some account of Rome in 
the time of Nero, the " Csesar " to whom 
St. Paul appealed, and in whose reign 
he suffered martyrdom. 

2. The city in Paul's time. — The city 
at that time must be imagined as a large 
and irregular mass of buildings unpro- 
tected by an outer wall. It had long 
outgrown the old Servian wall ; but the 
limits of the suburbs cannot be exactly 
defined. Neither the nature of the 
buildings nor the configuration of the 
ground was such as to give a striking 
appearance to the city viewed from with- 
out. " Ancient Rome had neither cupola 
569 



EOM 



EOM 



nor campanile," and the hills, never 
lofty or imposing, would present, when 
covered with the buildings and streets of 
a huge city, a confused appearance like 
the hills of modern London, to which 
they have sometimes been compared. 
The visit of St. Paul lies between two 
famous epochs in the history of the city, 
viz., its restoration by Augustus and its 
restoration by Nero. The boast of Au- 
gustus is well known, "that he found 
the city of brick, and left it of marble." 
Some parts of the city, especially the 
Forum and Campus Martius, must have 
presented a magnificent appearance, of 
which Niebuhr's "Lectures on Roman 
History," ii. 177, will give a general idea ; 
but many of the principal buildings 
which attract the attention of modern 
travellers in ancient Rome were not yet 
built. The streets were generally nar- 
row and winding, flanked by densely- 
crowded lodging-houses {insula}) of enor- 
mous height. Augustus found it neces- 
sary to limit their height to 70 feet. St. 
Paul's first visit to Rome took place 
before the Neronian conflagration; but 
even after the restoration of the city 
which followed upon that event, many 
of the old evils continued. The popu- 
lation of the city has been variously 
estimated. Probably Gibbon's estimate 
of 1,200,000 is nearest to the truth. One 
half of the population consisted, in all 
probability, of slaves. The larger part 
of the remainder consisted of pauper 
citizens supported in idleness by the 
miserable system of public gratuities. 
There appears to have been no middle 
class, and no free industrial population. 
Side by side with the wretched classes 
just mentioned was the comparatively 
small body of the wealthy nobility, of 
whose luxury and profligacy we learn so 
much from the heathen writers of the 
time. Such was the population which 
St. Paul would find at Rome at the 
time of his visit. We learn from the 
Acts of the Apostles that he was de- 
tained at Rome for "two whole years," 
" dwelling in his own hired house with a 
soldier that kept him," Acts 28 : 16, 30, 
to whom apparently, according to Roman 
custom, he was bound with a chain, Acts 
28 : 20 ; Eph. G : 20 ; Philip. 1:13. Here 
he preached to all that came to him, no 
man forbidding him. Acts 28 : 30, 31. It 
is generally believed that on his "appeal 
to Caesar" he was acquitted, and after 
some time spent in freedom, was a second 
570 



time imprisoned at Rome. Five of his 
epistles, viz., those to the Colossians, 
Ephesians, Philippians, that to Phile- 
mon, and the Second Epistle to Timothy, 
were in all probability written from 
Rome, the latter shortly before his death, 
2 Tim. 4 : 6, the others during his first 
imprisonment. It is universally believed 
that he suffered martyrdom at Rome. 

3. The localities in and about Rome es- 
pecially connected with the life of Paul 
are — (1) The Appian Way, by which he 
approached Rome. Acts 28 : 15. [Appii 
Forum.] (2) " The palace," or " Cae- 
sar's court" (praetorium, Philip. 1:13). 
This may mean either the great camp of 
the Praetorian guards whicii Tiberius es- 
tablished outside the walls on the north- 
east of the city, or, as seems more prob- 
able, a barrack attached to the imperial 
residence on the Palatine. There is no 
sufficient proof that the word " praeto- 
rium " was ever used to designate the 
emperor's palace, though it is used for 
the official residence of a Roman gov- 
ernor. John 18 : 28 ; Acts 23 : 35. The 
mention of "Caesar's household," Philip. 
4 : 22, confirms the notion that St. Paul's 
residence was in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of the emperor's house on the Pala- 
tine. (3) The connection of other local- 
ities at Rome with St. Paul's name rests 
only on traditions of more or less prob- 
ability. We may mention especially — 
(4) The Mamertine prison, or Tullianum, 
built by Ancus Martius near the Forum. 
It still exists beneath the church of St. 
Giuseppe dei Falegnami. It is said that 
St. Peter and St. Paul were fellow prison- 
ers here for nine months. This is not the 
place to discuss the question whether St. 
Peter was ever at Rome. It may be suf- 
ficient to state that though there is no 
evidence of such a visit in the New Tes- 
tament, unless Babylon in 1 Pet. 5 : 13 is 
a mystical name for Rome, yet early tes- 
timony and the universal belief of the 
early Church seem sufficient to establish 
the fact of his having suffered martyr- 
dom there. TPeter.] The story, how- 
ever, of the imprisonment in the Mamer- 
tine prison seems inconsistent with 2 
Tim. 4:11. (5) The chapel on the Ostian 
road which marks the spot where the two 
apostles are said to have separated on 
their way to martyrdom. (6) The sup- 
posed scene of St. Paul's martyrdom, viz., 
the church of St. Paolo alle tre fontane on 
the Ostian road. To these may be add- 
ed— (7) The supposed scene of St. Peter's 



KOO 



RUM 



martyrdom, viz., the church of St. Pietro 
in Montorio, on the Janiculum. (8) The 
chapel Domine quo Vadis, on the Appian 
road, the scene of the beautiful legend 
of our Lord's appearance to St. Peter as 
he was escaping from martyrdom. (9) 
The places where the bodies of the two 
apostles, after having been deposited tirst 
in the catacombs, are supposed to have 
been finally buried — that of St. Paul by 
the Ostian road, that of St. Peter beneath 
the dome of the famous Basilica which 
bears his name. We may add, as sites 
unquestionably connected with the Ro- 
man Christians of the apostolic age — (10) 
The gardens of Nero in the Vatican, not 
far from the spot where St. Peter's now 
stands. Here Christians, wrapped in the 
skins of beasts, were torn to pieces by 
dogs, or, clothed in inflammable robes, 
were burnt to serve as torches during the 
midnight games. Others were crucified. 
(11) The Catacombs. These subterranean 
galleries, commonly from 8 to 10 feet in 
height and from 4 to 6 in width, and ex- 
tending for miles, especially in the neigh- 
borhood of the old Appian and Nora en- 
tan Ways, were unquestionably used as 
places of refuge, of worship and of bur- 
ial by the early Christians. The earliest 
dated inscription in the catacombs is 
A.D. 71. Nothing is known of the first 
founder of the Christian Church at Rome. 
Christianity may, perhaps, have been in- . 
troducecl into the city not long after the j 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day j 
of Pentecost by the " strangers of Rome," j 
who were then at Jerusalem. Acts 2 : 10. 
It is clear that there were many Chris- 
tians at Rome before St. Paul visited the 
city. Rom. 1 : 8, 13, 15 ,; 15 : 20. The 
names of twenty-four Christians at Rome 
are given in the salutations at the end of j 
the Epistle to the Romans. Linus, who 
is mentioned 2 Tim. 4 : 21, and Clement, 
Philip. 4 : 3, are supposed to have succeed- 
ed St. Peter as bishops of Rome. 
Roof. [House.] 

Room. The references to " room " in 
Matt. 23 : 6; Mark 12 : 39; Luke 14 : 7, 
8 ; 20 : 46, signify the highest place on the 
highest couch round the dinner or sup- 
per table — the " uppermost seat," as it is 
more accurately rendered in Luke 11 : 43. 

Rose occurs twice only, viz. in Cant. 
2:1; Isa. 35 : 1. There is much differ- 
ence of opinion as to what particular 
flower is here denoted ; but it appears to 
us most probable that the narcissus is in- 
tended. Chateaubriand mentions the nar- 
572 



cissus as growing in the plain of Sharon. 
Roses are greatly prized in the East, more 
especially for the sake of the rose-water, 
which is in much request. Dr. Hooker 
observed seven species of wild roses in 
Syria. 

Rosh (head). In the genealogy of 
I Gen. 46 : 21, Rosh is reckoned among the 
sons of Benjamin. 

Rosh, Ezek. 38 : 2, 3 ; 39: 1, probably 
a proper name, referring to the first of 
the three great Scythian tribes of which 
Magog was the head. 

Rosin. Properly " naphtha," as it is 
both in the LXX. and the Vulgate, as 
well as in the Peshito-Syriac. Pliny men- 
tions naphtha as a product of Babylonia, 
similar in appearance to liquid bitumen, 
and having a remarkable affinity to fire. 

Rubies. Concerning the meaning of 
the Hebrew words translated "rubies" 
there is much difference of opinion. Job 
28 : 18 ; see also Prov. 3 : 15 ; 8:11; 31 : 
10. Some suppose " coral " to be in- 
tended; others "pearl," supposing that 
the original word signifies merely " bright 
in color," or " color of a reddish tinge." 
(The real ruby is a red sapphire, next in 
value to the diamond. The finest rubies 
are brought chiefly from Ceylon and Bur- 
mah.) 

Rue occurs only in Luke 11 : 42. The 
rue here spoken of is doubtless the com- 
mon Ruta graveolens, a shrubby plant 
about two feet high, of strong medicinal 
virtues. It is a native of the Mediter- 
ranean coasts, and has been found by 
Hasselquist on Mount Tabor. The Tal- 
mud enumerates rue amongst kitchen- 
herbs, and regards it as free of tithe, as 
being a plant not cultivated in gardens. 
In our Lord's time, however, rue was 
doubtless a garden plant, and therefore 
tithable. 

Ru'fus (red) is mentioned in Mark 15 : 
21 as a son of Simon the Cyrenian. Luke 
23 :26. (A.D. 29.) Again, in Rom. 16 : 
13, the apostle Paul salutes a Rufus whom 
he designates as " elect in the Lord." This 
Rufus was probably identical with the 
one to whom Mark refers. 

Ru'hamah, or Ruha'mah (having 
obtained mercy). Hos. 2 : 1. The name, 
if name it be, is symbolical, and is ad- 
dressed to the daughters of the people, to 
denote that they were still the objects of 
love and tender compassion. 

Ru'mah (high), mentioned once only 
—2 Kings 23 : 36. It has been conjectured 
to be the same place as Arumah, Judges 



EUS 



EYE 



9:41, which was apparently near She- 
chem. It is more probable that it is iden- 
tical with Dumah. Josh. 15 : 52. 
Rush. |R EED -] 




Rue. 

Ruth (a female friend), a Moabitish 
woman, the wife, first of Mahlon, second- 
ly of Boaz, the ancestress of David and 
of Christ, and one of the four women who 
are named by St. Matthew in the geneal- 
ogy of Christ. A severe famine in the 
land of Judah induced Elimelech, a na- 
tive of Bethlehem-ephratah, to emigrate 
into the land of Moab, with his wife Na- 
omi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chil- 
ion. This was probably about the time 
of Gideon, B.C. 1250. At the end of ten 
years Naomi, now left a widow and child- 
less, having heard that there was plenty 



again in Judah, resolved to return to 
Bethlehem, and her daughter-in-law 
Ruth returned with her. They arrived 
at Bethlehem just at the beginning of 
barley harvest, and Ruth, going out to 
glean, chanced to go into the field of 
Boaz, a wealthy man and a near kins- 
man of her father-in-law, Elimelech. 
Upon learning who the stranger was, 
Boaz treated her with the utmost kind- 
ness and respect, and sent her home laden 
with corn which she had gleaned. En- 
couraged by this incident, Naomi in- 
structed Ruth to claim at the hand of 
Boaz that he should perform the part of 
her husband's near kinsman, by pur- 
chasing the inheritance of Elimelech 
and taking her to be his wife. With all 
due solemnity, Boaz took Ruth to be his 
wife, amidst the blessings and congratu- 
lations of their neighbors. Their son, 
Obed, was the father of Jesse, who was 
the father of David. 

Ruth, Book of, contains the history 
of Ruth, as narrated in the preceding 
article. The main object of the writer is 
evidently to give an account of David's 
ancestors ; and the book was avowedly 
composed long after the time of the her- 
oine. See Ruth 1:1; 4 : 7, 17. Its date 
and author are quite uncertain. Tradi- 
tion is in favor of Samuel. It is prob- 
able that the books of Judges, Ruth, 
Samuel and Kings originally formed but 
one work. The book of Ruth clearly 
forms part of the books of Samuel, sup- 
plying as it does the essential point of 
David's genealogy and early family his- 
tory, and is no less clearly connected 
with the book of Judges by its opening 
verse and the epoch to which the whole 
book relates. 

Rye (Heb. cussemef.h) occurs in Ex. 
9 : 32 ; Isa. 28 : 25 ; in the latter the mar- 
gin reads ''spelt," In Ezek. 4 : 9 the 
text has " fitches" and the margin " rie." 
It is probable that by cussemeth " spelt" 
is intended. Spelt {Triticum spelta) is 
grown in some parts of the south of Ger- 
many ; it differs but slightly from our 
common wheat (T. vulgare). 

573 



SAB 



SAB 



S. 



Sabachtha'ni, or Sabach'thani 

{why hast thou forsaken me ?), a part of 
Christ's fourth cry on the cross. Matt. 
27 : 46 ; Mark 15 : 34.. This, with the 
other words uttered with it, as given in 
Mark, is Aramaic (Syro-Chaldaic), the 
common dialect of the people of Palestine 
in Christ's time, and the whole is a trans- 
lation of the Hebrew (given in Matthew) 
of the first words of the 22d Psalm. — Ed. 

Sab'aoth, The Lord of, occurs in 
Pom. 9:29; James 5:4, but is more 
familiar through its occurrence in the 
Sanctus of Te L>eum — " Holy, holy, holy, 
Lord God of Sabaoth." Sabaoth is the 
Greek form of the Hebrew word tsebdoth, 
" armies," and is translated in the Au- 
thorized Version of the Old Testament 
by " Lord of hosts," " Lord God of hosts." 
In the mouth and the mind of an ancient 
Hebrew, JeJiovah-tsebdoth was the leader 
and commander of the armies of the na- 
tion, who " went forth with them," Ps. 
44 : 9, and led them to certain victory 
over the worshippers of Baal, Chcmosh, 
Molech, Ashtaroth and othei- false gods. 

Sabbath (shabbdth, "a day of rest," 
from shdbath, " to cease to do," " to rest "). 
The name is applied to divers great fes- 
tivals, but principally and usually to the 
seventh day of the week, the strict ob- 
servance of which is enforced not merely 
in the general Mosaic code, but in the 
Decalogue itself. The consecration of 
the Sabbath was coeval with the crea- 
tion. The first scriptural notice of it, 
though it is not mentioned by name, is to 
be found in Gen. 2 : 3, at the close of the 
record of the six-days creation. There 
are not wanting indirect evidences of its 
observance, as the intervals between 
Noah's sending forth the birds out of the 
ark, an act naturally associated with the 
weekly service, Gen. 8 : 7-12, and in the 
week of a wedding celebration, Gen. 29 : 
27, 28 ; but when a special occasion arises, 
in connection with the prohibition against 
gathering manna on the Sabbath, the in- 
stitution is mentioned as one alreadv 
known. Ex. 16 : 22-30. 1 And that this 



1 All this is confirmed by the great antiquity 
of the division of time into weeks, and the 
naming the days after the sun, moon and 
planets. 

574 



j was especially one of the institutions 
j adopted by Moses from the ancient pa- 
I triarchal usage is implied in the very 
i words of the law, " Remember the Sab- 
i bath day, to keep it holy." But even if 
such evidence were wanting, the reason 
I of the institution would be a sufficient 
i proof. It was to be a joyful celebration 
| of God's completion of his creation. It 
I has indeed been said that Moses gives 
quite a diiFerent reason for the institution 
of the Sabbath, as a memorial of the de- 
liverance from Egyptian bondage. Deut. 
5 : 15. The words added in Deuteronomy 
are a special mot ive for the joy with which 
| the Sabbath should be celebrated, and for 
[ the kindness which extended its blessings 
, to the slave and the beast of burden as 
j well as to the master : " that thy man- 
servant and thy maidservant may rest 
as well as thou." Deut. 5 : 14. These at- 
| tempts to limit the ordinance proceed 
from an entire misconception of its spirit, 
as if it were a season of stern privation 
rather than of special privilege. Put, in 
; truth, the prohibition of work is only 
subsidiary to the positive idea of joyful 
j rest and recreation, in communion with 
j Jehovah, who himself " rested and was 
I refreshed." Ex. 31 : 17 ; comp. 23 : 12. It 
is in Ex. 16 : 23-29 that we find the first 
j incontrovertible institution of the day, as 
| one given to and to be kept by the chil- 
I dren of Israel. Shortly afterward it was 
j re-enacted in the Fourth Commandment, 
j This beneficent character of the Fourth 
Commandment is very apparent in the 
version of it which we find in Deuteron- 
omy. Deut. 5 : 12-15. The law and the 
Sabbath are placed upon the same ground, 
and to give rights to classes that would 
otherwise have been without such — to 
the bondman and bondmaid, nay, to the 
beast of the field — is viewed here as their 
main end. " The stranger," too, is com- 
prehended in the benefit. But the orig- 
inal proclamation of it in Exodus places 
it on a ground which, closely connected 
no doubt with these others, is yet higher 
and more comprehensive. The divine 
method of working and rest is there pro- 
posed to man as the model after which 
he is to work and to rest. Time then 
presents a perfect whole. It is most im- 



SAB 



SAB 



portant to remember that the Fourth 
Commandment is not limited to a mere 
enactment respecting one day, but pre- 
scribes the due distribution of a week, 
and enforces the six days' work as much 
as the seventh day's rest. This higher 
ground of observance was felt to invest 
the Sabbath w ith a theological character, 
and rendered it the great witness for faith 
in a personal and creating God. It was 
to be a sacred pause in the ordinary labor 
by which man earns his bread ; the curse 
of the fall was to be suspended for one 
day; and, having spent that day in joy- 
ful remembrance of God's mercies, man 
had a fresh start in his course of labor. 
A great snare, too, has always been hid- 
den in the word work, as if the command- 
ment forbade occupation and imposed 
idleness. The terms in the command- 
ment show plainly enough the sort of 
work which is contemplated — servile 
work and business. The Pentateuch pre- 
sents us with but three applications of 
the general principle — Ex. 16 : 29 ; 35 : 3 ; 
Num. 15 : 32-3(5. The reference of Isaiah 
to the Sabbath gives us no details. The 
references in Jeremiah and Nehemiah 
show that carrying goods for sale, and 
buying such, were equally profanations 
of the day. A consideration of the spirit 
of the law and of Christ's comments on 
it will show that it is work for worldly 
gain that was to be suspended ; and hence 
the restrictive clause is prefaced with the 
positive command, "Six days shalt thou 
labor, and do all thy work ;" for so only 
could the sabbatic rest be fairly earned. 
Hence, too, the stress constantly laid on 
permitting the servant and beast of bur- 
den to share the rest which selfishness 
would grudge to them. Thus the spirit 
of the Sabbath was joy, refreshment and 
mercy, arisi n_i from remembrance of God's 
goodness as the Creator and as the De- 
liverer from bondage. The Sabbath was 
a perpetual sign ami covenant, and the 
holiness of the day is connected with the 
holiness of the people; "that ye may 
know that I am Jehovah that doth sanc- 
tify you." Ex. 31 : 12-17 ; Ezek. 20 : 12. 
Joy was the key-note of their service. 
Nehemiah commanded the people, on a 
day holy to Jehovah, "Mourn not, nor 
weep: eat the fat, and drink the sweet, 
and send portions to them for whom 
nothing is prepared." Neh. 8 : 9-13. 
The Sabbath is named as a day of special 
worship in the sanctuary. Lev. 19:30; 
26 : 2. It was proclaimed as a holy con- 



vocation. Lev. 23 : 3. In later times the 
worship of the sanctuary was enlivened 
by sacred music. Ps. 68 : 25-27 ; 150, etc. 
On this day the people were accustomed 
to consult their prophets, 2 Kings 4 : 23, 
and to give to their children that in- 
struction in the truths recalled to mem- 
ory by the day which is so repeatedly 
enjoined as the duty of parents; it was 
"the Sabbath of Jehovah" not only in 
the sanctuary, but " in all their dwell- 
ings." Lev. 23 : 3. 

When we come to the New Testament 
we find the most marked stress laid on 
the Sabbath. In whatever ways the Jew 
might err respecting it, he had altogether 
ceased to neglect it. On the contrary, 
wherever he went its observance became 
the most visible badge of his nationality. 
Our Lord's mode of observing the Sab- 
bath was one of the main features of his 
life, which his Pharisaic adversaries most 
eagerly watched and criticised. They 
had invented many prohibitions respect- 
ing the Sabbath of which we find nothing 
in the original institution. Some of these 
prohibitions were fantastic and arbitrary, 
in the number of those " heavy burdens 
and grievous to be borne " which the lat- 
ter expounders of the law " laid on men's 
shoulders." Comp. Matt. 12 : 1-13 ; John 
5 : 10. That this perversion of the Sab- 
bath had become very general in our 
Saviour's time is apparent both from the 
recorded objections to acts of his on that 
day and from his marked conduct on oc- 
casions to which those objections were 
sure to be urged. Matt. 12 : 1-15 ; Mark 
3:2; Luke 6:1-5; 13:10-17; John 5: 
2-18 ; 7 : 23 ; 9 : 1-34. Christ's words do 
not remit the duty of keeping the Sab- 
bath, but only deliver it from the false 
methods of keeping which prevented it 
from bestowing upon men the spiritual 
blessings it was ordained to confer. The 
almost total silence of the epistles in re- 
lation to keeping the Sabbath doubtless 
grew out of the fact that the early Chris- 
tians kept the Sabbath, and that this 
period was one of change from the seventh 
to the first day of the week, and any def- 
inite rules would have been sure to be 
misunderstood. For many years both 
the first and the seventh days of the week 
were kept as Sabbaths; and gradually 
the first day of the week, the Lord's day, 
took the place among Christians of the 
seventh day, and they had the fullest 
warrant for the change'. [Lord's day.] 

(The Fourth Commandment of the 
575 



SAB 



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Decalogue is just as binding now as it 
ever was, or as any other of the Ten 
Commandments. Those who argue that 
God has abolished this Sabbath, but has 
written the Sabbath law in our very 
natures, must have strange ideas of the 
wisdom of a God who abolishes a com- 
mand he has made it necessary to keep. 
Christians in keeping the Lord's day keep 
the Fourth Commandment, as really as 
do those who keep what is called the 
seventh day. They keep every seventh 
day, only the counting starts from a dif- 
ferent point. As to the method of keep- 
ing the Sabbath no rules are laid down ; 
but no one can go far astray who holds 
to the principles laid down: — (1) Rest. 
Nothing is to be done in daily business, 
and no recreation taken which destroys 
the rest of others or takes from any the 
privileges of the Sabbath. (2) Spiritual 
nurture. One day in seven is to be set 
apart for the culture of the spiritual na- 
ture. These two principles of Sabbath- 
keeping will always go together. Only 
a religious Sabbath, which belongs to 
God, can be retained among men as a 
day of rest. If men can sport on the 
Sabbath, they will soon be made to work. 
The only barrier that can keep the world 
out of the Sabbath, that can preserve it 
to the working people as a day of rest, is 
God's command to keep it sacred to him. 
When Sunday becomes a day of pleasure, 
it ceases to be a day of rest. So import- 
ant is the Sabbath to man that no people 
can have the highest religious lite, the 
truest freedom, the greatest prosperity, 
unless they be a Sabbath-keeping people, 
whose Sabbath is one of rest and of re- 
ligion — (a) Because man needs the rest 
for his whole system. More is accom- 
plisbed in six days than can be in seven 
days of work, (b) Because man needs it 
to "care for his spiritual nature, for re- 
ligion, and preparing for immortal life. 
(c) Because man needs it as a day for j 
moral training and instruction; a day for | 
teaching men about their duties, for look- | 
ing at life from a moral standpoint. (d)\ 
It is of great value as a means of im- j 
proving the mind. The study of the j 
highest themes, the social discussion of 
them in the Sabbath-school, the instruc- ; 
tion from the pulpit, the expression of j 
religious truth in the prayer-meeting, ! 
give an ordinary person more mental 
training in the course of his life than all j 
his school-days give, (e) So long as the 
best welfare of the individual and of the 
576 



nation depends chiefly on their mental 
and moral state, so long will the Sab- 
bath be one of God's choicest blessings 
to man, and the command contained 
within it a heavenly privilege and bless- 
ing.— Ed.) 

Sabbath-day's journey. Acts 1 : 
12. The law as regards travel on the 
Sabbath is found in Ex. 16 : 29. As some 
departure from a man's own place was 
unavoidable, it was thought necessary to 
determine the allowable amount, which 
was fixed at 2000 paces, or about six fur- 
longs, from the wall of the city. The 
permitted distance seems to have been 
grounded on the space to be kept between 
the ark and the people, Josh. 3 : 4, in the 
wilderness, which tradition said was that 
between the ark and the tents. We find 
the same distance given as the circumfer- 
ence outside the walls of the Levitical 
cities to be counted as their suburbs. 
Num. 35 : 5. The terminus d quo was 
thus not a man's own house, but the wall 
of the city where he dwelt. 

Sabbatical year. Each seventh 
year, by the Mosaic code, was to be kept 
holy. Ex. 23 : 10, 11. The commandment 
is to sow and reap for six years, and to 
let the land rest on the seventh, " that 
the poor of thy people may eat; and 
what they leave the beasts of the field 
shall eat." It is added in Deut. 15 that 
the seventh year should also be one of re- 
lease to debtors. Deut. 15 : 1-11. Neither 
tillage nor cultivation of any sort was to 
be practiced. The sabbatical year opened 
in the sabbatical month, and the whole 
law was to be read every such year, 
during the Feast of Tabernacles, to the 
assembled people. At the completion of 
a week of sabbatical years, the sabbatical 
scale received its completion in the year 
of jubilee. [Jubilee.] The constant neg- 
lect of this law from the very first was 
one of the national sins that were pun- 
ished by the Babylonian captivity. Of the 
observance of the sabbatical year after the 
captivity we have a proof in 1 Mace. 6 : 49. 

Sabe'ans. [Sheba.] 

Sab'tah (striking), Gen. 10 : 7, or 
Sab'ta, 1 Chron. 1 : 9, the third in order 
of the sons of Cush. (B.C. 2218.) 

Sab'techa,or Sab'techah (striking), 
Gsn. 10 : 7 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 9, the fifth in or- 
der of the sons of Cush. (B.C. 2218.) 

Sa'car (wages). 1. A Hararite, father 
of Ahiam. 1 Chron. 11 : 35. 

2. The fourth son of Obed-edom. 1 
Chron. 26 : 4. 



SAC 



SAC 



Sackbut, Dan. 3 : 5, 7, 10, 15, the 
rendering in the Authorized Version of 
the Chaldee sabbeca. If this musical in- 
strument be the same as the Greek and 
Latin sambucu, the English translation is 
entirely wrong. The sackbut was a wind- 
instrument [see Mrsic] ; the sambuca 
was a triangular instrument, with strings, 
and played with the hand. 




Sitting in Sackcloth. 

Sackcloth, cloth used in making 
sacks or bags, a coarse fabric, of a dark 
color, made of goat's-hair, Isa. 50:3; 
Rev. 6:12, and resembling the eilicium 
of the Romans. It was used also for 
making the rough garments used by 
mourners, which were in extreme cases 
worn next the skin. 1 Kings 21:27; 2 
Kings G : 30; Job ltj : 15 ; Isa. 32 : 11. 

Sacrifice. The peculiar features of 
each kind of sacrifice are referred to under 
their respective heada 

I. (A) Origin of Sacrifice— The 
universal prevalence of sacrifice shows 
it to have been primeval, and deeply 
rooted in the instincts of humanity. 
Whether it was first enjoined by an ex- 
ternal command, or whether it was based 
on that sense of sin and lost communion 
with God which is stamped by his hand 
on the heart of man, is a historical cpies- 
tion which cannot be determined. (B) 
Ante-Mosaic History of Sacrifice. 
— In examining the various sacrifices re- 
corded in Scripture before the establish- 
ment of the law, we find that the words 
specially denoting expiatory sacrifice are 
not applied to them. This fact does not 
at all show that they were not actually 
expiatory, but it justifies the inference 
that this idea was not then the prominent 
37 



one in the doctrine of sacrifice. The sac- 
rifices of Cain and Abel are called min- 
chah, and appear to have been eucharistic. 
Noah's, Gen. 8 : 20, and Jacob's at Miz- 
pah, were at the institution of a covenant, 
and may be called federative. In the 
burnt offerings of Job for his children, 
Job 1 : 5, and for his three friends, ch. 
42 : 8, we for the first time find the ex- 
pression of the desire of expiation for 
sin. The same is the case in the words of 
Moses to Pharaoh. Ex. 10 : 25. Here the 
main idea is at least deprecatory. (C) 
The Sacrifices of the Mosaic Pe- 
riod. — These are inaugurated by the 
offering of the Passover and the sacrifice 
of Ex. 24. The Passover indeed is unique 
in its character ; but it is clear that the 
idea of salvation from death by means of 
sacrifice is brought out in it with a dis- 
tinctness before unknown. The law of 
Leviticus now unfolds distinctly the va- 
rious forms of sacrifice: (a) The burnt 
offering : Self-dedicatory. (6) The meat 
offering (unbloody) ; the peace offering 
(bloody) : Eucharistic. (c) The sin offer- 
ing; the trespass offering : Expiatory. To 
these may be added, (d) The incense of- 
fered after sacrifice in the holy place, and 
(on the Day of Atonement) in* the holy of 
holies, the symbol of the intercession of 
the priest (as a type of the great High 
Priest), accompanying and making efiica- 
cious the prayer of the people. In the 
consecration of Aaron and his sons, Lev. 
^ 8, we find these offered in what became 
ever afterward their appointed order. 
, First came the sin offering, to prepare ac- 
cess to God ; next the burnt offering, to 
mark their dedication to his service ; and 
: third the meat offering of thanksgiving. 
Henceforth the sacrificial system was 
fixed in all its parts until he should come 
whom it typified. (D) Post-Mosaic 
I Sacrifices. — It will not be necessary to 
pursue, in detail, the history of the post- 
I Mosaic sacrifice, for its main principles 
were now fixed forever. The regular 
, sacrifices in the temple service were — (a) 
j Burnt offerings. 1, the dailv burnt of- 
j ferings, Ex. 29 : 3S-42 ; 2, the double 
j burnt offerings on the Sabbath, Num. 28 : 
i 9, 10 ; 3, the burnt offerings at the great 
j festivals ; Num. 28 : 11-29 : 39. (b) Meat 
i offerings. 1, the daily meat offerings ac- 
companying the daily burnt offerings, 
Ex. 29 : 40, 41 ; 2, the shewbread, renewed 
I every Sabbath, Lev. 24 : 5, 9 ; 3, the spe- 
1 cial 'meat offerings at the Sabbath and 
the great festivals, Num. 28, 29 ; 4, the 
577 



SAC 



SAC 



first-fruits, at the Passover, Lev. 23 : 10- 
14, at Pentecost, Lev. 23 : 17-20, the first- 
fruits of the dough and threshing-floor at 
the harvest time. Num. 15 : 20, 21 ; Deut. 
26 : 1-11. (c) Sin offerings. 1, sin offer- 
ing each new moon, Num. 28 : 15 ; 2, sin 
offerings at the Passover, Pentecost, Feast 
of Trumpets and Tabernacles, Num. 28 : 
22, 30 ; 29 : 5, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38 ; 
3, the offering of the two goats for the 
people and of the bullock for the priest 
himself, on the Great Day of Atonement. 
Lev. 16. (d) Incense. 1, the morning 
and evening incense, Ex. 30 : 7, 8 ; 2, the 
incense on the Great Day of Atonement. 
Lev. 16 : 12. Besides these public sacri- 
fices, there were offerings of' the people 
for themselves individually. 

II. By the order of sacrifice in its per- 
fect form, as in Lev. 8, it is clear that the 
sin offering occupies the most important 
place; the burnt offering comes next, 
and the meat offering or peace offering 
last of all. The second could only be 
offered after the first had been accepted; 
the third was only a subsidiary part of 
the second. Yet, in actual order of time, 
it has been seen that the patriarchal sacri- 
fices partook much more of the nature of 
the peace offering and burnt offering, and 
that under the law, by which was " the 
knowledge of sin," Pom. 3 : 20, the sin 
offering was for the first time explicitly 
set forth. This is but natural, that the 
deepest ideas should be the last in order 
of development. The essential difference 
between heathen views of sacrifice and 
the scriptural doctrine of the Old Testa- 
ment is not to be found in its denial of 
any of these views. In fact, it brings out 
clearly and distinctly the ideas which in 
heathenism were uncertain, vague and 
perverted. But the essential points of 
distinction are two. First, that whereas 
the heathen conceived of their gods as 
alienated in jealousy or anger, to be 
sought after and to be appeased by the 
unaided action of man, Scripture repre- 
sents God himself as approaching man, 
as pointing out and sanctioning the way 
by which the broken covenant should be 
restored. The second mark of distinction 
is closely connected with this, inasmuch 
as it shows sacrifice to be a scheme pro- 
ceeding from God, and, in his foreknowl- 
edge, connected with the one central fact 
of all human history. 

From the prophets and the Epistle to 
the Hebrews we learn that the sin offer- 
ing represented that covenant as broken 
578 



j by man, and as knit together again, by 
I God's appointment, through the "shed- 
j ding of blood." The shedding of the 
blood, the symbol of life, signified that 
the death of the offender was deserved 
for sin, but that the death of the victim 
was accepted for his death by the ordi- 
nance of God's mercy. Beyond all 
doubt the sin offering distinctly wit- 
nessed that sin existed in man, that the 
" wages of that sin was death," and that 
God had provided an atonement by the 
vicarious suffering of an appointed vic- 
tim. The ceremonial and meaning of 
the burnt offering were very different. 
The idea of expiation seems not to have 
been absent from it, for the blood was 
sprinkled round about the altar of sacri- 
fice ; but the main idea is the offering of 
the whole victim to God, representing, 
as the laying of the hand on its head 
shows, the devotion of the sacrificer, 
body and soul, to him. Rom. 12 : 1. The 
death of the victim was, so to speak, an 
incidental feature. The meat offerings, 
the peace or thank offering, the first- 
fruits, etc., were simply offerings to God 
of his own best gifts, as a sign of thank- 
ful homage, and as a means of main- 
taining his service and his servants. 
The characteristic ceremony in the peace 
offering was the eating of the flesh by 
the sacrificer. It betokened the enjoy- 
ment of communion with God. It is 
clear from this that the idea of sacrifice 
is a complex idea, involving the propiti- 
atory, the dedicatory and the eucharistic 
elements. Any one of these, taken by 
itself, would lead to error and supersti- 
tion. All three probably were more or 
less implied in each sacrifice, each ele- 
ment predominating in its turn. The 
Epistle to the Hebrews contains the key 
of the whole sacrificial doctrine. The 
object of the epistle is to show the typ- 
ical and probationary character of sacri- 
fices, and to assert that in virtue of it 
alone they had a spiritual meaning. 
Our Lord is declared (see 1 Pet. 1 : 20) 
" to have been foreordained " as a sacri- 
fice " before the foundation of the world," 
or, as it is more strikingly expressed in 
Rev. 13 : 8, " slain from the foundation 
of the world." The material sacrifices 
represented this great atonement as al- 
ready made and accepted in God's fore- 
knowledge ; and to those who grasped 
the ideas of sin, pardon and self-dedi- 
cation symbolized in them, they were 
means of entering into the blessings 



SAD 



SAD 



which the one true sacrifice alone pro- J 
cured. They could convey nothing in 
themselves ; yet as types they might, if 
accepted by a true though necessarily 
imperfect faith, be means of conveying 
in some degree the blessings of the anti- 
type. It is clear that the atonement, in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, as in the | 
New Testament generally, is viewed in i 
a twofold light. On the one hand it is 
set forth distinctly as a vicarious sacri- 
fice, which was rendered necessary by 
the sin of man, and in which the Lord 
" bare the sins of many." It is its essen- 
tial characteristic that in it he stands 
absolutely alone, offering his sacrifice 
without any reference to the faith or the 
conversion of men. In it he stands out 
alone as the mediator between God and 
man ; and his sacrifice is offered once for 
all, never to be imitated or repeated. 
Now, this view of the atonement is set 
forth in the epistle as typified by the sin j 
offering. On the other hand the sacri- 
fice of Christ is set forth to us as the I 
completion of that perfect obedience to | 
the will of the Father which is the | 
natural duty of sinless man. The main j 
idea of this view of the atonement is j 
representative rather than vicarious. It ; 
is typified by the burnt offering. As | 
without the sin offering of the cross this 
our burnt offering would be impossible, 
so also without the burnt offering the sin 
offering will to us be unavailing. With 
these views of our Lord's sacrifice on 
earth, as typified in the Levitical sacri- 
fices on the outer altar, is also to be con- 
nected the offering of his intercession for 
us in heaven, which was represented by 
the incense. The typical sense of the i 
meat offering or peace offering is less 
connected with the sacrifice of Christ 
himself than with those sacrifices of 
praise, thanksgiving, charity and devo- 
tion which we, as Christians, offer to 
God, and " with which he is well 
pleased," Heb. 13 : 15, 16, as with an 
"odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice accept- 
able to God." Philip. 4 : 18. 

Sad'ducees (followers of Zadok), 
Matt. 3:7; 16:1, 6, 11, 12; 22:23, 34; 
Mark 12 : 18 ; Luke 20 : 27 ; Acts 4:1; 
5 : 17 ; 23 : 6, 7, 8, a religious party or 
school among the Jews at the time of 
Christ, who denied that the oral law was 
a revelation of God to the Israelites, and 
who deemed the written law alone to be 
obligatory on the nation, as of divine au- 
thority. Except on one occasion, Matt. 



16 : 1, 4, 6, Christ never assailed the Sad- 
ducees with the same bitter denunciations 
which he uttered against the Pharisees. 
The origin of their name is involved in 
great difficulties, but the most satisfactory 
conjecture is that the Sadducees or Za- 
dokites were originally identical with 
the sons of Zadok, and constituted what 
may be termed a kind of sacerdotal aris- 
tocracy, this Zadok being the priest who 
declared in favor of Solomon when Abi- 
athar took the part of Adonijah. 1 Kings 
1 : 32-45. To these sons of Zadok were 
afterward attached all who for any reason 
reckoned themselves as belonging to the 
aristocracy; such, for example, as the 
families of the high priest, who had ob- 
tained consideration under the dynasty 
of Herod. These were for the most part 
judges, and individuals of the official and 
governing class. This explanation elu- 
cidates at once Acts 5 : 17. The leading 
tenet of the Sadducees was the negation 
of the leading tenet of their opponents. 
As the Pharisees asserted, so the Saddu- 
cees denied, that the Israelites were in 
possession of an oral law transmitted to 
them by Moses. [Pharisees.] In op- 
position to the Pharisees, they maintained 
that the written law alone was obligatory 
on the nation, as of divine authority. 
The second distinguishing doctrine of the 
Sadducees was the denial of man's resur- 
rection after death. In connection with 
the disbelief of a resurrection by the Sad- 
ducees, they likewise denied there was 
" angel or spirit," Acts 23 : 8, and also 
the doctrines of future punishment and 
future rewards. Joseph us states that the 
Sadducees believed in the freedom, of the 
will, which the Pharisees denied. They 
pushed this doctrine so far as almost to 
exclude God from the government of the 
world. Some of the early Christian writers 
attribute to the Sadducees the rejection 
of all the sacred Scriptures except the 
Pentateuch ; a statement, however, that 
is now generally admitted to have been 
founded on a misconception of the truth, 
and it seems to have arisen from a con- 
fusion of the Sadducees with the Samar- 
itans. An important fact in the history 
of the Sadducees is their rapid disap- 
pearance from history after the first cen- 
tury, and the subsequent predominance 
among the Jews of the opinions of the 
Pharisees. Two circumstances contrib- 
uted, indirectly but powerfully, to pro- 
duce this result: 1st. The state of the 
Jews after the capture of Jerusalem by 
579 



SAD 



SAL 



Titus ; and 2d. The growth of the Chris- 
tian religion. As to the first point, it is 
difficult to overestimate the consternation 
and dismay which the destruction of Je- 
rusalem occasioned in the minds of sin- 
cerely-religious Jews. In their hour of 
darkness and anguish they naturally 
turned to the consolations and hopes of a 
future state ; and the doctrine of the Sad- 
ducees, that there was nothing beyond 
the present life, would have appeared to 
them cold, heartless and hateful. Again, 
while they were sunk in the lowest 
depths of depression, a new religion, 
which they despised as a heresy and a 
superstition, was gradually making its 
way among the subjects of their detested 
conquerors, the Romans. One of the 
causes of its success was undoubtedly the 
vivid belief in the resurrection of Jesus, 
and a consequent resurrection of all man- 
kind, which was accepted by its heathen 
converts with a passionate earnestness of 
which those who at the present day are 
familiar from infancy with the doctrine 
of the resurrection of the dead can form 
only a faint idea. To attempt to check 
the progress of this new religion among 
the Jews by an appeal to the temporary 
rewards and punishments of the Penta- 
teuch would have been as idle as an en- 
deavor to check an explosive power by 
ordinary mechanical restraints. Con- 
sciously, therefore, or unconsciously, 
many circumstances combined to induce 
the Jews who were not Pharisees, but 
who resisted the new heresy, to rally 
round the standard of the oral law, and 
to assert that their holy legislator, Moses, 
had transmitted to his faithful people by 
word of mouth, although not in writing, 
the revelation of a future state of rewards 
and punishments. 

Sa'doc (Greek form of Zadok, just). 
1. Zadok the ancestor of Ezra. 2 Esd. 1 : 
1 ; comp. Ezra 7 : 2. 

2. A descendant of Zerubbabel in the 
genealogy of Jesus Christ. Matt. 1 : 14. 
(B.C. about 220.) 

Saffron {yellow). Cant. 4 : 14. Saffron 
has from the earliest times been in high 
esteem as a perfume. " It was used," 
says Posenmuller, " for the same purposes 
as the modern pot-pourri." The word 
saffron is derived from the Arabic zafran, j 
" yellow." (The saffron (Crocus sativus) 
is a kind of crocus of the iris family. It 
is used as a medicine, as a flavoring and 
as a yellow dye. Homer, Virgil and j 
Milton refer to its beauty in the land- 
580 



scape. It abounds in Palestine. The 
name saffron is usually applied only to 
the stigmas and part of the style, which 
are plucked out and dried. — Ed.) 

Sa'la, or Sa'lah (sprout), the son of 
Arphaxad, and father of Eber. Gen. 10 : 
24; 11 : 12-14; Luke 3 : 35. (B.C. 2307.) 

Sal'amis (salt), a city at the east end 
of the island of Cyprus, and the first 
place visited by Paul and Barnabas, on 
the first missionary journey, after leaving 
the mainland at Seleucia. Here alone, 
among all the Greek cities visited by St. 
Paul, we read expressly of " synagogues " 
in the plural, Acts 13:5; hence we con- 
clude that there were many Jews in Cy- 
prus. And this is in harmony with what 
we read elsewhere. Salamis was not far 
from the modern Fam-agousta. It was 
situated near a river called the Pediseus, 
on low ground, which is in fact a contin- 
uation of the plain running up into the 
interior toward the place where Nicosia, 
the present capital of Cyprus, stands. 

Sala'thi-el (I have asked of God). 1 
Chron. 3 : 17. The Authorized Version 
has Salathiel in 1 Chron. 3 : 17, but every- 
where else in the Old Testament Sheal- 
tiel. 




Salcah in Bashan. 



Sal'cah, or Sal'chah (migration), a 
city named in the early records of Israel 
as the extreme limit of Bashan, Deut. 
3 : 10; Josh. 13 : 11, and of the tribe of 
Gad.. 1 Chron. 5 : 11. On another occa- 
sion the name seems to denote a district 
rather than a town. Josh. 12 : 5. It is 
identical with the town of Sulkhad (56 
miles east of the Jordan, at the southern 



SAL 



SAL 



extremity of the Hauran range of mount- 
ains. The place is nearly deserted, though 
it contains 800 stone houses, many of 
them in a good state of preservation. — 
Ed.) 

Sa'lem {peace). 1. The place of which 
Melchizedek was king. Gen. 14 : 18; Heb. 
7:1,2. No satisfactory identification of 
it is perhaps possible. Two main opin- 
ions have been current from the earliest 
ages of interpretation : 1. That of the 
Jewish commentators, who affirm that 
Salem is Jerusalem, on the ground that 
Jerusalem is so called in Ps. 76 : 2. 
Nearly all Jewish commentators hold 
this opinion. 2. Jerome, however, states 
that the Salem of Melchizedek was not 
Jeimsalem, but a town eight Roman miles 
south of Scythopolis, and gives its then 
name as Salumias, and identifies it with 
Salem, where John baptized. 

2. Ps. 76 : 2. It is agreed on all hands 
that Salem is here employed for Jeru- 
salem. 

Sa'lim {peace), a place named John 

3 : 23 to denote the situation of iEnon, 
the scene of St. John's last baptisms ; 
Salim being the well-known town, and 
iEnon a place of fountains or other 
waters near it. [Sale.m.] Tbe name of 
Salim has been discovered by Mr. Van 
de Velde in a position exactly in accord- 
ance with the notice of Eusebius, viz., 
six English miles south of Beisdn (Scy- 
thopolis), and two miles west of the Jor- 
dan. Near here is an abundant supply 
of water. 

Sal'ma, or Sal'mon ( garment), Ruth 

4 : 20, 21 ; 1 Chron. 2 : 11, 51, 54 ; Matt. 
1 : 4, 5 ; Luke 3 : 32, son of Nahshon, the 
prince of the children of Judah, and 
father of Boaz, the husband of Ruth. 
(B.C. 1296.) Bethlehem-ephratah, which 
was Salmon's inheritance, was part of 
the territory of Caleb, the grandson of 
Ephratah; and this caused him to be 
reckoned among the sons of Caleb. 

Sal'mon, a hill near Shechem, on 
which Abim electa and his followers cut 
down the boughs with which they set 
the tower of Shechem on fire. Judges 
9:48. Its exact position is not known. 
Referred to in Ps. 68 : 14. 

Sal'mon, the lather of Boaz. [Sal- 

MA.l 

Salmo'no (clothed ), the east point of 
the island of Crete Acts 27 : 7. It is a 
bold promontory, and is visible for a long 
distance. 

Salo'me {peaceful). 1. The wife of 



Zebedee, Matt. 27 : 56 ; Mark 15 : 40, and 
probably sister of Mary the mother of 
Jesus, to whom reference is made in 
John 19 : 25. The only events recorded 
of Salome are that she preferred a re- 
quest on behalf of her two sons for seats 
of honor in the kingdom of heaven, 
Matt. 20 : 20, that she attended at the 
crucifixion of Jesus, Mark 15 : 40, and 
that she visited his sepulchre. Mark 16 : 
1. She is mentioned by name on only 
the two latter occasions. 

2. The daughter of Herddias by her 
first husband, Herod Philip. Matt. 14 : 
6. She married in the first place Philip 
the tetrarch of Trachonitis, her paternal 
uncle, and secondly Aristobulus, the 
king of Chalcis. 

Salt. Indispensable as salt is to our- 
selves, it was even more so to the He- 
brews, being to them not only an appe- 
tizing condiment in the food both of man, 
| Job 11 : 6, and beast, Isa. 30 : 24, see 
margin, and a valuable antidote to the 
effects of the heat of the climate on ani- 
mal food, but also entering largely into 
the religious services of the Jews as an 
accompaniment to the various offerings 
presented on the altar. Lev. 2 : 13. They 
possessed an inexhaustible and ready 
supply of it on the southern shores of the 
Dead Sea. [Sea, The Salt.] There is 
one mountain here called Jebel Usduni, 
seven miles long and several hundred 
feet high, Avhich is composed almost en- 
tirely of salt. The Jews appear to have 
distinguished between rock-salt and that 
which was gained by evaporation, as the 
Talmudists particularize one species 
(probably the latter) as the "salt of 
Sodom." The salt-pits formed an im- 
portant source of revenue to the rulers 
of the country, and Antiochus conferred 
a valuable boon on Jerusalem by pre- 
senting the city with 375 bushels of salt 
for the temple service. As one of the 
most essential articles of diet, salt symbol- 
ized hospitality ; as an antiseptic, dura- 
bility, fidelity and purity. Hence the 
expression " covenant of salt," Lev. 2 : 
13 ; Num. 18 : 19 ; 2 Chron. 13 : 5, as be- 
tokening an indissoluble alliance be- 
tween friends ; and again the expression 
"salted with the salt of the palace," 
Ezra 4 : 14 ; not necessarily meaning that 
they had " maintenance from the palace," 
as the Authorized Version has it, but 
that they were bound by sacred obliga- 
| tions of fidelity to the king. So in the 
I present day, " to eat bread and salt to- 

581 



SAL 



SAM 



gether" is an expression for a league of I 
mutual amity. It was probably with a 
view to keep this idea prominently be- j 
fore the minds of the Jews that the use j 
of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in 
their offerings to God. 

Salt, City of, the fifth of the six cities 
of Judah which lay in the " wilderness." 
Josh. 15 : 62. Dr. Robinson expresses 
his belief that it lay somewhere near the 
plain at the south end of the Salt Sea. 

Salt Sea, or Dead Sea. [Sea, The 
Salt.] 

Salt, Valley of, a valley in which 
occurred two memorable victories of the 
Israelite arms : 1. That of David over 
the Edomites. 2 Sam. 8 : 13 ; 1 Chron. 18 : 
12. 2. That of Amaziah. 2 Kings 14 : 7 ; 
2 Chron. 25 : 11. It is perhaps the broad 
open plain which lies at the lower end of 
the Dead Sea, and intervenes between 
the lake itself and the range of heights 
which crosses the valley at six or eight 
miles to the south. This same view is 
taken by Dr. Robinson. Others suggest 
that it lay nearer to Petra. What little 
can be inferred from the narrative as to 
its situation favors the latter theory. 

Sa'lu {weighed ), the father of Zimri 
the prince of the Simeonites, who was 
slain by Phinehas. Num. 25 : 14. Called 
also Sa'lom. (B.C. 1452.) 




Modes of Salutation in the East. 



Salutation. Salutations may be 
classed under the two heads of conversa- 
tional and epistolary. The salutation at 
meeting consisted in early times of vari- 
ous expressions of blessing, such as " God 
be gracious unto thee," Gen. 43 : 29 ; 
5S2 



" The Lord be with you ;" " The Lord 
bless thee." Ruth 2 : 4. Hence the term 
"bless" received the secondary sense of 
"salute." The salutation at parting 
consisted originally of a simple blessing, 
Gen. 24 : 60, but in later times the form 
" Go in peace," or rather " Farewell," 1 
Sam. 1 : 17, was common. In modern 
times the ordinary mode of address cur- 
rent in the East resembles the Hebrew 
Es-selam aleykum, " Peace be on you," 
and the term " salam," peace, has been 
introduced into our own language to de- 
scribe the Oriental salutation. In epis- 
tolary salutations the writer placed his 
own name first, and then that of the per- 
son whom he saluted. A form of prayer 
for spiritual mercies was also used. The 
concluding salutation consisted generally 
of the term " I salute," accompanied by 
a prayer for peace or grace. 

Sama'ria {watch mountain). This 
city is situated 30 miles north of Jerusa- 
lem and about six miles to the northwest 
of Shechem, in a wide basin-shaped val- 
ley, six miles in diameter, encircled with 
high hills, almost on the edge of the great 
plain which borders upon the Mediterra- 
nean. In the centre of this basin, which 
is on a lower level than the valley of 
Shechem, rises a less elevated oblong 
hill, with steep yet accessible sides and a 
long flat top. This hill was chosen by 
Omri as the site of the capital of the 
kingdom of Israel. He " bought the hill 
of Samaria of Shemer for two talents of 
silver, and built on the hill, and called 
the name of the city which he built, after 
the name of the owner of the hill, Sama- 
ria." 1 Kings 16 : 23, 24. From the date 
of Omri's purchase, B.C. 925, Samaria 
retained its dignity as the capital of the 
ten tribes, and the name is given to the 
northern kingdom as well as to the city. 
Ahab built a temple to Baal there. 1 
Kings 16 : 32, 33. It was twice besieged 
by the Syrians, in B.C. 901, 1 Kings 20 : 
1, and in B.C. 892, 2 Kings 6 : 24-7 : 20 ; 
but on both occasions the siege was inef- 
fectual. The possessor of Samaria was 
considered de facto king of Israel. 2 
Kings 15 : 13, 14. In B.C. 721 Samaria 
was taken, after a siege of three years, by 
Shalmaneser king of Assyria, 2 Kings 
18 : 9, 10, and the kingdom of the ten 
tribes was put an end to. Some years 
afterward the district of which Samaria 
was the centre was repeopled by Esar- 
haddon. Alexander the Great took the 
city, killed a large portion of the inhab- 



SAM 



SAM 



itants, and suffered the remainder to set- j 
tie at Shechem. He replaced them by a 
colony of Syro-Macedonians, who occu- I 
pied the city until the time of John Hyr- 
canus, who took it after a year's siege, 
and did his best to demolish it entirely, j 
(B.C. 109.) It was rebuilt and greatly 
embellished by Herod the Great. He | 
called it Sebaste=Augusta, after the name 
of his patron, Augustus Caesar. The wall 
around it was 2\ miles long, and in the ' 
centre of the city was a park 900 feet j 
square, containing a magnificent temple 
dedicated to Ciesar. In the New Testament 
the city itself does not appear to be men- 
tioned, but rather a portion of the district 
to which, even in older times, it had ex- 
tended its name. Matt. 10 : 5 ; John 4:4, 
5. At this day the city is represented by 
a small village retaining few vestiges of" j 
the past except its name, Sebustiych, an 
Arabic corruption of Sebaste. Some 
architectural remains it has, partly of 
Christian construction or adaptation, as 
the ruined church of St. John the Bap- 
tist, partly, perhaps, traces of Idunisean 
magnificence. St. Jerome, whose ac- 
quaintance with Palestine imparts a sort 
of probability to the tradition which pre- 
vailed so strongly in later days, asserts 
that Sebaste, which he invariably identi- 
fies with Samaria, was the place in which 
St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and 
suffered death. He also makes it the 
burial-place of the prophets Elisha and 
Obadiah. 

Sama'ria, Country of. Samaria 
at first included all the tribes over which 
Jeroboam made himself king, whether 
east or west of the river Jordan. 1 Kings 
13:32. But whatever extent the word 
might have acquired, it necessarily be- 
came contracted as the limits of the king- 
dom of Israel became contracted. In all 
probability the territory of Simeon and 
that of Dan were very early absorbed in 
the kingdom of Judah. It is evident 
from an occurrence in Hezekiah's reign 
that just before the deposition and death 
of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the 
authority of the king of Judah, or at 
least his influence, was recognized by 
portions of Asher, Issachar and Zebulun, 
and even of Ephraim and Manasseh. 2 
Chron. 30:1-26. Men came from all 
those tribes to the Passover at Jerusalem. 
This was about B.C. 726. Samaria (the 
city) and a few adjacent cities or vil- 
lages onlv represented that dominion 
which had once extended from Bethel to 



Dan northward, and from the Mediterra- 
nean to the borders of Syria and Ammon 
eastward. In New Testament times Sa- 
maria was bounded northward by the 
range of hills which commences at Mount 
Carmel on the west, and, after making a 
bend to the southwest, runs almost due 
east to the valley of the Jordan, forming 
the southern border of the plain of Es- 
draelon. It touched toward the south, 
as nearly as possible, the northern limits 
of Benjamin. Thus it comprehended the 
ancient territory of Ephraim and that of 
Manasseh west of Jordan. The Cuthsean 
Samaritans, however, possessed only a 
few towns and villages of this large area, 
and these lay almost together in the 
centre of the district. At NdbMs the 
Samaritans have still a settlement, con- 
sisting of about 200 persons. [She- 
chem.] 

Samar'itans. Strictly speaking, a 
Samaritan would be an inhabitant of 
the city of Samaria ; but the term was 
applied to all the people of the kingdom 
of Israel. After the captivity of Israel, 
B.C. 721, and in our Lord's time, the 
name was applied to a peculiar people 
| whose origin was in this wise : At the 
I final captivity of Israel by Shalmaneser, 
we may conclude that the cities of Sa- 
maria were not merely partially but 
wholly depopulated of their inhabitants 
1 in B.C. 721, and that they remained in 
! this desolated state until, in the words of 
; 2 Kings 17 : 24, " the king of Assyria 
j brought men from Babylon, and from 
Cuthah, and from Ava (Ivah, 2 Kings 
I 18 : 34), and from Hamath, and from 
Sepharvaim, and placed them in the 
cities of Samaria instead of the children 
of Israel : and they possessed Samaria, 
and dwelt in the cities thereof." Thus 
the new Samaritans were Assyrians by 
: birth or subjugation. These strangers, 
whom we will now assume to have been 
placed in " the cities of Samaria " by 
Esar-haddon, were of course idolaters, 
I and worshipped a strange medley of 
divinities. God's displeasure was kin- 
dled, and they were annoyed by beasts 
| of prey, which had probably increased 
to a great extent before their entrance 
j upon the land. On their explaining 
their miserable condition to the king of 
| Assyria, he despatched one of the cap- 
i tive priests to teach them " how they 
should fear the Lord." The priest came 
j accordingly, and henceforth, in the lan- 
guage of the sacred historian, thev 
583 



SAM 



SAM 



" feared the Lord, and served their 
graven images, both their children and 
their children's children : as did their 
fathers, so do they unto this day." 2 
Kings 17 : 41. A gap occurs in their 
history until Judah has returned from 
captivity. They then desire to be al- 
lowed to participate in the rebuilding of 
the temple at Jerusalem; but on being 
refused, the Samaritans throw off the 
mask, and become open enemies, frus- 
trate the operations of the Jews through 



the reigns of two Persian kings, and are 
only effectually silenced in the reign of 
Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 519. The feud 
thus unhappily begun grew year by year 
more inveterate. Matters at length came 
to a climax. About B.C. 409, a certain 
Manasseh, a man of priestly lineage, on 
being expelled from Jerusalem by Ne- 
hemiah for an unlawful marriage, ob- 
tained permission from the Persian king 
of his day, Darius Nothus, to build a 
temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samar- 




Ruins of the Temple 

itans, with whom he had found refuge. 
The animosity of the Samaritans became 
more intense than ever. They are said 
to have done everything in their power 
to annoy the Jews. Their own temple 
on Gerizim they considered to be much 
superior to that at Jerusalem. There 
they sacrificed a passover. Toward the 
mountain, even after the temple on it 
had fallen, wherever they were they di- 
rected their worship. To their copy of 
the law they arrogated an antiquity and 
authority greater than attached to any 
copy in the possession of the Jews. The 
law (i. e. the five books of Moses) was 
their sole code; for they rejected every 
other book in the Jewish canon. The 
Jews, on the other hand, were not more 
584 



f Manasseh, Samaria. 

conciliatory in their treatment of the 
Samaritans. Certain other Jewish ren- 
egades had from time to time taken 
refuge with the Samaritans; hence by 
degrees the Samaritans claimed to par- 
take of Jewish blood, especially if doing 
so happened to suit their interest. Very 
far were the Jews from admitting this 
claim to consanguinity on the part of 
these people. The traditional hatred in 
which the Jew held the Samaritan is 
expressed in Ecclus. 50 : 25, 26. Such were 
the Samaritans of our Lord's day; a 
people distinct from the Jews, though 
lying in the very mid.st of the Jews ; a 
people preserving their identity, though 
seven centuries had rolled away since 
they had been brought from Assyria by 



SAM 



SAM 



Esar-haddon, and though they had aban- 
doned their polytheism for a sort of ultra 
Mosaicism ; a people who, though their 
limits had gradually contracted, and the 
rallying-place of their religion on Mount 
Gerizim had been destroyed one hundred 
and sixty years before by John Hyrcanus 
(B.C. 130), and though Samaria (the city) 
had been again and again destroyed, 
still preserved their nationality, still 
worshipped from Shechem and their 
impoverished settlements toward their 
sacred hill, still retained their peculiar 
religion, and could not coalesce with the 
Jews. 

Samaritan Pentateuch, a recen- 
sion of the commonly-received Hebrew 
text of the Mosaic law, in use among the 
Samaritans, and written in the ancient 
Hebrew or so-called Samaritan character. 
The origin of the Samaritan Pentateuch 
has given rise to much controversy, into 
which we cannot here enter. The two 
most usual opinions are — 1. That it came 
into the hands of the Samaritans as an 
inheritance from the ten tribes whom 
they succeeded. 2. That it was intro- 
duced by Manasseh at the time of the 
foundation of the Samaritan sanctuary 
on Mount Gerizim. It differs in several 
important points from the Hebrew text. 
Among these may be mentioned — 1. 
Emendations of passages and words of 
the Hebrew text which contain some- 
thing objectionable in the eyes of the 
Samaritans, on account either of histor- 
ical improbability or apparent want of 
dignity in the terms applied to the 
Creator. Thus in the Samaritan Penta- 
teuch no one in the antediluvian times 
begets his first son after he has lived 150 
years ; but one hundred years are, where 
necessary, subtracted before, and added 
after, the birth of the first son. An ex- 
ceedingly important and often-discussed 
emendation of this class is the passage in 
Ex. 12 : 40, which in our text reads, 
" Now the sojourning of the children of 
Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hun- 
dred and thirty years." The Samaritan 
has "The sojourning of the children of 
Israel [and their fathers who dwelt in the 
land of Canaan and in the land of 
Egypt] was four hundred and thirty 
years;" an interpolation of very late 
date indeed. Again, in Gen. 2 : 2, "And 
God [?] had finished on the seventh day," 
is altered into " the si.rtJ)" lest God's 
rest on the Sabbath day might seem in- 
complete. 2. Alterations made in favor 



of or on behalf of Samaritan theology, 
hermeneutics and domestic worship. 

Sam'gar-ne'bo {sword of Nebo), one 
of the princes or generals of the king of 
Babvlon. Jer. 39 : 3. 

Sam'lah {garment), Gen. 36:36, 37; 
1 Chron. 1 : 47, 48, one of the kings of 
Edom, successor to Hadad or Hadar. 

Sam os, a Greek island off that part of 
Asia Minor where Ionia touches Caria. 
Samos comes before our notice in the de- 
tailed account of St. Paul's return from 
his third missionary journey. Acts 20 : 15. 

Samothra'ce. In the Revised Ver- 
sion for Samothracia. 

Samothra'cia. Mention is made of 
this island in the account of St. Paul's 
first voyage to Europe. Acts 16 : 11 ; 20 : 
6. Being very lofty and conspicuous, it 
is an excellent landmark for sailors, and 
must have been full in view, if the 
weather was clear, throughout that voy- 
age from Troas to Neapolis. 

Sam'son {like the sun), son of Mano- 
ah, a man of the town of Zorah, in the 
tribe of Dan, on the border of Judah. 
Josh. 15:33; 19 : 41. (B.C. 1161.) The 
miraculous circumstances of his birth 
are recorded in Judges 13 ; and the three 
following chapters are devoted to the 
history of his life and exploits. Samson 
takes his place in Scripture, (1) as a 
judge — an office which he filled for 
twenty years, Judges 15 : 20 ; 16 : 31 ; (2) 
as a Nazarite, Judges 13 : 5 ; 16:17; and 
(3) as one endowed with supernatural 
power by the Spirit of the Lord. Judges 
13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14. As a judge his 
authority seems to have been limited to 
the district bordering upon the country 
of the Philistines. The divine inspira- 
tion which Samson shared with Othniel, 
Gideon and Jephthah assumed in him 
the unique form of vast personal strength, 
animated by undaunted bravery. It was 
inseparably connected with the observ- 
ance of his vow as a Nazarite : " his 
strength was in his hair." He married 
a Philistine woman whom he had seen at 
Timnath. One day, on his way to that 
city, he was attacked by a lion, which he 
killed ; and again passing that way, he 
saw a swarm of bees in the carcass of the 
lion, and he ate of the honey, but still he 
told no one. He availed himself of this 
circumstance, and of the custom of pro- 
posing riddles at marriage feasts, to lay a 
snare for the Philistines. But Samson 
told the riddle to his wife, and she told it 
to the men of the city, whereupon Sam- 
585 



SAM 



SAM 



son slew thirty men of the city. Return- 
ing to his own house, he found his wife 
married to another, and was refused per- 
mission to see her. Samson revenged 
himself by taking 300 foxes (or rather 
jackals) and tying them together two by 
two by the tails, with a firebrand between 
every pair of tails, and so he let them 
loose into the standing corn of the Philis- 
tines, which was ready for harvest. The 
Philistines took vengeance by burning 
Samson's wife and her father ; but he fell 
upon them in return, and smote them 
" hip and thigh with a great slaughter," 
after which he took refuge ou the top of 
the rock of Etam, in the territory of Ju- 
dah. The Philistines gathered an army 
to revenge themselves, when the men of 
Judah hastened to make peace by giving 
up Samson, who was bound with cords ; 
these, however, he broke like burnt flax, 
and finding a jawbone of an ass at hand, 
he slew with it a thousand of the Philis- 
tines. The supernatural character of this 
exploit was confirmed by the miraculous 
bursting out of a spring of water to revive 
the champion as he was ready to die of 
thirst. This achievement raised Samson 
to the position of a judge, which he held 
for twenty years. After a time he began 
to fall into the temptations which ad- 
dressed themselves to his strong animal 
nature ; but he broke through every snare 
in which he was caught so long as he 
kept his Nazarite vow. While he was 
visiting a harlot in Gaza, the Philistines 
shut the gates of the city, intending to 
kill him in the morning; but at mid- 
night he Avent out and tore away the 
gates, with the posts and bar, and carried 
them to the top of a hill looking toward 
Hebron. Next he formed his fatal con- 
nection with Delilah, a woman who lived 
in the valley of Sorek. Thrice he suf- 
fered himself to be bound with green 
withes, with new ropes, but released him- 
self, until finally, wearied out with her 
importunity, he "told her all his heart," 
and while he was asleep she had him 
shaven of his seven locks of hair. His 
enemies put out his eyes, and led him 
down to Gaza, bound in brazen fetters, 
and made him grind in the prison. Then 
they held a great festival in the temple 
of Dagon, to celebrate their victory over 
Samson. They brought forth the blind 
champion to make sport for them, and 
placed him between the two chief pillars 
which supported the roof that surrounded 
the court. Samson asked the lad who 
586 



guided him to let him feel the pillars, to 
lean upon them. Then, with a fervent 
! prayer that God would strengthen him 
only this once, to be avenged on the 
| Philistines, he bore with all his might 
i upon the two pillars ; they yielded, and 
the house fell upon the lords and all the 
people. " So the dead which he slew at 
his death were more than they which he 
slew in his life." In Heb. 11:32 his 
name is enrolled among the worthies of 
the Jewish Church. 

Sam'uel was the son of Elkanah and 
Hannah, and was born at Ramathaim- 
zophim, among the hills of Ephraim. 
[Ram ah, No. 2.] (B.C. 1171.) Before 
his birth he was dedicated by his mother 
to the office of a Nazarite; and when a 
young child, 12 years old according to 
Josephus, he was placed in the temple, 
I and " ministered unto the Lord before 
Eli." It was while here that he received 
his first prophetic call. 1 Sam. 3 : 1-18. 
He next appears, probably twenty years 
afterward, suddenly among the people, 
warning them against their idolatrous 
practices. 1 Sam. 7 : 3, 4. Then followed 
Samuel's first and, as far as we know, 
only military achievement, ch. 7 : 5-12 ; 
I but it was apparently this which raised 
1 him to the office of "judge." He visited, 
in the discharge of his duties as ruler, 
the three chief sanctuaries on the west of 
Jordan — Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpeh. ch. 
7 : 16. His own residence was still his 
native city, Ramah, where he married, 
and two sons grew up to repeat under his 
eyes the same perversion of high office 
that he had himself witnessed in his 
childhood in the case of the two sons of 
Eli. In his old age he shared his power 
with them, 1 Sam. 8 : 1-4; but the peo- 
ple, dissatisfied, demanded a king, and 
Saul was finally anointed under God's 
direction, and Samuel surrendered to him 
his authority, 1 Sam. 12, though still re- 
maining judge, ch. 7 : 15. He was con- 
sulted far and near on the small affairs 
of life. 1 Sam. 9:7, 8. From this fact, 
combined with his office of ruler, an aw- 
ful reverence grew up around him. No 
sacrificial feast Avas thought complete 
Avithout his blessing. Ibid. 9 : 13. A pe- 
culiar virtue was believed to reside in his 
intercession. After Saul was rejected by 
God, Samuel anointed David in his place, 
and Samuel became the spiritual father 
of the psalmist-king. The death of Sam- 
uel is described as taking place in the 
year of the close of David's wanderings. 



SAM 



SAN 



It is .said with peculiar emphasis, as if to 
mark the loss, that 11 all the Israelites 
were gathered together" from all parts 
of this hitherto-divided country, and " la- 
mented him," and " buried him " within 
his own house, thus in a manner conse- 
crated by being turned into his tomb. 1 
Sam. 25 : 1. Samuel represents the inde- 
pendence of the moral law, of the divine 
will, as distinct from legal or sacerdotal 
enactments, which is so remarkable a 
characteristic of all the later prophets. 
He is also the founder of the first regular 
institutions of religious instruction, and 
communities for the purposes of educa- 
tion. 

Samuel, Books of, are not sepa- 
rated from each other in the Hebrew 
MSS., and, from a critical point of view, 
must be regarded as one book. The 
present division was first made in the 
Septuagint translation, and was adopted 
in the Vulgate from the Septuagint. 
The book was called by the Hebrews 
"Samuel," probably because the birth 
and life of Samuel were the subjects 
treated of in the beginning of the work. 
The books of Samuel commence with the 
history of Eli and Samuel, and contain 
an account of the establishment of the 
Hebrew monarchy and of the reigns of 
Saul and David, with the exception of 
the last days of the latter monarch, which 
are related in the beginning of the books 
of Kings, of which those of Samuel form 
the previous portion. [Kings, BOOKS 
OF.] Authorship and date of the book. — 
1. As to the authorship. In common 
with all the historical books of the Old 
Testament, except the beginning of Ne- 
hemiah, the book of Samuel contains no 
mention in the text of the name of its 
author. It is indisputable that the title 
" Samuel " does not imply that the pro- 
phet was the author of the book of Sam- 
uel as a whole ; for the death of Samuel 
is recorded in the beginning of the 25th 
chapter. In our own time the most prev- 
alent idea in the Anglican Church seems 
to have been that the first twenty-four 
chapters of the book of Samuel were 
written by the prophet himself, and the 
rest of the chapters by the prophets Na- 
than and Gad. This, however, is doubt- 
ful. 2. But although the authorship 
cannot be ascertained with certainty, it 
appears clear that, in its present form, it 
must have been composed subsequent to 
the secession of the ten tribes, B.C. 975. 
This results from the passage in 1 Sam. 



27 : 6, wherein it is said of David, " Then 
Achish gave him Ziklag that day : where- 
fore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of 
Judah to this day:" for neither Saul, 
David nor Solomon is in a single instance 
called king of Judah simply. On the 
other hand, it could hardly have been 
written later than the reformation of Jo- 
siah, since it seems to have been com- 
posed at a time when the Pentateuch was 
not acted on as the rule of religious ob- 
servances, which received a special im- 
petus at the finding of the Book of the 
Law at the reformation of Josiah. All, 
therefore, that can be asserted with any 
certainty is that the book, as a whole, 
can scarcely have been composed later 
than the reformation of Josiah, and that 
it could not have existed in its present 
form earlier than the reign of Rehoboam. 
The book of Samuel is one of the best 
specimens of Hebrew prose in the golden 
age of Hebrew literature. In prose it 
holds the same place which Joel and the 
undisputed prophecies of Isaiah hold in 
poetical or prophetical language. 

Sanbal'lat {strength), a Moabite of 
Horonaim. Neh. 2 : io, 19 ; 13 : 28. He 
held apparently some command in Sa- 
maria at the time Nehemiah was pre- 
paring to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 
B.C. 445, Neh. 4 : 2, and from the moment 
of Nehemiah's arrival in Judea he set 
himself to oppose every measure for the 
welfare of Jerusalem. The only other 
incident in his life is his alliance with 
the high priest's family by the marriage 
of his daughter with one of the grandsons 
of Eliashib ; but the expulsion from the 
priesthood of the guilty son of Joiada by 
Nehemiah promptly followed. Here the 
scriptural narrative ends. 

Sandal was the article ordinarily used 
by the Hebrews for protecting the feet. 
It consisted simply of" a sole attached to 
the foot by thongs. We have express 
notice of the thong (Authorized Version 
"shoe-latchet") in several passages, no- 
tably Gen. 14 : 23 ; Isa. 5 : 27 ; Mark 1:7. 
Sandals were worn by all classes of soci- 
ety in Palestine, even by the very poor ; 
and both the sandal and the thong or 
shoe-latchet were so cheap and common 
that they passed into a proverb for the 
most insignificant thing. Gen. 14 : 23 ; 
Ecclus. 46 : 19. They were dispensed 
with in-doors, and were only put on by 
persons about to undertake some business 
away from their homes. During meal- 
times the feet were uncovered. Luke 7 : 
587 



SAN 



SAN 




Sandals. 



38 ; John 13 : 5, 6. It was a mark of rev- 
erence to cast off the shoes in approach- 
ing a place or person of eminent sanctity. 
588 



Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5 : 15. It was also an in- 
dication of violent emotion, or of mourn- 
ing, if a person appeared barefoot in 
public. 2 Sam. 15 : 30. To carry or to 
unloose a person's sandal was a menial 
office, betokening great inferiority on the 
part of the person performing it. Matt. 
3:11. 

San'hedrin (from the Greek vwe&piov, 
"a council-chamber;" commonly but in- 
correctly Sanhedrim), the supreme coun- 
cil of the Jewish people in. the time of 
Christ and earlier. 1. The origin of this 
assembly is traced in the Mishna to the 
seventy elders whom Moses was directed, 
Num. 11 : 16, 17, to associate with him in 
the government of the Israelites; but 
this tribunal was probably temporary, 
and did not continue to exist after the 
Israelites had entered Palestine. In the 
lack of definite historical information as 
to the establishment of the Sanhedrin, it 
can only be said in general that the Greek 
etymology of the name seems to point to 
a period subsequent to the Macedonian 
supremacy in Palestine. From the few 
incidental notices in the New Testament, 
we gather that it consisted of chief priests, 
or the heads of the twenty-four classes 
into which the priests were divided, el- 
ders, men of age and experience, and 
scribes, lawyers, or those learned in the 
Jewish law. Matt. 26 : 57, 59 ; Mark 15 : 
1 ; Luke 22 : 66 ; Acts 5:21. 2. The num- 
ber of members is usually given as 71. 
The president of this body was styled 
nasi, and was chosen on account of his 
eminence in worth and wisdom. Often, 
if not generally, this pre-eminence was 
accorded to the high priest. The vice- 
president, called in the Talmud " father 
of the house of judgment," sat at the 
right hand of the president. Some writers 
speak of a second vice-president, but this 
is not sufficiently confirmed. While in 
session the Sanhedrin sat in the form of 
a half-circle. 3. The place in which the 
sessions of the Sanhedrin were ordinarily 
held was, according to the Talmud, a hall 
called Gazzith, supposed by I^ghtfoot to 
have been situated in the southeast corner 
of one of the courts near the temple 
building. In special exigencies, however, 
it seems to have met in the residence of 
the high priest. Matt. 26 : 3. Forty years 
before the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
consequently while the Saviour was 
teaching in Palestine, the sessions of the 
Sanhedrin were removed from the hall 
Gazzith to a somewhat greater distance 



SAN 



SAP 



from the temple building, although still 
on Mount Moriah. After several other 
changes, its seat was finally established 
at Tiberias, where it became extinct A.D. 
425. As a judicial body the Sanhedrin 
constituted a supreme court, to which be- 
longed in the first instance the trial of 



false prophets, of the high priest and 
other priests, and also of a tribe fallen 
into idolatry. As an administrative coun- 
cil, it determined other important matters. 
Jesus was arraigned before this body as 
a false prophet, John 11 : 47, and Peter, 
John, Stephen and Paul as teachers of 




The Sanhedrin in Council. 



error and deceivers of the people. From 
Acts 9 : 2 it appears that the Sanhedrin 
exercised a degree of authority beyond 
the limits of Palestine. According to the 
Jerusalem Gemara the power of inflict- 
ing capital punishment was taken away 
from this tribunal forty years before the 
destruction of Jerusalem. With this 
agrees the answer of the Jews to Pilate. 
John 19 : 31 . The Talmud also mentions 
a lesser ScmJiedrin of twenty-three mem- 
bers in every city in Palestine in which 
were not less fchan 120 householders. 
Sansan'nah {palm branch), one of 



the towns in the south district of Judah, 
named in Josh. 15 : 31 only. 

Saph (tall), one of the sons of the 
giant slain by Sibbechai the Hushathite. 
2 Sam. 21 : 18. In 1 Chron. 20 : 4 he is 
called Sippai. (B.C. about 1050.) 

Saph'ir (fair), one of the villages ad- 
dressed by the prophet Micah, Micah 1 : 
11, is described by Eusebius and Jerome 
as "in the mountain district between 
Eleutheropolis and Ascalon," perhaps 
represented by the village es-Sawafir. 
seven or eight miles to the northeast oi 
Ascalon. 

589 



SAP 



SAR 



Sapphi'ra [Ananias.] 

Sapphire (Heb. sappir), a precious 
stone, apparently of a bright-blue color, 
see Ex. 24 : 10 ; the second stone in the 
second row of the high priest's breast- 
plate, Ex. 28 : 18; extremely precious, 
Job 28 : 16 ; it was one of the precious 
stones that ornamented the king of Tyre. 
Ezek. 28 : 13. The sapphire of the an- 
cients was not our gem of that name, viz. 
the azure or indigo-blue, crystalline va- 
riety of corundum, but our lapis lazuli 
(ultra-marine). 

Sa'ra, Greek form of Sarah. 

Sa'rah (princess). 1. The wife and 
half-sister, Gen. 20 : 12, of Abraham, and 
mother of Isaac. Her name is first intro- 
duced in Gen. 11 : 29asSarai. The change 
of her name from Sarai, my princess (i. e. 
Abraham's), to Sarah, princess (for all 
the race), was made at the same time that 
Abram's name was changed to Abraham, 
— on the establishment of the covenant 
of circumcision between him and God. 
Sarah's history is of course that of Abra- 
ham. [Abraham.] She died at Hebron 
at the age of 127 years, 28 years before 
her husband, and was buried by him in 
the cave of Machpelah. (B.C. 1860.) She 
is referred to in the New Testament as a 
type of conjugal obedience in 1 Pet. 3 : 
6, and as one of the types of faith in 
Heb. 11:11. 

2. Sarah, the daughter of Asher. Num. 
26 : 46. 

Sa'ra-i (my princess), the original 
name of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. 

Sa'raph (burning), mentioned in 1 
Chron. 4 : 22 among the descendants of 
Judah. 

Sardine, Sardius (red) (Heb. odem), 
the stone which occupied the first place 
in the first row of the high priest's breast- 
plate. Ex. 28 : 17. The sard, which is 
probably the stone denoted by 6dem, is 
a superior variety of agate, sometimes 
called carnelian, and has long been a 
favorite stone for the engraver's art. 
Sards differ in color : there is a bright-red 
variety, and perhaps the Hebrew odem, 
from a root which means "to be red," 
points to this kind. 

Sar'dis, a city of Asia Minor, and 
capital of Lydia, situated about two miles 
to the south of the river Hermus, just 
below the range of Tmolus, on a spur of 
which its acropolis was built. It was 50 
miles northeast of Smyrna. It was the 
ancient residence of the kings of Lydia, 
among them Croesus, proverbial for his 
590 



immense wealth. Cyrus is said to have 
taken $600,000,000 worth of treasure from 
the city when he captured it, B.C. 548. 
Sardis was in very early times, both from 
the extremely fertile character of the 
neighboring region and from its conven- 
ient position, a commercial mart of im- 
portance. The art of dyeing wool is said 
to have been invented there. In the year 




Rains at Sardis. 



214 B.C. it was taken and sacked by the 
army of Antiochus the Great. Afterward 
it passed under the dominion of the kings 
of Pergamos. Its productive soil must 
always have continued a source of wealth ; 
but its importance as a central mart ap- 
pears to have diminished from the time 
of the invasion of Asia by Alexander. 
The massive temple of Cybele still bears 
witness in its fragmentary remains to the 
wealth and architectural skill of the peo- 
ple that raised it. On the north side of 
the acropolis, overlooking the valley of 
the Hermus, is a theatre near 400 feet in 
diameter, attached to a stadium of about 
1000. There are still considerable re- 
mains of the ancient city at Sert-Kalessi. 
Travellers describe the appearance of the 
locality as that of complete solitude. 
The only passage in which it is mentioned 
in the Bible is Eev. 3 : 1-6. 

Sar'dites, The, descendants of Sered 
the son of Zebulun. Num. 26:26. (In 
the Revised Version of Rev. 4 : 3 for 
sardine stone. The name is derived from 
Sardis, where the stone was first found.) 



SAR 



SAT 



Sardonyx, a name compounded of 
sard and onyx, two precious stones, vari- 
eties of chalcedony or agate. The sar- 
donyx combines the qualities of both, 
whence its name. It is mentioned only 
in Eev. 21 : 20. The sardonyx consists 
of " a white opaque layer, superimposed 
upon a red transparent stratum of the 
true red sard." It is, like the sard, 
merely a variety of agate, and is fre- 
quently employed by engravers for sig- 
net-rings. 

Sarep'ta. [Zarepiiath.] 

Sar'gon (prince of the sun), one of 
the greatest of the Assyrian kings, is 
mentioned by name but once in Script- 
ure — Isa. 20 : 1. He was the successor 
of Shalmaneser, and was Sennacherib's 
father and his immediate predecessor. 
He reigned from B.C. 721 to 702, and 
seems to have been a usurper. He was 
undoubtedly a great and successful war- 
rior. In his annals, which cover a space 
of fifteen years, from B.C. 721 to 70b', he 
gives an account of his warlike expedi- 
tions against Babylonia and Susiana on 
the south, Media on the east, Armenia 
and Cappadocia toward the north, Syria, 
Palestine, Arabia and Egypt toward the 
west and southwest. In B.C. 712 he took 
Ashdod, by one of his generals, which is 
the event which causes the mention of 
his name in Scripture. It is not as a 
warrior only that Sargon deserves special 
mention among the Assyrian kings. He 
was also the builder of useful works, and 
of one of the most magnificent of the 
Assyrian palaces. 

Sa'rid (survivor), a chief landmark 
of the territory of Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 10, 
12. All that can be gathered of its posi- 
tion is that it lay to the west of Chisloth- 
tabor. 

Sa'ron, the district in which Lydda 
stood, Acts 9 : 35 onlv ; the Sharon of the 
Old Testament. [Shakon.] 

Saro'thic. "The sons of Sarothie" 
are among the sons of the servants of 
Solomon who returned with Zerubbabel. 
1 Esd. 5 : 34. 

Sarse'chim (prince of the eunuchs), 
one of the generals of Nebuchadnezzar's 
army at the taking of Jerusalem. Jer. 
39:3. (B.C. 588.) 

Sa'ruch, Luke 3 : 25; Serug the son 
of Reu. 

Sa'tan. The word itself, the Hebrew 
sdtdn, is simply an "adversary," and is 
so used in 1 Sam. 29 : 4; 2 Sam. 19 : 22 ; 
1 Kings 5:4; 11 : 14, 23, 25; Num. 22 : 



22, 32 ; Ps. 109 : 6. This original sense 
is still found in our Lord's application of 
the name to St. Peter in Matt. 16 : 23. It 
is used as a proper name or title only 
four times in the Old Testament, viz. 
(with the article) in Job 1 : 6, 12 ; 2:1; 
Zech. 2:1, and (without the article) in 1 
Chron. 21 : 1. It is with the scriptural 
revelation on the subject that we are 
here concerned; and it is clear, from 
this simple enumeration of passages, 
that it is to be sought in the New rather 
than in the Old Testament. I. The per- 
sonal existence of a spirit of evil is 
clearly revealed in Scripture; but the 
revelation is made gradually, in accord- 
ance with the progressiveness of God's 
method. In the first entrance of evil 
into the world, the temptation is referred 
only to the serpent. In the book of Job 
we find for the first time a distinct men- 
tion of "Satan," the "adversary" of 
Job. But it is important to remark the 
emphatic stress laid on his subordinate 
position, on the absence of all but dele- 
gated power, of all terror and all grand- 
eur in his character. It is especially 
remarkable that no power of spiritual 
influence, but only a power over outward 
circumstances, is attributed to him. The 
captivity brought the Israelites face to 
face with the great dualism of the Per- 
sian mythology, the conflict of Ormuzd 
with Ahriman, the co-ordinate spirit of 
evil ; but it is confessed by all that the 
Satan of Scripture bears no resemblance 
to the Persian Ahriman. His subordi- 
nation and inferiority are as strongly 
marked as ever. The New Testament 
brings plainly forward the power and 
the influence* of Satan. From the be- 
ginning of the Gospel, when he appears 
as the personal tempter of our Lord, 
through all the Gospels, Epistles, and 
Apocalypse, it is asserted or implied, 
again and again, as a familiar and im- 
portant truth. II. Of the nature and 
original state of Satan, little is revealed 
in Scripture. He is spoken of as a 
"spirit" in Eph. 2 : 2, as the prince or 
ruler of the "demons" in Matt. 12 : 24- 
26, and as having "angels" subject to 
him in Matt. 25 : 41 ; Rev. 12 : 7, 9. The 
whole description of his power implies 
spiritual nature and spiritual influence. 
We conclude therefore that he was of 
angelic nature, a rational and spiritual 
creature, superhuman in power, wisdom 
and energy; and not only so, but an 
archangel, one of the "princes" of 
591 



SAT 



SAU 



heaven. We cannot, of course, conceive 
that anything essentially and originally 
evil was created by God. We can only 
conjecture, therefore, that Satan is a 
fallen angel, who once had a time of 
probation, but whose condemnation is 
now irrevocably fixed. As to the time, 
cause and manner of his fall Scripture 
tells us scarcely anything; but it de- 
scribes to us distinctly the moral nature 
of the evil one. The ideal of goodness 
is made up of the three great moral at- 
tributes of God — love, truth, and purity 
or holiness; combined with that spirit 
which is the natural temper of the finite 
and dependent creature, the spirit of 
faith. We find, accordingly, that the 
opposites of these qualities are dwelt 
upon as the characteristics of the devil. 
III. The power of Satan over the soul is 
represented as exercised either directly 
or by his instruments. His direct influ- 
ence over the soul is simply that of a 
powerful and evil nature on those in 
whom lurks the germ of the same evil. 
Besides this direct influence, we learn 
from Scripture that Satan is the leader 
of a host of evil spirits or angels who 
share his evil work, and for whom the 
" everlasting fire is prepared." Matt. 25 : 
41. Of their origin and fall we know no 
more than of his. But one passage — 
Matt. 12 : 24-26— identifies them dis- 
tinctly with the " demons " (Authorized 
Version "devils") who had power to 
possess the souls of men. They are 
mostly spoken of in Scripture in refer- 
ence to possession ; but in Eph. 6 : 12 
they are described in various lights. We 
find them sharing the enmity to God and 
man implied in the name and nature of 
Satan ; but their power and action are 
little dwelt upon in comparison with 
his. But the evil one is not merely 
the " prince of the demons ;" he is called 
also the " prince of this world " in John 
12 : 31 ; 14 : 30 ; 16 : 11, and even the 
" god of this world " in 2 Cor. 4:4; the 
two expressions being united in Eph. 6 : 
12. This power he claimed for himself, 
as a delegated authority, in the tempta- 
tion of our Lord, Luke 4:6; and the 
temptation would have been unreal had 
he spoken altogether falsely. The indi- 
rect action of Satan is best discerned by 
an examination of the title by which he 
is designated in Scripture. He is called 
emphatically 6 5ux/3oAos, " the devil." 
The derivation of the word in itself 
implies only the endeavor to break the 
592 



bonds between others and "set them at 
variance;", but common usage adds to 
this general sense the special idea of 
" setting at variance by dander." In 
the application of the title to Satan, both 
the general and special senses should be 
kept in view. His general object is to 
break the bonds of communion between 
God and man, and the bonds of truth 
and love which bind men to each other. 
The slander of God to man is best seen 
in the words of Gen. 3 : 4, 5. They at- 
tribute selfishness and jealousy to the 
Giver of all good. The slander of man 
to God is illustrated by the book of Job. 
Job 1 : 9-11 ; 2 : 4, 5. IV. The method 
of satanic action upon the heart itself. 
It may be summed up in two words — 
temptation and possession. The subject 
of temptation is illustrated, not only by 
abstract statements, but also by the 
record of the temptations of Adam and 
of our Lord. It is expressly laid down, 
as in James 1 : 2-4, that " temptation," 
properly so called, e. "trial," is essen- 
tial to man, and is accordingly ordained 
for him and sent to him by God, as in 
Gen. 22 : 1. It is this tentability of man, 
even in his original nature, which is rep- 
resented in Scripture as giving scope to 
the evil action of Satan. But in the 
temptation of a fallen nature Satan has 
a greater power. Every sin committed 
makes a man the "servant of sin" for 
the future, John 8 : 34 ; Kom. 6 : 16 ; it 
therefore creates in the spirit of man a 
positive tendency to evil, which sympa- 
thizes with, and aids, the temptation of 
the evil one. On the subject of posses- 
sion, see Demoniacs. 

Satyr (sa'tyr or sat'yr), a sylvan deity 
or demigod of Greek mythology, repre- 
sented as a monster, part man and part 
goat. Isa. 13 : 21 ; 34 : 14. The Hebrew 
word signifies " hairy" or " rough," and 
is frequently applied to "he-goats." In 
the passages cited it j^robably refers to 
demons of woods and desert places. 
Comp. Lev. 17 : 7 ; 2 Chron. 11 : 15. 

Saul {desired), more accurately Shaul. 
1. One of the early kings of Edom, and 
successor of Samlah. Gen. 36:37, 38; 1 
Chron. 1 : 48. (B.C. after 1450.) 

2. The first king of Israel, the son of 
Kish, and of the tribe of Benjamin. (B.C. 
1095-1055.) His character is in part il- 
lustrated by the fierce, wayward, fitful 
nature of the tribe, and in part accounted 
for by the struggle between the old and 
new systems in which he found himself 



SAU 



SAU 



involved. To this we must add a taint 
of madness, which broke out in violent 
frenzy at times, leaving him with long 
lucid intervals. He was remarkable for 
his strength and activity, 2 Sam. 1 : 23, 
and, like the Homeric heroes, of gigantic 
stature, taller by head and shoulders than 
the rest of the people, and of that kind 
of beauty denoted by the Hebrew word 
"good," 1 Sam. 9 : 2, and which caused 
him to be compared to the gazelle, " the 
gazelle of Israel." His birthplace is not 
expressly mentioned ; but, as Zelah in 
Benjamin was the place of Kish's sep- 
ulchre, 2 Sam. 21 : 14, it was probably 
his native village. His father, Kish, was 
a powerful and wealthy chief, though the 
family to which he belonged was of little 
importance. 1 Sam. 9 : 1, 21. A portion 
of his property consisted of a drove of 
asses. In search of these asses, gone 
astray on the mountains, he sent his son 
Saul. It was while prosecuting this ad- 
venture that Saul met with Samuel for 
the first time at his home in Ramah, five 
miles north of Jerusalem. A divine in- 
timation had made known to him the 
approach of Saul whom he treated with 
special favor, and the next morning de- 
scending with him to the skirts of the 
town, Samuel poured over Saul's head 
the consecrated oil, and with a kiss of 
salutation announced to him that he was 
to be the ruler of the nation. 1 Sam. 9 : 
25-10 : 1. Returning homeward, his call 
was confirmed by the incidents which, 
according to Samuel's prediction, awaited 
him. 1 Sam. 10 : 9, 10. What may be 
named the public call occurred at Miz- 
peh, when lots were cast to find the tribe 
and family which was to produce the 
king, and Saul, by a divine intimation, 
was found hid in the circle of baggage 
which surrounded the encampment. 1 
Sam. 10 : 17-24. Returning to Gibeah, 
apparently to private life, he heard the 
threat issued by Nahash king of Amnion 
against Jabesh-gilead. He speedily col- 
lected an army, and Jabesh was rescued. 
The effect was instantaneous on the peo- 
ple, and the monarchy was inaugurated 
anew at Gilgal. 1 Sam. 11 : 1-15. It 
should be, however, observed that ac- 
cording to 1 Sam. 12 : 12 the affair of Na- 
hash preceded and occasioned the election 
of Saul. Although king of Israel, his 
rule was at first limited ; but in the sec- 
ond year of his reign he began to organize 
an attempt to shake off' the Philistine 
yoke, and an army was formed. In this 
38 



crisis, Saul, now on the very confines of 
his kingdom at Gilgal, impatient at 
Samuel's delay, whom he had directed 
to be present, offered sacrifice himself. 
Samuel, arriving later, pronounced the 
first curse, on his impetuous zeal. 1 Sam. 
13 : 5-14. After the Philistines were 
driven back to their "own country oc- 
curred the first appearance of Saul's 
madness in the rash vow which all but 
cost the life of his son. 1 Sam. 14 : 24, 44. 
The expulsion of the Philistines, al- 
though not entirely completed, ch. 14 : 
52, at once placed Saul in a position 
higher than that of any previous ruler 
of Israel, and he made war upon the 
neighboring tribes. In the war with 
Amalek, ch. 14 : 48 ; 15 : 1-9, he diso- 
beyed the prophetical command of Sam- 
uel, w T hich called down the second curse, 
and the first distinct intimation of the 
transference of the kingdom to a rival. 
The rest of Saul's life is one long tragedy. 
The frenzy which had given indications 
of itself before now at times took almost 
entire possession of him. In this crisis 
David was recommended to him. From 
this time forward their lives are blended 
together. [David.] In Saul's better 
moments he never lost the strong affec- 
tion which he had contracted for David. 
Occasionally, too, his prophetical gift re- 
turned, blended with his madness. 1 Sam. 
19 : 24. But his acts of fierce, wild zeal 
increased. At last the monarchy itself 
broke down under the weakness of its 
head. The Philistines re-entered the 
country, and just before giving them 
battle Saul's courage failed, and he con- 
sulted one of the necromancers, the 
" Witch of Endor," who had escaped his 
persecution. At this distance of time it 
is impossible to determine the relative 
amount of fraud or of reality in the scene 
which follows, though the obvious mean- 
ing of the narrative itself tends to the 
hypothesis of some kind of apparition, 
ch. 28. On hearing the denunciation 
which the apparition conveyed, Saul fell 
the whole length of his gigantic stature 
on the ground, and remained motionless 
till the woman and his servants forced 
him to eat. The next day the battle 
came on. The Israelites were driven up 
the side of Gilboa. The three sons of 
Saul were slain. Saul was wounded. 
According to one account, he fell upon 
his own sword, 1 Sam. 31 : 4, and died. 
The body on being found by the Philis- 
tines was stripped and decapitated, and 
593 



SAW 



SCO 



the headless trunk hung over the city 
walls, with those of his three sons. ch. 
31 : 9, 10. The head was deposited (prob- 
ably at Ashdod j in the temple of Dagon. 
1 Chron. 10 : 10. The corpse was buried 
at Jabesh-gilead. 1 Sam. 31 : 13. 

3. The Jewish name of St. Paul. 

Saw. Egyptian saws, so far as has 
yet been discovered, are single-handed. 
As is the case in modern Oriental saws, 
the teeth usually incline toward the 
handle, instead of away from it like 
ours. They have, in most cases, bronze 
blades, apparently attached to the han- 
dles by leathern thongs. No evidence 
exists of the use of the saw applied to 
stone in Egypt, but we read of sawn 
stones used in the temple. 1 Kings 7 : 9. 
The saws " under " or " in " which David 
is said to have placed his captives were 
of iron. The expression in 2 Sam. 12 : 31 
does not necessarily imply torture, but 
the word "cut" in 1 Chron. 20 : 3 can 
hardly be understood otherwise. 

Scapegoat. [Atonement, Day of.] 

Scarlet. [Colors.] 

Sceptre. This word originally 
meant a rod or staff. It was thence 
specifically applied to the shepherd's 
crook, Lev. 27 : 32 ; Micah 7 : 14, and 
to the wand or sceptre of a ruler. 
The allusions to it are all of a met- 
aphorical character, and describe it 
simply as one of the insignia of 
supreme power. Gen. 49 : 10. We 
are consequently unable to describe 
the article from any biblical notice ; 
we may infer that it was probably 
made of wood. The sceptre of the 
Persian monarch is described as 
"golden," i. e. probably of massive 
gold. Esther 4:11. 

Sce'va, a Jew residing at Ephe- 
sus at the time of St. Paul's second visit 
to that town. Acts 19 : 14-16. (a.d. 52.) 

Schools, fin the early ages most of 
the instruction of young children was by 
the parents. The leisure hours of the 
Sabbaths and festival days brought the 
parents in constant contact with the chil- 
dren. After the captivity schools came 
more into use, and at the time of Christ 
were very abundant. The schools were 
in connection with the synagogues, which 
were found in every city and in almost 
every village of the land. Their idea 
of the value of schools may be gained 
from such sayings from the Talmud as 
" The world is preserved by the breath 
of the children in the schools ;" "A town 
594 



in which there are no schools must 
perish ;" " Jerusalem was destroyed be- 
cause the education of children was neg- 
lected." Josephus says, " Our principal 
care is to educate our children." the 
Talmud states that in Bechar there were 
400 schools, having each 400 teachers, 
with 400 children each, and that there 
were 4000 pupils in the house of Rabban 
Simeon Ben-Camaliel. Maimonides thus 
describes a school : " The teacher sat at 
the head, and the pupils surrounded him 
as the crown the head, so that every one 
could see the teacher and hear his words. 
The teacher did not sit in a chair while 
the pupils sat on the ground, but all 
either sat on chairs or on the ground." 
The children read aloud to acquire flu- 
ency. The number of school-hours was 
limited, and during the heat of the sum- 
mer was only four hours. The punish- 
ment employed was beating with a strap, 
never with-a rod. The chief studies were 
their own language and literature, the 
chief school-book the Holy Scriptures; 




Scorpion. 

and there were special efforts to impress 
lessons of morality and chastity. Besides 
these they studied mathematics, astron- 
omy and the natural sciences. Beyond 
the' schools for popular education there 
were higher schools or colleges scattered 
throughout the cities where the Jews 
abounded.- — Ed.) 

Scorpion (Heb. 'akrdb), a well- 
I known venomous insect of hot climates, 
i shaped much like a lobster. It is usually 
I not more than two or three inches long, 
but in tropical climates is sometimes six 
j inches in length. The wilderness of 
Sinai is especially alluded to as being in- 
| habited by scorpions at the time of the 
! exodus, and to this day these animals 



SCO 



SCE 



are common in the same district, as well 
as in some parts of Palestine. Scorpions 
are generally found in dry and in dark 
places, under stones and in ruins. They 
are carnivorous in their habits, and move 
along in a threatening attitude, with the 
tail elevated. The sting, which is situ- 
ated at the end of the tail, has at its base 
a gland that secretes a poisonous fluid, 
which is discharged into the wound by 
two minute orifices at its extremity. In 
hot climates the sting often occasions 
much suffering, and sometimes alarming 
symptoms. The "scorpions" of 1 Kings 
12:11, 14; 2 Chron. 10:11, 14, have 
clearly no allusion whatever to the ani- 
mal, but to some instrument of scourging 
— unless indeed the expression is a mere 
figure. 




Flagellum or Scourge. 



Scourging. The punishment of 
scourging was common among the Jews. 
The instrument of punishment in an- 
cient Egypt, as it is also in modern 
times generally in the East, was usually 
the stick, applied to the soles of the feet 
— bastinado. Under the Roman method 
the culprit was stripped, stretched with 



cords or thongs on a frame and beaten 
with rods. (Another form of the scourge 
consisted of a handle with three lashes or 




Scourging. 

thongs of leather or cord, sometimes with 
pieces of metal fastened to them. Roman 
citizens were exempt by their law from 
scourging.) 

Scribes (Heb. sdpherim). I. Name. — 
(1) Three meanings are connected with 
the verb sdphar, the root of sopherim — 
(a) to write, {b) to set in order, (c) to 
count. The explanation of the word has 
been referred to each of these. The so- 
pherim were so called because they wrote 
out the law, or because they classified 
and arranged its precepts, or because 
they counted with scrupulous minuteness 
every clause and letter it contained. (2) 
The name of Kirjath-sepher, Josh. 15 : 
15; Judges 1:12, may possibly connect 
itself with some early use of the title, 
and appears to point to military functions 
of some kind. Judges 5 : 14. The men 
are mentioned as filling the office of 
scribe under David and Solomon. 2 Sam. 
8 : 17 ; 20 : 25 ; 1 Kings 4:3. We may 
think of them as the king's secretaries, 
writing his letters, drawing up his de- 
crees, managing his finances. Comp. 2 
Kings 12 : 10. In Hezekiah's time they 
transcribed old records, and became a 
class of students and interpreters of the 
law, boasting of their wisdom. Jer. 8 : 8. 
After the captivity the office became 
more prominent, as the exiles would be 
anxious above all things to preserve the 
sacred books, the laws, the hymns, the 
prophecies of the past. II. Development 
of^ doctrine, — Of the scribes of this period, 
with the exception of Ezra and Zadok, 
Neh. 13 : 13, we have no record. A later 
age honored them collectively as the 
men of the Great Synagogue. Never, 
perhaps, was so important a work done 
so silently. They devoted themselves to 
the careful study of the text, and laid 
down rules for transcribing it with the 
most scrupulous precision. As time 
passed on the " words of the scribes " 
were honored above the law. It was a 
595 



SCR 



SCR 



greater crime to offend against them than 
against the law. The first step was taken 
toward annulling the commandments of 
God for the sake of their own traditions. 
Mark 7 : 13. The casuistry became at 
once subtle and prurient, evading the 




Scribes. 

plainest duties, tampering with con- 
science. Matt. 15:1-6; 23:16-23. We 
can therefore understand why they were 
constantly denounced by our Lord along 




A Jewish Scribe. 

with the Pharisees. While the scribes 
repeated the traditions of the elders, he 
" spake as one having authority," " not 
as the scribes." Matt. 7 : 29. While they 
596. 



confined their teachings to the class of 
scholars, he " had compassion on the 
multitudes." Matt. 9:36. While they 
were to be found only in the council or 
in their schools, he journeyed through 
the cities and villages. Matt. 4 : 23 ; 9 : 
35, etc. While they spoke 
of the kingdom of God 
vaguely, as a thing far off, 
he proclaimed that it had 
already come nigh to men. 
Matt. 4 : 17. In our Lord's 
time there were two chief 
parties: 1, the disciples of 
Shammai, conspicuous for 
their fierceness, appealing 
to popular passions, using 
the sword to decide their 
controversies. Out of this 
party grew the Zealots. 
2. The disciples of Hillel, 
born B.C. 112, and who may 
have been one of the doc- 
tors before whom the boy 
Jesus came in the temple, 
for he lived to be 120 years 
old. Hillel was a "liberal 
conservative, of genial char- 
acter and broad range of thought, with 
some approximations to a higher teach- 
ing." In most of the points at issue be- 
tween the two parties, Jesus must have ap- 
peared in direct antagonism to the school 
of Shammai, in sympathy with that of 
Hillel. So tar, on the other hand, as the 
temper of the Hillel school was one of 
mere adaptation to the feeling of the peo- 
ple, cleaving to tradition, wanting in the 
intuition of a higher life, the teaching of 
Christ must have been felt as unsparingly 
condemning it. III. Education and life. 
— The special training for a scribe's office 
began, probably, about the age of thir- 
teen. The boy who was destined by his 
parents to the calling of a scribe went to 
Jerusalem and applied for admission in 
the school of some famous rabbi. After 
a sufficient period of training, probably 
at the age of thirty the probationer was 
solemnly admitted to his office. After 
his admission there was a choice of a 
variety of functions, the chances of fail- 
ure and success. He might give himself 
to any one of the branches of study, or 
combine two or more of them. He might 
rise to high places, become a doctor of 
the law, an arbitrator in family litiga- 
tions, Luke 12 : 14, the head of a school, 
a member of the Sanhedrin. He might 
have to content himself with the humbler 



SCR 



SEA 



work of a transcriber, copying the law 
and the prophets for the use of syna- 
gogues, or a notary, writing out contracts 
of sale, covenants of espousals, bills of 
repudiation. The position of the more 
fortunate was of course attractive enough. 
In our Lord's time the passion for dis- 
tinction was insatiable. The ascending 
scale of rab, rabbi, rabban, presented so 
many steps on the ladder of ambi- 
tion. Other forms of worldliness were 
not far otF. The salutations in the 
market-place, Matt. 23 : 7, the rever- 
ential kiss offered by the scholars to 
their master or by rabbis to each other, 
the greeting of Abba, father, Matt. 
23 : 9, the long robes with the broad 
blue fringe, Matt. 23 : 5, — all these go 
to make up the picture of a scribe's 
life. Drawing to themselves, as they 
did, nearly all the energy and thought 
of Judaism, the close hereditary caste 
of the priesthood was powerless to 
compete with them. Unless the priest 
became a scribe also, he remained in ob- 
scurity. The order, as such, became con- 
temptible and base. For the scribes 
there were the best places at feasts, the 
chief seats in synagogues. Matt. 23 : 6 ; 
Luke 14 : 7. 

Scrip. The Hebrew word thus trans- 
lated appears in 1 Sam. 17 : 40 as a syno- 
nym for the bag in which the shepherds 
of Palestine carried their food or other 
necessaries. The scrip of the Galilean 
peasants was of leather, used especially 
to carry their food on a journey, and 
slung over their shoulders. Matt. 10 : 10 ; 
Mark 6:8; Luke 9:3; 22 : 35. The En- 
glish word " scrip " is probably connected 
with scrape, scrap, and was used in like 
manner for articles of food. 

Scripture. [See Bible.] 

Scyth'ian occurs in Col. 3 : 11 as a 
generalized term for rude, ignorant, de- 
graded. The name often included all the 
nomadic tribes, who dwelt mostly on the 
north of the Black and the Caspian Sea, 
stretching thence indefinitely into inner 
Asia, and were regarded by the ancients 
as standing extremely low in point of in- 
telligence and civilization. 

Scythop'olis. [Beth-shean.] 

Sea. The sea, yam, is used in Scrip- 
ture to denote — 1. " The gathering of the 
Avaters," "the Ocean." Gen. 1:2, 10; 
Deut. 30 : 13, etc. 2. Some portion of 
this, as the Mediterranean Sea, called the 
"hinder," the "western" and the "ut- 
most" sea, Deut. 11:24; 34:2; Joel 2: 



20 ; " sea of the Philistines," Ex. 23 : 31 ; 
" the great sea," Num. 34 : 6, 7 ; Josh. 15 : 
47; "the sea." Gen. 49:13; Ps. 80 : 11. 
Also frequently of the Red Sea. Ex. 15 : 
4. [Red Sea.] 3. Inland lakes termed 
seas, as the Salt or Dead Sea. [See the 
special article.] 4. Any great collection 
of waters, as the river Nile, Isa. 19 : 5, 
and the Euphrates. Jer. 51 : 36. 




The Brazen or Molten Sea. 

Sea, Molten. In the place of the 
laver of the tabernacle, Solomon caused 
a laver to be cast for a similar purpose, 
which from its size was called a sea. It 
was made partly or wholly of the brass, 
or rather copper, which was captured by 
David from " Tibhath and Chun, cities 
of Hadarezer king of Zobah." 1 Kings 7 : 
23-26 ; 1 Chron. 18 : 8. It is said to have 
been 15 feet in diameter and 7+ feet deep, 
and to have been capable of containing 
2000, or, according to 2 Chron. 4 : 5, 3000 
baths (16,000 to 24,000 gallons). The 
laver stood on twelve oxen, three toward 
each quarter of the heavens, and all look- 
ing outward. It was mutilated by Ahaz 
by being removed from its basis of oxen 
and placed on a stone base, and was 
finally broken up by the Assyrians. 2 
Kings 16 : 14, 17 ; 25 : 13. 

Sea, The Salt, the usual and perhaps 
the most ancient name for the remarkable 
lake which to the western world is now 
generally known as the Dead Sea. 

I. Names.— (1) The Salt Sea, Gen. 14: 
3 ; (2) Sea of the Arabah (Authorized 
Version "sea of the plain," which is 
found in Deut. 4 : 49) ; (3) The East Sea, 
Joel 2 : 20; (4) The sea, Ezek. 47 : 8; (5) 
Sodomitish Sea, 2 Esdras; (6) Sea of salt, 
and Sea of Sodom, in the Talmud; (7) 
The Asphaltic Lake, in Josephus ; (8) 
The name "Dead Sea" appears to have 
been first used in Greek by Pausanias and 
Galen, and in Latin {mare mortuum) by 
Justin xxxvi. 3, $ 6, or rather by the older 
historian Trogus' Pornpeius (cir. B.C. 10), 
597 




598 



The Salt or Dead Sea. After a Sketch by Major Wilson. 

(The figures denote the depression below the Mediterranean Sea.) 



SEA 



SEA 



whose work he epitomized. (9) The Ara- 
bic name is Bohr Lat, the "Sea of Lot." 

II. Description. — The so-called Dead 
Sea is the final receptacle of the river 
Jordan, the lowest and largest of the 
three lakes which interrupt the rush of 
its downward course. It is the deepest 
portion of that very deep natural fissure 
which runs like a furrow from the Gulf 
of Akabah to the range of Lebanon, and 
from the range of Lebanon to the extreme 



north of Syria. Viewed on the map, the 
lake is of an oblong form, of tolerably 
regular contour, interrupted only by a 
large and long peninsula which projects 
from the eastern shore near its southern 
end, and virtually divides the expanse of 
the water into two portions, connected by 
a long, narrow and somewhat devious 
passage. Its surface is from north to 
south as nearly as possible 40 geograph- 
ical or 46 English miles long. Its great- 





Dead Sea. 



est width is about 9 geographical or 10i I 
English mile-. Its area is about 250 \ 
geographical square miles. At its north- 
ern end the lake receives the stream of ; 
the Jordan ; on its eastern side the Zilrka \ 
Ma'in (the ancient Callirrhoe, and pos- 
sibly the more ancient en-Eglaim), the 
Mojib (the Anion of the Bible), and the 
Beni-Hemdd ; on the south the Kurdhy 
or el-Ahsy ; and on the west that of Ain j 
Jidy. The depression of its surface, and 
the depth which it attains below that [ 
surface, combined with the absence of 
any outlet, rentier it one of the most re- J 
markable spot-, on the globe. The sur- 



face of the lake in May, 1848, was 1316.7 
feet below the level of the Mediterranean 
at Jaffa. Its depth, at about one third of 
its length from the north end, is 1308 
feet. The water of the lake is not less 
remarkable than its other features. Its 
most obvious peculiarity is its great 
weight. Its specific gravity has been 
found to be as much as 12.28 ; that is to 
say, a gallon of it would weigh over V2\ 
lbs., instead of 10 lbs., the weight of dis- 
tilled water. Water so heavy must not 
only be extremely buoyant, but must 
possess great inertia. Its buoyancy is a 
common theme of remark by the travel- 
599 



SEA 



SEA 



lers who have been upon it or in it. Dr. 
Robinson "could never swim before, 
either in fresh or salt water," yet here he 
"could sit, stand, lie or swim without 
difficulty." {B. H. i. 506.) The remark- 
able weight of the water is due to the 
very large quantity of mineral salts which 
it holds in solution. Each gallon of the 
water, weighing 12£ lbs., contains nearly 
3^ lbs. of matter in solution — an immense 
quantity when we recollect that sea- 
water, weighing 10i lbs. per gallon, con- 
tains less than ^ a lb. Of this 3} lbs. 
nearly 1 lb. is common salt (chloride of 
sodium), about 2 lbs. chloride of magne- 
sium, and less than £ a lb. chloride of 
calcium (or muriate of lime). The most 
usual ingredient is bromide of magne- 
sium, which exists in truly extraordinary 
quantity. It has been long supposed that 
no life whatever existed in the lake ; but 
recent facts show that some inferior or- 
ganizations do find a home even in these 
salt and acrid waters. The statements of 
ancient travellers and geographers to the 
eifect that no living creature could exist 
on the shores of the lake, or bird fly 
across its surface, are amply disproved 
by later travellers. The springs on the 
margin of the lake harbor snipe, part- 
ridges, ducks, nightingales and other 
birds, as well as frogs; and hawks, doves 
and hares are found along the shore. 
The appearance of the lake does not ful- 
fill the idea conveyed by its popular 
name. " The Dead Sea," says a recent 
traveller, "did not strike me with that 
sense of desolation and dreariness which 
I suppose it ought. I thought it a pretty, 
smiling lake — a nice ripple on its sur- 
face." The truth lies, as usual, some- 
where between these two extremes. On 
the one hand, the lake certainly is not a 
gloomy, deadly, smoking gulf. In this 
respect it does not at all fulfill the prom- 
ise of its name. At sunrise and sunset the 
scene must be astonishingly beautiful. 
But on the other hand, there is something 
in the prevalent sterility and the dry, 
burnt look of the shores, the overpower- 
ing heat, the occasional smell of sulphur, 
the dreary salt marsh at the southern 
end, and the fringe of dead driftwood 
round the margin, which must go far to 
excuse the title which so many ages have 
attached to the lake, and which we may 
be sure it will never lose. The connec- 
tion between this singular lake and the 
biblical history is very slight. In the 
topographical records of the Pentateuch 
600 



and the book of Joshua it forms one 
among the landmarks of the boundaries 
of the whole country, as well as of the 
inferior divisions of Judah and Benjamin. 
J As a landmark it is once named in what 
j appears to be a quotation from a lost 
J work of the prophet Jonah, 2 Kings 14 : 
25, itself apparently a reminiscence of the 
old Mosaic statement. Num. 34 : 8, 12. 
Besides this the name occurs once or 
twice in the imagery of the prophets. In 
the New Testament there is not even an 
allusion to it. There is, however, one 
passage in which the " Salt Sea " is men- 
tioned in a manner different from any of 
those already quoted, viz. as having been 
in the time of Abraham the vale of Sid- 
dim. Gen. 14 : 3. In consequence of this 
passage it has been believed that the 
present lake covered a district which in 
historic times had been permanently 
habitable dry land. But it must not be 
overlooked that the passage in question 
is the only one in the whole Bible to 
countenance the notion that the cities of 
the plain were submerged; a notion which 
does not date earlier than the Christian 
era. [Sodom; Zoar.] The belief which 
prompted the idea of some modern writ- 
ers that the Dead Sea was formed by the 
catastrophe which overthrew the " cities 
of the plain " is a mere assumption. It 
is not only unsupported by Scripture, but 
is directly in the teeth of the evidence of 
the ground itself. Of the situation of 
those cities, we only know that, being in 
the "plain of the Jordan," they must 
have been to the north of the lake. Of 
the catastrophe which destroyed them, 
we only know that it is described as a 
shower of ignited sulphur descending 
from the skies. Its date is uncertain, but 
we shall be safe in placing it within the 
limit of 2000 years before Christ. (It is 
supposed that only the southern bay of 
the Dead Sea was formed by the submerg- 
ence of the cities of the plain, and this 
is still probable. If Hugh Miller's the- 
ory of the flood is correct — and it is the 
most reasonable theory yet propounded — 
then the Dead Sea was formed by the de- 
pression of that part of the valley through 
which the Jordan once flowed to the 
Red Sea. But this great depression caused 
| all the waters of the Jordan to remain 
i without outlet, and the size of the Dead 
Sea must be such that the evaporation 
from its surface just balances the amount 
of water which flows in through the river, 
i This accounts in part for the amount of 



SEA 



SEC 



matter held in solution by the Dead Sea 
waters; for the evaporation is of pure 
water only, while the inflow contains 
more or less of salts and other matter in 
solution. This theory also renders it prob- 
able that the lake was at first consider- 
ably larger than at present, for in earlier 
times the Jordan had probably a larger 
flow of water. — Ed. ) The destruction of 
Sodom and Gomorrah may have been by 
volcanic action, but it may be safely as- 
serted that no traces of it have yet been 
discovered, and that, whatever it was, it 
can have had no connection with that far 
vaster and far more ancient event which 
opened the great valley of the Jordan and 
the Dead Sea, and at some subsequent 
time cut it off from communication with 
the Eed Sea by forcing up between them 
the tract of the U'ady Arabah. 




Seal with Frame. 

Seal. The importance attached to 
seals in the East is so great that without 
one no document is regarded as authentic. 




Seal and Signets. 

Among the methods of sealing used in 
Egypt at a very early period were en- 



graved stones, pierced through their 
length and hung by a string or chain from 
the arm or neck, or set in rings for the 
finger. The most ancient form used for 
this purpose was the scarabseus, formed of 
precious or common stone, or even of blue 
pottery or porcelain, on the flat side of 
which the inscription or device was en- 
graved. In many cases the seal consisted 
of a lump of clay, impressed with the seal 
and attached to the document, whether of 
! papyrus or other material, by strings. In 
j other cases wax was used. In sealing a 
sepulchre or box, the fastening was 
! covered with clay or wax, and the im- 
j pression from a seal of one in authority 
was stamped upon it, so that it could 
not be broken open without discovery. 
The signet-ring was an ordinary part of a 
man's equipment. Gen. 38 : 18. The ring 
or the seal as an emblem of authority in 
Egypt, Persia and elsewhere is mentioned 
in Gen. 41 : 42 ; 1 Kings 21 : 8 ; Esther 3 : 
10, 12 ; 8:2; Dan. 6 : 17 ; and as an evi- 
dence of a covenant, in Jer. 32 : 10, 44 ; 
Neh. 9 : 38 ; 10 : 1 ; Hag. 2 : 23. Engraved 
signets were in use among the Hebrews 
in early times. Ex. 28 : 11, 36 ; 39 : 6. 

Se'ba (pi. Sebaim; in Authorized Ver- 
sion incorrectly rendered Sabeans) heads 
the list of the sons of Cush. Besides the 
mention of Seba in the lists of the sons of 
Cush, Gen. 10 : 7 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 9, there are 
but three notices of the nation — Ps. 72 : 
10 ; Isa. 43 : 3 ; 45 : 14. These passages seem 
to show that Seba was a nation of Africa, 
bordering on or included in Cush, and in 
Solomon's time independent and of po- 
litical importance. It may perhaps be 
identified with the island of Meroe. Jo- 
sephus says that Saba was the ancient 
name of the Ethiopian island and city 
of Meroe, but he writes Seba, in the 
notice of the Noachian settlements, Sabas. 
The island of Meroe lay between the As- 
taboras, the Atbara, the most northern 
tributary of the Nile, and the Astapus, 
the Bahr el-Azrak or " Blue River," the 
eastern of its two great confluents. 
Se'bat [a rod). [Month.] 
Sec'acah,or Seca'cah {thicket), one 
of the six cities of Judah which were sit- 
uated in the Midbar (" wilderness "), that 
is, the tract bordering on the Dead Sea. 
Josh. 15 : 61. Its position is not known. 

Se'chu {the watch-tower), a place men- 
tioned once only — 1 Sam. 19 : 22— appar- 
ently as lying on the route between Saul's 
residence, Gibeah, and Ramah (Rama- 
thaim-zophim), that of Samuel. It was 
601 



SEC 



SEL 



notorious for " the great well " (or rather 
cistern) which it contained. Assuming j 
that Saul started from Gibeah {Tuleil el- I 
Ful), and that Neby Samivil is Ramah, 
then Bir Neballa (the well of Neballa), 
just south of Beeroth, alleged by a mod- 
ern traveller to contain a large pit, would 
be in a suitable position for the great 
well of Sechu. 

Secun'dus {fortunate), a Thessalo- 
nian Christian. Acts 20 : 4. (A.D. 55.) 

Seer. [Prophet.] 

Se'gub {elevated). 1. The youngest 
son of Hiel the Bethelite, who rebuilt 
Jericho. 1 Kings 16 : 34. (B.C. about 910.) 

2. Son of Hezron. 1 Chron. 2 : 21, 22. 
(B.C. about 1682.) 

Se'ir {hairy, shaggy). 1. We have 
both " land of Seir," Gen. 32 : 3 ; 36 : 30, 
and " Mount Seir." Gen. 14:6. It is the 
original name of the mountain range ex- 
tending along the east side of the valley 
of Arabah, from the Dead Sea to the 
Elanitic Gulf. The Horites appear to have 
been the chief of the aboriginal inhab- 
itants, Gen. 36 : 20 ; but it was ever after- 
ward the possession of the Edomites, the 
descendants of Esau. The Mount Seir 
of the Bible extended much farther south 
than the modern province, as is shown bv 
the words of Deut. 2 : 1-8. It had the 
Arabah on the west, vs. 1 and 8 ; it ex- 
tended as far south as the head of the 
Gulf of Akabah, ver. 8 ; its eastern border 
ran along the base of the mountain range 
where the plateau of Arabia begins. Its 
northern border is not so accurately de- 
termined. There is a line of "naked" 
white hills or cliffs which run across the 
great valley about eight miles south of 
the Dead Sea, the highest eminence being 
Mount Hor, which is 4800 feet high. 

2. Mount Seir, an entirely different 
place from the foregoing; one of the 
landmarks on the north boundary of the 
territory of Judah. Josh. 15 : 10 only. 
It lay westward of Kirjath-jearim, and 
between it and Beth-shemesh. If Kuriel 
el-Enab be the former and Ain-shems the 
latter of these two, then Mount Seir can- 
not fail to be the ridge which lies between 
the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab. 
In a pass of this ridge is the modern vil- 
lage of Sair. 

Se'irath {the shaggy), the place to 
which Ehud fled after his murder of 
Eglon. Judges 3 : 26, 27. It was in 
" Mount Ephraim," ver. 27, a continua- 
tion, perhaps, of the same wooded, shaggy 
hills which stretched even so far south as 
602 



to enter the territory of Judah. Josh. 15 : 
10. (It is probably the same place as 
Mount Seir, 2.) 

Se'la, or Se'lah {the rock), 2 Kings 
14 : 7 ; Isa. 16:1; so rendered in the Au- 
thorized Version in Judges 1 : 36 ; 2 
Chron. 25 : 12 ; probably the city later 
known as Petra, the ruins of which are 
found about two days journey north of 
the top of the Gulf of Akabah, and three 
or four south from Jericho, and about 
halfway between the southern end of the 
Dead Sea and the northern end of the 
Gulf of Akabah. It was in the midst 
of Mount Seir, in the neighborhood of 
Mount Hor, and therefore Edomite ter- 
ritory, taken by Amaziah, and called 
Joktheel. In the end of the fourth cen- 
tury B.C. it appears as the headquarters 
of the Nabatheans, who successfully re- 
sisted the attacks of Antigonus. About 
70 B.C. Petra appears as the residence of 
the Arab princes named Aretas. It was 
by Trajan reduced to subjection to the 
Roman empire. The city Petra lay, 
though at a high level, in a hollow three 
quarters of a mile long and from 800 
to 1500 feet wide, shut in by mountain 
| cliffs, and approached only by a narrow 
j ravine, through which, and across the 
I city's site, the river winds. There are 
j extensive ruins at Petra of Roman date, 
I which have been frequently described by 
modern travellers. 

Se'la-Hammahle'koth {the cliff of 
I escapes or of divisions), a rock or cliff in 
j the wilderness of Maon, southeast of 
; Hebron, the scene of one of those re- 
| markable escapes which are so frequent 
| in the history of Saul's pursuit of David. 
1 Sam. 23 : 28. 

Se'lah. This word, which is found 
only in the poetical books of the Old 
Testament, occurs seventy-one times in 
the Psalms and three times in Habakkuk. 
| It is probably a term which had a mean- 
i ing in the musical nomenclature of the 
j Hebrews, though what that meaning may 
! have been is now a matter of pure con- 
j jecture. (Gesenius and Ewald and others 
j think it has much the same meaning as 
! our interlude, — a pause in the voices 
| singing, while the instruments perform 
| alone.) 

Se'Ied {exultation), one of the sons of 
1 Nadab, a descendant of Jerahmeel. 1 
! Chron. 2 : 30. (B.C. after 1450.) 

Sele-u'cia, or Sele-uci'a (named 
; after its founder, Seleucus), near the 
i mouth of the Orontes, was practically 



SEL 



SEN 



the seaport of Antioch. The distance 
between the two towns was about 16 
miles. St. Paul, with Barnabas, sailed 
from Seleucia at the beginning of his first 
missionary circuit. Acts 13 : 4. This 
strong fortress and convenient seaport 
was constructed by the first Seleucus, 
and here he was buried. It retained its 
importance in Roman times, and in St. 
Paul's day it had the privileges of a free 
city. The remains are numerous. 

Sele-u'cus, the name of five kings 
of the Greek dominion of Syria, who are 
hence called Seleucidce. Only one — the 
fourth — is mentioned in the Apocrypha. 

Sele-u'cus IV. (Philopator), son of 
Antiochus the Great, whom he succeeded 
B.C. 187, " king of Asia," 2 Mace. 3 : 3, 
that is, of the provinces included in the 
Syrian monarchy, according to the title 
claimed by the Seleucidse, even when 
they had lost their footing in Asia Minor. 
He took part in the disastrous battle of 
Magnesia, B.C. 190, and three years after- 
ward, ori the death of his father, ascended 
the throne. He was murdered B.C. 175, 
after a reign of twelve years, by Heli- 
odorus, one of his own courtiers. Dan. 
11 : 20. His son Demetrius I. (Soter), 
whom he had sent, while still a boy, as 
hostage to Rome, after a series of roman- 
tic adventures, gained the crown in 162 
B.C. 1 Mace. 7 : 1 ; 2 Mace. 14 : 1. The 
general policy of Seleucus toward the 
Jews, like that of his father, 2 Mace. 3 : 
2, 3, was conciliatory, and he undertook 
a large share of the expenses of the 
temple service. 2 Mace. 3 : 3, 6. 

Sera. Shem the patriarch. Luke 3 : 
36. 

Semachi'ah (Jehovah siistains him), 
one of the sons of Shemaiah, 9. 1 
Chron. 26 : 7. 

Sem'ei (the Greek form of Shimei). 
1. Shimei, 14. 1 Esd. 9 : 33. 

2. Shimei, 16. Esther 11:2. 

3. The father of Mattathias in the gen- 
ealogy of Jesus Christ. Luke 3 : 26. 

Sem'ein. In the Revised Version of 
Luke 3 : 26 for Semei. 

Semit'ic Languages. [Shemitic 
Languages ; Hebrew.] 

Sen'a-ah (thorny). The "children 
(i. e. the inhabitants) of Senaah " are 
enumerated among the " people of Is- 
rael " who returned from the captivity 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 35 ; Neh. 7 : 
38. (B.C. 536.) The Magdal Senna of 
Euseoius and Jerome denotes a town 
seven miles north of Jericho ("Senna"). 



Se'neh (thorn), the name of one of 
the two isolated rocks which stood in 
the "passage of Michmash," 1 Sam. 14 : 
4, 6i miles north of Jerusalem. 

Se'nir (snow mountain), 1 Chron. 5 : 
23 ; Ezek. 27 : 5, the Amorite name for 
Mount Hermon. 




Sennacherib on his Throne. 

Sennach'erib, or Sennache'rib 

(sin, the moon, increases brothers), was 
the son and successor of Sargon. [Sar- 
GON.] His name in the original is read 
as Tsinakki-irib, the meaning of which, 
as given above, indicates that he was not 
the first-born of his father. Sennacherib 
mounted the throne B.C. 702. His efforts 
were directed to crushing the revolt of 
Babylonia, which he invaded with a 
large army. Merodach-baladan ventured 
on a battle, but was defeated and driven 
from the country. In his third year, 
B.C. 700, Sennacherib turned his arms 
toward the west, chastised Sidon, and, 
having probably concluded a convention 
with his chief enemy, finally marched 
against Hezekiah, king of Judah. It 
was at this time that " Sennacherib came 
up against all the fenced cities of Judah, 
and took them." 2 Kings 18 : 13. There 
can be no doubt that the record which 
he has left of his campaign against 
" Hiskiah " in his third year is the war 
with Hezekiah so briefly touched in vs. 
13-16 of this chapter. In the following 
year (B.C. 699) Sennacherib made his 
second expedition into Palestine. Hez- 
ekiah had again revolted, and claimed 
603 



SEN 



SEP 



the protection of Egypt. Sennacherib 
therefore attacked Egypt, and from his 
camp at Lachish and Libnah he sent an 
insulting letter to Hezekiah at Jerusalem. 
In answer to Hezekiah's prayer an event 
occurred which relieved both Egypt and 
Judea from their danger. In one night 
the Assyrians lost, either by a pestilence 
or by some more awful manifestation of 
divine power, 185,000 men ! The camp 
immediately broke up; the king fled. 
Sennacherib reached his capital in safety, 
and was not deterred by the terrible dis- 
aster which had befallen his arms from 
engaging in other wars, though he seems 
thenceforward to have carefully avoided 
Palestine. Sennacherib reigned 22 years, 
and was succeeded by Esar-haddon, B.C. 
680. Sennacherib was one of the most 
magnificent of the Assyrian kings. He 
seems to have been the first who fixed 
the seat of government permanently at 
Nineveh, which he carefully repaired and 
adorned with splendid buildings. His 
greatest work is the grand palace at 
Kouyunjik. Of the death of Sennach- 
erib nothing is known beyond the brief 
statement of Scripture that "as he was 
worshipping in the house of Nisroch his 
god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons 
smote him with the sword, and escaped 
into the land of Armenia." 2 Kings 19 : 
37 ; Isa. 37 : 38. 

Sen'uah {bristling, properly Hassen- 
uah, with the definite article), a Ben- 
jamite. Neh. 11:9. 

Seo'rim {barley), the chief of the 
fourth of the twenty-four courses of 
priests. 1 Chron. 24 : 8. 

Se'phar ( a numbering). It is written, 
after the enumeration of the sons of Jok- 
tan, " And their dwelling was from Mesha 
as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the 
east." Gen. 10 : 30. The Joktanites occu- 
pied the southwestern portion of the pe- 
ninsula of Arabia. The undoubted iden- 
tifications of Arabian places and tribes 
with their Joktanite originals are in- 
cluded within these limits, and point to 
Sephar, on the shore of the Indian Ocean, 
as the eastern boundary. The ancient 
seaport town called Zafdr represents the 
biblical site or district. 

Seph'aracl {separated), a name which 
occurs in Obad. ver. 20 only. Its situ- 
ation has always been a matter of uncer- 
tainty. 

Sepharva'im {the two Sipparas) is 
mentioned by Sennacherib in his letter 
to Hezekiah as a city whose king had 
604 



been unable to resist the Assyrians. 2 
Kings 19 : 13 ; Isa. 37 : 13, comp. 2 Kings 
18 : 34. It is identified with the famous 
town of Sippara, on the Euphrates above 
Babylon, which was near the site of the 
modern Mosaib. The dual form indi- 
cates that there were two Sipparas, one 
on either side of the river. Berosus 
called Sippara " a city of the sun;" and 
in the inscriptions it bears the same title, 
being called Tsipar sha Shamas, or " Sip- 
para of the Sun" — the sun being the 
chief object of worship there. Comp. 2 
Kings 17 : 31. 

Sephe'la, the Greek form of the an- 
cient word has-Shefeldh, the native name 
for the southern division of the low-lying 
flat district which intervenes between the 
central highlands of the holy land and 
the Mediterranean, the other and north- 
ern portion of which was known as Sha- 
ron. The name occurs throughout the 
topographical records of Joshua, the his- 
torical works, and the topogi-aphical pas- 
sages in the prophets; always with the 
article prefixed, and always denoting the 
same region. In each of these passages, 
however, the word is treated in the Au- 
thorized Version not as a proper name, 
analogous to the Campagna, the Wolds, 
the Carse, but as a mere appellative, and 
rendered "the vale," "the valley," "the 
plain," "the low plains," and "the low 
country." The Shefelah was and is one 
of the most productive regions of the 
holy land. It was in ancient times the 
cornfield of Syria, and as such the con- 
stant subject of warfare between Philis- 
tines and Israelites, and the refuge of the 
latter when the harvests in the central 
country were ruined by drought. 2 Kings 
8 : 1-3. 

Sep'tuagint {the seventy). The Sep- 
tuagint or Greek version of the Old Tes- 
tament appears at the present day in four 
principal editions: — 1. Biblia Polyglotta 
Complutensis, A.D. 1514-1517. 2. The 
Aldine Edition, Venice, A.D. 1518. 3. 
The Boman Edition, edited under Pope 
Sixtus V., A.D. 1587. 4. Fac-simile Edi- 

! tion of the Codex Alexandrinus, by H. 
H. Baber, a.d. 1816. [Takgums.] The 
Jews of Alexandria had probably still 
less knowledge of Hebrew than their 
brethren in Palestine ; their familiar 

J language was Alexandrian Greek. They 

I had settled in Alexandria in large num- 
bers soon after the time of Alexander, 

1 and under the early Ptolemies. They 
would naturally follow the same practice 



SEP 



SEE 



as the Jews in Palestine; and hence 
would arise in time an entire Greek ver- 
sion. But the numbers and names of the 
translators, and the times at which dif- 
ferent portions were translated, are all 
uncertain. The commonly-received story 
respecting its origin is contained in an 
extant letter ascribed to Aristeas, who 
was an officer at the court of Ptolemy 
Philadelphia. This letter, which is ad- 
dressed by Aristeas to his brother Phil- 
ocrates, gives a glowing account of the 
origin of the Septuagint; of the embassy 
and presents sent by King Ptolemy to the 
high priest at Jerusalem, by the advice 
of Demetrius Phalereus, his librarian, 50 
talents of gold and 70 talents of silver, 
etc. ; the Jewish slaves whom he set free, 
paying their ransom himself; the letter 
of "the king; the answer of the high 
priest; the choosing of six interpreters 
from each of the twelve tribes, and their 
names ; the copy of the law, in letters of 
gold ; the feast prepared for the seventy- 
two, which continued for seven days ; the 
questions proposed to each of the inter- 
preters in turn, with the answers of each ; 
their lodging by the seashore ; and the 
accomplishment of their work in seventy- 
two days, by conference and comparison. 
This is the story which probably gave to 
the version the title of the Septuagint, 
and which has been repeated in various 
forms by the Christian writers. But it 
is now generally admitted that the letter 
is spurious, and is probably the fabrica- 
tion of an Alexandrian Jew shortly be- 
fore the Christian era. Still there can 
be no doubt that there was a basis of fact 
for the fiction; on three points of the 
story there is no material difference of 
opinion, and they are confirmed by the 
study of the version itself : — 1. The ver- 
sion was made at Alexandria. 2. It was 
begun in the time of the earlier Ptole- 
mies, about 280 B.C. 3. The law (i. e. the 
Pentateuch ) alone was translated at first. 
The Septuagint version was highly es- 
teemed by the Hellenistic Jews before 
the coming of Christ. Wherever, by the 
conquests of Alexander or by coloniza- 
tion, the Greek language prevailed, wher- 
ever Jews were settled, and the attention 
of the neighboring Gentiles was drawn to 
their wondrous history and law, there 
was found the Septuagint, which thus 
became, by divine Providence, the means 
of spreading widely the knoAvledge of 
the one true God, and his promises of a 
Saviour to come, throughout the nations. 



To the wide dispersion of this version we 
may ascribe in great measure that gen- 
eral persuasion which prevailed over the 
whole East of the near approach of the 
! Redeemer, and led the Magi to recognize 
! the star which proclaimed the birth of 
; the King of the Jews. Not less wide was 
I the influence of the Septuagint in the 
spread of the gospel. For a long period 
the SejDtuagint was the Old Testament 
of the far larger part of the Christian 
Church. Character of the Septuagint. — 
The Septuagint is faithful in substance, 
but not minutely accurate in details. It 
has been clearly shown by Hody, Frankel 
and others that the several books were 
translated by different persons, without 
I any comprehensive revision to harmonize 
j the several parts. Names and words are 
I rendered differently in different books. 
Thus the character of the version varies 
much in the several books ; those of the 
Pentateuch are the best. The poetical 
parts are, generally speaking, inferior to 
the historical, the original abounding 
with rarer words and expressions. In 
the major prophets (probably translated 
nearly 100 years after the Pentateuch) 
some of the most important prophecies 
are sadly obscured. Ezekiel and the mi- 
nor prophets (generally speaking) seem 
to be better rendered. Supposing the 
numerous glosses and duplicate render- 
ings, which have evidently crept from 
the margin into the text, to be removed, 
and forming a rough estimate of what 
the Septuagint was in its earliest state, 
we may perhaps say of it that it is the 
image of the original seen through a glass 
! not adjusted to the proper focus; the larger 
features are shown, but the sharpness of 
definition is lost. The close connection 
between the Old and the New Testament 
makes the study of the Septuagint most 
valuable, and indeed indispensable, to 
the theological student. It was mani- 
festly the chief storehouse from which the 
apostles drew their proofs and precepts. 
Sepulchre. [Burial.] 
Se'rah, the daughter of Asher, Gen. 
46 : 17 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 30, called in Num. 
26 : 46 Sarah, (b.c. about 1700.) 

Sera'iah. 1. The king's scribe or 
secretary in the reign of David. 2 Sam. 
8 : 17. (B.C. 1043.) 

2. The high priest in the reign of Zed- 
ekiah. 2 Kings 25 : 18 ; 1 Chron. 6 : 14 ; 
Jer. 52 : 24. (B.C. 594.) 

3. The son of Tanhumeth the Neto- 
phathite. 2 Kings 25 : 23 ; Jer. 40 : 8. 

605 



SEE 



SER 



4. The son of Kenaz and brother of 
Othniel. 1 Chron. 4 : 13, 14. 

5. Ancestor of Jehu, a Simeonite chief- 
tain. 1 Chron. 4 : 35. 

6. One of the children of the province 
who returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
2. (B.C. 536.) 

7. One of the ancestors of Ezra the 
scribe. Ezra 7:1. 

8. A priest, or priestly family, who 
signed the covenaat with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10 : 2. 

9. A priest, the son of Hilkiah. Neh. 
11 : 11. 

10. The head of a priestly house which 
went up from Babylon with Zerubbabel. 
Neh. 12 : 12. 

11. The son of Neriah, and brother of 
Baruch. Jer. 51 : 59, 61. He went with 
Zedekiah to Babylon in the fourth year 
of his reign. (B.C. 594.) Perhaps he 
was an officer who took charge of the 
royal caravan on its march, and fixed the 
places where it should halt. 

Seraphim {burning, glowing), an or- 
der of celestial beings, whom Isaiah be- 
held in vision standing above Jehovah as 
he sat upon his throne. Isa. 6 : 2. They 
are described as having each of them 
three pairs of wings, with one of which 
they covered their faces (a token of hu- 
mility); with the second they covered 
their feet (a token of respect) ; while with 
the third they flew. They seem to have 
borne a general resemblance to the human 
figure, ver. 6. Their occupation was 
twofold — to celebrate the praises of Je- 
hovah's holiness and power, ver. 3, and 
to act as the medium of communication 
between heaven and earth, ver. 6. 

Se'red {fear), the first-born of Zebu- 
lun. Gen. 46:14; Num. 26:26. (B.C. 
about 1700.) 

Ser'gius Pau'lus was the proconsul 
of Cyprus when the apostle Paul visited 
that island with Barnabas on his first 
missionary tour. Acts 13 : 7, seq. (a.d. 
44.) He is described as an intelligent 
man, truth-seeking, eager for information 
from all sources within his reach. Though 
at first admitting to his society Elymas 
the magian, he afterward, on becoming 
acquainted with the claims of the gospel, 
yielded his mind to the evidence of its 
truth. 

Serpent. The Hebrew word ndchdsh 
is the generic name of any serpent. The 
following are the principal biblical allu- 
sions to this animal : Its subtlety is men- 
tioned in Gen. 3 : 1 ; its wisdom is alluded 
606 



to by our Lord in Matt. 10 : 16 ; the poi- 
sonous properties of some species are 
often mentioned, see Ps. 58 : 4; Pro v. 23 : 
32; the sharp tongue of the serpent is 
mentioned in Ps. 140 : 3 ; Job 20 : 16 ; the 




Serpent- denoting immortality. 



habit serpents have of lying concealed 
in hedges and in holes of walls is alluded 
to in Eccles. 10 : 8 ; their dwelling in dry 
sandy places, in Deut. 8 : 15 ; their won- 
derful mode of progression did not escape 
the observation of the author of Prov. 30, 



who expressly mentions it as "one of the 
three things which were too wonderful 
for him." ver. 19. The art of taming 
and charming serpents is of great an- 
tiquity, and is alluded to in Ps. 58:5; 




The Viper. 



SEE 



SEV 



Eccles. 10 : 11 ; Jer. 8 : 17, and doubtless 
intimated by St. James, James 3:7, wbo 
particularizes serpents among all other 
animals that " have been tamed by man." 
It was under the form of a serpent that 
the devil seduced Eve; hence in Scrip- 
ture Satan is called " the old serpent." 
Eev. 12 : 9, and comp. 2 Cor. 11 : 3. Hence, 
as a fruit of the tradition of the Fall, the 
serpent all through the East became the 
emblem of the spirit of evil, and is so 
pictured even on the monuments of 
Egypt. It has been supposed by many 
commentators that the serpent, prior to 
the Fall, moved along in an erect atti- 
tude. It is quite clear that an erect 
mode of progression is utterly incompati- 
ble with the structure of a serpent ; con- 
sequently, had the snakes before the Fall 
moved in an erect attitude, they must 
have been formed on a different plan al- 
together. The typical form of the ser- 
pent and its mode of progression were in 
all probability the same before the Fall 
as after it ; but subsequent to the Fall its 
form and progression were to be regarded 
with hatred and disgust by all mankind, 
and thus the animal was cursed " above 
all cattle," and a mark of condemnation 
was forever stamped upon it. Serpents 
are said in Scripture to " eat dust," see 
Gen. 3:11; Isa. 65:25; Micah 7:17; 
these animals, which for the most part 
take their food on the ground, do conse- 
quently swallow with it large portions of 
sand and dust. Throughout the East the 
serpent was used as an emblem of the 
evil principle, of the spirit of disobedience 
and contumacy. Much has been written 
on the question of the "fiery serpents" 
of Num. 21 : 6, 8, with which it is usual 
to erroneously identify the " fiery flving 
serpent " of Isa. 14 : 29 and 30 : 6. The 
word " fiery " probably signifies "burn- 
ing," in allusion to the sensation pro- 
duced by the bite. The Cerastes, or the 
Naia haje, or any other venomous spe- 
cies frequenting Arabia, may denote the 
" serpent of the burning bite " which de- 
stroyed the children of Israel. The snake 
that fastened on St. Paul's hand when 
he was at Melita, Acts 28 : 3, was prob- 
ably the common viper of England, Pe- 
lias herns. [See also Adder; Asp.] 
When God punished the murmurs of the 
Israelites in the wilderness by sending 
among them serpents whose fiery bite 
was fatal, Moses, upon their repentance, 
was commanded to make a serpent of 
brass, whose polished surface shone like 



fire, and to set it up on the banner-pole 
j in the midst of the people ; and whoever 
I was bitten by a serpent had but to look 
j up at it and live. Num. 21 : 4-9. The 
I comparison used by Christ, John 3 : 14, 
15, adds a deep interest to this scene. To 
present the serpent form, as deprived of 
its power to hurt, impaled as the trophy 
of a conqueror, was to assert that evil, 
, physical and spiritual, had been over- 
I come, and thus help to strengthen the 
! weak faith of the Israelites in a victory 
j over both. Others look upon the uplifted 
serpent as a symbol of life and health, it 
\ having been so worshipped in Egypt. 
The two views have a point of contact, 
for the primary idea connected with the 
! serpent is wisdom.. Wisdom, apart from 
I obedience to God, degenerates to cunning, 
I and degrades and envenoms man's nature. 
• Wisdom, yielding to the divine law, is 
the source of healing and restoring influ- 
ences, and the serpent form thus became 
! a symbol of deliverance and health ; and 
j the Israelites w r ere taught that it would 
be so with them in proportion as they 
ceased to be sensual and rebellious. Pre- 
served as a relic, w T hether on the spot of 
its first erection or elsewhere, the brazen 
| serpent, called by the name of Nekush- 
\ tan, became an object of idolatrous vene- 
I ration, and the zeal of Hezekiah destroyed 
it with the other idols of his father. 2 
I Kings 18 : 4. [Nehushtan.] 

Se'rug (branch), son of Reu and great- 
; grandfather of Abraham. His age is 
given in the Hebrew Bible as 230 years. 
Gen. 11 : 20-23. (B.C. 2180.) 
Servant. [Slave.] 
Seth [compensation), Gen. 4:25; 5: 
3 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 1, the third son of Adam, 
and father of Enos. (B.C. 3870.) Adam 
i handed down to Seth and his descendants 
the promise of mercy, faith in which be- 
came the distinction of God's children. 
Gen. 4 : 26. 

Se'thur (hidden), the Asherite spy, 
son of Michael. Num. 13 : 13. (B.C. 
1490.) 

Seven. The frequent recurrence of 
j certain numbers in the sacred literature 
! of the Hebrews is obvious to the most 
I superficial reader ; but seven so far sur- 
I passes the rest, both in the frequency 
with which it recurs and in the import- 
I ance of the objects with which it is asso- 
j ciated, that it may fairly be termed the 
j representative symbolic number. The 
I influence of the number seven was not 
; restricted to the Hebrews ; it prevailed 

607 



SHA 



SHA 



among the Persians, ancient Indians, 
Greeks and Romans. The peculiarity of 
the Hebrew view consists in the special 
dignity" of the seventh, and not simply in 
that of seven. The Sabbath being the 
seventh day suggested the adoption of 
seven as the coefficient, so to say, for the 
appointment of all sacred periods ; and 
we thus find the 7th month ushered in 
by the Feast of Trumpets, and signalized 
by the celebration of the Feast of Tab- 
ernacles and the Great Day of Atone- 
ment; 7 weeks as the interval between 
the Passover and the Pentecost; the 7th 
year as the sabbatical year ; and the year 
succeeding 7X7 years as the Jubilee 
year. Seven days were appointed as the 
length of the feasts of Passover and Tab- 
ernacles ; 7 days for the ceremonies of the 
consecration of priests, and so on; 7 vic- 
tims to be offered on any special occa- 
sion, as in Balaam's sacrifice, Num. 23 : 
1, and especially at the ratification of a 
treaty, the notion of seven being embod- 
ied in the very term signifying to swear, 
literally meaning to do seven times. Gen. 
21 : 28. Seven is used for any round 
number, or for completeness, as we say a 
dozen, or as a speaker says he will say 
two or three words. 

Sha-al'bim, or Sha-alaVbin < home 
of foxes), a town in the allotment of Dan. 
Josh. 19 : 42 ; Judges 1 : 35 ; 1 Kings 4 : 9. 
By Eusebius and Jerome it is mentioned 
in the Onomasticon as a large village in 
the district of Sebaste {i. e. Samaria), 
and as then called Selaba. 

Sha-al'bonite, The. Eliahba the 
Shaalbonite was one of David's thirty- 
seven heroes. 2 Sam. 23 : 32 ; 1 Chron. 
1 1 : 33. He was a native of a place named 
Shaalbon, but where it was is unknown. 
(B.C. 1048.) 

Sha'aph (division). 1. The son of 
Jahdai. 1 Chron. 2 : 47. 

2. The son of Caleb the brother of 
Jerahmeel, by his concubine Maachah. 
1 Chron. 2 : 49. (B.C. after 1445.) 

Sha-ara'im (two gates), a city in the 
territory allotted to Judah, Josh. 15 : 36; 
in Authorized Version incorrectly Sha- 
raim. 1 Sam. 17 : 52. Shaaraim, one of 
the towns of Simeon, 1 Chron. 4 : 31, must 
be a different place. 

Sha-as'gaz (servant of the beautiful), 
the eunuch in the palace of Xerxes who 
had the custody of the women in the 
second house. Esther 2 : 14. (B.C. about 
525.) 

Shabbetha'i (sabbatical), a Levite 
608 



in the time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 15. It is 
apparently the same who with Jeshua 
and others instructed the people in the 
knowledge of the law. Neh. 8 : 7. (B.C. 

| 450.) 

Shachi'a (announcement), a son of 
Shaharami by his wife Hodesh. 1 Chron. 
8:10. 

Shad'da-i (the Mighty), an ancient 
name of God, rendered "Almighty" 
everywhere in the Authorized Version, 
is found in connection with U, " God," 
El Shaddai being then rendered "God 
Almighty." By the name or in the char- 
acter of El-Shaddai, God was known to 
the patriarchs, Gen. 17 : 1 ; 28 : 3 ; 43 : 14 ; 
48 : 3 ; 49 : 25, before the name Jehovah, 
in its full significance, was revealed. Ex. 
6:3. [God.] 

Sha'drach (royal, or the great scribe), 
the Hebrew, or rather Chaldee, name of 
Hananiah. The history of Shadrach or 
Hananiah, as told in Dan. 1-3, is well 
known. After their deliverance from the 
furnace, we hear no more of Shadrach, 
Meshach and Abednego, except in Heb. 
11 : 33, 34 ; but there are repeated allu- 
sions to them in the later apocryphal 
books, and the martyrs of the Maccabsean 
period seem to have been much encour- 
aged by their example. 

Sha'ge (erring), father of Jonathan 
the Hararite, one of David's guard. 1 
Chron. 11:34. [See Shammah, 5.] (B.C. 
about 1050.) 

Shahara im (double dawn), a Ben- 
jamite. 1 Chron. 8 : 8. (B.C. about 1445.) 

Shahaz'imah (toward the heights), 
one of the towns of the allotment of Is- 
sachar. Josh. 19 : 22 only. 

Sha'lem (safe). Gen. 33 : 18. Prob- 
ably not a proper name, but a place. It 
is certainly remarkable that there should 
be a modern village bearing the name of 
Salim, three miles east of Nablus, the 
ancient Shechem. 

Sha'lim, The land of (the land of 
foxes), a district through which Saul 
passed on his journey in quest of his 
father's asses. 1 Sam. 9 : 4 only. It prob- 
ably was east of Shalisha. 

Shal'isha, The land of, one of the 
districts traversed by Saul when in search 
of the asses of Kish. 1 Sam. 9 : 4 only. 
It was a district near Mount Ephraim. 
In it perhaps was situated the place called 
Baal-shalisha, 2 Kings 4:42, 15 miles 
north of Lydda. 

Shal'lecheth (overthrow), The gate, 
one of the gates of the " house of Jeho- 



SHA 



SHA 



vah." 1 Chron. 26 : 16. It was the gate 
" to the causeway of the ascent." As the 
causeway is actually in existence, the 
gate Shallecheth can hardly fail to be 
identical with the Bab Silsileh or Sinsleh, 
which enters the west wall of the Haram 
about 600 feet from the southwest corner 
of the Haram wall. 

Shal'Ium (retribution). 1. The fif- 
teenth king of Israel, son of Jabesh, con- 
spired against Zachariah, killed him, and 
brought the dynasty of Jehu to a close, 
B.C. 770. Shallum* after reigning in Sa- 
maria for a month only, was in his turn 
dethroned and killed by Menahem. 2 
Kings 15 : 10-14. 

2. The husband of Huldah the proph- 
etess, 2 Kings 22 : 14; 2 Chron. 34 : 22, in 
the reign of Josiah. ( B.C. 630.) 

3. A descendant of Shesham. 1 Chron. 
2 : 40, 41. 

4. The third son of Josiah king of Ju- 
dah, known in the books of Kings and 
Chronicles as Jehoahaz. 1 Chron. 3 : 15; 
Jer. 22 : 11. [Jehoahaz.] (b.c. 610.) 

5. Son of Shaul the son of Simeon. 1 
Chron. 4 : 25. 

6. A high priest. 1 Chron. 6 : 12, 13 ; 
Ezra 7 : 2. 

7. A son of Naphtali. 1 Chron. 7 : 13. 

8. The chief of a family of porters or 
gate-keepers of the east gate of the tem- 
ple. 1 Chron. 9 : 17. (B.C. 1050.) 

9. Son of Kore, a Korahite. 1 Chron. 
9 : 19, 31. 

10. Father of Jehizkiah, an Ephraim- 
ite. 2 Chron. 28 : 12. 

11. One of the porters of the temple 
who had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 
24. 

12. One of the sons of Bani. Ezra 10 : 
42. 

13. The son of Halohesh and ruler of a 
district of Jerusalem. Neh. 3 : 12. 

14. The uncle of Jeremiah, Jer. 32 : 7 ; 
perhaps the same as 2. 

15. Father or ancestor of Maaseiah, 
Jer. 35 : 4; perhaps the same as 9. (B.C. 
630.) 

Shal'lim (retribution), the son of Col- 
hozeh, and ruler of a district of the Miz- 
pah. Neh. 3 : 15. 

Shalma'i (my thanks). The children 
of Shalmai were among the Nethinim 
who returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
46 ; Neh. 7 : 48. In Nehemiah Salmai. 
(B.C. 536.) 

Shal'man (fire-worshipper), a con- 
traction for Shalmaneser king of Assyria. 
Hos. 10 : 14. Others think it the name 
39 



of an obscure Assyrian king, predecessor 
of Pul. 

Shalmane'ser (fire-worshipper) was 
the Assyrian king who reigned probably 
between Tiglath-pileser and Sargon, 
B.C. 727-722. He led the forces of As- 
syria into Palestine, where Hoshea, the 
last king of Israel, had revolted against 
his authority. 2 Kings 17 : 3. Hoshea 
submitted and consented to pay tribute ; 
! but he soon after concluded an alliance 
! with the king of Egypt, and withheld his 
tribute in consequence. In B.C. 723 Shal- 
maneser invaded Palestine for the second 
time, and, as Hoshea refused to submit, 
laid siege to Samaria. The siege lasted 
to the third year, B.C. 721, when the As- 
syrian arms prevailed. 2 Kings 17 : 4-6 ; 
18 : 9-11. It is uncertain whether Shal- 
maneser conducted the siege to its close, 
or whether he did not lose his crown to 
Sargon before the city was taken. 

Sha'ma (obedient), one of David's 
guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 44. (B.C. 1020.) 

Shamari'ah (kept by Jehovah), son of 
Rehoboam. 2 Chron. 11 : 19. ( B.C. 973.) 

Sha'med (keeper), properly Shamer 
or Shemer; one of the sons of Elpaal 
the Benjamite. 1 Chron. 8:12. 

Sha'mer (keeper). 1. AMerariteLe- 
vite. 1 Chron. 6 : 46. 

2. Shomer, an Asherite. 1 Chron. 7 : 
34. 

Sham'gar (sivord), son of Anath, 
judge of Israel. When Israel was in a 
most depressed condition, Shamgar was 
raised up to be a deliverer. With no 
arms in his hand but an ox-goad, Judges 
3:31; comp. 1 Sam. 13 : 21, he made a 
desperate assault upon the Philistines, 
and slew 600 of them. ( B.C. about 1290.) 

Sham'huth (desolation), the fifth cap- 
tain for the fifth month in David's ar- 
rangement of his army. 1 Chron. 27 : 8. 
(B.C. 1020.) 

Sha'mir (a point or thorn ) . 1. A town 
in the mountain district of Judah. Josh. 
15 : 48 only. It probably lay some eight 
or ten miles south of Hebron. 

2. A place in Mount Ephraim, the res- 
idence and burial-place of Tola the judge. 
Judges 10 : 1, 2. Perhaps Somur, half- 
way between Samaria and Jenin. 

3. A Kohathite, son of Micah or Mi- 
chal, the first-born of Uzziel. 1 Chron. 
24 : 24. 

Sham'ma (astonishment), one of the 
sons of Zophar, an Asherite. 1 Chron. 7 : 
37. 

Sham'mah (astonishment). 1. The 
609 



SHA 



SHA 



son of Eeuel the son of Esau. Gen. 36 : 
13, 17 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 37. (B.C. about 1700.) 

2. The third son of Jesse, and brother 
of David. 1 Sara. 16 : 9 ; 17 : 13. Called 
also Shimea, Shimeah and Shimma. 
(B.C. 1068.) 

3. One of the three greatest of David's 
mighty men. 2 Sam. 23 : 11-17. (B.C. 
1061.) 

4. The Harodite, one of David's 
mighties. 2 Sam. 23 : 25. He is called 
" Shammoth the Harorite " in 1 Chron. 
11 : 27, and " Shamhuth the Izrahite" 
ibid. 27 : 8. 

5. In the list of David's mighty men 
in 2 Sam. 23 : 32, 33, we find " Jonathan, 
Shammah the Hararite ;" while in the 
corresponding verse of 1 Chron. 11 : 34 it 
is Jonathan. 

Sham'ma-i (desolate). 1. The son of 
Onam. 1 Chron. 2:28, 32. 

2. Son of Rekem. 1 Chron. 2 : 44, 45. 

3. One of the descendants of Judah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 17. 

Sham'moth. [Shammah.] 
Shammu'a (renowned). 1. The Reu- 

benite spv, son of Zaccur. Num. 13 : 4. 

(B.C. 1490*.) 

2. Son of David, by his wife Bath- 
sheba. 1 Chron. 14 : 4. (B.C. 1045.) 

3. A Levite, the father of Abda. Neh. 
11 : 17. The same as Shemaiah, 6. 

4. The representative of the priestly 
family of Bil^ah or Bilgai, in the days of 
Joiakim. Neh. 12 : 18. (B.C. about 500.) 

Shaminu'ah, son of David, 2 Sam. 
5 : 14 ; elsewhere called Shammua and 
Shimea. 

Shamshera'i (sunlike), a Benjamite. 
1 Chron. 8 : 26. 

Sha'pham (bold), a Gadite of Bashan. 

1 Chron. 5 : 12. (B.C. 750.) 
Sha'phan (coney), the scribe or secre- 

tarv of King Josiah. 2 Kings 22 : 3, 14; 

2 Chron. 34:8, 20. (B.C. 628.) He ap- 
pears on an equality with the governor 
of the city and the roval recorder. 2 
Kings 22 : 4 ; 2 Chron. 34 : 9. 

Sha'phat (judge). 1. The Simeonite 
spv, son of Hori. Num. 13 : 5. (B.C. 
1490.) 

2. The father of the prophet Elisha. 
1 Kings 19 : 16, 19 ; 2 Kings 3 : 11 ; 6 : 31. 
(B.C. before. 900.) 

3. One of the six sons of Shemaiah in 
the roval line of Judah. 1 Chron. 3 : 22. 
(B.C. 350.) 

4. One of the chiefs of the Gadites in 
Bashan. 1 Chron. 5 : 12. (B.C. 750.) 

5. The son of Adlai, who was over 

610 



David's oxen in the vallevs. 1 Chron. 
27:29. (B.C. 1020.) 

Sha'pher (brightness), Mount, Num. 
33 : 23, the name of a desert station 
where the Israelites encamped during 
the wanderings in the wilderness. 

Shar'a-i (releaser), one of the sons of 
Bani. Ezra 10 : 40. (B.C. 457.) 

Shar'a-im. [Shaaeaim.] 

Sha'rar (strong), the father of Ahiam 
the Hararite. 2 Sara. 23 : 33. In 1 Chron. 
11 : 35 he is called Sacar. (b.c. 1040.) 

Share'zer (prince of fire) was a son 
of Sennacherib, whom, in conjunction 
with his brother Adrammelech, he mur- 
dered. 2 Kings 19 : 37. (B.C. after 711.) 

Sha'ron (a plain), a district of the 
holy land occasionally referred to in the 
Bible. 1 Chron. 5 : 16 ; Isa. 33 : 9. In 
Acts 9 : 35 called Saeon. The name 
has on each occurrence, with one excep- 
tion only, 1 Chron. 5_ : 16, the definite 
article; it would therefore appear that 
" the Sharon " was some well-defined re- 
gion familiar to the Israelites. It is that 
broad, rich tract of land which lies be- 
tween the mountains of the central part 
of the holy land and the Mediterranean 
— the northern continuation of the Shef- 
elah. [Palestine.] The Sharon of 1 
Chron. 5 : 16, to which allusion has al- 
ready been made, is distinguished from 
the western plain by not having the 
article attached to its name, as the other 
invariably has. It is also apparent from 
the passage itself that it was some dis- 
trict on the east of the Jordan, in the 
neighborhood of Gilead and Bashan. 
The name has not been met with in that 
direction. 

Sha'ronite (belonging to Sharon), 
The. Shitrai, who had charge of the 
royal herds in the plain of Sharon, 1 
Chron. 27 : 29, is the only Sharonite 
mentioned in the Bible. 

Sharu'hen (refuge of grace), a town 
named in Josh. 19:6 only, among those 
which were allotted within Judah to 
Simeon. It is identified with Sheriah, a 
large ruin in the south country, north- 
west of Beersheba. 

Shash'a-i [noble), one of the sons of 
Bani in the time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 40. 
(B.C. 457.) 

Sha'shak (longing), a Benjamite, one 
of the sons of Beriah. 1 Chron. 8 : 14, 25. 
(B.C. after 1450.) 

Sha'ul (asked). 1. The son of Sim- 
eon bv a Canaanitish woman, Gen. 46 : 
10; Ex. 6:15; Num. 26:13; 1 Chron. 



SHA 



SHE 



4 : 24, and founder of the family of the 
Shaulites. (B.C. 1712.) 

2. One of the kings of Edom. 1 Chron. 
1 : 48, 49. In the Authorized Version of 
Gen. 36 : 37 he is less accurately called 
Satjl. 

Sha'veh {plain), The valley of, 

described Gen. 14 : 17 as "the valley of 
the king," is mentioned again in 2 Sam. 
18 : 18 as the site of a pillar set up by 
Absalom. 

Sha'veh Kiriatha'im {plain of the 
double city), mentioned Gen. 14 : 5 as the 
residence of the Emim at the time of 
Chedorlaomer's incursion. Kiriathaim 
is named in the later history, though it 
has not been identified; and Shaveh 
Kiriathaim was probably the valley in 
or by which the town lay. 

Shav'sha (nobility), the royal secre- 
tary in the reign of David, 1 Chron. 18 : 
16 ; called also Seraiah in 2 Sam. 8 : 17 
and Sheva in 2 Sam. 20 : 25, and in 1 
Kings 4 : 3, Shisha. 

Shawm. In the Prayer-book version 
of Ps. 98 : 6, " with trumpets also and 
shawms" is the rendering of what stands 
in the Authorized Version " with trump- 
ets and sound of comet." The Hebrew 
word translated "cornet" is treated 
under that head. The " shawm" was a 
musical instrument resembling the clar- 
ionet. 

She'al (asking), one of the sons of 
Bani who had married a foreign wife. 
Ezra 10 : 29. (B.C. 452.) 

She-al'ti-el (asked of God), father 
of Zerubbabel. Ezra 3:2,8; 5:2; Neh. 
12 : 1 ; Hag. 1 : 1, 12, 14 ; 2:2, 23. (B.C. 
about 5S0.) 

She-ari'ah (valued by Jehovah), one 
of the six sons of Azel, a descendant of 
Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 3S ; 9 : 44. 

Shearing-house, The, a place on 
the road between Jezreel and Samaria, 
at which Jehu, on his way to the latter, 
encountered forty-two members of the 
royal family of Judah, whom he slaugh- 
tered. 2 Kings 10 : 12, 14. Eusebius 
mentions it as a village of Samaria "in 
the great plain [of Esdraelon], 15 miles 
from Legeon." 

She'ar-ja'shub (lit. a remnant shall 
return), the symbolical name of the son 
of Isaiah the prophet. Isa. 7 : 3. 

She'ba (an oath), the son of Bichri, 
a Benjamite, 2 Sam. 20 : 1-22, the last 
chief of the Absalom insurrection. The 
occasion seized by Sheba was the emula- 
tion between the northern and southern 



tribes on David's return. 2 Sam. 20 : 1,2. 
Sheba traversed the whole of Palestine, 
apparently rousing the population, Joab 
following in full pursuit to the fortress 
Abel Beth-maachah, where Sheba was 
beheaded. 2 Sam. 20 : 3-22. 

She'ba (seven, or an oath). 1. A son 
of Raamah son of Cush. Gen. 10 : 7 ; 1 
Chron. 1 : 9. 

2. A son of Joktan. Gen. 10:28; 1 
Chron. 1 : 22. 

3. A son of Jokshan son of Keturah. 
Gen. 25 : 3 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 32. We shall 
consider, first, the history of the Jok- 
tanite Sheba ; and secondly, the Cush- 
ite Sheba and the Keturahite Sheba to- 
gether. 

I. The Joktanites were among the 
early colonists of southern Arabia, and 
the kingdom which they there founded 
was for many centuries called the king- 
dom of Sheba, after one of the sons of 
Joktan. The visit of the queen of Sheba 
to King Solomon, 1 Kings 10 : 1, is one 
of the familiar Bible incidents. The 
kingdom of Sheba embraced the greater 
part of the Yemen, or Arabia Felix. 
It bordered on the Red Sea, and was 
one of the most fertile districts of Arabia. 
Its chief cities, and probably successive 
capitals, were Seba, San'a (Uzal), and 
Zafar (Sephar). Seba was probably the 
name of the city, and generally of the 
country and nation. 

II. Sheba, son of Raamah son of Cush, 
settled somewhere on the shores of the 
Persian Gulf. It was this Sheba that 
carried on the great Indian traffic with 
Palestine, in conjunction with, as we 

| hold, the other Sheba, son of Jokshan 
son of Keturah, who like Dedan appears 
to have formed, with the Cushite of the 
same name, one tribe. 

She'ba, one of the towns of the allot- 
ment of Simeon, Josh. 19 : 2, probably 
the same as Shema. Josh. 15 : 26. 

She'bah (an oath), the famous well 
Avhich gave its name to the city of Beei*- 
sheba. Gen. 26 : 33. [Beersheba.] 

She^bam (fragrance), one of the 
towns in the pastoral district on the east 
of Jordan ; demanded by and finally 
ceded to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. 
Num. 32 : 3. It is probablv the same as 
Shibmah, Num. 32 : 38, and Sibmah. 
Josh. 13 : 19 ; Isa. 16 : 8, 9 ; Jer. 48 : 32. 

Shebani'ah (increased by Jehovah). 
1. A Levite in the time of Ezra. Neh. 9 : 
4, 5. He sealed the covenant with Ne« 
hemiah. Neh. 10 : 10. (B.C. 459.) 

611 



SHE 



SHE 



2. A priest or priestly family who 
sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:4; 12:14. Called Shecha- 
niah in Neh. 12 : 3. 

3. Another Levite who sealed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 12. 

4. One of the priests appointed by 
David to blow with the trumpets before 
the ark of God. 1 Chron. 15 : 24. (B.C. 
1043.) 

Sheb'arim {the breaches), a place 
named in Josh. 7 : 5 only, as one of the 
points in the flight from Ai. 



She'ber {breaking), son of Caleb ben- 
Hezron by his concubine Maachah. 1 
Chron. 2 : 48. (B.C. after 1G90.) 

Sheb'na {vigor), a person of high 
position in Hezekiah's court, holding at 
one time the office of prefect of the pal- 
ace, Isa. 22 : 15, but subsequently the 
subordinate office of secretary. Isa. 36 : 
3; 2 Kings 19 : 2. (B.C. 713.) 

Sheb'siel, or Shebu'el {captive of 
God). 1. A descendant of Moses, 1 
Chron. 23 : 16 ; 26 : 24, called also Shu- 
BAEL. 1 Chron. 24 : 20. (B.C. 1013.) 




Shechem (Nablus, Sychar). 



2. One of the fourteen sons of Heman 
the minstrel, 1 Chron. 25 : 4 ; called also 
Shubael. 1 Chron. 25 : 20. (B.C. 1013.) 

Shechani'ah {dweller with Jehovah). 
1. The tenth in order of the priests who 
were appointed by lot in the reign of 
David. 1 Chron. 24 : 11. (B.C. 1014.) 

2. A priest in the reign of Hezekiah. 

2 Chron. 31 : 15. (B.C. 925.) 
Shechani'ah {dweller with Jehovah). 

1. A descendant of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 

3 : 21, 22. 

2. Some descendants of Shechaniah 
returned with Ezra. Ezra 8:3. 

3. The sons of Shechaniah were an- 
other family who returned with Ezra. 
Ezra 8: 5. (B.C. 459.) 

4. The son of Jehiel, of the sons of 
Elam. Ezra 10 : 2. 

612 



5. The father of Shemaiah, 2. Neh. 3 : 
29. 

6. The son of Arah. Neh. 6 : 18. 

7. The head of a priestly family who 
returned with Zerubbabel. Neh. 12 : 3. 

She'chem {back or shoulder). 1. An 
important city in central Palestine, in 
the valley between mounts Ebal and Ge- 
rizim, 34 miles north of Jerusalem and 
7 miles southeast of Samaria, Its present 
name, Nablus, is a corruption of Neap- 
olis, which succeeded the more ancient 
Shechem, and received its new name 
from Vespasian. On coins still extant 
it is called Flavia Neapolis. The situ- 
ation of the town is one of surpassing 
beauty. It lies in a sheltered valley, 
protected by Gerizim on the south and 
Ebal on the north. The feet of these 



SHE 



SHE 



mountains, where they rise from the 
town, are not more than five hundred 
yards apart. The bottom of the valley 
is about 1800 feet above the level of the 
sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet 
higher still. The site of the present 
city, which was also that of the Hebrew 
city, occurs exactly on the water-summit ; 
and streams issuing from the numerous 
springs there flow down the opposite 
slopes of the valley, spreading verdure 
and fertility in every direction. Trav- 
ellers vie with each other in the language 
which they employ to describe the scene 
that here bursts so suddenly upon them 
on arriving in spring or early summer at 
this paradise of the holy land. " The 
whole valley," says Dr. Kobinson, " was 
filled with gardens of vegetables and or- 
chards of all kinds of fruits, watered by 
fountains which burst forth in various 
parts and flow westward in refreshing 
streams. It came upon us suddenly like 
a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw 
nothing to compare with it in all Pales- 
tine." The allusions to Shechem in the 
Bible are numerous, and show how im- 
portant the place was in Jewish history. 
Abraham, on his first migration to the 
land of promise, pitched his tent and 
built an altar under the oak (or tere- 
binth) of Moreh at Shechem. " The Ca- 
nannite was then in the land ;" and it is 
evident that the region, if not the city, 
was already in possession of the aborig- 
inal race. See Gen. 12 : 6. At the time 
of Jacob's arrival here, after his sojourn 
in Mesopotamia, Gen. 33 : 18; 34, She- 
chem was a Hivite city, of which Hamor, 
the father of Shechem, Avas the headman. 
It was at this time that the patriarch 
purchased from that chieftain " the par- 
cel of the field" which he subsequently 
bequeathed, as a special patrimonv, to 
his son Joseph. Gen. 33 : 19 ; Josh. 24 : 32 ; 
John 4 : 5. The field lay undoubtedly 
on the rich plain of the Mukhna, and its 
value was the greater on account of the 
well which Jacob had dug there, so as 
not to be dependent on his neighbors for 
a supply of water. In the distribution 
of the land after its conquest by the 
Hebrews, Shechem fell to the lot of 
Ephraim, Josh. 20 : 7, but was assigned 
to the Levites, and became a city of ref- 
uge. Josh. 21 : 20, 21. It acquired new 
importance as the scene of the renewed 
promulgation of the law, when its bless- 
ings were heard from Gerizim and its 
curses from Ebal, and the people bowed 



their heads and acknowledged Jehovah 
as their king and ruler. Deut. 27 : 11 ; 
Josh. 24 : 23-25. It was here Joshua as- 
j sembled the people, shortly before his 
death, and delivered to them his last 
i counsels. Josh. 24 : 1, 25. After the 
j death of Gideon, Abimelech, his bastard 
I son, induced the Shechemites to revolt 
from the Hebrew commonwealth and 
; elect him as king. Judges 9. In revenge 
j for his expulsion, after a reign of three 
years, Abimelech destroyed the city, and 
I as an emblem of the fate to which he 
I would consign it, sowed the ground with 
salt. Judges 9 : 34-45. It was soon re- 
I stored, however, for we are told in 1 
! Kings 12 that all Israel assembled at 
Shechem, and Rehoboam, Solomon's suc- 
I cessor, went thither to be inaugurated as 
! king. Here, at this same place, the ten 
tribes renounced the house of David, and 
transferred their allegiance to Jeroboam, 
j 1 Kings 12 : 16, under whom Shechem 
became for a time the capital of his 
; kingdom. From the time of the. origin 
of the Samaritans, the history of Shechem 
j blends itself with that of this people and 
of their sacred mount, Gerizim. [Sa- 
I mama.] Shechem reappears in the 
New Testament. It is the Sychar of 
John 4 : 5, near which the Saviour con- 
I versed with the Samaritan woman at 
| Jacob's well. The population of Ndblus 
| consists of about 5000, among whom are 
500 Greek Christians, 150 Samaritans, 
and a few Jews. The enmity between 
the Samaritans and Jews is as inveterate 
still as it was in the days of Christ. The 
! Mohammedans, of course, make up the 
! bulk of the population. The well of 
j Jacob and the tomb of Joseph are still 
! shoAvn in the neighborhood of the town, 
j The well of Jacob lies about a mile and 
a half east of the city, close to the lower 
road, and just beyond the wretched ham- 
let of Baldta. The Christians sometimes 
call it Bir es-Samariyeh — " the well of 
! the Samaritan woman." The well is 
deep — 75 feet when last measured — and 
there was probably a considerable ac- 
cumulation of rubbish at the bottom. 
Sometimes it contains a few feet of water, 
but at others it is quite dry. It is en- 
! tirely excavated in the solid rock, per- 
fectly round, 9 feet in diameter, with the 
sides hewn smooth and regular. Of all 
the special localities of our Lord's life, 
j this is almost the only one absolutely 
undisputed. The tomb of Joseph lies 
j about a quarter of a mile north of the 

613 



SHE 



SHE 



well, exactly in the centre of the opening 
of the valley between Gerizim and Ebal. 
It is a small, square enclosure of high 
whitewashed walls, surrounding a tomb 
of the ordinary kind, but with the pecul- 
iarity that it is placed diagonally to the 
walls, instead of parallel as usual. A 
rough pillar used as an altar, and black 
with the traces of fire, is at the head and 
another at the foot of the tomb. In the 
walls are two slabs with Hebrew inscrip- 
tions, and the interior is almost covered 
with the names of pilgrims in Hebrew, 
Arabic and Samaritan. Beyond this 
there is nothing to remark in the struc- 
ture itself. The local tradition of the 
tomb, like that of the well, is as old as 
the beginning of the fourth century. 

2. The son of Hamor, the chieftain of 
the Hivite settlement of Shechem at the 
time of Jacob's arrival. Gen. 33 : 19 ; 
34 : 2-26 ; Josh. 24 : 32 ; Judges 9 : 28. 

3. A man of Manasseh, of the clan 
of Gilead. Num. 2G : 31. 

4. A Gileadite, son of Shemida, the 
younger brother of the foregoing. 1 
Chron. 7 : 19. 

She'chemites, The, the family of 
Shechem son of Gilead. Num. 26 : 31 ; 
comp. Josh. 17 : 2. 

Shechi'nah {dwelling). This term 
is not found in the Bible. It was used 
by the later Jews, and borrowed by 
Christians from them, to express the 
visible majesty of the divine Presence, 
especially when resting or dwelling 
between the cherubim on the mercy- 
seat in the tabernacle and in the 
temple of Solomon, bat not in the 
second temple. The use of the term 
is first found in the Targums, where 
it forms a frequent periphrasis for God, 
considered as dwelling among the chil- 
dren of Israel. The idea which the dif- 
ferent accounts in Scripture convey is 
that of a most brilliant and glorious 
light, enveloped in a cloud, and usually 
concealed by the cloud, so that the cloud 
itself was for the most part alone visible ; 
but on particular occasions the glory ap- 
peared. The allusions in the New Testa- 
ment to theshechinah are not unfrequent: 
Luke 2:9; John 1 : 14 ; Rom. 9:4; and 
we are distinctly taught to connect it with 
the incarnation and future coming of the 
Messiah as type with antitype. 

Shed/eur {darter of light), the father 
of Elizur, chief of the tribe of Reuben at 
the time of the exodus. Num. 1:5; 2:10; 
7:30, 35; 10:18. (B.C. 1491.) 
614 



Sheep. Sheep were an important part 
of the possessions of the ancient Hebrews 
and of eastern nations generally. The 
first mention of sheep occurs in Gen. 4 : 2. 
They were used in the sacrificial offer- 
ings, both the adult animal, Ex. 20 : 24, 
and the lamb. See Ex. 29 : 38 ; Lev. 9:3; 
12 : 6. Sheep and lambs formed an im- 
portant article of food. 1 Sam. 25 : 18. 
The wool was used as clothing. Lev. 13 : 
47. " Barns' skins dyed red " were used 
as a covering for the tabernacle. Ex. 25 : 
5. Sheep and lambs were sometimes paid 
as tribute. 2 Kings 3:4. It is very strik- 
ing to notice the immense numbers of 
sheep that were reared in Palestine in 
biblical times. (Chardin says he saw a 
clan of Turcoman shepherds whose nock 




Broad-tailed Sheep. 

consisted of 3,000,000 sheep and goats, 
besides 400,000 beasts of carriage, as 
horses, asses and camels.) Sheep-shear- 
ing is alluded to Gen. 31 : 19. Sheep- 
dogs were employed in biblical times. 
Job 30 : 1. Shepherds in Palestine and 
the East generally go before their flocks, 
which they induce to follow bv calling to 
them, comp. John 10 : 4 ; Ps. 77 : 20 ; 80 : 
1, though they also drive them. Gen. 33 : 
13. The following quotation from Hart- 
ley's "Researches in Greece and the Le- 
vant," p. 321, is strikingly illustrative of 
the allusions in John 10 : 1-16 : " Having 
had my attention directed last night to 
the words in John 10 : 3, 1 asked my man 
if it was usual in Greece to give names to 
the sheep. He informed me that it was, 
and that the sheep obeyed the shepherd 



SHE 



SHE 



when he called them by their names. 
This morning I had an opportunity of 
verifying the truth of this remark. Pass- 
ing by a flock of sheep, 1 asked the shep- 
herd the same question which I had put 
to the servant, and he gave me the same 
answer. I then bade him call one of his 
sheep. He did so, and it instantly left its 
pasturage and its companions and ran up 
to the hands of the shepherd with signs 
of pleasure and with a prompt obedience 
which I had never before observed in any 
other animal. It is also true in this coun- 
try that ' a stranger will they not follow, 
but will flee from him.' The shepherd 
told me that many of his sheep were still 




Eastern Sheepfold. 

wild, that they had not yet learned their 
names, but that by teaching them they 
would all learn them." The common 
sheep of Syria and Palestine are the 
broad -tailed. As the sheep is an emblem 
of meekness, patience and submission, it 
is expressly mentioned as typifying these 
qualities in the person of our blessed 
Lord. Isa. 53:7; Acts 8:32, etc. The 
relation that exists between Christ, "the 
chief Shepherd," and his members is 
beautifully compared to that which in 
the East is so strikingly exhibited by the 
shepherds to their flocks. [Shepherd.] 
Sheep-gate, The, one of the gates 
of Jerusalem as rebuilt by Nehemiah. 
Neh. 3 : 1, 32 ; 12 : 39. It stood between 
the tower of Meah and the chamber of 
the corner, ch. 3:1, 32, or gate of the 
guard-house, ch. 12 : 39; Authorized Ver- 
sion, "prison-gate." The latter seems to 
have been at the angle formed by the 
junction of the wall of the city of David 
with that of the city of Jerusalem proper, 



having the sheep-gate on the north of it. 
The position of the sheep-gate may there- 
fore have been on or near that of the Bab 
el Kattanin. 

Sheep-market, The. John 5 : 2. 
The word " market" is an interpolation 
of our translators. We ought probably 
to supply the word "gate." 

Shehari/ah (dawning of Jehovah), a 
Benjamite, son of Jehoram. 1 Chron. 8 : 
26. (B.C. 588.) 
Shekel. [Money.] 
She'lah (a petition). 1. The young- 
est son of Judah. Gen. 38 : 5, 11, 14, 26; 
46 : 12 ; Num. 26 : 20 ; 1 Chron. 2:3; 4 : 
21. (B.C. before 1706.) 

2. The proper form of the 
name of Salah. 1 Chron. 1 : 
18, 24. 

She'lanites, The,. the de- 
scendants of Shelah, 1. Num. 
26 : 20. 

Shelemi'ah (repaid by Je- 
hovah). 1. One of the sons 
of Bani in the time of Ezra. 
Ezra 10 : 39. (B.C. 458.) 

2. The father of Hananiah. 
Neh. 3 : 30. 

3. A priest in the time of 
Nehemiah. Neh. 13 : 18. 

4. The father of Jehucal, or 
Jucal, in the time of Zedekiah. 
Jer. 37 : 3. 

5. The father of Irijah, the 
captain of the ward who ar- 
rested Jeremiah. Jer. 37 : 13. 

(B.C. before 589.) 

6. The same as Meshelemiah and Shal- 
lum, 8. 1 Chron. 26 : 14. 

7. Another of the sons of Bani in the 
time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 41. 

8. Ancestor of Jehudi in the time of 
Jehoiakim. Jer. 36 : 14. 

9. Son of Abdeel ; one of those who re- 
ceived the orders of Jehoiakim to take 
Baruch and Jeremiah. Jer. 36 : 26. (B.C. 
604.) 

She'leph (a drawing forth), the sec- 
ond in order of the sons of Joktan. Gen. 
10 : 26 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 20. 

She'lesh (might), son of Helem. 1 
Chron. 7 : 35. 

Shel'omi (peaceful), an Asherite, 
father of Ahihud. Num. 34 : 27. (B.C. 
before 1450.) 

Shel'omith (peaceful). 1. The daugh- 
ter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. Lev. 
24:11. 

2. The daughter of Zerubbabel. 1 
Chron. 3 : 19. (B.C. after 536.) 

615 



SHE 



SHE 



3. Chief of the Izharites. 1 Chron. 23 : 
18. 

4. A descendant of Eliezer the son of 
Moses, in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 
26:25,26,28. (B.C. 1013.) 

5. A Gershonite. 1 Chron. 23 : 9. 

6. One whose sons returned from Baby- 
lon with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 10. 

Shel'omoth, the same as Shelomith, 
3. 1 Chron. 24 : 22. 

Shelu'mi-el [ friend of God), the son 
of Zurishaddai, and prince of the tribe of 
Simeon at the time of the exodus. Num. 
1:6; 2:12; 7:36,41; 10:19. (B.C. 1491.) 

Shem {name), the eldest son of Noah. 
Gen. 5 : 32. He was 98 years old, mar- 
ried, and childless, at the time of the 
flood. After it, he, with his father, broth- 
ers, sisters-in-law and wife, received the 
blessing of God, Gen. 9 : 1, and entered 
into the covenant. With the help of his 
brother Japheth, he covered the naked- 
ness of their father, and received the first 
blessing. Gen. 9 : 25-27. He died at the 
age of 600 years. The portion of the 
earth occupied by the descendants of 
Shem, Gen. 10 : 21, 31, begins at its 
northwestern extremity with Lydia, and 
includes Syria (Aram), Chaldaea ( ArjDhax- 
ad), parts of Assyria (Asshur), of Persia 
(Elam), and of the Arabian peninsula 
(Joktan). Modern scholars have given 
the name of Shemitic or Semitic to the 
languages spoken by his real or supposed 
descendants. [Hebrew.] 

She'raa. 1. A Reubenite, ancestor of 
Bela. 1 Chron. 5 : 8. (B.C. before 1090.) 

2. Son of Elpaal. 1 Chron. 8 : 13. Prob- 
ably the same as Shimhi. (B.C. after 
1450.) 

3. One of those who stood at Ezra's 
right hand when he read the law to the 
people. Neh. 8 : 4. (B.C. 458.) 

4. Josh. 15:26. [Sheba.] 
Shem'a-ah {the rumor), a Benjamite 

of Gibeah, and father of Ahiezer and Jo- 
ash. 1 Chron. 12 : 3. (B.C. before 1054.) 

Shemai'ah {heard by Jehovah). 1. 
A prophet in the reign of Rehoboam. 1 
Kings 12:22; 2 Chron. 11:2. (B.C. 
972.) He wrote a chronicle containing 
the events of Rehoboam 's reign. 2 Chron. 
12 : 5, 15. 

2. The son of Shechaniah, among the 
descendants of Zerubbabel. 1 Chron. 3 : 
22 ; Neh. 3 : 29. 

3. A prince of the tribe of Simeon* 1 
Chron. 4 : 27. 

4. Son of Joel, a Reubenite. 1 Chron. 
5 : 4. (B.C. after 1706.) 

616 



5. Son of Hasshub, a Merarite Levite. 

1 Cbron. 9: 14; Neh. 11 : 15. 

6. Father of Obadiah or Abda, a Le- 
vite. 1 Chron. 9 : 16. 

7. Son of Elizaphan, and chief of his 
house in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 
15:8,11. (B.C. 1043.) 

8. A Levite, son of Netbaneel, and also 
a scribe in the time of David. 1 Chron. 
24:6. (B.C. 1014.) 

9. The eldest son of Obed-edom the 
Gittite. 1 Chron. 26 : 4, 6, 7. (B.C. 1014.) 

10. A descendant of Jeduthun the 
singer, who lived in the reign of Heze- 
kiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 14. 

11. One of the sons of Adonikam who 
returned with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 13. 

12. One of Ezra's messengers. Ezra 8 : 
16. 

13. A priest of the family of Harim, 
who put away his foreign wife at Ezra's 
bidding. Ezra 10 : 21. (B.C. 458.) 

14. A layman of Israel, son of another 
Harim, who had also married a foreigner. 
Ezra 10: 31. (B.C. 458.) 

15. Son of Delaiah the son of Meheta- 
beel, a prophet in the time of Nehemiah. 
Neh. 6 : 10. (B.C. 446.) 

16. The head of a priestly house who 
signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:8; 12 : 6, 18. (B.C. 410.) 

17. One of the princes of Judah at the 
time of the dedication of the wall of 
Jerusalem. Neh. 12 : 34. (B.C. 446.) 

18. One of the choir on the same occa- 
sion. Neh. 12 : 36. 

19. A priest. Neh. 12 : 42. 

20. A false prophet in the time of 
Jeremiah. Jer. 29 : 24-32. 

21. A Levite in the reign of Jehosha- 
phat. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. (B.C. 909.) 

22. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 

2 Chron. 31 : 15. (B.C. 726.) 

23. A Levite in the reign of Josiah. 2 
Chron. 35:9. (B.C. 628.) 

24. The father of Unjah of Kirjath- 
jearim. Jer. 26 : 20. (B.C. before 608.) 

25. The father of Delaiah. Jer. 36 : 12. 
(B.C. before 605.) 

Shemari'ah {kept by Jehovah). 1. A 
Benjamite warrior who came to David at 
Ziklag. 1 Chron. 12 : 5. (B.C. 1054.) 

2. One of the family of Harim, a lay- 
man of Israel who put away his foreign 
wife in the time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 32. 
(B.C. 658.) 

3. Another who did the same. Ezra 
10 : 41. 

Sheme'foer {lofty flight), king of Ze- 
boim, and ally of the king of Sodom 



SHE 



SHE 



when he was attacked by Chedorlaomer. 
Gen. 14:2. (B.C. 1912.) 

She'mer (preserved), the owner of 
the hill on which the city of Samaria was 
built. 1 Kings 16 : 24. (B.C. 917.) [Sa- 
maria.] 

Shemi'da(wnse), a son of Gilead. Num. 
26 : 32 ; Josh. 17 : 2. (B.C. after 1690.) 

Shemi'dah. Shemida the son of 
Gilead. 1 Chron. 7 : 19. 

Shemida'ites, The, the descendants 
of Shemida the son of Gilead. Num. £6 : 
32. 

Shem'inith [eighth), a musical term 
found in the title of Ps. 6. A similar di- 
rection is found in the title of Ps. 12. 
Comp. 1 Chron. 15 : 21. It seems most 
probable that Sheminith denotes a cer- 
tain air known as the eighth, or a certain 
key in which the psalm was to be sung. 

Shemir'amoth {name of heights, i.e. 
Jehovah). 1. A Levite of the second de- 
gree in the choir formed by David. 1 
Chron. 15 : 18, 20 ; 16 : 5. (B.C. 104.) 

2. A Levite in the reign of Jehosha- 
phat. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. (B.C. 909.) 

Shemit'ic Languages, the family 
of languages spoken by the descendants 
of Shem, chiefly the Hebrew, Chaldaic, 
Assyrian, Arabic, Phoenician and Ara- 
maic or Syriac. The Jews in their ear- 
lier history spoke the Hebrew, but in 
Christ's time they spoke the Aramaic, 
sometimes called the Syro-chaldaic. 

Shemu'el {heard by God ). 1. A com- 
missioner appointed from the tribe of 
Simeon to divide the land of Canaan. 
Num. 34: 20. (B.C. 1450.) 

2. Samuel the prophet. 1 Chron. 6 : 33. 

3. Son of Tola, and one of the chiefs 
of the tribe of Issachar. 1 Chron. 7 : 2. 
(B.C. 1014.) 

Shen (tooth), a place mentioned only 
in 1 Sam. 7 : 12. Nothing is known of it. 

Shena'zar (splendid leader), son of 
Salathiel or Shealtiel. 1 Chron. 3 : 18. 
(B.C. after 606.) 

She'nir. [Senir,] 

She'pham (fruitful ), a place on the 
eastern boundary of the promised land. 
Num. 34 : 10, 11. 

Shephathi'ah, a Benjamite, father 
of Meshullam, 6. 1 Chron. 9 : 8. 

Shephati'ah (judged by Jehovah). 1. 
The fifth son of David. 2 Sam. 3:4; 1 
Chron. 3 : 3. (B.C. about 1050.) 

2. The family of Shephatiah, 372 in 
number, returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 
2:4; Neh. 7 : 9 ; see also Ezra 8 : 8. (B.C. 
536.) 



3. The family of another Shephatiah, 
who came up with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
57 ; Neh. 7 : 59. 

4. A descendant of Judah. Neh. 11 : 4. 

5. One of the princes of Judah who 
counselled Zedekiah to put Jeremiah in 
the dungeon. Jer. 38 : 1. (B.C. 589.) 

6. One of the Benjamite warriors who 
joined David in his retreat at Ziklag. 1 
Chron. 12:5. (B.C. 1054.) 

7. Chief of the Simeonites in the reign 
of David. 1 Chron. 27 : 16. 

8. Son of Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 21 : 2. 
(B.C. 887.) 




Eastern Shepherd. 

Shepherd. In a nomadic state of so- 
ciety every man, from the sheikh down 
to the slave, is more or less a shepherd. 
The progenitors of the Jews in the pa- 
triarchal age were nomads, and their his- 
tory is rich in scenes of pastoral life. The 
occupation of tending the flocks was un- 
dertaken, not only by the sons of wealthy 
chiefs, Gen. 30 : 29 ff. ; 37 : 12 ft'., but even 
by their daughters. Gen. 29 : 6 ff. ; Ex. 2 : 
19. The Egyptian captivity did much 
to implant a love of settled abode, and 
consequently we find the tribes which 
still retained a taste for shepherd life se- 
lecting their own quarters apart from 
their brethren in the transjordanic dis- 
trict. Num. 32 : 1 ff. Thenceforward in 
Palestine proper the shepherd held a 
subordinate position. The office of the 
eastern shepherd, as described in the 
Bible, was attended with much hardship, 
and even danger. He was exposed to the 
extremes of heat and cold, Gen. 31 :40; 

617 



SHE 



SHE 



his food frequently consisted of the pre- 
carious supplies afforded by nature, such 
as the fruit of the " sycamore " or Egyp- 
tian fig, Amos 7 : 14, the "husks " of the 
carob tree, Luke 15 : 16, and perchance 
the locusts and wild honey which sup- 
ported the Baptist, Matt. 3:4; he had to 
encounter the attacks of wild beasts, oc- 
casionally of the larger species, such as 
lions, wolves, panthers and bears, 1 Sam. 
17 : 34 ; Isa. 31 : 4 ; Jer. 5:6; Amos 3 : 
12 ; nor was he free from the risk of rob- 
bers or predatory hordes. Gen. 31 : 39. 
To meet these various foes the shepherd's 
equipment consisted of the following ar- 
ticles : a mantle, made probably of sheep- 
skin with the fleece on, which he turned 
inside out in cold weather, as implied in 
the comparison in Jer. 43 : 12 (cf. Juv. 
xiv. 187) ; a scrip or wallet, containing a 
small amount of food, 1 Sam. 17 : 40 ; a 
sling, which is still the favorite weapon 
of the Bedouin shepherd, 1 Sam. 17 : 40 ; 
and lastly, a staff, which served the 
double purpose of a weapon against foes 
and a crook for the management of the 
flock. 1 Sam. 17:40; Ps. 23:4; Zech. 
11 : 7. If the shepherd was at a distance 
from his home, he was provided with a 
light tent, Cant. 1:8; Jer. 35 : 7, the re- 
moval of which was easily effected. Isa. 
38 : 12. In certain localities, moreover, 
towers were erected for the double pur- 
pose of spying an enemy at a distance 
and of protecting the flock ; such towers 
were erected by Uzziah and Jotham, 2 
Chron. 26 : 10 ; 27 : 4, while their exist- 
ence in earlier times is testified by the 
name Migdal-edar, Gen. 35 : 21, Author- 
ized Version " a tower of Edar ;" Micah 
4 : 8, Authorized Version " tower of the 
flock." The routine of the shepherd's 
duties appears to have been as follows : 
In the morning he led forth his flock 
from the fold, John 10 : 4, which he did 
by going before them and calling to them, 
as is still usual in the East; arrived at 
the pasturage, he watched the flock with 
the assistance of dogs, Job 30:1, and 
should any sheep stray, he had to search 
for it until he found it, Ezek. 34 : 12 ; 
Luke 15 : 4 ; he supplied them with 
water, either at a running stream or at 
troughs attached to wells, Gen. 29 : 7 ; 
30 : 38 ; Ex. 2 : 16 ; Ps. 23 : 2 ; at evening 
he brought them back to the fold, and 
reckoned them to see that none were miss- 
ing, by passing them " under the rod " as 
they entered the door of the enclosure, 
Lev. 27 : 32 ; Ezek. 20 : 37, checking 
618 



each sheep, as it passed, by a motion 
of the hand, Jer. 33 : 13 ; and, finally, 
he watched the entrance of the fold 
throughout the night, acting as porter. 
John 10 : 3. [See Sheepfold, under 
Sheep.] The shepherd's office thus re- 
quired great watchfulness, particularly 
by night. Luke 2:8; cf. Nah. 3 : 18. It 
also required tenderness toward the young 
and feeble, Isa. 40 : 11, particularly in 
driving them to and from the pasturage. 
Gen. 33 : 13. In large establishments 
there are various grades of shepherds, 
the highest being styled " rulers," Gen. 
47 : 6, or " chief shepherds," 1 Pet. 5 : 
4 ; in a royal household the title of abbir, 
"mighty," was bestowed on the person 
who held the post. 1 Sam. 21 : 7. 
|Sheep.] 

She'phi (bareness), son of Shobal, of 
the sons of Seir. 1 Chron. 1 : 40. Called 
also Shepho. Gen. 36 : 23. 

She-pho. Gen. 36 : 23. [Shephi.] 
Shephu'phan (an adder), one of the 
sons of Bela the first-born of Benjamin. 
1 Chron. 8 : 5. His name is also writ- 
ten Shephupham (Authorized Version 
"Shupham"), Num. 26:39; Shuppim, 

1 Chron. 7 : 12, 15 ; and Muppim. Gen. 
46:21. [Muppim.] 

She'rah {kinswoman), daughter of 
Ephraim, 1 Chron. 7 : 24, and foundress 
of the Beth-horons and of a town called 
after her Uzzen-sherah. (B.C. about 1445.) 

Sherebi'ah {heat of Jehovah), a Le- 
vite in the time of Ezra. Ezra 8 : 18, 24. 
j (B.C. 459.) When Ezra read the law to 
I the people, Sherebiah was among the Le- 
vites Avho assisted him. Neh. 8 : 7. He 
signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
I Neh. 10 : 12. 

She'resh (root), son of Machir the son 
of Manasseh by his wife Maachah. 1 
Chron. 7 : 16. (B.C. before 1419.) 

Shere'zer (prince of fire), one of the 
people's messengers mentioned in Zech. 
7 : 2, 

She'shach (from the goddess Shach, 
reduplicated) is a term which occurs only 
in Jer. 25:26; 51:41, where it is evi- 
dently used as a synonym for either Baby- 
lon or Babylonia. 

She'sha-i (noble), one of the three 
sons of Anak who dwelt in Hebron. 
Num. 13:22. (B.C. 1445.) 

She'shan (noble), a descendant of 
Jerahmeel the son of Hezron. 1 Chron. 

2 : 31, 34, 35. (B.C. after 1690.) 
Sheshfoaz'zar (ivorshipper of fire), 

the Chaldsean or Persian name given to 



SHE 



SHI 



Zerubbabel in Ezra 1:8, 11 ; 5 : 14, 16. 
[Zekubbabel.] 

Sheth {compensation). 1. The patri- 
arch Seth. 1 Chron. 1 : 1. 

2. In the Authorized Version of Num. 
24 : 17, not a proper name, but there is 
reason to regard it as an appellative. 
Read instead of "the sons of Sheth," 
" the sons of tumult." Comp. Jer. 48 : 
45. 

She'thar (Pers. a star), one of the 
seven princes of Persia and Media. Es- 
ther 1 : 14. (B.C. 483.) 

She'thar-boz'na-i (Pers. star of 
splendor), a Persian officer of rank in the 
reign of Darius Hvstaspes. Ezra 5 : 3, 6 ; 
6 : f>, 13. (B.C. 320") 

She'va {Jehovah contends). 1. The 
scribe or royal secretary of David. 2 j 
Sam. 20 : 25. He is called elsewhere 
Seraiah, 2 Sam. 8 : 17 ; Shisha, 1 Kings 
4:3; and Shavsha. 1 Chron. 18 : 16. j 
(B.C. 1015.) 

2. Son of Caleb ben-Hezron by his con- ! 
cubine Maachah. 1 Chron. 2 : 49. (B.C. j 
about 1445.) 




Table of Shew-bread. 

Shew-bread, Ex. 25 : 30 ; 35 : 13 ; 39 : 
36, etc., literally "bread of the face" or 
" faces." Shew-bread was unleavened 
bread placed upon a table which stood in 
the sanctuary together with the seven- 
branched candlestick and the altar of 
incense. See Ex. 25 : 23-30 for descrip- 
tion of this table. Every Sabbath twelve 
newly-baked loaves, representing the 
twelve tribes of Israel, were put on it 
in two rows, six in each, and sprinkled 
with incense, where they remained till 



the following Sabbath. Then they were 
replaced by twelve new ones, the incense 
was burned, and they were eaten by the 
priests in the holy place, out of which 
they might not be removed. The title 
"bread of the face" seems to indicate 
that bread through which God is seen, 
that is, with the participation of which 
the seeing of God is bound up, or through 
the participation of which man attains 
the sight of God ; whence it follows that 
we have not to think of bread merely as 
such, as the means of nourishing the 
bodily life, but as spiritual food, as a 
means of appropriating and retaining 
that life which consists in seeing the face 
of God. 

Shibboleth (a stream), Judges 12 : 6, 
is the Hebrew word which the Gileadites 
under Jephthah made use of at the pas- 
sage of the Jordan, after a victory over 
the Ephraimites, to test the pronunciation 
of the sound sh by those who wished to 
cross over the river. The Ephraimites, it 
would appear, in their dialect substituted 
for sh the simple sound s; and the Gil- 
eadites, regarding every one who failed 
to pronounce sh as an Ephraimite, and 
therefore an enemy, put him to death ac- 
cordingly. In this way there fell 42,000 
Ephraimites. There is no mystery in this 
particular word. Any word beginning 
with the sound sh would have answered 
equally well as a test. 

Shib'mah (properly Sibmah). [She- 

BAM.j 

Shi'cron {drunkenness), one of the 
landmarks at the western end of the 
north boundary of Judah. Josh. 15 : 11 
only. It lay between Ekron {Akir) and 
Jabneel ( Yebna). 

Shield. The ordinary shield consisted 
of a framework of wood covered with 
leather ; it thus admitted of being burnt. 
Ezek. 39 : 9. It was frequently cased 
with metal, either brass or copper; its 
appearance in this case resembled gold 
when the sun shone on it, 1 Mace. 6 : 39, 
and to this, rather than to the practice of 
smearing blood on the shield, we may refer 
the redness noticed by Nahum. Nah. 2 : 3. 
The surface of the shield was kept bright 
by the application of oil, as implied in 
Isa. 21 : 5. The shield was worn on the 
left arm, to which it was attached by a 
strap. Shields of state were covered with 
beaten gold. Shields were suspended 
about public buildings for ornamental 
purposes. 1 Kings 10 : 17. In the met- 
aphorical language of the Bible the 
619 



SHI 



SHI 



shield generally represents the protection 
of God : e. g. Ps. 3 : 3 ; 28 : 7 ; but in Ps. 
47 : 9 it is applied to earthly rulers, and 
in Eph. 6 : Id to faith. [Arms. J 

Shigga'ion, Ps. 7 : 1, a particular 
kind of psalm, the specific character of 
which is now not known; perhaps a 
" wild, mournful ode." 

Shi'hon (rum),, a town of Issachar, 
named only in Josh. 19 : 19. Eusebius 
mentions it as then existing " near Mount 
Tabor." 

Shi'hor of Egypt. [Sihor.] 

Shi'hor-lib'nath (black of whiteness), 
named only in Josh. 19 : 26 as one of the 
landmarks of the boundary of Asher. 
(Probably the little stream called on the 
map of Pal. Ord. Survey Wady enNebra, 
" which enters the Mediterranean a little 
south of Athlit." The name would come 
from the turgid character of the stream 
contrasted with the white and glistening 
sands of its shore. — Ed.) 

Shil'hi (armed), the father of Azubah 
the mother of Jehoshaphat, 1 Kings 22 : 
42; 2 Chron. 20 : 31. (B.C. before 946.) 

ShiS 'him (fountains), one of the cities 
in the southern portion of the tribe of 
Judah. Josh. 15 : 32. 

Shil'lem (requital), son of Naphtali 
and an ancestor of the family of the Shil- 
lemites. Gen. 46 : 24; Num. 26 : 49. 

Shil'lemites, The. [Shillem.] 

Shilo'ah, The waters of, a certain 
soft-flowing stream, Isa. 8 : 6, better 
known under the later name of Siloam — 
the only perennial spring of Jerusalem. 

Shi'loh. In the Authorized Version 
of the Bible Shiloh is once used as the 
name of a person, in a very difficult 
passage, in Gen. 49 : 10, " The sceptre 
shall not depart from Judah, nor a law- 
giver from between his feet, until Shiloh 
come ; and unto him shall the gathering 
of the people be." Supposing that the 
translation is correct, the meaning of the 
word is peaceable or pacific, and the 
allusion is either to Solomon, whose 
name has a similar signification, or to 
the expected Messiah, who in Isa. 9 : 6 is 
expressly called the Prince of Peace. 
[Messiah.] Other interpretations, how- 
ever, of the passage are given, one of 
which makes it refer to the city of this 
name. [See the following article.] It 
might be translated, " The sceptre shall 
not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's 
staff from between his feet, till he shall 
go to Shiloh." In this case the allusion 
would be to the primacy of Judah in 
620 



war, Judges 1:1,2; 20 : 18 ; Num. 2:3; 
10 : 14, which was to continue until the 
promised land was conquered and the 
ark of the covenant was solemnly de- 
posited at Shiloh. 




Shiloh. 



Shi'loh (place of rest), a city of 
Ephraim. In Judges 21 : 19 it is said 
that Shiloh is "on the north side of 
Bethel, qii the east side of the highway 
that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, 
and on the south of Lebonah." In agree- 
ment with this the traveller of our own 
day, going north from Jerusalem, lodges 
the first night at Beitin, the ancient 
Bethel ; the next day, at the distance of 
a few hours, turns aside to the right, in 
order to visit Seilun, the Arabic for 
Shiloh ; and then passing through the 
narrow wady which brings him to the 
main road, leaves el-Lebban, the Lebonah 
of Scripture, on the left, as he pursues 
" the highway " to Nablus, the ancient 
Shechem. [Shechem.] Shiloh was one 
of the earliest and most sacred of the 
Hebrew sanctuaries. The ark of the 
covenant, which had been kept at Gilgal 
during the progress of the conquest, Josh. 

17 : 1, seq., was removed thence on the 
subjugation of the country, and kept at 
Shiloh from the last days of Joshua to 
the time of Samuel. Josh. 18 : 10 ; Judges 

18 : 31 ; 1 Sam. 4:3. It was here the 
Hebrew conqueror divided among the 
tribes the portion of the west Jordan 



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region which had not been already al- 
lotted. Josh. 18 : 10 ; 19 : 51. In this 
distribution, or an earlier, one, Shiloh 
fell within the limits of Ephraiin. Josh. 
16 : 5. The ungodly conduct of the sons 
of Eli occasioned the loss of the ark of 
the covenant, which had been carried 
into battle against the Philistines, and 
Shiloh from that time sank into insig- 
nificance. It stands forth in the Jewish 
history as a striking example of the 
divine indignation. J er. 7 : 12. 

Shilo'ni. This word occurs in the 
Authorized Version only in Neh. 11 : 5, 
whei'e it should be rendered — as it is in 
other cases — " the Shilonite," that is, the 
descendant of Shelah the youngest son 
of Judah. 

Shi'lonite, The, that is, the native 
or resident of Shiloh ; a title ascribed 
only to Ahijah. 1 Kings 11 : 29; 12 : 15; 
15 : 29 ; 2 Chron. 9 : 29 ; 10 : 15. 

Shi'lonites, The, are mentioned 
among the descendants of Judah dwell- 
ing in Jerusalem at a date difficult to fix. 

1 Chron. 9 : 5. They are doubtless the 
members of the house of Shelah, who in 
the Pentateuch are more accurately des- 
ignated Shelanites. 

Shil'shah (strong), son of Zophah of 
the tribe of Asher. 1 Chron. 7 : 37. (B.C. 
before 1015.) 

Shim'ea (fame). 1. Son of David by 
Bath-sheba. 1 Chron. 3 : 5. (B.C. 1045.) 

2. A Merarite Levite. 1 Chron. 6:30 
(15). 

3. A Gershonite Levite, ancestor of 
Asaph the minstrel. 1 Chron. 6 : 39 (24). 
(B.C. before 1200.) 

4. The brother of David, 1 Chron. 20 : 
7, elsewhere called Shammah, Shimma 
and Shimeah. 

Shim'eah. 1. Brother of David, and 
father of Jonathan and Jonadab, 2 Sam. 
21 : 21 ; called also Shammah, Shimea, 
and Shimma. (B.C. about 1060.) 

2. A descendant of Jehiel, the father 
or founder of Gibeon. 1 Chron. 8 : 32. 
(B.C. perhaps 536.) 

Shim'eam (their fame), a descendant 
of Jehiel, the founder or prince of Gib- 
eon. 1 Chron. 9 : 38. Called Shimeah 
in 1 Chron. 8 : 32. 

Shim'eath (feminine of Shimeah), an 
Ammonitess, mother of Jozachar or Za- 
bad, one of the murderers of King Joash. 

2 Kings 12 : 21 (22) ; 2 Chron. 24 : 26. 
(B.C. 609.) 

Shim'ei (renowned). 1. Son of Ger- 
shon the son of Levi, Num. 3 : 18 ; 1 Chron. 



6 : 17, 29 ; 23 : 7, 9, 10 ; Zech. 12 : 13 ; called 
Shimi in Ex. 6 : 17. (B.C. after 1706.) 

2. Shimei the son of Gera, a Benja- 
I mite of the house of Saul, who lived at 
I Bahurim. (B.C. 1023.) When David 

and his suite were seen descending the 
long defile, on his flight from Absalom, 
2 Sam. 16 : 5-13, the whole feeling of the 
clan of Benjamin burst forth without re- 
straint in the person of Shimei. He ran 
along the ridge, cursing and throwing 
stones at the king and his companions. 
The next meeting was very different. 
The king was now returning from his 
successful campaign. Just as he was 
crossing the Jordan, 2 Sam. 19 : 18, the 
first person to welcome him was Shimei, 
who threw himself at David's feet in 
abject penitence. But the king's sus- 
picions were not set at rest by this sub- 
mission ; and on his death-bed he recalls 
the whole scene to the recollection of his 
son Solomon. Solomon gave Shimei 
notice that from henceforth he must con- 
sider himself confined to the walls of 
Jerusalem, on pain of death. 1 Kings 2 : 
36, 37. For three years the engagement 
was kept. At the end of that time, for 
the purpose of capturing two slaves who 
had escaped to Gath, he went out on his 
ass, and made his journey successfully. 
Ibid. 2 : 40. On his return the king took 
him at his word, and he was slain by 
Benaiah. Ibid. 2 : 41-46. 

3. One of the adherents of Solomon 
at the time of Adonijah's usurpation. 1 
Kings 1:8. (B.C. 1015.) 

4. Solomon's commissariat officer in 
Benjamin. 1 Kings 4 : 18. 

5. Son of Pedaiah, and brother of Ze- 
rubbabel. 1 Chron. 3 : 19. (B.C. 536.) 

6. A Simeonite, son of Zacchur. 1 
Chron. 4 : 26, 27. 

7. Son of Gog, a Reubenite. 1 Chron. 
5 : 4. 

8. A Gershonite Levite, son of Jahath. 
1 Chron. 6 : 42. 

9. Son of Jeduthun, and chief of the 
tenth division of the singers. 1 Chron. 
25 : 17. 

10. The Ramathite who was over 
David's vineyards. 1 Chron. 27 : 27. 

11. A Levite of the sons of Heman, 
who took part in the purification of the 
temple under Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 14. 
(B.C. 726.) 

12. The brother of Cononiah the Le- 
vite, in the reign of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 
31 : 12, 13. Perhaps the same as the 
preceding. 

621 



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13. A Levite in the time of Ezra who 
had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 23. 

14. One of the family of Hashum, who 
put away his foreign wife at Ezra's com- 
mand. Ezra 10 : 33. 

15. A son of Bani, who had also mar- 
ried a foreign wife, and put her away. 
Ezra 10: 38. (B.C. 459.) 

16. Son of Kish, a Benjamite, and an- 
cestor of Mordecai. Esther 2 : 5. (B.C. 
before 479. 

Shim'eon {hearing {prayer)), a lay- 
man of Israel, of the family of Harirn, 
who had married a foreign wife, and 
divorced her in the time of Ezra. Ezra 
10 : 31. (B.C. 458.) 

Shim 'hi {renowned), a Benjamite, ap- 
parently the same as Shema the son of 
Elpaal. 1 Chron. 8 : 21. 

Shi'mi = Shimei, 1. Ex. 6 : 17. 

Shim'ites, The, the descendants of 
Shimei the son of Gershon. Num. 3 : 21. 

Shim 'ma, the third son of Jesse, and 
brother of David. 1 Chron. 2 : 13. Same 
as Shimeah. 

Shi'mon {desert). The four sons of 
Shimon are enumerated in an obscure 
genealogy of the tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 
4 : 20. 

Shim/rath {guard), a Benjamite, of 
the sons of Shimhi. 1 Chron. 8 : 21. 

Shim'ri {vigilant). 1. A Simeonite, 
son of Shemaiah. 1 Chron. 4 : 37. (B.C. 
after 1450.) 

2. The father of Jediael, one of David's 
guard. 1 Chron. 11 : 45. (B.C. before 
1043.) 

3. A Kohathite Levite in the reign of 
Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 13. (B.C. 726.) 

Shim'rith (feminine of Shimri, vigil- 
ant), a Moabitess, mother of Jehozabad, 
one of the assassins of King Joash. 2 
Chron. 24 : 26. In 2 Kings 12 : 21 she is 
called Shomer. (b.c. 839.) 

Shim'rom. 1 Chron. 7:1. [Shimron.] 
Shim'ron {watch-height). 1. A city 
of Zebulun. Josh. 11:1; 19 : 15. Its full 
appellation was perhaps Shimron-meron. 

2. The fourth son of Issachar according 
to the lists of Genesis, Gen. 46 : 13, and 
Numbers, Num. 26 : 24, and the head of 
the family of the Shimronites. 

Shim'ronites, The. [Shimron.] 
Shim'ron-me'ron {watch-height of 
Meron). The king of Shimron-meron is 
mentioned as one of the thirty-one kings 
vanquished by Joshua. Josh. 12 : 20. It 
is probably the complete name of the 
place elsewhere called Shimron, a city 
of Zebulun. Josh. 11 : 1 ; 19 : 15. 
622 



Shim'sha-i, or Shimsha'i {sunny), 
the scribe or secretary of Behuni, who 
was a kind of satrap of the conquered 
jDrovince of Judea and of the colony of 
Samaria, supported by the Persian court. 
Ezra 4 : 8, 9, 17, 23. He was apparently 
an Aramaean, for the letter which he 
wrote to Artaxerxes was in Syriac. Ezra 
4:7. _ (B.C. 529.) 

Shi'nab {splendor of the father, i. e. 
God), the king of Admah in the time of 
Abraham. Gen. 14 : 2. (B.C. 1912.) 

Shi'nar {country of two rivers), the 
ancient name of the great alluvial tract 
through which the Tigris and Euphrates 
pass before reaching the sea — the tract 
known in later times as Chaldsea or Bab- 
ylonia. It was a plain country, where 
brick had to be used for stone and slime 
for mortar. Gen. 11 : 3. Among the cities 
were Babel (Babylon), Erech or Orech 
(Orchoe), Calneh or Calno (probably 
Nijfer), and Accad, the site of which is 
unknown. It may be suspected that 
Shinar was the name by which the He- 
brews originally knew the lower Meso- 
potamian country where they so long 
dwelt, and which Abraham brought with 
him from " Ur of the Chaldees." 

Ship. No one writer in the whole 
range of Greek and Roman literature has 
supplied us with so much information 
concerning the merchant-ships of the an- 
cients as St. Luke in the narrative of St. 
Paul's voyage to Rome. Acts 27, 28. It 
is important to remember that he accom- 
plished it in three ships : first, the Ad- 
ramyttian vessel which took him from 
Csesarea to Myra, and which was prob- 
ably a coasting-vessel of no great size, 
Acts 27 : 1-6; secondly, the large Alex- 
andrian corn-ship, in which he was 
wrecked on the coast of Malta, Acts 27 : 
6-28 : 1 ; and thirdly, another large Alex- 
andrian corn-ship, in which he sailed 
from Malta by Syracuse and Rhegium 
to Puteoli. Acts 28 : 11-13. 1. Size of 
ancient ships. — The narrative which we 
take as our chief guide afibrds a good 
standard for estimating this. The ship 
in which St. Paul was wrecked had 276 
persons on board. Acts 27 : 37, besides a 
cargo of wheat, ibid. 10, 38 ; and all these 
passengers seem to have been taken on 
to Puteoli in another ship, ibid. 28 : 11, 
which had its own crew and its own 
cargo. Now, in modern transport-ships, 
prepared for carrying troops, it is a com- 
mon estimate to allow a ton and a half 
per man. On the whole, if we say that 



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an ancient merchant-ship might range 
from 500 to 1000 tons, we are clearly 
within the mark. 2. Steering apparatus. 
— Some commentators have fallen into 
strange perplexities from observing that 
in Acts 27 : 40 ("the fastenings of the 
rudders") St. Luke uses the plural. An- 
cient ships were in truth not steered at 
all by rudders fastened or hinged to the 
stern, but by means of* two paddle-rud- 
ders, one on each quarter, acting in a 
rowlock or through a port-hole, as the 
vessel might be small or large. 3. Build 



and ornaments of the hull. — It is prob- 
able that there was no very marked dif- 
ference between the bow and the stern. 
The " hold," Jonah 1 : 5, would present 
no special peculiarities. That personifi- 
cation of ships which seems to be in- 
stinctive led the ancients to paint an eye 
on each side of the bow. Comp. Acts 27 : 
15. An ornament of the ship which took 
Paul from Malta to Pozzuoli is more 
explicitly referred to. The "sign" of 
that ship, Acts 28 : 11, was Castor and 
Pollux ; and the symbols of those heroes 




Eoman Galley. 



were doubtless painted or sculptured on 
each side of the bow. 4. Under-girders. — 
The imperfection of the build, and still 
more (see below, 6) the peculiarity of the 
rig, in ancient ships, resulted in a greater 
tendency than in our times to the starting 
of the planks, and consequently to leak- 
ing and foundering. Hence it was cus- 
tomary to take on board peculiar con- 
trivances, suitably called " helps," Acts 
27 : 17, as precautions against such dan- 
gers. These were simply cables or chains, 
which in case of necessity could be passed 
round the frame of the ship, at right 
angles to its length, and made tight. 5. 
Anchors. — Ancient anchors were similar 
in form to those which we use now, ex- 
cept that they were without flukes. The 
ship in which Paul was sailing had four 
anchors on board. The sailors on this 
occasion anchored by the stern. Acts 27 : 



29. 6. Masts, sails, ropes and yards. — 
The rig of an ancient ship was more 
simple and clumsy than that employed 
in modern times. Its great feature was 
one large mast, with one large square 
sail fastened to a yard of great length. 
Hence the strain upon the hull, and the 
danger of starting the planks, were 
greater than under the present system, 
which distributes the mechanical pres- 
sure more evenly over the whole ship. 
Not that there were never more masts 
than one, or more sails than one on the 
same mast, in an ancient merchantman ; 
but these were repetitions, so to speak, 
of the same general unit of rig. Another 
feature of the ancient, as of the modern, 
ship is the flag at the top of the mast. 
Isa. I. c, and 30 : 17. We must remember 
that the ancients had no compass, and 
very imperfect charts and instruments, 
623 



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if any at all. 7. Rate of sailing. — St. 
Paul's voyages furnish excellent data for 
approximately estimating this ; and they 
are quite in harmony with what Ave learn 
from other sources. We must notice here, 
however — what commentators sometimes 
curiously forget — that winds are variable. 
Thus the voyage between Troas and Phi- 
lippi, accomplished on one occasion, Acts 
16 : 11, 12, in two days, occupied on an- 
other occasion, Acts 20 : 6, five days. 
With a fair wind an ancient ship would 
sail fully seven knots an hour. 8. Sail- 
ing before the wind, and near the wind. — 
The rig which has been described is, like 
the rig of Chinese junks, peculiarly fa- 
vorable to a quick run before the wind. 
Acts 16 : 11 ; 27 : 16. It would, however, 
be a great mistake to suppose that ancient 
ships could not work to windward. The 
superior rig an J build, however, of mod- 
ern ships enable them to sail nearer to 
the wind than was the case in classical 
times. A modern ship, if the weather is 
not very boisterous, will sail within six 
points of the wind. To an ancient vessel, 
of which the hull was more clumsy and 
the yards could not be braced so tight, it 
would be safe to assign seven points as 
the limit. Boats on the Sea of Galilee. — 
In the narrative of the call of the dis- 
ciples to be "fishers of men," Matt. 4 : 
18-22 ;_ Mark 1 : 16-20; Luke 5 : 1-11, 
there is no special information concern- 
ing the characteristics of these. With 
the large population round the Lake of 
Tiberias, there must have been a vast 
number of both fishing-boats and pleas- 
ure-boats, and boat-building must have 
been an active trade on its shores. 

Shi'phi(afritft<ian£),aSim.eonite,father 
of Ziza, a prince of the tribe in the time 
of Hezekiah. lChron. 4:37. (B.C.726.) 

Shiph'mite, The, probably, though 
not certainlv, the native of Shepham. 1 
Chron. 27 : 27. 

Shiph'rah (brightness), Ex. 1 : 15, the 
name of one of the two midwives of the 
Hebrews who disobeyed the command of 
Pharaoh to kill the male children, vs. 
15-21. (B.C. 1570.) 

Shiph'tan {judicial), father of Kern- 
uel, a prince of the tribe of Ephraim. 
Num. 34:24. (B.C. before 1450.) 

Shi'sha {Jehovah contends), father of 
Elihoreph and Ahiah, the royal secreta- 
ries in the reign of Solomon. 1 Kings 4 : 
3. He is apparently the same as Shavsha, 
who held the same position under David. 
(B.C. 1000.) 
624 



Shi'shak, king of Egypt, the Sheshonk 
I. of the monuments, first sovereign of 
the Bubastite twenty-second dynasty. 
His reign offers the first determined syn- 
chronism of Egyptian and Hebrew his- 




Heacl of Shishak. {From temple of Karnak.) 

tory. The first year of Shishak would 
about correspond to the 26th of Solomon 
(B.C. 989), and the 20th of Shishak to the 
5th of Rehoboam. Shishak at the begin- 
ning of his reign received the fugitive 
Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:40; and it was 
probably at the instigation of Jeroboam 
that he attacked Rehoboam. "He took 
the fenced cities which [pertained] to 
Judah, and came to Jerusalem." He ex- 
acted all the treasures of his city from 
Rehoboam, and apparently made him 
tributary. 1 Kings 14 : 25, 26 ; 2 Chron. 
12 : 2-9. Shishak has left a record of this 
expedition sculptured on the wall of the 
great temple of El-Karnak. It is a list 
of the countries, cities and tribes con- 
quered or ruled by him, or tributary to 
I him. 

Shittah tree, Shittim (Heb. shittah, 
I the thorny), is without doubt correctly 
j referred to some species of Acacia, of 
! which three or four kinds occur in the 
I Bible lands. The wood of this tree — 
J perhaps the Acacia seyal is more definite- 
i ly signified — was extensively employed 
in the construction of the tabernacle. 
See Ex. 25, 26, 36, 37, 38. (This tree is 
sometimes three or four feet in diameter 
(Tristram). The wood is close-grained 
| and hard, of a fine orange-brown color, 



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and admirably adapted to cabinet work. 
— Ed.) The A. seyal is very common in 
some parts of the peninsula of Sinai. It 
yields the well-known substance called 
gum arabic, which is obtained by incis- 
ions in the bark, but it is impossible to 
say whether the ancient Jews were ac- 
quainted with its use. From the tangled 
thicket into which the stem of this tree 
expands, Stanley well remarks that hence 
is to be traced the use of the plural form 
of the Heb. noun shittim, the singular 
number occurring once only in the Bible. 
This acacia must not be confounded with 
the tree (Robinia pseudo-acacia) popu- 
larly known by this name in England, 
which is a North American plant, and 
belongs to a different genus and sub- 
order. The true acacias belong to the 
order Leguminosce, sub-order Mimosew. 




Shittim-wood. (Acacia.) 

Shit'tim (the acacias), the place of 
Israel's encampment between the con- 
quest of the transjordanic highlands and 
the passage of the Jordan. Num. 25 : 1 ; 
33 : 49 ; Josh. 2 : 1 ; 3 : 1 ; Micah 6 : 5. Its 
full name appears to be given in the first 
of these passages — Abel has-Shittim, 
"the meadow, or moist place, of the 
40 



acacias." It was "in the Arboth-moab, 
by Jordan-Jericho," Num. 22 : 1 ; 26 : 
3 ; 31 : 12 ; 33 : 48, 49 ; that is to say, it 
was in the Arabah or Jordan valley, op- 
posite Jericho. 

Shi'za (splendor), sl Beubenite, father 
of Adina, 1 Chron. 11 : 42, one of David's 
warriors. (B.C. 1043.) 

Sho'a (rich), a proper name which oc- 
curs only in Ezek. 23 : 23, in connection 
with Pekod and Koa. The three ap- 
parently designate districts of Assyria 
with which the southern kingdom of 
Judah had been intimately connected, 
and which were to be arrayed against it 
for punishment. 

Sho'bab (rebellious). 1. Son of Da- 
vid by Bath-sheba. 2 Sam. 5:14; 1 
Chron. 3:5; 14 : 4. (B.C. about 1045.) 
2. Apparently the son of Caleb the 
son of Hezron by his wife Azubah. 1 
Chron. 2 : 18. (B.C. after 1706.) 

Sho'bach (expansion), the general of 
Hadarezer king of the Syrians of Zoba, 
who was defeated by David. 2 Sam. 10 : 
15-18. In 1 Chron. 19 : 16, 18 he is called 
Shopnach. (B.C. 1034.) 

Sho'ba-i (glorious). The children 
of Shobai were a family of the door- 
keepers of the temple, ' who returned 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 42 ; Neh. 7 : 
45. (B.C. befoue 536.) 

Sho'bal ( flowing). 1. Second son 
of Seir the Horite, Gen. 36 : 20 ; 1 Chron. 
1 : 38, and one of the " dukes " of the 
Horites. Gen. 36 : 29. 

2. Son of Caleb the son of Hur, and 
founder or prince of Kirjath-jearim. 
1 Chron. 2 : 50, 52. (B.C. about 1445.) 

3. In 1 Chron. 4:1, 2, Shobai appears 
with Hur among the sons of Judah. He 
is possibly the same as the preceding. 

Sho'bek (free), one of the heads of 
the people who sealed the covenant 
with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 24. (B.C. 446.) 

Sho'bi {glorious), son of Nahash of 
Babbah of the children of Ammon. 2 
Sam. 17 : 27. He was one of the first 
to meet David at Mahanaim on his 
flight from Absalom. (B.C. 1023.) 

Sho'cho, 2 Chron. 28 : 18, one of the 
four varieties of the name Socoh. 
Sho'co, 2 Chron. 11 : 7, a variation in 
the Authorized Version of the name So- 
coh. 

Sho'choh, 1 Sam. 17 : 1, same as So- 
coh. 

Shoe. [Sandal.] 

Sho'ham (onyx), aMerarite Levite,son 
of Jaaziah. 1 Chron. 24 : 27. (B.C. 1043.) 

625 



SHO 



SHU 



Sho'mer {keeper). 1. An Asherite, 1 
Chron. 7 : 32 ; also called Shamer. ver. 34. 

2. The father (mother?) of Jehozabad, 
who slew King Joash. 2 Kings 12 : 21. In 
the parallel passage in 2 Chron. 24 : 26 
the name is converted into the feminine 
form Shimrith, who is further described 
as a Moabitess. [Shimrith.] (b.c. 839.) 

Sho'phach {expansion), Shobach, the 
general of Hadarezer. 1 Chron. 19 : 16, 
18. (B.C. 1034.) 

Sho'phan {bareness), one of the forti- 
fied towns on the east of Jordan which 
were taken possession of and rebuilt by 
the tribe of Gad. Num. 32 : 35. 

Shoshan'nim {lilies). " To the chief 
musician upon Shoshannim " is a mu- 
sical direction to the leader of the tem- 
ple choir which occurs in Pss. 45, 69, and j 
most probably indicates the melody | 
" after " or " in the manner of" (Author- j 
ized Version "upon") which the psalms j 
were to be sung. Shoshannim-eduth j 
occurs in the same way in the title of Ps. ' 
80. As the words now stand they signify ' 
"lilies, a testimony," and the two are 
separated by a large distinctive accent. I 
In themselves they have no meaning in 
the present text, and must therefore be 
regarded as probably a fragment of the 
beginning of an older psalrn with which 
the choir were familiar. 

Shu'ah (wealth). 1. Son of Abraham 
by Keturah. Gen. 25 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 32. 
(B.C. before 1820.) 

2. Properly Shuchah, brother of Che- 
lub. 1 Chron. 4 : 11. 

3. The father of Judah's wife, Gen. 
38:2, 12; called also Shua in the Au- 
thorized Version. (B.C. before 1725.) 

Shu'al {a jackal), son of Zophah, an 
Asherite. 1 Chron. 7 : 36. (B.C. after 
1445.) 

Shu'al, The land of, a district 
named in 1 Sam. 13 : 17 only. It is 
pretty certain from the passage that it 
lay north of Michmash. If therefore it 
be identical with the "land of Shalim," 
1 Sam. 9 : 4 — as is not impossible — we 
have the first and only clue yet obtained 
to Saul's journey in quest of the asses. 
The name Shual has not yet been iden- 
tified. 

Shu'baeh 1. Shebuel the son of 
Gershon. 1 Chron. 24 : 20. 

2. Shebuel the son of Heman the min- 
strel. 1 Chron. 25 : 20. 

Shu'ham {pit-digger), son of Dan 
and ancestor of the Shuhamites. Num. 
26 : 42. 

626 



Shu'hamites, The. [Shuham.] 
Shu'hite {descendant of Slvuah). This 
ethnic appellative " Shuhite " is frequent 
| in the book of Job, but only as the epi- 
i thet of one person, Bildad. The local 
indications of this book point to a region 
on the western side of (Jhaldsea, border- 
ing on Arabia ; and exactly in this local- 
ity, above Hit and on both sides of the 
Euphrates, are found, in the Assyrian 
inscriptions, the Tsaklii, a powerful peo- 
ple. It is probable that these were the 
Shuhites. 

Shu'lamite, The, one of the person- 
ages in the poem of Solomon's Song. 6 : 
13. The name denotes a woman belong- 
ing to a place called Shulem, which is 
probably the same as Shunem. [Shu- 
NEM.j If, then, Shulamite and Shunam- 
mite are equivalent, we may conjecture 
that the Shunammite who was the object 
of Solomon's passion was Abishag, the 
most lovely girl of her day, and at the 
time of David's death the most prominent 
person at Jerusalem. 

Shu'mathites, The, one of the four 
families who sprang from Kirjath-jearim. 
1 Chron. 2 : 53. 

Shu'nammite, The, i. e. the native 
of Shunem, is applied to two persons: Ab- 
ishag, the nurse of King David, 1 Kings 
1 : 3, 15; 2 : 17, 21, 22, and the nameless 
hostess of Elisha. 2 Kings 4 : 12, 25, 36. 

Shu'nem {double resting-place), one 
of the cities allotted to the tribe of Issa- 
char. Josh. 19 : 18. It is mentioned on 
two occasions — 1 Sam. 28 : 4; 2 Kings 4 : 
8. It was besides the native place of 
Abishag. 1 Kings 1 : 3. It is mentioned 
by Eusebius as five miles south of Mount 
Tabor, and then known as Sulem. This 
agrees with the position of the present So- 
lam, a village three miles north of Jezreel 
and five from Gilboa. 

Shu'ni {fortunate), son of Gad, and 
founder of the family of the Shunites. 
Gen. 46 : 16 ; Num. 26 : 15. (B.C. 1706.) 

Shu'nites, The, the descendants of 
Shuni. 

Shu'pham. [Shuppim.] 
Shu'phamites, The, the descend- 
ants of Shupham or Shephupham, the 
Benjamite. Num. 26 : 39. 

Shup'pim {serpents). In the gene- 
alogy of Benjamin " Shuppim and Hup- 
pim, the children of Ir," are reckoned 
in 1 Chron. 7 : 12. Ir is the same as lri 
the son of Bela the son of Benjamin, so 
that Shuppim was the great-grandson of 
| Benjamin. 



SHU 



SID 



Shur (a wall ), a place just without j 
the eastern border of Egypt. Shur is | 
first mentioned in the narrative of Ha- 
gar's flight from Sarah. Gen. 16 : 7. 
Abraham afterward "dwelled between 
Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Ge- 
rar." Gen. 20:1. It is also called Ethami, 
The wilderness of Shur was entered by 
the Israelites after they had crossed the 
Red Sea. Ex. 15 : 22, 23. It was also 
called the wilderness of Etham. Num. 
33 : 8. Shur may have been a fortified 
town east of the ancient head of the Red 
Sea; and from its being spoken of as a 
limit, it was probably the last Arabian 
town before entering Egypt. 

Shu'shan, or Su'sa (a lily), is said 
to have received its name from the abun- 
dance of the lily {shushan or shushanah) 
in its neighborhood. It was originally the 
capital of the country called in Scripture 
Elam, and by the classical writers Susis 
or Susiana. In the time of Daniel Susa 
was in the possession of the Babylonians, 
to whom Elam had probably passed at 
the division of the Assyrian empire made 
by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar. Dan. 8 : 
2.* The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus 
transferred Susa to the Persian domin- 
ion ; and it was not long before the 
Achsemenian princes determined to make 
it the capital of their whole empire and 
the chief place of their own residence. 
According to some writers the change 
was made by Cyrus ; according to others 
it had at any rate taken place before the 
death of Cambyses; but, according to 
the evidence of the place itself and of 
the other Achsemenian monuments, it 
would seem most probable that the trans- 
fer was really the work of Darius Hys- 
taspes. Nehemiah resided here. Neh. 1 : 
1. Shushan was situated on the Ulai or 
Choaspes. It is identified with the mod- 
ern Sus or Shush, and its ruins are about 
three miles in circumference. (Here 
have been found the remains of the great 
palace built by Darius, the father of 
Xerxes, in which and the surrounding 
buildings took place the scenes recorded 
in the life of Esther. The great central 
hall was 343 feet long by 244 feet wide. 
The king's gate, says SchafF, where Mor- 
decai sat, " was probably a hall 100 feet 
square, 150 feet from the northern por- 
tico. Between these two was probably 
the inner court, where Esther appeared 
before the king."— Ed.) 

Shu'shan-e'duth {the lily of testi- 
mony), Ps. 60, is probably an abbrevia- 



tion of " Shoshannim-eduth." Ps. 80. 
|Shoshannim.J 
Shu'thalhites, The. [Shuthe- 

LAH.] 

Shu'thelah {noise of breaking), head 
of an Ephraimite family, called after 
him Shuthalhites, Num. 26 : 35, and lin- 
eal aucestor of Joshua the son of Nun. 1 
Chron. 7 : 20-27. • 

Si/a. The "children of Sia" were a 
family of Nethinim who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 47. The name is 
written Siaha in Ezra 2:44 and Sud 
in 1 Esd. 5 : 29. 

Si'aha = Sia. Ezra 2 : 44. 

Sib'beca-i = Sibbechai the Hu- 
shathite. 

Sib'becha=i {a weaver), one of Da- 
vid's guard, and eighth captain for the 
eighth month of 24,000 men of the king's 
army. 1 Chron. 11:29; 27:11. (B.C. 
1043.) He belonged to one of the prin- 
cipal families of judah, the Zarhites or 
descendants of Zerah, and is called " the 
Hushathite," probably from the place 
of his birth. Sibbechai's great exploit, 
which gave him a place among the 
mighty men of David's army, was his 
single combat with Saph or Sippai, the 
Philistine giant, in the battle at Gezer or 
Gob. 2 Sam. 21 : 18 ; 1 Chron. 20 : 4. 

Sibboleth, the Ephraimite pronun- 
ciation of the word Shibboleth. Judges 
12 : 6. [Shibboleth.] 

Sib'mah. (Shebam.] 
Sibra'im {twofold hope), one of the 
landmarks on the northern boundary of 
the holy land as stated by Ezekiel. Ezek. 
47 : 16. It has not been identified. 

Si'chem. Gen. 12 : 6. [Shechem.] 

Sic'yon (sish'eon), 1 Mace. 15 : 23, a 
celebrated Greek city in Peloponnesus, 
upon the Corinthian Gulf. 

Sid dim {field, plain), The vale of, 
a place named only in one passage of 
' Genesis — 14 : 3, 8, 10. It was one of that 
class of valleys which the Hebrews desig- 
nated by the word emek. This term ap- 
pears to have been assigned to a broad, 
flattish tract, sometimes of considerable 
width, enclosed on each side by a definite 
range of hills. It was so far a suitable 
spot for the combat between the four and 
five kings, ver. 8; but it contained a mul- 
titude of bitumen-pits sufficient mate- 
rially to affect the issue of t he battle. In 
this valley the kings of the five allied 
cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Ze- 
boim and Bela seem to have awaited the 
approach of the invaders. It is therefore 
627 



SID 



SIL 



probable that it was in the neighborhood 
of the " plain or circle of Jordan " in 
which those cities stood. If we could 
venture, as some have done, to interpret 
the latter clause of ver. 3, " which is j 
near," or " which is at, or by, the Salt I 
Sea/'* then we might agree with Dr. Rob- j 
inson and others in identifying the val- j 
ley of Siddim with the enclosed plain | 
which intervenes between the south end 
of the lake and the range of heights 
which terminate the Ghor and commence 
the Wady Arabah. But the original of 
the passage seems to imply that the Salt 
Sea covers the actual space formerly oc- 
cupied by the vale of Siddim. [Sea, 
the Salt.] 

Si'de, a city on the coast of Pamphyl- 
ia, 10 or 12 miles to the east of the river 
Eurymedon. It is mentioned in 1 Mace. 
15 : 23, and was a colony of Ouma3ans. 

Si'don, the Greek form of the Phceni- 
cian name Zidon. [Zidon.] 

Sido'nians, the Greek form of the 
word Zidonians, usually so exhibited in 
the Authorized Version of the Old Tes- 
tament. It occurs Deut. 3:9; Josh. 13 : 
4, 6 _; Judges 3 : 3 ; 1 Kings 5 : 6. [Zidon.] 

Si'hon {-warrior), king of the Amo- 
rites when Israel arrived on the borders 
of the promised land. Num. 21 : 21. 
(B.C. 1451.) Shortly before the time of 
Israel's arrival he had dispossessed the 
Moabites of a splendid territory, driving 
them south of the natural bulwark of the 
Arnon. Ibid. 21 : 26-29. When the Israel- 
ite host appeared, he did not hesitate or 
temporize like Balak, but at once gath- 
ered his people together and attacked 
them. But the battle was his last. He 
and all his host were destroyed, and their 
district from Arnon to Jabbok became at 
once the possession of the conqueror. 

Si'hor (dark), accurately Shi'hor, 
once The Shihor, or Shihor of Egypt, 
when unqualified a name of the Nile. It 
is held to signify "the black" or "tur- 
bid." In Jeremiah the identity of Shihor 
with the Nile seems distinctly stated. 
Jer. 2:18. The stream mentioned in 1 
Chron. 13 : 5 is possibly that of the Wddi- 
I'Areesh. 

Si'las (contracted form of Silvanus, 
woody), an eminent member of the early 
Christian Church, described under that 
name in the Acts, but as Silvanus in St. 
Paul's epistles. He first appears as one 
of the leaders of the church at Jerusalem, 
Acts 15 : 22, holding the office of an in- 
spired teacher. 15 : 32. His name, derived 
628 



from the Latin silva, "w T ood," betokens 
him a Hellenistic Jew, and he appears to 
have been a Roman citizen. Acts 16 : 37. 
He was appointed as a delegate to accom- 
pany Paul and Barnabas on their return 
to Antioch with the decree of the Council 
of Jerusalem. Acts 15 : 22, 32. Having 
accomplished this mission, he returned 
to Jerusalem. Acts 15 : 33. He must, 
however, have immediately revisited An- 
tioch, for we find him selected by St. Paul 
as the companion of his second mission- 
ary journey. Acts 15 : 40-17 : 10. At Be- 
rea he was left behind with Timothy 
while St. Paul proceeded to Athens, 
Acts 17 : 14, and we hear nothing more of 
his movements until he rejoined the apos- 
tle at Corinth. Acts 18 : 5. His presence 
at Corinth is several times noticed. 2 
Cor. 1 : 19 ; 1 Thess. 1 : 1 ; 2 Thess. 1:1. 
Whether he was the Silvanus Avho con- 
veyed St. Peter's first epistle to Asia Mi- 
nor, 1 Pet. 5 : 12, is doubtful ; the proba- 
bilities are in favor of the identity. A 
tradition of very slight authority repre- 
sents Silas to have become bishop of 
Corinth. 

Silk. The only undoubted notice of 
silk in the Bible occurs in Rev. 18 : 12, 
where it is mentioned among the treas- 
ures of the typical Babylon. It is, how- 
ever, in the highest degree probable that 
the texture was known to the Hebrews 
from the time that their commercial rela- 
tions were extended by Solomon. The 
well-knoAvn classical name of the sub- 
stance does not occur in the Hebrew lan- 
guage. 

Sil'Ia (a highway). " The house of 
Millo which goeth down to Silla " was 
the scene of the murder of King Joash. 
2 Kings 12 : 20. What or where Silla was 
is entirely matter of conjecture. Some 
have suggested the pool of Siloam. 

Sil'oah, The pool of, properly "the 
pool of Shelach." Neh. 3:15. |Siloam.] 

Sil'oam (sent). Shiloach, Isa. 8:6; 
Siloah, Neh. 3:15; Siloam, John 9:7, 
11. Siloam is one of the few undisputed 
localities in the topography of Jerusalem ; 
still retaining its old name (with Arabic 
modification, Silwdn), while every other 
pool has lost its Bible designation. This 
is the more remarkable as it is a mere 
suburban tank of no great size, and for 
many an age not particularly good or 
plentiful in its waters, though Josephus 
tells us that in his day they were both 
" sweet and abundant." A little way be- 
low the Jewish burying-ground, but on 




629 



SIL 



SIL 



the opposite side of the valley, where 
the Kedron turns slightly westward and 




Pool of the Virgin. 

widens itself considerably, is the fountain 
of the Virgin, or Um-ed-Deraj, 
near the beginning of that saddle- 
shaped projection of the temple 
hill supposed to be the Ophel of 
the Bible and the Ophlas of Jo- 
sephus. At the back part of this 
fountain a subterraneous passage 
begins, through which the water 
flows, and through which a man 
may make his way, sometimes 
walking erect, sometimes stoop- 
ing, sometimes kneeling, and 
sometimes crawling, to Siloam. 
This conduit is 1708 feet long, 
16 feet high at the entrance, but 
only 16 inches at its narrowest 
part. At a former time it had 
tributaries which sent their waters 
down from the city pools or tem- 
ple wells to swell Siloam. It 
enters Siloam at the northwest 
angle ; or rather enters a small 
rock-cut chamber which forms the 
vestibule of Siloam, about five or 
six feet broad. To this you de- 
scend by a few rude steps, under 
which the water pours itself into 
the main pool. This pool is oblong, 
about 52 feetlong,18feet broad and 
19 feet deep ; but it is never filled, 
the water either passing directly through 
or beinw maintained at a depth of three 
630 



or four feet. The present pool is a ruin, 
with no moss or ivy to make it romantic ; 
its sides fallen in ; its pillars broken ; its 
stair a fragment ; its walls giving way ; 
the edge of every stone worn round or 
sharp by time ; in some parts mere debris, 
though around its edges wild flowers, 
and among other plants the caper tree, 
grow luxuriantly. The present pool is 
not the original building ; it may be the 
work of crusaders, perhaps even improved 
by Saladin, whose affection for wells and 
pools led him to care for all these things. 
Yet the spot is the same. This pool, 
which we may call the second, seems an- 
ciently to have poured its waters into a 
third before it proceeded to water the 
royal gardens. This third is perhaps that 
which Josephus calls " Solomon's pool," 
and which Nehemiah calls the "king's 
pool." Neh. 2 : 14. The expression in 
Isa. 8:6, " waters of Shiloah that go soft- 
ly," seems to point to the slender rivulet, 
flowing gently though once very profusely 
out of Siloam into the lower breadth of 
level where the king's gardens, or royal 
paradise, stood, and which is still the 
greenest spot about the holy city. Siloam 




Pool of Siloam. 

is a sacred spot even to the Moslem ; 
much more to the Jew. It was to Siloam 



SIL 



SIM 



that the Levite was sent with the golden 
pitcher on the " last and great day of the 
feast " of Tabernacles ; it was from Siloam 
that he brought the water which was then 
poured over the sacrifice, in memory of 
the water from the rock of Rephidim ; 
and it was to this Siloam water that the 
Lord pointed when he stood in the temple 
on that day and cried, " If any man thirst, 
let him come unto me and drink." The 
Lord sent the blind man to wash, not in, 
as our version has it, but at (els), the pool 
of Siloam ; for it was the clay from his 
eyes that was to be washed off. 

Siloam, Tower in. Luke 13 : 4. Of 
this we know nothing definitely beyond 
these words of the Lord. In connection 
with Ophel, there is mention made of " a 
tower that lieth out" Neh. 3 : 26 ; and 
there is no unlikelihood in connecting 
this 'projecting tower with the tower in 
Siloam, while one may be almost excused 
for the conjecture that its projection was 
the cause of its ultimate fall. 

Silva'nus. [Silas. 




Silver. 

Silver. In very early times silver was 
used for ornaments, Gen. 24 : 53, and for 
vessels of various kinds. Images for 
idolatrous worship were made of silver 
or overlaid with it, Ex. 20 : 23 ; Hos. 13 : 
2 ; Hab. 2:1!); Bar. 6 : 39, and the man- 
ufacture of silver shrines for Diana was 
a trade in Ephesus. Acts 19 : 24. But its 
chief use was as a medium of exchange, 
and throughout the Old Testament we 
find " silver " used for money, like the 
French argent. Silver was brought to 
Solomon from Arabia, 2 Chron. 9 : 14, 
and from Tarshish, 2 Chron. 9 : 21, which 
supplied the markets of Tyre. Ezek. 27 : 
12. From Tarshish it came in the form 
of plates, Jer. 10 : 9, like those on which 



the sacred books of the Singhalese are 
written to this day. Spain appears to 
have been the chief source whence silver 
was obtained by the ancients. Possibly 
the hills of Palestine may have afforded 
some supply of this metal. Silver mixed 
with alloy is referred to in Jer. 6 : 30, and 
a finer kind, either purer in itself or 
more thoroughly purified, is mentioned 
in Prov. 8 : 19. 

Silverlings, a word used once only 
in the Authorized Version, Isa. 7 : 23, as 
a translation of the Hebrew word else- 
where rendered " silver " or " money." 

Sim'eon [heard): 1. The second of 
Jacob's sons by Leah. His birth is re- 
corded in Gen. 29 : 33. The first group 
of Jacob's children consists, besides Sim- 
eon, of the three other sons of Leah — 
Reuben, Levi, Judah. Besides the mas- 
sacre of Shechem, Gen. 34 : 25, the only 
personal incident related of Simeon is 
the fact of his being selected by Joseph 
as the hostage for the appearance of Ben- 
jamin. Gen. 42 : 19, 24, 36 ; 43 : 23. The 
chief families of the tribe of 
Simeon are mentioned in the 
lists of Gen. 46 : 10. At the 
census of Sinai Simeon num- 
bered 59,300 fighting men. 
Num. 1 : 23. When the second 
census was taken, at Shittim, 
the numbers had fallen to 
22,200, and it was the weakest 
of all the tribes. This was no 
doubt partly due to the recent 
mortality following the idol- 
atry of Peor, but there must 
have been other causes which 
have escaped mention. To 
Simeon w T as allotted a portion 
of land out of the territory of 
Judah, on its southern frontier, 
which contained eighteen or nineteen 
cities, with their villages, spread round 
the venerable well of Beersheba. Josh. 
19 : 1-8 ; 1 Chron. 4 : 28-33. Of these 
places, with the help of Judah, the Sim- 
eonites possessed themselves, Judges 1 : 
3, 17 ; and here they were found, doubt- 
less by Joab, residing in the reign of Da- 
vid. 1 Chron. 4 : 31. What part the tribe 
took at the time of the division of the 
kingdom we are not told. The only tiling 
which can be interpreted into a trace of 
its having taken any part with the north- 
ern kingdom are the two casual notices 
of 2 Chron. 15 : 9 and 34 : 6, which ap- 
pear to imply the presence of Simeonites 
there in the reigns of Asa and Josiah. 

631 



SIM 



SIM 



On the other hand the definite statement | 
of 1 Chron. 4 : 41-43 proves that at that I 
time there were still some of them re- J 
maining in the original seat of the tribe, 
and actuated by all the warlike, lawless 
spirit of their progenitor. 

2. A devout Jew, inspired by the Holy 
Ghost, who met the parents of our Lord 
in the temple, took him in his arms, and 
gave thanks for what he saw and knew 
of Jesus. Luke 2 : 25-35. There was a 
Simeon who succeeded his lather Hillel 
as president of the Sanhedrin about a.d. 
13, and whose son Gamaliel was the Phar- 
isee at whose feet St. Paul was brought 
up. Acts 22 : 3. It has been conjectured 
that he may be the Simeon of St. Luke. 

Sim'eon Niger. Acts 13 : 1. [Ni- 
ger.] 

Si'mon (contracted form of Simeon, a 
hearing). 1. Son of Mattathias. [MAC- 
CABEES.] 

2. Son of Onias the high priest, whose 
eulogy closes the " praise of famous 
men " in the book of Ecclesiasticus, eh. 
4. (B.C. 302-293.) 

3. A " governor of the temple " in the 
time of Seleucus Philopator, whose in- 
formation as to the treasures of the tem- 
pi 3 led to the sacrilegious attack of Heli- 
odorus. 2 Mace. 3 : 4, etc. (B.C. 175.) 

4. Simon the brother of Jesus. The 
only undoubted notice of this Simon oc- 
curs in Matt. 13 : 55, Mark 6 : 3. He has 
been identified by some writers with Si- 
mon the Canaanite, and still more gen- 
erally with Symeon who became bishop 
of Jerusalem after the death of James, 
a.d. 62. The former of these opinions 
rests on no evidence whatever, nor is the 
latter without its difficulties. 

5. Simon the Canaanite, one of the 
twelve apostles, Matt. 10 : 4; Mark 3 : 
18, otherwise described as Simon Zelotes, 
Luke 6 : 15 ; Acts 1:13. ( a.d. 28.) The 
latter term, which is peculiar to Luke, is 
the Greek equivalent for the Chaltlee 
term preserved by Matthew and Mark. 
[Canaanite.] Each of these equally 
points out Simon as belonging to the fac- 
tion of the Zealots, who were conspicuous 
for their fierce advocacy of the Mosaic 
ritual. 

6. Simon of Cyrene, a Hellenistic Jew, 
born at Cyrene, on the north coast of 
Africa, who was present at Jerusalem at 
the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, either 
as an attendant at the feast, Acts 2 : 10, 
or as one of the numerous settlers at 
Jerusalem from that place. Acts 6 : 9. 

632 



(A.D. 30.) Meeting the procession that 
conducted Jesus to Golgotha, as he was 
returning from the country, he was 
pressed into the service to bear the cross, 
Matt. 27 : 32 ; Mark 15 : 21 ; Luke 23 : 26, 
when Jesus himself was unable to carry 
it any longer. Comp. John 19 : 17. Mark 
describes him as the father of Alexander 
and Rufus, perhaps because this was the 
Rufus known to the Roman Christians, 
Rom. 16 : 13, for whom he more es- 
pecially wrote. 

• 7, Simon, a resident at Bethany, dis- 
tinguished as " the leper." It is not im- 
probable that he had been miraculously 
cured by Jesus. In his house Mary 
anointed Jesus preparatory to his death 
and burial. Matt. 26 : 6, etc. ; Mark 14 : 
3, etc. ; John 12 : 1, etc. 

8. Simon Magus, a Samaritan living in 
the apostolic age, distinguished as a sor- 
cerer or " magician," from his practice 
of magical arts. Acts 8 : 9. According to 
ecclesiastical writers he was born at Git- 
ton, a village of Samaria, and was prob- 
ably educated at Alexandria in the tenets 
of the Gnostic school. He is first intro- 
duced to us as practicing magical arts in 
a city of Samaria, perhaps Sychar, Acts 
8:5; comp. John 4 : 5, and with such suc- 
cess that he was pronounced to be " the 
power of God which is called great." 
Acts 8 : 10. The preaching and miracles 
of Philip having excited his observation, 
he became one of his disciples, and re- 
ceived baptism at his hands, a.d. 36, 37. 
Subsequently he witnessed the effect pro- 
duced by the imposition of hands, as 
practiced by the apostles Peter and John, 
and, being desirous of acquiring a sim- 
ilar power for himself, he offered a sum 
of money for it. His object evidently 
was to apply the power to the prosecu- 
tion of magical arts. The motive and 
the means were equally to be reprobated ; 
and his proposition met with a severe de- 
nunciation from Peter, followed by a 
petition on the part of Simon, the tenor 
of which bespeaks terror, but not pen- 
itence. Acts 8 : 9-24. The memory of his 
peculiar guilt has been perpetuated in 
the word simony, as applied to all traffic 
in spiritual offices. Simon's history, sub- 
sequent to his meeting with Peter, is in- 
volved in difficulties. Early Church his- 
torians depict him as the pertinacious foe 
of the apostle Peter, whose movements 
he followed for the purpose of seeking 
encounters, in which he was signally de- 
feated. He is said to have followed the 



SIM 



SIN 



apostle to Rome. His death is associated 
with this meeting. According to Hip- 
poly tus, the earliest authority on the sub- 
ject, Simon was buried alive at his own 
request, in the confident assurance that 
he would rise on the third day. 

9. Simon Peter. [Peter, j 

10. Simon, a Pharisee, in whose house 
a penitent woman anointed the head and 
feet of Jesus. Luke 7 : 40. 




House of Simon the Tanner. 

11. Simon the tanner, a Christian con- 
vert living at Joppa, at whose house Peter 
lodged. Acts 9 : 43. The house was near 
the seaside, Acts 10 : 6, 32, for the con- 
venience of the water, (a.d. 37.) 

12. Simon the fatber of Judas Iscariot. 
John 6:71; 13 : 2, 2G. 

Sim'ri {vigilant), properly Shimri, son 
of Hosah, a Merarite Levite in the reign j 
of David. 1 Cbron. 26 : 10. 

Sin, a city of Egypt, mentioned only 
by Ezekiel. Ezek. 30 : 15, 16. The name 
is Hebrew, or at least Semitic, perhaps 
signifying clay. It is identified in the 
Vulgate with Pelusium, " the clayey or 
muddy " town. Its antiquity may per- 
haps be inferred from the mention of 
"the wilderness of Sin" in the journeys 
of the Israelites. Ex. 16 : 1 ; Num. 33 : 
11. Ezekiel speaks of Sin as " Sin the 
stronghold of Egypt." Ezek. 30: 15. This 
place was held by Egypt from that time 
until the period of the Romans. Herod- 
otus relates that Sennacherib advanced 



against Pelusium, and that near Pelu- 
sium Cambyses defeated Psammenitus. 
In like manner the decisive battle in 
which Ochus defeated the last native 
king, Nectanebos, was fought near this 
city. 

Sin, Wilderness of, a tract of the 
wilderness which the Israelites reached 
after leaving the encampment by the 
Red Sea. Num. 33 : 11, 12. Their next 
halting-place, 
Ex. 16 : 1 ; 17 : 1, 
was Rephidim, 
probably the 
Wa d y Fe irdn 
[Rephidim] ; on 
which suppo- 
sition it would 
follow that Sin 
must lie between 
that wady and 
the coast of the 
Gulf of Suez, and 
of course west of 
Sinai. In the wil- 
derness of Sin the 
manna was first 
gathered, and 
those who adopt 
the supposition 
that this was 
merely the natu- 
ral product of the 
tarja bush find 
from the abun- 
dance of that 
shrub in Wady es-Sheikh, southeast of 
Wady Ghurundel, a proof of local iden- 
tity. 

Sin offering. Thesin offering among 
the Jews was the sacrifice in which the 
ideas of propitiation and of atonement 
for sin were most distinctly marked. 
The ceremonial of the sin offering is de- 
scribed in Lev. 4 and 6. The trespass 
offering is closely connected with the sin 
offering in Leviticus, but at the same 
time clearly distinguished from it, being 
in some cases offered with it as a distinct 
part of the same sacrifice ; as, for ex- 
ample, in the cleansing of the leper. Lev. 
14. The distinction of ceremonial clearly 
indicates a difference in the idea of the 
two sacrifices. The nature of that differ- 
ence is still a subject of great controversy. 
We find that the sin offerings were — 1. 
Regular, (a) For the whole people, at 
the New Moon, Passover, Pentecost, 
Feast of Trumpets and Feast of Taber- 
nacles, Num. 28 : 15-29 : 38 ; besides the 
633 



SIN 



SIN 



solemn offering of the two goats on the 
Great Day of Atonement. Lev. 16. (6) 
For the priests and Levites at their con- 
secration, Ex. 29:10-14, 36; besides the 
yearly sin offering (a bullock) for the 
high priest on the Great Day of Atone- 
ment. Lev. 16. 2. Special. For any sin 
of "ignorance" and the like, recorded 
in Lev. 4 and 5. It is seen that in the 
law most of the sins which are not purely 
ceremonial are called sins of" ignorance," 
see Heb. 9:7; and in Num. 15 : 30 it is 
expressly said that while such sins can 
be atoned for by offerings, "the soul that 
doeth aught presumptuously " (Heb. with 
a high harid) "shall be cut off from 
among his people." ..." His iniquity 
shall be upon him." Comp. Heb. 10 : 
26. But here are sufficient indications 
that the sins here called " of ignorance " 
are more strictly those of "negligence" 
or "frailty," repented of by the unpun- 
ished offender, as opposed to those of de- 
liberate and unrepentant sin. It is clear 
that the two classes of sacrifices, although 
distinct, touch closely upon each other. 
It is also evident that the sin offering 
was the only regular and general recog- 
nition of sin in the abstract, and accord- 
ingly was far more solemn and symboli- 
cal in its ceremonial ; the trespass offer- 
ing was confined to special cases, most of 
which related to the doing of some ma- 
terial damage, either to the holy things 
or to man. Josephus declares that the 
sin offering is presented by those " who 
fall into sin in ignorance," and the tres- 
pass offering by "one who has sinned 
and is conscious of his sin, but has no 
one to convict him thereof." Without 
attempting to decide so difficult and so 
controverted a question, we may draw 
the following conclusions : First, that the 
sin offering was far the more solemn and 
comprehensive of the two sacrifices. 
Secondly, that the sin offering looked 
more to the guilt of the sin done, irre- 
spective of its consequences, while the 
trespass offering looked to the evil conse- 
quences of sin, either against the service 
of God or against man, and to the duty 
of atonement, as far as atonement was 
possible. Thirdly, that in the sin offer- 
ing especially we find symbolized the 
acknowledgment of sinfulness as inhe- 
rent in man, and of the need of expiation 
by sacrifice to renew the broken covenant 
between man and God. In considering 
this subject, it must be remembered that 
the sacrifices of the law had a temporal 
634 



as well as a spiritual significance and ef- 
fect. They restored an offender to his 
place in the commonwealth of Israel ; 
they were therefore an atonement to the 
King of Israel for the infringement of 
his law. 

Si'na, Mount, the Greek form of the 
well-known name Sinai. Acts 7 : 30, 38. 

Si'na-i, or Sin'a-i {thorny). Nearly 
in the centre of the peninsula which 
stretches between the horns of the Bed 
Sea lies a wedge of granite, griinstein and 
porphyry rocks rising to between 8000 and 
9000 feet above the sea. Its shape resem- 
bles a scalene triangle. These mountains 
may be divided into two great masses — 
that of Jebel Serbal (6759 feet high), in 
the northwest above Wady Feirdn, and 
the central group, roughly denoted by 
the general name of Sinai. This group 
rises abruptly from the Wady es-Sheikh 
at its north foot, first to the cliffs of the 
Ras Sufsafeh, behind which towers the 
pinnacle of Jebel 3fusa (the Mount of 
Moses), and farther back to the right of 
it the summit of Jebel Katerin (Mount 
St. Catherine, 8705 feet), all being backed 
up and overtopped by Urn Shamer (the 
mother of fennel, 9300 feet), which is the 
highest point of the whole peninsula. 

1. Names. — These mountains are called 
Horeb, and sometimes Sinai. Some think 
that Horeb is the name of the whole 
range, and Sinai the name of a particular 
mountain ; others, that Sinai is the range 
and Horeb the particular mountain; 
while Stanley suggests that the distinc- 
tion is one of usage, and that both names 
are applied to the same place. 

2. The mountain from ivhich the law 
was given. — Modern investigators have 
generally come to the conclusion that 
of the claimants Jebel Serbal, Jebel 
Mtisa and Has Sufsafeh, the last, the 
modern Horeb of the monks — viz., the 
northwest and lower face of the Jebel 
Musa, crowned with a range of magnifi- 
cent cliffs, the highest point called Eas 
Sufsafeh, as overlooking the plain er 
Rdhah — is the scene of the giving of the 
law, and that peak the mountain into 
which Moses ascended. (But Jebel Musa 
and Ras Sufsafeh are really peaks of the 
same mountain, and Moses may have re- 
ceived the law on Jebel Musa, but it 
must have been proclaimed from Eas 
Sufsafeh. Jebel Musa is the traditional 
mount where Moses received the law 
from God. It is a mountain mass two 
miles long and one mile broad. The 




635 



SIN 



SIN 



southern peak is 7363 feet high ; the 
northern peak, Ras Sufsafeh, is 6830 feet 
high. It is in full view of the plain er 
Rahah, where the children of Israel were 
encamped. This plain is a smooth camp- 
ing-ground, surrounded by mountains. 
It is about two miles long by half a mile 



broad, embracing 400 acres of available 
standing-ground made into a natural am- 
phitheatre by a low semicircular mound 
about 300 yards from the foot of the 
mountain. By actual measurement it 
contains over 2,000,000 square yards, and 
with its branches over 4,000,000 square 



■ -Weedy; ^ 




Outline Map of Mount Sinai. {After Ordnance Survey.) 



yards, so that the whole people of Israel, 
two million in number, would find ample 
accommodations for seeing and hearing. 
In addition to this, the air is wonderfully 
clear, both for seeing and hearing. Dean 
Stanley says that "from the highest 
point of En's Sufsafeh to its lower peak, a 
distance of about 60 feet, the page of a 
book distinctly but not loudly read was 
perfectly audible." It was the belief of 
636 



the Arabs who conducted Niebuhr that 
they could make themselves heard across 
the Gulf of Akabah, — a belief fostered 
by the great distance to which the voice 
can actually be carried. There is no 
other place known among all these 
mountains so well adapted for the pur- 
pose of giving and receiving the law as 
this rocky pulpit of Ras Sufsafeh and 
the natural amphitheatre of er Rahah. 



SIN 



SLA 



Si'nim, a people noticed in Isa. 49 : 12, 
as living at the extremity of the known 
world. They may be identified with the 
classical Since, the inhabitants of the 
southern part of China. 

Sin'ite, a tribe of Canaanites, Gen. 
10 : 17 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 15, whose position is 
to be sought for in the northern part of 
the Lebanon district. 

Si'on (lofty), Mount. 1. One of the 
various names of Mount Hermon. Deut. 
4 : 48 only. 

2. The Greek form of the Hebrew name 
Zion, the famous mount of the temple. 1 
Mace. 4 : 37, 60 ; 5:54; G : 48, 02 ; 7 : 33 ; 
10 : 11 ; 14 : 27 ; Heb. 12 : 22 ; Rev. 14 : 1. 
[Jerusalem.] 

Siph'moth (fruitful), one of the 
places in the south of Judah which Da- 
vid frequented during his freebooting 
life. 1 Sam. 30:28. 

Sip'pa-i (threshold), Saph, one of the 
sons of Rephaim, or " the giants," slain 
by Sibbechai at Gezer. 1 Chron. 20 : 4. 
(B.C. about 1050.) 

Si'rach, the father of Jesus (Joshua), 
the writer of the Hebrew original of the 
book of Ecclesiasticus. (B.C. 310-220.) 

Si'rah (the turning), The well of, 
from which Abner was recalled by Joab 
to his death at Hebron. 2 Sam. 3 : 26 only. 
It was apparently on the northern road 
from Hebron. There is a spring and 
reservoir on the western side of the an- I 
cient northern road, about one mile out 
of Hebron, which is called A in Sara. 

Sir'ion breastplate), one of the various 
names of Mount Hermon, that by which 
it was known to the Zidonians. Deut. 3 : j 
9. The use of the name in Ps. 29 : G 
(slightly altered in the original— Shirion 
instead of Sirion) is remarkable. 

Sisam'a-i, a descendant of Sheshan 
in the line of Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 40. 
(B.C. about 1450.) 

Sis'era (battle array). 1. Captain of 
the army of Jabin king of Canaan, who 
reigned in Hazor. He himself resided 
in Harosheth of the Gentiles. The par- 
ticulars of the rout of Megiddo and of 
Sisera's flight and death are drawn out 
under the heads of Barak, Deborah, 
Jael, Kishon. (B.C. 1296.) 

2. After a long interval the name re- 
appears in the lists of the Nethinim who 
returned from the captivity with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2: 53; Neh.7:55. It doubt- 
less tells of Canaanite captives devoted 
to the lowest offices of the temple. (B.C. 
before 536.) 



Sit'nah (strife), the second of the two 
wells dug by Isaac in the valley of Gerar, 
the possession of which the herdmen of 
the valley disputed with him. Gen. 26 : 
21. 

Sivan. [Month.] 
Slave. The institution of slavery was 
recognized, though not established, by 
the Mosaic law with a view to mitigate 
its hardship and to secure to every man 
his ordinary rights. 

I. Hebrew slaves. — 1. The circumstances 
under whieh a Hebrew might be reduced 
to servitude were — (1) poverty; (2) the 
commission of theft; and (3) the exercise 
of paternal authority. In the first case, 
a man who had mortgaged his property, 
and was unable to support his family, 
might sell himself to another Hebrew, 
with a view both to obtain maintenance 
and perchance a surplus sufficient to re- 
deem his property. Lev. 25 : 25, 39. (2) 
The commission of theft rendered a per- 
son liable to servitude whenever restitu- 
tion could not be made on the scale pre- 
scribed by the law. Ex. 22 : 1, 3. The 
thief Avas bound to work out the value of 
his restitution money in the service of 
him on whom the theft had been com- 
mitted. (3) The exercise of paternal 
authority was limited to the sale of a 
daughter of tender age to be a maid- 
servant, with the ulterior view of her be- 
coming the concubine of the purchaser. 
Ex. 21 : 7. 2. The servitude of a Hebrew 
might be terminated in three ways: (1) 
by the satisfaction or the remission of all 
claims against him ; (2) by the recurrence 
of the year of jubilee, Lev. 25 : 40; and 
(3) the expiration of six years from the 
time that his servitude commenced. Ex. 
21 : 2; Deut. 15 : 12. (4) To the above 
modes of obtaining liberty the rabbinists 
added, as a fourth, the death of the mas- 
ter without leaving a son, there being no 
power of claiming the slave on the part 
of any heir except a son. If a servant 
did not desire to avail himself of the op- 
portunity of leaving his service, he was 
to signify his intention in a formal man- 
ner before the judges (or more exactly 
at the place of judgment), and then the 
master was to take him to the door-post, 
and to bore his ear through with an awl, 
Ex. 21 : 6, driving the awl into or " unto 
the door," as stated in Deut. 15 : 17, and 
| thus fixing the servant to it. A servant 
who had submitted to this operation re- 
i niained, according to the words of the 
' law, a servant " forever." Ex. 21 : 6. 

637 



SLA 



SLA 



These words are, however, interpreted 
by Josephus and by the rabbinists as 
meaning until the year of jubilee. 3. 
The condition of a Hebrew servant was 
by no means intolerable. His master 
was admonished to treat him, not " as a 
bond-servant, but as an hired servant 
and as a sojourner," and, again, "not to 
rule over him with rigor." Lev. 25 : 39, 
40, 43. At the termination of his servi- 
tude the master was enjoined not to "let 
him go away empty," but to remunerate 
him liberally out of his flock, his floor 
aud his wine-press. Deut. 15 : 13, 14. In 
the event of a Hebrew becoming the serv- 
ant of a " stranger," meaning a non-He- 
brew, the servitude could be terminated 
only in two ways, viz. by the arrival of 
the year of jubilee, or by the repayment 
to the master of the purchase money paid 
for the servant, after deducting a sum for 
the value of his services proportioned to 
the length of his servitude. Lev. 25 : 47- 
55. A Hebrew woman might enter into 
voluntary servitude on the score of pov- 
erty, and in this case she was entitled to 
her freedom after six years service, to- 
gether with her usual gratuity at leaving, 
just as in the case of a man. Deut. 15 : 
12, 13. Thus far we have seen little that 
is objectionable in the condition of He- 
brew servants. In respect to marriage 
there were some peculiarities which, to 
our ideas, would be regarded as hard- 
ships. A master might, for instance, 
give a wife to a Hebrew servant for the 
time of his servitude, the wife being in 
this case, it must be remarked, not only 
a slave but a non-Hebrew. Should he 
leave when his term had expired, his 
wife and children would remain the ab- 
solute property of the master. Ex. 21 : 4, 
5. Again, a father might sell his young 
daughter to a Hebrew, with a view either 
of marrying her himself or of giving 
her to his son. Ex. 21:7-9. It dimin- 
ishes the apparent harshness of this pro- 
ceeding if we look on the purchase money 
as in the light of a dowry given, as was 
not unusual, to the parents of the bride ; 
still more, if we accept the rabbinical 
view that the consent of the maid was 
required before the marriage could take 
place. The position of a maiden thus 
sold by her father was subject to the fol- 
lowing regulations: (1) She could not 
" go out as the men-servants do," i. e. she 
could not leave at the termination of six 
years, or in the year of jubilee, if her 
master was willing to fulfill the object 
638 



for which he had purchased her. (2) 
Should he not wish to marry her, he 
should call upon her friends to procure 
her release by tne repayment of the pur- 
chase money. (3) If he betrothed her to 
his son, he was bound to make such pro- 
vision tor her as he would for one of his 
own daughters. (4) If either he or his 
son, having married her, took a second 
wife, it should not be to the prejudice of 
the first. (5) If neither of the three first 
specified alternatives took place, the maid 
was entitled to immediate and gratuitous 
liberty. Ex. 21 : 7-11. The custom of re- 
ducing Hebrews to servitude appears to 
have fallen into disuse subsequent to the 
Babylonish captivity. Vast numbers of 
Hebrews Were reduced to slavery as war- 
captives at different periods by the Phoe- 
nicians, Joel 3 : 6, the Philistines, Joel 
3:6; Amos 1 : 6, the Syrians, 1 Mace. 3 : 
41 ; 2 Mace. 8:11, the Egyptians, Joseph. 
Ant. xii. 2, # 3, and above all by the Ko- 
mans. Joseph. B. J. vi. 9, $ 3. 

II. Non-Hebrew slaves. — 1. The major- 
ity of non-Hebrew slaves were war-cap- 
tives, either of the Canaanites who had 
survived the general extermination of 
their race under Joshua or such as were 
conquered from the other surrounding 
nations. Num. 31 : 26 ff. Besides these, 
many were obtained by purchase from 
foreign slave-dealers, Lev. 25 : 44, 45 ; and 
others may have been resident foreigners 
who were reduced to this state by either 
poverty or crime. The children of slaves 
remained slaves, being the class described 
as " born in the house," Gen. 14 : 14 ; 17 : 
12 ; Eccles. 2:7, and hence the number 
was likely to increase as time went on. 
The average value of a slave appears to 
have been thirty shekels. Ex. 21 : 32. 

2. That the slave might be manumitted 
appears from Ex. 21 : 26, 27 ; Lev. 19 : 20. 

3. The slave is described as the "posses- 
sion" of his master, apparently with a 
special reference to the power which the 
latter had of disposing of him to his 
heirs, as he would any other article of 
personal property. Lev. 25 : 45, 46. But, 
on the other hand, provision was made 
for the protection of his person. Ex. 21 : 
20 ; Lev. 24 : 17, 22. A minor personal 
injury, such as the loss of an eye or a 
tooth, was to be recompensed by giving 
the servant his liberty. Ex. 21 : 26, 27. 
The position of the slave in regard to 
religious privileges was favorable. He 
was to be circumcised, Gen. 17 : 12, and 
hence was entitled to partake of the pas- 



SLI 



SNA 



chal sacrifice, Ex. 12 : 44, as well as of 
the other religious festivals. Deut. 12 : 12, 
18 ; 16 : 11, 14. The occupations of slaves 
were of a menial character, as implied 
in Lev. 25 : 39, consisting partly in the 
work of the house and partly in per- 
sonal attendance on the master. It will 
be seen that the whole tendency of the 
Bible legislation was to mitigate slavery, 
making it little more than hired service, 
and to abolish it, as indeed it was prac- 
tically abolished among the Jews six 
hundred years before Christ. 

Slime, translated bitumen in the Vul- 
gate. The three instances in which it is 
mentioned in the Old Testament are il- 
lustrated by travellers and historians. It 
is first spoken of as used for cement by the 
builders in the plain of Shinar or Baby- 
lonia. Gen. 11 : 3. The bitumen pits in 
the vale of Siddim are mentioned in the 
ancient fragment of Canaanitish 
history, Gen. 14:10; and the 
ark of papyrus in which Moses 
was placed was made imper- 
vious to water by a coating of 
bitumen and pitch. Ex. 2 : 3. 
Herodotus, i. 179, tells us of the 
bitumen found at Is, the modern 
Ilect, a town of Babylonia, eight 
days journey from Babylon. 
(Bitumen, or asphalt, is "the 
product of the decomposition 
of vegetable and animal sub- 
stances. It is usually found of 
a black or brownish-black color, 
externally not unlike coal, but 
it varies in consistency from a 
bright, pitchy condition, with a 
conchoidal fracture, to thick, 
viscid masses of mineral tar." — 
Encyc. Brit. In this last state 
it is called in the Bible slime, 
and is of the same nature as 
our petroleum, but thicker, and hai-dens 
into asphalt. It is obtained in various 
places in Europe, and even now occa- 
sionally from the Lead Sea. — Ed.) 

Sling. [Arms.] 

Smith. [Handicraft.] 

Smyr'na (myrrh), a city of Asia Mi- 
nor, situated on the iEgean Sea, 40 miles 
north of Ephesus. Allusion is made to 
it in Rev. 2 : 8-11. It was founded by 
Alexander the Great, and was situated 
twenty stades (2 / miles) from the city of 
the same name, which after a long series 
of wars with the Lydians had been finally 
taken and sacked by Halyattes. The 
ancient city was built by some piratical 
640 



Greeks 1500 years before Christ. It seems 
not impossible that the message to the 
church in Smyrna contains allusions to 
the ritual of the pagan mysteries which 
prevailed in that city. In the time of 
btrabo the ruins of the old Smyrna still 
existed, and were partially inhabited, 
but the new city was one of the most 
beautiful in all Asia. The streets were 
laid out as near as might be at right an- 
gles. There was a large public library 
there, and also a handsome building sur- 
rounded with porticos which served as a 
museum. It was consecrated as a he- 
roiim to Homer, whom the Smyrnamns 
claimed as a countryman. Olympian 
games were celebrated here, and excited 
great interest. (Smyrna is still a large 
city of 180,000 to 200,000 inhabitants, of 
which a larger proportion are Franks 
than in any other town in Turkey ; 20,000 




are Greeks, 9000 Jews, 8000 Armenians, 
1000 Europeans, and the rest are Mos- 
lems.— Ed.) 

Snail. 1. The Hebrew word shablul 
occurs only in Ps. 58 : 8. The rendering 
of the Authorized Version is probably 
correct. The term would denote either 
a Umax or a heMx, which are particularly 
noticeable for the slimy track they leave 
behind them, by which they seem to waste 
themselves away. To this, or to the fact 
that many of them are shrivelled up 
among the rocks in the long heat of the 
summer, the psalmist refers. 2. The He- 
brew word chomet occurs only as the name 
of some unclean animal in Lev. 11 : 30. 



SNO 



SOD 



Perhaps some kind of lizard may be in- 
tended. 

Snow. The historical books of the 
Bible contain only two notices of snow 
actually falling — 2 Sam. 23 : 20; 1 Mace. 
13 : 22 ; but the allusions in the poetical 
books are so numerous that there can be 
no doubt as to its being an ordinary oc- 
currence in the winter months. Ps. 147 : 
16; 148:8. The snow lies deep in the 
ravines of the highest ridge of Lebanon 
until the summer is far advanced, and 
indeed never wholly disappears; the 
summit of Hermon also perpetually glis- 
tens with frozen snow. From these sources 
probably the Jews obtained their supplies 
of ice for the purpose of cooling their 
beverages in summer. Prov. 25 : 13. The 
liability to snow must of course vary con- 
siderably in a country of such varying 
altitude as Palestine. At Jerusalem snow 
often falls to the depth of a foot or more 
in January or February, but it seldom 
lies. At Nazareth it falls more frequently 
and deeply, and it has been observed to 
fall even in the maritime plain of Joppa 
and about Carmel. 

So. " So, king of Egypt," is once men- 
tioned in the Bible— 2* Kings 17:4. So 
has been identified by different writers 
with the first and second kings of the 
Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty, called by 
Manetho, Sabakon (Shebek) and Sebich6s 
(Shebetek). 




Salsola Kali. 

Soap. The Hebrew term bdrUh is a 
general term for any substance of cleans- 
ing qualities. As, however, it appears in 
Jer. 2 : 22 in contradistinction to nether, 
41 



which undoubtedly means "natron" or 
mineral alkali, it is fair to infer that 
borUh refers to vegetable alkali, or some 
kind of potash, which forms one of the 
usual ingredients in our soap. Numer- 
ous plants capable of yielding alkalies 
exist in Palestine and the surrounding 
countries; we may notice one named 
hubeibeh (the Salsola kali of botanists) 
found near the Dead Sea, the ashes of 
which are called el-kuli, from their 
strong alkaline properties. 

So'cho {bushy). 1 Chron. 4 : 18. Prob- 
ably one of the towns called Socoh, in 
Judah, though which of the two cannot 
be ascertained. 

So'choh, another form of the name 
which is more correctly given in the Au- 
thorized Version as Socoh. The present 
one occurs in 1 Kings 4 : 10, and is there- 
fore probably, though not certainly, So- 
coh, 1. 

So'eoh, the name of two towns in the 
tribe of Judah. 1. In the district of the 
Shefelah. Josh. 15 : 35 ; 1 Sam. 17 : 1 ; 2 
Chron. 11 : 7; 28 : 18. In the time of 
Eusebius it bore the name of Socchoth, 
■ and lay between eight and nine Roman 
! miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to 
| Jerusalem. It may be identified with 
i esh-Shuweikeh, in the western part of the 
mountains of Judah. From this village 
probably came Antigonus of Soco, who 
lived about the commencement of the 
third century B.C. 

2. Also a town of Judah, but in the 
mountain district. Josh. 15 : 48. It has 
been discovered about 10 miles southwest 
of Hebron ; bearing, like the other Socoh, 
the name of esh-Shuweikeh. 

So'di (intimate), the father of Geddiel, 
the spv selected from the tribe of Zeb- 
ulun. Num. 13 : 10. (B.C. 1490.) 

Sod'om (burning), one of the most 
ancient cities of Syria. It is commonly 
mentioned in connection with Gomorrah, 
but also with Admah and Zeboim, and 
on one occasion — Gen. 14 — with Bela or 
Zoar. Sodom was evidently the chief 
town in the settlement. The four are 
first named in the ethnological records 
of Gen. 10 : 19 as belonging to the Cana- 
anites. The next mention of the name 
of Sodom, Gen. 13 : 10-13, gives more cer- 
tain indication of the position of the city. 
Abram and Lot are standing together be- 
tween Bethel and Ai, ver. 3, taking a sur- 
vey of the land around and below them. 
Eastward of them, and absolutely at their 
feet, lay the " circle of Jordan." The 
b'41 



SOD 



SOD 



whole circle was one great oasis — " a 
garden of Jehovah." ver. 10. In the 
midst of the garden the four cities of 
Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim 
appear to have been situated. It is neces- 
sary to notice how absolutely the cities 
are identified with the district. In the 
subsequent account of their destruction, 
Gen. 19, the topographical terms are em- 
ployed with all the precision which is 
characteristic of such early times. The 
mention of the Jordan is conclusive as to 
the situation of the district, for the Jor- 
dan ceases where it enters the Dead Sea, 
and can have no existence south of that 
point. The catastrophe by which they 
were destroyed is described in Geh. 19 
as a shower of brimstone and fire from 
Jehovah. However we may interpret the 
words of the earliest narrative, one thing 
is certain — that the lake w r as not one of 
the agents in the catastrophe. From all 
these passages, though much is obscure, 
two things seem clear: 1. That Sodom 
and the rest of the cities of the plain of 
Jordan stood on the north of the Dead 
Sea; 2. That neither the cities nor the 
district were submerged by the lake, but 
that the cities were overthrown and the 
land spoiled, and that it may still be seen 
in its desolate condition. When, how- 
ever, we turn to more modern views, we 
discover a remarkable variance from 
these conclusions. 1. The opinion long 
current that the five cities were sub- 
merged in the lake, and that their re- 
mains—walls, columns and capitals — 
might be still discerned below the water, 
hardly needs refutation after the distinct 
statement and the constant implication 
of Scripture. But, 2. A more serious de- 
parture from the terms of the ancient 
history is exhibited in the prevalent 
opinion that the cities stood at the south 
end of the lake. This appears to have 
been the belief of Josephus and Jerome. 
It seems to have been universally held 
by the mediaeval historians and pilgrims, 
and it is adopted by modern topographers 
probably without exception. There are 
several grounds for this belief; but the 
main point on which Dr. Robinson rests 
his argument is the. situation of Zoar. 

(a) "Lot," says he, "fled to Zoar, which 
was near to Sodom ; and Zoar lay almost 
at the southern end of the present sea, 
probably in the mouth of Wady Kerak." 

(b) Another consideration in favor of 
placing the cities at the southern end of 
the lake is the existence of similar names 

642 



in that direction, (c) A third argument, 
and perhaps the weightiest of the three, 
is the existence of the salt mountain at 
i the south of the lake, and its tendency 
| to split off in columnar masses present- 
ing a rude resemblance to the human 
j form. But it is by no means certain that 
! salt does not exist at other spots round 
i the lake, (d) (A fourth and yet stronger 
! argument is drawn from the fact that 
I Abraham saw the smoke of the burning 
1 cities from Hebron, (e) A fifth argu- 
! ment is found in the numerous lime-pits 
| found at the southern end of the Dead 
I Sea. Robinson, Schaff, Baedeker, Lieu- 
| tenant Lynch and others favor this view, 
j — Ed.) It thus appears that on the sit- 
uation of Sodom no satisfactory conclu- 
I sion can at present be reached. On the 
one hand, the narrative of Genesis seems 
to state positively that it lay at the north- 
ern end of the Dead Sea. On the other 
hand, long-continued tradition and the 
names of the existing spots seem to pro- 
nounce with almost equal positiveness 
that it was at its southern end. Of the 
catastrophe which destroyed the city and 
the district of Sodom we can hardly hope 
j ever to form a satisfactory conception. 
! Some catastrophe there undoubtedly was ; 
but what secondary agencies, besides fire, 
j were employed in the accomplishment of 
| the punishment cannot be safely deter- 
| mined in the almost total absence of ex- 
j act scientific description of the natural 
! features of the ground round the lake, 
j We may suppose, however, that the actual 
j agent in the ignition and destruction of 
j the cities had been of the nature of a 
tremendous thunder-storm accompanied 
by a discharge of meteoric stones, (and 
that these set on fire the bitumen with 
which the soil was saturated, and which 
was used in building the city. And it 
may be that this burning out of the soil 
caused the plain to sink below the level 
of the Dead Sea, and the waters to flow 
over it— if indeed Sodom and its sister 
cities are really under the water. — Ed.) 
The miserable fate of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah is held up as a warning in numerous 
passages of the Old and New Testaments. 
Mark 6 : 11 ; 2 Pet, 2:6; Jude 4-7. 
Sod'oma. Rom. 9 : 29. In this place 
, alone the Authorized Version has fol- 
i lowed the Greek and Vulgate form of the 
well-known name Sodom. 

Sod'omites. This word does not de- 
| note the inhabitants of Sodom ; but it is 
; employed in the Authorized Version of 



SOL 



SOL 



the Old Testament for those who prac- 
ticed as a religious rite the abominable 
and unnatural vice from which the in- 
habitants of Sodom and Gomorrah have 
derived their lasting infamy. 

Sol'omon (peaceful). I. Early life 
and accession to the throne. — Solomon 
was the child of David's old age, the last- 
born of all his sons. 1 Chron. 3 : 5. The 
yearnings of the "man of war" led him 
to give to the new-born infant the name 
of Solomon (Shelomoth, the peaceful 
one). Nathan, with a marked reference 
to the meaning of the king's own name 
(David, the darling, the beloved one), calls 
the infant Jedidiah ( Jedid'yah), that is, 
the darling of the Lord. 2 Sam. 12 : 24, 
25. He was placed under the care of 
Nathan from his earliest infancy. At 
first, apparently, there was no distinct 
purpose to make him the heir. Ab- 
salom was still the king's favorite son, 2 
Sam. 13 : 37 ; 18 : 33, and was looked on 
by the people as the destined successor. 
2 Sam. 14 : 13 ; 15 : 1-6. The death of 
Absalom when Solomon was about ten 
years old left the place vacant, and 
David pledged his word in secret to 
Bath-sheba that he, and no other, should 
be the heir. 1 Kings 1 : 13. The words 
which were spoken somewhat later ex- 
press, doubtless, the purpose which guid- 
ed him throughout. 1 Chron. 28 : 9, 20. 
His son's life should not be as his own 
had been, one of hardships and wars, 
dark crimes and passionate repentance, 
but, from first to last, be pure, blameless, 
peaceful, fulfilling the ideal of glory and 
of righteousness after which he himself 
had vainly striven. The glorious visions 
of Ps. 72 may be looked on as the pro- 
phetic expansion of these hopes of his 
old age. So far, all was well. Appar- 
ently his influence over his son's charac- 
ter was one exclusively for good. Noth- 
ing that we know of Bath-sheba leads us 
to think of her as likely to mould her 
son's mind and heart to the higher forms 
of goodness. Under these influences the 
boy grew up. At the age of ten or eleven 
he must have passed through the revolt 
of Absalom, and shared his father's exile. 
2 Sam. 15 : 16. He would be taught all 
that priests or Levites or prophets had to 
teach. When David was old and feeble, 
Adonijah, Solomon's older brother,' at- 
tempted to gain possession of the throne ; 
but he was defeated, and Solomon went 
down to Gihon and was proclaimed and 
anointed king. A few months more and 



Solomon found himself, by his father's 
I death, the sole occupant of the throne. 

The position to which he succeeded was 
| unique. Never before, and never after, 
j did the kingdom of Israel take its place 
j among the great monarchies of the East. 
| Large treasures, accumulated through 

many years, were at his disposal. 

II. Personal appearance. — Of Solo- 
| mon's personal appearance we have no 
i direct description, as we have of the ear- 
' lier kings. There are, however, materials 
j for filling up the gap. Whatever higher 

mystic meaning may be latent in Ps. 
1 45, or the Song of Songs, we are all but 
compelled to think of them as having 
had at least a historical starting-point. 
They tell of one who was, in the eyes of 
the men of his own time, " fairer than 
the children of men," the face " bright 
and ruddy " as his father's, Cant. 5 : 10; 
1 Sam. 17 :42, bushy locks, dark as the 
raven's wing, yet not without a golden 
glow, the eyes soft as " the eyes of doves," 
the " countenance as Lebanon, excellent 
as the cedars," " the chiefest among ten 
thousand, the altogether lovely." Cant. 
5 : 9-16. Add to this all gifts of a noble, 
far-reaching intellect, large and ready 
sympathies, a playful and genial humor, 
the lips " full of grace," and the soui 
" anointed " as " with the oil of glad- 
ness," Ps. 45, and we may form some no- 
tion of what the king was like in that 
dawn of his golden prime. 

III. Beign. — All the data for a contin- 
uous history that we have of Solomon's 
reign are — (a) The duration of the reign, 
forty years, B.C. 1015-975. 1 Kings 11 : 
42. (6) The commencement of the tem- 
ple in the fourth, its completion in the 
eleventh, year of his reign. 1 Kings 6 : 1, 
37, 38. (c) The commencement of his 
own palace in the seventh, its completion 
in the twentieth, year. 1 Kings 7:1; 2 
Chron. 8:1. (d) The conquest of Ha- 

| math-zobah, and the consequent founda- 
j tion of cities in the region of north Pal- 
I estine after the twentieth year. 2 Chron. 
| 8 : 1-6. 

IV. Foreign policy. — 1. Egypt. The 
| first act of the foreign policy of the new 
| reign must have been to most Israelites 
! a very startling one. He made affinity 
| with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by marry - 
; ing his daughter. 1 Kings 3 : 1. The im- 
I mediate results were probably favorable 
j enough. The new queen brought with 

j her as a dowry the frontier city of Gezer. 
I But the ultimate issue of the alliance 

643 



SOL 



SOL 



showed that it was hollow and impolitic. 
2. Tyre. The alliance with the Phoenician 
king rested on a somewhat different foot- 
ing. It had been a part of David's policy 
from the beginning of his reign. Hiram 
had been "ever a lover of David." As 
soon as he heard of Solomon's accession 
he sent ambassadors to salute him. A 
correspondence passed between the two 
kings, which ended in a treaty of com- 
merce. The opening of Joppa as a port 
created a new coasting-trade, and the ma- 
terials from Tyre were conveyed to that 
city on floats, and thence to Jerusalem. 2 
Chron. 2 : 16. In return for these ex- 
ports, the Phoenicians were only too glad 
to receive the corn and oil of Solomon's 
territory. The results of the alliance did 
not end here. Now, for the first time in 
the history of the Jews, they entered on a 
career as a commercial people. 3. The 
foregoing were the two most important 
alliances. The absence of any reference 
to Babylon and Assyria, and the fact 
that the Euphrates was recognized as the 
boundary of Solomon's kingdom, 2 Chron. 
9 : 26, suggests the inference that the 
Mesopotamian monarchies were at this 
time comparatively feeble. Other neigh- 
boring nations were content to pay annual 
tribute in the form of gifts. 2 Chron. 9: 
28. 4. The survey of the influence exer- 
cised by Solomon on surrounding nations 
would be incomplete if we were to pass 
over that which was more directly per- 
sonal — the fame of his glory and his wis- 
dom. Wherever the ships of Tarshish 
went, they carried with them the report, 
losing nothing in its passage, of what 
their crews had seen and heard. The 
journey of the queen of Sheba, though 
from its circumstances the most conspic- 
uous, did not stand alone. 

V. Internal history. — 1. The first 
prominent scene in Solomon's reign is 
one which presents his character in its 
noblest aspect. God in a vision having 
offered him the choice of good things he 
would have, he chose wisdom in prefer- 
ence to riches or honor or long life. The 
wisdom asked for was given in large 
measure, and took a varied range. The 
wide world of nature, animate and inan- 
imate, the lives and characters of men, 
lay before him, and he took cognizance 
of all. But the highest wisdom was that 
wanted for the highest work, for govern- 
ing and guiding, and the historian hast- 
ens to give an illustration of it. The 
pattern-instance is, in all its circum- 
644 



stances, thoroughly Oriental. 1 Kings 3 : 
16-28. 2. In reference to the king's 
finances, the first impression of the facts 
given us is that of abounding plenty. 
Large quantities of the precious metals 
were imported from Ophir and Tarshish. 
1 Kings 9 : 28. All the kings and princes 
of the subject provinces paid tribute in 
the form of gifts, in money and in kind, 
"at a fixed rate year by year." 1 Kings 
10 : 25. Monopolies of trade contributed 
| to the king's treasury. 1 Kings 10 : 28, 29. 
The total amount thus brought into the 
treasury in gold, exclusive of all pay- 
ments in kind, amounted to 666 talents. 
1 Kings 10 : 14. 3. It was hardly possi- 
ble, however, that any financial system 
could bear the strain of the king's passion 
for magnificence. The cost of the temple 
was, it is true, provided for by David's 
savings and the offerings of the people; 
but even while that was building, yet 
more when it was finished, one structure 
followed on another with ruinous rapid- 
ity. All the equipment of his court, 
the "apparel" of his servants, was on 
the same scale. A body-guard attended 
him, "threescore valiant men," tallest 
and handsomest of the sons of Israel. 
Forty thousand stalls of horses for his 
chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, 
made up the measure of his magnificence. 
1 Kings 4 : 26. As the treasury became 
empty, taxes multiplied and monopolies 
became more irksome. 4. A description 
of the temple erected by Solomon is given 
elsewhere. After seven years and a half 
the work was completed, and the day 
came to which all Israelites looked back 
as the culminating glory of their nation. 
5. We cannot ignore the fact that even 
now there were some darker shades in 
the picture. He reduced the " strangers " 
in the land, the remnant of the Canaan- 
ite races, to the state of helots, and made 
their life "bitter with all hard bondage." 
One hundred and fifty-three thousand, 
with wives and children in proportion, 
were torn from their homes and sent off 
to the quarries and the forests of Leba- 
non. 1 Kings 5:15; 2 Chron. 2:17, 18. 
And the king soon fell from the loftiest 
height of his religious life to the lowest 
depth. Before long the priests and proph- 
ets had to grieve over rival temples to 
Molech, Chemosh, Ashtaroth, and forms 
of ritual not idolatrous only, but cruel, 
dark, impure. This evil came as the 
penalty of another. 1 Kings 11 : 1-8. He 
gave himself to " strange women." He 



SOL 



SOP 



found himself involved in a fascination 
which led to the worship of strange gods. 
Something there was perhaps in his very 
" largeness of heart," so far in advance 
of the traditional knowledge of his age, 
rising to higher and wider thoughts of 
God, which predisposed him to it. In 
recognizing what was true in other forms 
of faith, he might lose his horror at what 
was false. With this there may have 
mingled political motives. He may have 
hoped, by a policy of toleration, to con- 
ciliate neighboring princes, to attract a 
larger traffic. But probably also there 
was another influence less commonly 
taken into account. The widespread be- 
lief of the East in the magic arts of Sol- 
omon is not, it is believed, without its 
foundation of truth. Disasters followed 
before long as the natural con- 
sequence of what was politically 
a blunder as well as religiously 
a sin. 

VI. His literary works. — Little 
remains out of the songs, prov- 
erbs, treatises, of which the his- 
torian speaks. 1 Kings 4 : 32, 33. 
Excerpta only are given from the 
three thousand proverbs. Of the 
thousand and five songs we know 
absolutely nothing. His books 
represent the three stages of his 
life. The Song of Songs brings 
before us the brightness of his 
youth. Then comes in the book 
of Proverbs, the stage of prac- 
tical, prudential thought. The 
poet has become the philosopher, 
the mystic has passed into the 
moralist; but the man passed 
through both stages without 
being permanently the better for 
either. They were to him but 
phases of his life which he had 
known and exhausted, Eccles. 1, 2 ; and 
therefore there came, as in the confes- 
sions of the preacher, the great retribu- 
tion. 

Solomon's Porch. [Palace; Tem- 
ple.] 

Solomon's servants (Childken 
OF). Ezra 2 : 55, 58 ; Neh. 7 : 57, 60. The 
persons thus named appear in the lists 
of the exiles who returned from the cap- 
tivity. They were the descendants of 
the Canaanites who were reduced by 
Solomon to the helot state, and com- 
pelled to labor in the king's stone-quar- 
ries and in building his palaces and 
cities. 1 Kings 5 : 13, 14 ; 9 : 20, 21 ; 2 



Chron. 8:7, 8. They appear to have 
formed a distinct order, inheriting prob- 
ably the same functions and the same 
skill as their ancestors. 
Solomon's Song. [Canticles.] 
Solomon, Wisdom of. [Wisdom, 
Book of.] 

Son. The term "son" is used in 
Scripture language to imply almost any 
kind of descent or succession, as ben 
shdndh, " son of a year," i. e. a year old ; 
ben kesheth, " son of a bow," i. e. an 
arrow. The word bar is often found in 
the New Testament in composition, as 
Bar-timseus. 
Soothsayer. [Divination.] 
Sop. In eastern lands, where our ta- 
ble utensils are unknown, the meat, with 
the broth, is brought upon the table in a 




Dipping the Sop. 



large dish, and is eaten usually by means 
of pieces of bread dipped into the com- 
mon dish. The bread so dipped is called 
a "sop." It was such a piece of bread 
dipped in broth that Jesus gave to Judas, 
John 13 : 26 ; and again, in Matt. 26 : 23, 
it is said " he that dippeth his hand with 
me in the dish," i. e. to make a sop by 
dipping a piece of bread into the central 
dish. 

Sop'ater (saviour of his father), son 
of Pyrrhus of Berea, was one of the com- 
panions of St. Paul on his return from 
Greece into Asia. Acts 20 : 4. (a.d. 55.) 

Soph'ereth {writing). " The chil- 
dren of Sophereth" were a familv who 
645' 



SOR 



SPA 



returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel 
among the descendants of Solomon's 
servants. Ezra 2:55; Neh. 7 : 57. (B.C. 
before 536.) 

Sorcerer. [Divination.] 

So'rek (red), The valley of, a wady 
in which lay the residence of Delilah. 
Judges 16 : 4. It was possibly nearer 
Gaza than any other of the chief Phi- 
listine cities, since thither Samson was 
taken after his capture at Delilah's 
house. 

Sosip'ater (saviour of his father), 
kinsman or fellow tribesman of St. Paul, 
Rom. 16 : 21, is probably the same person 
as Sopater of Berea. (a.d. 54.) 

Sos'thenes (saviour of his nation) 
was a Jew at Corinth who was seized 
and beaten in the presence of Gallio. 
See Acts 18 : 12-17. (a.d. 49.) 

So'ta-i {changeful). The children of 
Sotai were a family of the descendants 
of Solomon's servants who returned with 
Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 55 ; Neh. 7 : 57. 
(B.C. before 536.) 

South Ra'moth. [Ramath of the 
South.] 

Sow. [Swine.] 




of the seed is noticed, as the most charac- 
teristic action of the sower, in Ps. 126 : 6 
(Authorized Version "precious") and 
Amos 9 : 13. In wet soils the seed was 
trodden in by the feet of animals. Isa. 
32 : 20. The sowing season began in Oc- 
tober and continued to the end of Feb- 
ruary, wheat being put in before, and 
barley after, the beginning of January. 
The Mosaic law prohibited the sowing 
of mixed seed. Lev. 19 : 19 ; Deut. 22 : 9. 

Spain. 1 Mace. 8:3; Rom. 15 : 24, 28. 
The local designation, Tarshish, repre- 
senting the Tartessus of the Greeks, 
probably prevailed until the fame of the 
Roman wars in that country reached the 
East, when it was superseded by its clas- 
sical name. The mere intention of St. 
Paul to visit Spain (whether he really 
did visit it is a disputed question. — Ed.) 
implies two interesting facts, viz., the 
establishment of a Christian community 
in that country, and that this was done 
by Hellenistic Jews resident there. The 
early introduction of Christianity into 
that country is attested by Irenaeus and 
Tertullian. 

Sparrow (Heb. tzippor, from a root 
signifying to " chirp "or " twitter," which 
appears to be a phonetic representation 
of the call-note of any passerine (sparrow- 
like) bird). This Hebrew word occurs 
upwards of forty times in the Old Testa- 



Eastern Sower. 

Sower, Sowing. The operation of 
sowing with the hand is one of so simple 
a character as to need little description. I 
The Egyptian paintings furnish many 
illustrations of the mode in which it was 
conducted. The sower held the vessel 
or basket containing the seed in his left 
hand, while with his right he scattered 
the seed broadcast. The "drawing out" 
646 




Syrian Sparrow. 

ment. In all passages except two it is 
rendered by the Authorized Version in- 
differently "bird" or "fowl." and de- 



SPA 



SPI 



notes any small bird, both of the spar- 
row-like species and such as the starling, 
chaffinch, greenfinch, linnet, goldfinch, 
corn-bunting, pipits, blackbird, song- 
thrush, etc. In Ps. 84 : 3 and Ps. 102 : 7 
it is rendered " sparrow." The Greek 
<rrpov6iov ( Authorized Version " sparrow") 
occurs twice in the New Testament, Matt. 




Sparrows in 3 



10 : 29 ; Luke 12 : 6, 7. (The birds above | 
mentioned are found in great numbers { 
in Palestine, and are of very little value, ! 
selling for the merest trifle, and are thus 
strikingly used by our Saviour, Matt. 10 : 
29, as an illustration of our Father's care 
for his children. — Ed.) The blue thrush 
{Petrocossyphus eyaneus) is probably the ■ 
bird to which the psalmist alludes in Ps. ! 
102 : 7 as " the sparrow that sitteth alone 
upon the house-top." It is a solitary 
bird, eschewing the society of its own I 
species, and rarely more than a pair are 
seen together. The English tree-sparrow 
{Passer montanus, Linn.) is also very | 
common, and may be seen in numbers 
on Mount Olivet, and also about the sa- 
cred enclosure of the mosque of Omar. 
This is perhaps the exact species re- j 
ferred to in Ps. 84 : 3. Dr. Thomson, in 
speaking of the great numbers of the j 
house-sparrows and field-sparrows in ; 
Palestine, says : " They are a tame, 
troublesome and impertinent generation, 
and nestle just where you do not want 
them. They stop up your stove- and I 
water-pipes with their rubbish, build in 



the windows and under the beams of the 
roof, and would stuff your hat full of 
stubble in half a day if they found it 
hanging in a place to suit them." 

Spar'ta, a celebrated city of Greece, 
between whose inhabitants and the Jews 
a relationship was believed to subsist. 
Between the two nations a correspond- 
ence ensued. — Whitney. The act- 
ual relationship of the Jews and 
Spartans, 2 Mace. 5:9, is an 
ethnological error, which it is 
difficult to trace to its origin. 
Spear. [Arms.] 
Spearmen. Acts 23: 23. These 
were probably troops so lightly 
I 1 ;! armed as to be able to keep pace 
l!| on the march with mounted sol- 
diers. 

Spice, Spices. 1. Heb. bdsam, 
besem or busem. In Cant. 5 : 1, " I 
have gathered my myrrh with my 
spice," the word points apparently 
to some definite substance. In the 
other places, with the exception 
perhaps of Cant. 1 : 13, 6:2, the 
words refer more generally to sweet 
aromatic odors, the principal of 
which was that of the balsam or 
balm of Gilead; the tree Avhich 
yields this substance is now gen- 
erally admitted to be the Balsam- 
odendron opobalsamum. The balm 
of Gilead tree grows in some parts of 
Arabia and Africa, and is seldom more 
than fifteen feet high, with straggling 
branches and scanty foliage. The bal- 
sam is chiefly obtained from incisions in 
the bark, but is procured also from the 
green and ripe berries. 2. NecOth. Gen. 
37 : 25 ; 43 : 11. The most probable ex- 
planation is that which refers the word 
to the Arabic naka'at, i. e. " the gum ob- 
tained from the tragacanth" {Astragalus). 
3. Sammim, a general term to denote 
those aromatic substances which were 
used in the preparation of the anointing 
oil, the incense offerings, etc. The spices 
mentioned as being used by Nicodemus 
for the preparation of our Lord's body, 
John 19 : 39, 40, are " myrrh and aloes," 
by which latter word must be under- 
stood not the aloes of medicine, but the 
highly-scented wood of the Aquilaria 
agaUochum. 

Spider. The Hebrew word 'accabtsh 
in Job 8 : 14, Isa. 59 : 5 is correctly ren- 
dered "spider." But sSmdmith is wrong- 
ly translated "spider" in Prov. 30:28; 
it refers probablv to some kind of lizard. 

647 



SPI 



STA 



(But "there are many species of spider 
in Palestine : some which spin webs, like 
the common garden spider ; some which 
dig subterranean cells and make doors 
in them, like the well-known trap-door 
spider of southern Europe; and some 
which have no web, but chase their prey 
upon the ground, like the hunting- and the 
wolf-spider." — Wood's Bible Animals.) 




Spikenard. 

Spikenard (Heb. ntrd) is mentioned 
twice in the Old Testament, viz. in Cant. 
1 : 12 ; 4 : 13, 14. The ointment with which 
our Lord was anointed as he sat at meat 
in Simon's house at Bethany consisted of 
this precious substance, the costliness of 
which may be inferred from the indig- 
nant surprise manifested by some of the 
witnesses of the transaction. See Mark 
14 : 3-5 ; John 12 : 3, 5. (Spikenard, from 
which the ointment was made, was an 
aromatic herb of the valerian family 
{Nardostachys jatamansi). It was im- 
ported from an early age from Arabia, 
India and the Far East. The costliness 
of Mary's offering (300 pence=$45) may 
best be seen from the fact that a penny 
(denarius, 15 to 17 cents) was in those 
days the day-wages of a laborer. Matt. 
20 : 2. In our day this would equal at 
least $300 or $400.'— Ed.) 

Spinning. The notices of spinning 
in the Bible are confined to Ex. 35 : 25, 
26 ; Prov. 31 : 19 ; Matt. 6 : 28. The lat- 
ter passage implies (according to the Au- 
thorized Version) the use of the same in- 
struments which have been in vogue for 
hand-spinning down to the present day, 
648 



viz. the distaff and spindle. The distaff, 
however, appears to have been dispensed 
with, and the term so rendered means the 
spindle itself, while that rendered " spin- 
dle " represents the whirl of the spindle, 
a button of circular rim which was af- 
fixed to it, and gave steadiness to its cir- 
cular motion. The " whirl " of the Syr- 
ian women was made of amber in the 
time of Pliny. The spindle was held 
perpendicularly in the one hand, while 
the other was employed in drawing out 
the thread. Spinning was the business 
of women, both among the Jews and for 
the most part among the Egyptians. 

Sponge, a soft, porous marine sub- 
stance. Sponges were for a long time 
supposed to be plants, but are now con- 
sidered by the best naturalists to belong 
to the animal kingdom. Sponge is men- 
tioned only in the New Testament. Matt. 
27 : 48 ; Mark 15 : 36 ; John 19 : 29. The 
commercial value of the sponge was 




Sponge of Commerce. 



known from very early times; and al- 
though there appears to be no notice of 
it in the Old Testament, yet it is prob- 
able that it was used by the ancient He- 
brews, who could readily have obtained 
it good from the Mediterranean, where it 
was principally found. 

Spouse. [Marriage.] 

Sta'chys, a Christian at Rome, saluted 
bv St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. 
Rom. 16:9. (a.d. 55.) 

Stacte (Heb. ndtdf), the name of one 
of the sweet spices which composed the 
holy incense. See Ex. 30 : 34— the only 
passage of Scripture in which the word 
occurs. Some identify the ndtdf with 
the gum of the storax tree {Styrax offici- 
nale), but all that is positively known 
is that it signifies an odorous distillation 
j from some plant. 



STA 



STE 



Standards. The Assyrian standards 
were emblematic of their religion, and 
were therefore the more valuable as in- 
struments for leading and guiding men 
in the army. The forms were imitations 
of animals (1), emblems of deities (2), 
and symbols of power and wisdom (3). 
Many of them were crude, but others 
were highly artistic and of great cost. 




Egyptian Standards. 

The Egyptian standards were designed 
in the same idea as those of the Eomans, 
exhibiting some sacred emblem (5, 6, 8), 
or a god in the form of an animal (3, 4), 
a group of victory (7), or the king's name 
or his portrait as (1), of lower, and (2), 
of upper, Egypt, or an emblematic sign, 
as No. 9. 



Star of the wise men. [Magi.] 
Stater. [Money.] 
Steel. In all cases where the word 
" steel " occurs in the Authorized Version 
the true rendering of the Hebrew is 
" copper." Whether the ancient He- 
brews were acquainted with steel is not 
perfectly certain. It has been inferred 
from a passage in Jeremiah, 15 : 12, that 
the " iron from the north " there 
spoken of denoted a superior 
kind of metal, hardened in an 
unusual manner, like the steel 
obtained from the Chalybes of 
the Pontus, the ironsmiths of 
the ancient world. The harden- 
ing of iron for cutting instru- 
ments was practiced in Pontus, 
Lydia and Laconia. There is, 
however, a word in Hebrew, 
palddh, which occurs only in 
Nah. 2 : 3 (4), and is there ren- 
dered " torches," but which 
most probably denotes steel or 
hardened iron, and refers to the 
flashing scythes of the Assyrian 
chariots. Steel appears to have 
been known to the Egyptians. 
The steel weapons in the tomb 
of Rameses III., says Wilkinson, 
are painted blue, the bronze red. 

Steph'anas, a Christian con- 
vert of Corinth whose household 
Paul baptized as the " first-fruits 
of Achaia." 1 Cor. 1 : 16 ; 16 : 15. 
(A.D. 53.) 

Ste'phen, the first Christian 
martyr, was the chief of the 
seven (commonly called Dea- 
cons) appointed to rectify the 
complaints in the early Church 
of Jerusalem, made by the 
Hellenistic against the Hebrew 
Christians. His Greek name 
indicates his own Hellenistic 
origin. His importance is 
stamped on the narrative by a 
reiteration of emphatic, almost 
superlative, phrases : " full of 
faith and of the Holy Ghost," 
Acts 6:5; "full of grace and 
power," ibid. 8 ; irresistible 
"spirit and wisdom," ibid. 10; "full of 
the Holy Ghost." Acts 7 : 55. He shot 
far ahead of his six companions, and far 
above his particular office. First, he ar- 
rests attention by the " great wonders and 
miracles that he did." Then' begins a 
series of disputations with the Hellenistic 
Jews of north Africa, Alexandria and 
649 



STO 



STO 



Asia Minor, his companions in race and 
birthplace. The subject of these dispu- 
tations is not expressly mentioned ; but 
from what follows it is obvious that he 
struck into a new vein of teaching, which 
evidently caused his martyrdom. Down 
to this time the apostles and the early 
Christian community had clung in their 
worship, not merely to the holy land and 
the holy city, but to the holy place of the 
temple. This local worship, with the 
Jewish customs belonging to it, Stephen 
denounced. So we must infer from the 
accusations brought against him, con- 
firmed as they are by the tenor of his de- 
fence. He was arrested at the instigation 
of the Hellenistic Jews, and brought be- 
fore the Sanhedrin. His speech in his 
defence, and his execution by stoning 
outside the gates of Jerusalem, are re- 
lated at length in Acts 7. The frame- 
work in which his defence is cast is a 
summary of the history of the Jewish 
Church. In the facts which he selects 
from his history he is guided by two 
principles. The first is the endeavor to 
prove that, even in the previous Jewish 
history, the presence and favor of God 
had not been confined to the holy land 
or the temple of Jerusalem. The second 
principle of selection is based on the at- 
tempt to show that there was a tendency 
from the earliest times toward the same 
ungrateful and narrow spirit that had 
appeared in this last stage of their po- 
litical existence. It would seem that, 
just at the close of his argument, Stephen 
saw a change in the aspect of his judges, 
as if for the first time they had caught 
the drift of his meaning. He broke off 
from his calm address, and turned sud- 
denly upon them in an impassioned at- 
tack, which shows that he saw what was 
in store for him. As he spoke they showed 
by their faces that their hearts " were 
being sawn asunder," and they kept 
gnashing their set teeth against him ; but 
still, though with difficulty, restraining 
themselves. He, in this last crisis of his 
fate, turned his face upward to the open 
sky, and as he gazed the vault of heaven 
seemed to him to part asunder; and the 
divine Glory appeared through the rend- 
ing of the earthly veil — the divine Pres- 
ence, seated on a throne, and on the right 
hand the human form of Jesus. Stephen 
spoke as if to himself, describing the glori- 
ous vision ; and in so doing, alone of all 
the speakers and writers in the New Tes- 
tament except only Christ himself, uses 
650 



the expressive phrase " the Son of man." 
As his judges heard the words, tliey 
would listen no longer. They broke into 
a loud yell ; they clapped their hands to 
their ears ; they flew as with one impulse 
upon him, and dragged him out of the 
city to the place of execution. Those 
who took the lead in the execution were 
the persons who had taken upon them- 
selves the responsibility of denouncing 
him. Deut. 17 : 7 ; comp. John 8 : 7. In 
this instance they were the witnesses who 
had reported or misreported the words of 
Stephen. They, according to the custom, 
stripped themselves; and one of the 
prominent leaders in the transaction was 
deputed by custom to signify his assent 
to the act by taking the clothes into his 
custody and standing over them while 
the bloody work went on. The person 
who officiated on this occasion was a 
young man from Tarsus, the future apos- 
tle of the Gentiles. [Paul.] As the first 
volley of stones burst upon him, Stephen 
called upon the Master whose human 
form he had just seen in the heavens, and 
repeated almost the words with which he 
himself had given up his life on the cross, 
" O Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." An- 
other crash of stones brought him on his 
knees. One loud, piercing cry, answering 
to the shriek or yell with which his ene- 
mies had flown upon him, escaj^ed his 
dying lips. Again clinging to the spirit 
of his Master's words, he cried, " Lord, 
lay not this sin to their charge," and in- 
stantly sank upon the ground, and, in 
the touching language of the narrator, 
who then uses for the first time the words 
afterward applied to the departure of all 
Christians, but here the more remarkable 
from the bloody scenes in the midst of 
which death took place, fell asleep. His 
mangled body was buried by the class of 
Hellenists and proselytes to which he 
belonged. The importance of Stephen's 
career may be briefly summed up under 
three heads : 1. He was the first great 
Christian ecclesiastic, " the Archdeacon," 
as he is called in the eastern Church. 2. 
He is the first martyr — the protomartyr. 
To him the name "martyr" is first ap- 
plied. Acts 22 : 20. 3. He is the forerun- 
ner of St. Paul. He was the anticipator, 
as, had he lived, he would have been the 
propagator, of the new phase of Chris- 
tianity of which St. Paul became the 
main support. 

Stocks. (An instrument of punish- 
ment, consisting of two beams, the upper 



STO 



STO 



one being movable, with two small open- 
ings between them, large enough for the 
ankles of the prisoner. — Ed.) The term 
"stocks" is applied in the Authorized 
Version to two different articles, one of 
which answers rather to our pillory, in- 
asmuch as the body was placed in a bent 




Ancient Stocks. 



position, by the confinement of the neck 
and arms as well as the legs, while the 
other answers to our " stocks," the feet 
alone being confined in it. The prophet 
Jeremiah was confined in the first sort, 
Jer. 20 : 2, which appears to have been a 
common mode of punishment in his day, 
Jer. 29 : 26, as the prisons contained a 
chamber for the special purpose, termed 
"the house of the pillory." 2 Chron. 16 : 
10 (Authorized Version "prison-house"). 
The stocks, properly so called, are noticed 
in Job 13 : 27 ; 33 : 11 ; Acts 16 : 24. The 
term used in Pro v. 7 : 22 (Authorized 
Version "stocks") more properly means 
a fetter. 

Sto'ics. The Stoics and Epicureans, 
who are mentioned together in Acts 17 : 
18, represent the two opposite schools of 
practical philosophy which survived the 
fall of higher speculation in Greece. The 
Stoic school was founded by Zeno of Cit- 
ium {cir. B.C. 280), and derived its name 
from the painted "portico" (stoa) at 
Athens in which he taught. Zeno was 
followed by Cleanthes {cir. B.C. 260) ; 
Cleanthes by Chrysippus {cir. B.C. 240), 
who was regarded as the intellectual 
founder of the Stoic system. " They re- 
garded God and the world as power and 
its manifestation, matter being a passive 
ground in which dwells the divine energy. 
Their ethics were a protest against moral 
indifference, and to live in harmony with 
nature, conformably with reason and the 
demands of universal good, and in the 
utmost indifference to pleasure, pain and 



! all external good or evil, was their funda- 
! mental maxim." — American Cyclopcedia. 
j The ethical system of the Stoics has been 
commonly supposed to have a close con^ 
nection with Christian morality ; but the 
morality of stoicism is essentially based 
on pride, that of Christianity on humility ; 
the one upholds individual independence, 
the other absolute faith in another ; the 
one looks for consolation in the issue of 
fate, the other in Providence ; the one is 
limited by periods of cosmical ruin, the 
other is consummated in a personal resur- 
rection. Acts 17 : 18. But in spite of the 
fundamental error of stoicism, which lies 
in a supreme egotism, the teaching of this 
school gave a wide currency to the noble 
doctrines of the fatherhood of God, the 
common bonds of mankind, the sover- 
eignty of the soul. Among their most 
prominent representatives were Zeno and 
Antipater of Tarsus, Seneca and Marcus 
Aurelius. 

Stomacher. The Hebrew word so 
translated, lsa. 3 : 24, describes some ar- 
ticle of female attire, the character of 
which is a mere matter of conjecture. 

Stones. Besides the ordinary uses to 
which stones were applied, we may men- 
tion that large stones were set up to com- 
memorate any remarkable event. Gen. 
28:18; 35:14; 31:45; Josh. 4:9; 1 
Sam. 7 : 12. Such stones were occasion- 
ally consecrated by anointing. Gen. 28 : 
18. Heaps of stones were piled up on 
various occasions, as in token of a treaty, 
Gen. 31 : 47, or over the grave of some 
notorious offender. Josh. 7 : 26 ; 8 : 29 ; 2 
Sam. 18 : 17. The " white stone " noticed 
in Rev. 2 : 17 has been variously regarded 
as referring to the pebble of acquittal 
used in the Greek courts ; to the lot cast 
in elections in Greece ; to both these 
combined ; to the stones in the high 
priest's breastplate ; to the tickets pre- 
sented to the victors at the public games ; 
or, lastly, to the custom of writing on 
stones. The notice in Zech. 12 : 3 of the 
"burdensome stone" is referred by Je- 
rome to the custom of lifting stones as an 
exercise of strength, comp. Ecclus. 6:21; 
but it may equally well be explained 
of a large corner-stone as a symbol of 
strength. Isa. 28 : 16. Stones are used 
metaphorically to denote hardness or in- 
sensibility, 1 Sam. 25 : 37 ; Ezek. 11 : 19 ; 
36:26, as well as firmness or strength. 
Gen. 49 : 24. The members of the Church 
are called " living stones," as cont ributing 
to rear that living temple in which Christ, 
651 



STO 



STR 



himself " a living stone," is the chief or 
head of the corner. Eph. 2 : 20-22 ; 1 Pet. 
2 : 4-8. 

Stones, Precious. Precious stones 
are frequently alluded to in the Holy 
Scriptures; they were known and very 
highly valued in the earliest times. The 
Tyrians traded in precious stones sup- 
plied by Syria. Ezek. 27 : 16. The mer- 
chants of Sheba and Raamah in south 
Arabia, and doubtless India and Ceylon, 
supplied the markets of Tyre with va- 
rious precious stones. The art of engrav- 
ing on precious stones was known from 
the very earliest times. Gen. 38 : 18. The 
twelve stones of the breastplate were en- 
graved each one with the name of one of 
the tribes. Ex. 28:17-21. It is an un- 
decided question whether the diamond 
was known to the early nations of an- 
tiquity. The Authorized Version gives 
it as the rendering of the Heb. yahalom, 
but it is probable that the jasper is in- 
tended. Precious stones are used in Scrip- 
ture in a figurative sense, to signify value, 
beauty, durability, etc., in those objects 
with which they are compared. See Cant. 
5 : 14 ; Isa. 54 : 11, 12 ; Lam. 4:7; Rev. 4 : 
3; 21 :10, 21. 

Stoning. [Punishments' 




The Stork. 

Stork (Heb. chasiddh), a large bird 
of passage of the heron family. The 
white stork (Ciconia alba, Linn.) is one 
of the largest and most conspicuous of 
land birds, standing nearly four feet high, 
the jet black of its wings and its bright- 
652 



red beak and legs contrasting finely with 
the pure white of its plumage. Zech. 5 : 
9. In the neighborhood of man it devours 
readily all kinds of offal and garbage. 
For this reason, doubtless, it is placed in 
the list of unclean birds by the Mosaic 
law. Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18. The 
range of the white stork extends over the 
whole of Europe, except the British isles, 
where it is now a rare visitant, and over 
northern Africa and Asia as far at least 
as Burmah. The black stork (Ciconia 
nigra, Linn.), though less abundant in 
places, is scarcely less widely distributed, 
but has a more easterly range than its 
congener. Both species are very numer- 
ous in Palestine. While the black stork 
is never found about buildings, but pre- 
fers marshy places in forests, and breeds 
on the tops of the loftiest trees, the white 
stork attaches itself to man, and for the 
service which it renders in the destruc- 
tion of reptiles and the removal of ofl'al 
has been repaid from the earliest times 
by protection and reverence. The deriva- 
tion of chasiddh (from ckesed, "kind- 
ness") points to the paternal and filial 
attachment of which the stork seems to 
have been a type among the Hebrews no 
less than the Greeks and Romans. It 
was believed that the young repaid the 
care of their parents by attaching them- 
selves to them for life, and tending them 
in old age. That the parental attach- 
ment of the stork is very strong has been 
proved on many occasions. Few mi- 
gratory birds are more punctual to the 
time of their reappearance than the white 
stork. The stork has no note, and the 
only sound it emits is that caused by the 
sudden snapping of its long mandibles. 

Strain at. (So translated in the Au- 
thorized Version, but in the Revised Ver- 
sion " strain out," Matt. 23 : 24; which is 
undoubtedly the true reading. — Ed.) 

Stranger. A " stranger," in the tech- 
nical sense of the term, may be defined to 
be a person of foreign, i. e. non-Israelit- 
ish, extraction resident within the limits 
of the promised land. He was distinct 
from the proper " foreigner," inasmuch 
as the latter still belonged to another 
country, and would only visit Palestine 
as a traveller: he was still more distinct 
from the "nations," or non-Israelite peo- 
ples. The term may be compared with 
our expression "naturalized foreigner." 
The terms applied to the " stranger " have 
special reference to the fact of his resid- 
ing in the land. The existence of such a 



class of persons among the Israelites is 
easily accounted for. The " mixed mul- 
titude " that accompanied them out of 
Egypt, Ex. 12:38, formed one element; 
the Canaanitish population, which 
was never wholly extirpated from 
their native soil, formed another 
and a still more important one; 
captives taken in war formed a 
third; fugitives, hired servants, 
merchants, etc., formed a fourth. 
With the exception of the Moab- 
ites and Ammonites, Deut. 23 : 3, 
all nations were admissible to the 
rights of citizenship under cer- 
tain conditions. The stranger ap- 
pears to have been eligible to all 
civil offices, that of king excepted. 
Deut. 17 : 15. In regard to re- 
ligion, it was absolutely necessary 
that the stranger should not in- 
fringe any of the fundamental 
laws of the Israelitish state. If 
he were a bondman, he was obliged 
to submit to circumcision, Ex. 12 : 44 ; 
if he were independent, it was optional 
with him; but if he remained un- 
circumcised, he was prohibited from 
partaking of the Passover, Ex. 12 : 48, 
and could not be regarded as a full citi- 
zen. Liberty was also given to an uncir- 
cumcised stranger in regard to the use 
of prohibited food. Assuming, however, 
that the stranger was circumcised, no dis- 
tinction existed in regard to legal rights 
between the stranger and the Israelite ; 
the Israelite is enjoined to treat him as a 
brother. Lev. 19:34; Deut. 10:19. It 
also appears that the "stranger" formed 
the class whence the hirelings were drawn ; 
the terms being coupled together in Ex. 
12:45; Lev. 22: 10; 25:6,40. The liberal 
spirit of the Mosaic regulations respecting 
strangers presents a strong contrast to the 
rigid exclusiveness of the Jews at the 
commencement of the Christian era. The 
growth of this .spirit dates from the time 
of the Babylonish captivity. 

Straw. Both wheat and barley straw 
were used by the ancient Hebrews chiefly 
as fodder for the horses, cattle and camels. 
Gen. 24 : 25 ; 1 Kings 4 : 28 ; Isa. 11:7; 
65 : 25. There is no intimation that straw 
was used for litter. It was employed by 
the Egyptians for making bricks, Ex. 5 : 
7, 16, being chopped up and mixed with 
the clay to make them more compact and 
to prevent their cracking. [See Brick.] 
The ancient Egyptians reaped their corn 
close to the ear, and afterward cut the 



straw close to the ground and laid it by. 
This was the straw that Pharaoh refused 
to give to the Israelites, who were there- 
fore compelled to gather " stubble " in- 




Bvick-making in Egypt. 

stead — a matter of considerable difficulty, 
seeing that the straw itself had been cut 
off near to the ground. 

Stream of Egypt occurs once in the 
Old Testament— Isa. 27 : 12. [River OF 
Egypt.] 

Street. The streets of a modern Ori- 
ental town present a great contrast to 
those with which we are familiar, being 
generally narrow, tortuous and gloomy, 
even in the best towns. Their character 
is mainly fixed by the climate and the 
style of architecture, the narrowness being 
due to the extreme heat, and the gloomi- 
ness to the circumstance of the windows 
looking for the most part into the inner 
court. The street called " Straight," in 
Damascus, Acts 9:11, was an exception 
to the rule of narrowness : it was a noble 
thoroughfare, one hundred feet wide, di- 
vided in the Roman age by colonnades 
into three avenues, the central one for 
foot passengers, the side passages for ve- 
hicles and horsemen going in different 
directions. The shops and warehouses 
were probably collected together into 
bazaars in ancient as in modern times. 
Jer. 37 : 21. That streets occasionally had 
names appears from Jer. 37 : 21 ; Acts 9 : 
11. That they were generally unpaved 
may be inferred from the notices of the 
pavement laid by Herod the Great at 
Antioch, and by Herod Agrippa II. at 
Jerusalem. Hence pavement forms one 
of the peculiar features of the ideal Jeru- 
salem. Tob. 13:17; Rev. 21:21. Each 
street and bazaar in a modern town is 
653 



STR 



SUN 



locked up at night ; the same custom ap- 
pears to nave prevailed in ancient times. 
Cant. 3: 3. 

Stripes. [Punishments.] 

Su'ah (sweeping), son of Zophah, an 
Asherite. 1 Ciiron. 7 : 36. (B.C. about 
1020.) 

Suc'coth (booths). 1. An ancient 
town, first heard of in the account of the 
homeward journey of Jacob from Padan- 
aram. Gen. 33 : 17. The name is derived 
from the fact of Jacob's having there put 
up "booths" (succoth) for his cattle, as 
well as a house for himself. From the 
itinerary of Jacob's return it seems that 
Succoth lay between Peniel, near the 
ford of the torrent Jabbok, and She- 
chem. Comp. Gen. 32 : 30 and 33 : 18. 
In accordance with this is the mention 
of Succoth in the narrative of Gideon's 
pursuit of Zebah and Zalmunna. Judges 
8 : 5-17. It would appear from this pas- 
sage that it lay east of the Jordan, which 
is corroborated by the fact that it was al- 
lotted to the tribe of Gad. Josh. 13 : 27. 
Succoth is named once again after this 
—in 1 Kings 7:46; 2 Chron. 4 : 17— as 
marking the spot at which the brass 
found eries were placed for casting the 
metal work of the temple. (Dr. Merrill 
identifies it with a site called Tell Dar- 
ala, one mile north of the Jabbok. — 
Ed.) 

2. The first camping-place of the Is- 
raelites when thev left Egypt. Ex. 12 : 
37; 13:20; Num.' 33 : 5, 6. This place 
was apparently reached at the close of 
the first day's march. Rameses, the 
starting-place, was probably near the 
western end of the Wddi-t-Tumeyldt. 
The distance traversed in each day's 
journey was about fifteen miles. 

Suc'coth-be'noth occurs only in 2 
Kings 17 : 30. It has generally been sup- 
posed that this term is pure Hebrew, and 
signifies the tents of daughters; which 
some explain as "the booths in which 
the daughters of the Babylonians prosti- 
tuted themselves in honor of their idol," 
others as "small tabermcles in which 
were contained images of female deities." 
Sir H. Rawlinson thinks that Succoth- 
benoth represents the Chaldaean goddess 
Zerbanit, the wife of Merodach, who was 
especially worshipped at Babylon. 

Su'chathites, one of the families of 
scribes at Jabez. 1 Chron. 2 : 55. 

Suk'kiim (booth-dwellers), a nation 
mentioned 2 Chron. 12 : 3 with the Lu- 
bim and Cushim as supplying part of the 
654 



army which came with Shishak out of 
Egypt when he invaded Judah. The 
Sukkiim may correspond to some one of 
the shepherd or wandering races men- 
tioned on the Egyptian monuments. 

Sun. In the history of the creation 
the sun is described as the " greater light," 
in contradistinction to the moon, the 
" lesser light," in conjunction with which 
it was to serve " for signs, and for sea- 
sons, and for days, and for years," while 
its special office was "to rule the day." 
Gen. 1 : 14-16. The " signs " referred to 
were probably such extraordinary phe- 
nomena as eclipses, which were regarded 
as conveying premonitions of coming 
events. Jer. 10:2; Matt. 24 : 29 with 
Luke 21 : 25. The joint influence as- 
signed to the sun and moon in deciding 
the " seasons," both for agricultural ope- 
rations and for religious festivals, and 
also in regulating the length and sub- 
divisions of the " years," correctly de- 
scribes the combination of the lunar and 
solar year wlv'ch prevailed at all events 
subsequent to the Mosaic period. Sun- 
rise and sunset are the only defined points 
of time in the absence of artificial con- 
trivances for telling the hour of the day. 
Between these two points the Jews rec- 
ognized three periods, viz., when the sun 
became hot, about 9 A.M., 1 Sam. 11 : 9; 
Neh. 7:3; the double light, or noon, 
Gen. 43 : 16 ; 2 Sam. 4:5; and " the cool 
of the day," shortly before sunset. Gen. 
3 : 8. The sun also served to fix the 
quarters of the hemisphere, east, west; 
north and south, which were represented 
respectively by the rising sun, the setting 
sun, Isa. 45 : 6 ; Ps. 50 : 1, the dark quar- 
ter, Gen. 13 : 14 ; Joel 2 : 20, and the 
brilliant quarter, Deut. 33 : 23 ; Job 37 : 
17 ; Ezek. 40 : 24 ; or otherwise by their 
position relative to a person facing the 
rising sun — before, behind, on the left 
hand and on the right hand. Job 23 : 
8, 9. 

The worship of the sun, as the most 
prominent and powerful agent in the 
| kingdom of nature, was widely diffused 
j throughout the countries adjacent to Pal- 
estine. The Arabians appear to have 
paid direct worship to it without the in- 
! tervention of any statue or symbol, Job 
31 : 26, 27, and this simple style of wor- 
; ship was probably familiar to the ances- 
I tors of the Jews in Chaldsea and Mesopo- 
I tamia. The Hebrews must have been 
| well acquainted with the idolatrous wor- 
ship of the sun during the captivity in 



SUE 



SWE 



Egypt, both from the contiguity of On, 
the chief seat of the worship of the sun, 
as implied in the name itself (On being 
the equivalent of the Hebrew Bethshe- 
mesh, " house of the sun," Jer. 43 : 13), 
and also from the connection between 
Joseph and Potipherah (" he who belongs 
to Pa") the priest of On. Gen. 41 : 45. 
After their removal to Canaan, the He- 
brews came in contact with various forms 
of idolatry which originated in the wor- 
ship of the sun ; such as the Baal of the 
Phoenicians, the Molech or Milcom of 
the Ammonites, and the Hadad of the 
{Syrians. The importance attached to 
the worship of the sun by the Jewish 
kings may be inferred from the fact that 
the horses sacred to the sun were stalled 
within the precincts of the temple. 2 
Kings 23 : 11. In the metaphorical lan- 
guage of Scripture the sun is emblematic 
of the law of God, Ps. 19 : 7, of the cheer- 
ing presence of God, Ps. 84: 11, of the _ . 
person of the Saviour, John 1:9 ; Mai. j occur are strictly applicable to the swal- 
4:2, and of the glory and purity of J low, viz., its swiftness of flight, its nest- 
heavenly beings. JLiev. 1 : 16 ; 10 : 1 ; ing in the buildings of the temple, its 
12 : 1. | mournful, garrulous note, and its regular 

Suretyship. In the entire absence j migrations, shared indeed in common 
of commerce the law laid down no rules j with several others. Many species of 
on the subject of suretyship; but it is I swallow occur in Palestine. All those 
evident that in the time of Solomon com- 1 common in England are found, 
mercial dealings had become so multi- ! Swan (Heb. tinshemeth), thus ren- 
plied that suretyship in the commercial dered by the Authorized Version in Lev. 
sense was common. Prov. 6:1; 11 : 15 ; ! 11 : 18 ; Deut. 14 : 16, where it occurs in 
17 : 18 ; 20 : 16 ; 22 : 26 ; 27 : 13. But in j the list of unclean birds. But either of 
older times the notion of one man be- ! ti e renderings "porphyrio" (purple 
coming a surety for a service to be dis- ! water-hen) and "ibis" is more probable, 
charged by another was in full force. Neither of these birds occurs elsewhere in 
See Gen. 44 : 32. The surety of course be- the catalogue ; both would be familiar to 
came liable for his client's debts in case | residents in Egypt, and the original seems 
of his failure. I to point to some water-fowl. The purple 

Su'sa. Esther 11:3; 16 : 18. [Shu- I water-hen is allied to our corn-crake and 
SHAN.] J water-hen, and is the largest and most 

Su'sanchites is found once only — in j beautiful of the family Rallidce. It fre- 
Ezra 4 : 9. There can be no doubt that \ quents marshes and the sedge by the 
it designates either the inhabitants of the ! banks of rivers in all the countries bor- 
city Susa or those of the country — Susis j dering on the Mediterranean, and is 
or Susiana. Perhaps the former expla- j abundant in lower Egypt, 
nation is preferable. ! Swearing. [Oath.] 

Susan'na (a lily). 1. The heroine Sweat, Bloody. One of the physical 
of the story of the Judgment of Daniel, i phenomena attending our Lord's agony 
(The book which gives an account of her \ in the garden of Gethsemane is described 
life is also called " The history of Susan- j by St. Luke, Luke 22 : 44 : " His sweat 
na," and is one of the apocryphal books \ was as it were great drops (lit. clots) of 
of the Bible.) | blood falling down to the ground." Of 

2. One of the women who ministered this malady, known in medical science 
to the Lord. Luke 8 : 3. (a.D. 28-30.) j by the term diapedesis, there have been 

Su'si, the father of Gaddi the Manas- examples recorded in both ancient and 
site spy. Num. 13 : 11. j modern times. The cause assigned is 

Swallow (Heb. derur in Ps. 84 : 3, ; generally violent mental emotion. 

655 



Prov. 26 : 2 ; Heb. 'dgur in Isa. 38 : 14, 
Jer. 8 : 7, but " crane " is more probably 
the true signification of dgur [LRANEJ). 
The rendering of the Authorized Version 
for derur seems correct. The characters 




Swallow. 



flsprihpd in tbp nassflfps whprp tbp 



SWI 



SYE 



Swine (Heb. chdzir). The flesh of 
swine was forbidden as food by the Le- 
vitical law, Lev. 11 : 7 ; Deut. 14 : 8; the 
abhorrence which the Jews as a nation 
had of it may be inferred from Isa. 65 : 
4 and 2 Mace. 6 : 18, 19. No other rea- 
son for the command to abstain from 
swine's flesh is given in the law of Moses 
beyond the general one which forbade 




The Wild Boar. 

any of the mammalia as food which did 
not literally fulfill the terms of the defi- 
nition of a " clean animal," viz., that it 
was to be a cloven-footed ruminant. It 
is, however, probable that dietetical con- 
siderations may have influenced Moses 
in his prohibition of swine's flesh: it is 
generally believed that its use in hot 
countries is liable to induce cutaneous 
disorders; hence in a people liable to 
leprosy the necessity for the observance 
of a strict rule. Although the Jews did 
not breed swine during the greater period 
of their existence as a nation, there can 
be little doubt that the heathen nations 
of Palestine used the flesh as food. At 
the time of our Lord's ministry it would 
appear that the Jews occasionally violated 
the law of Moses with regard to swine's 
flesh. Whether " the herd of swine " 
into which the devils were allowed to 
enter, Matt. 8 : 32 ; Mark 5 : 13, were the 
property of the Jewish or of the Gentile 
inhabitants of Gadara does not appear 
from the sacred narrative. The wild boar 
of the wood, Ps. 80 : 13, is the common 
656 



Sus scrofa, which is frequently met with 
in the woody parts of Palestine, especially 
in Mount Tabor. 
Sword. [Arms.] 

Sycamine tree is mentioned only in 
Luke 17 : 6. There is no reason to doubt 
that the sycamine is distinct from the 
sycamore of the same evangelist. Luke 
19 : 4. The sycamine is the mulberry 
tree (Morus). Both black and 
white mulberry trees are common 
in Syria and Palestine. 

Sycamore (Heb. shikmdh). 
Although it may be admitted that 
the sycamine is properly, and in 
Luke 17 : 6, the mulberry, and the 
sycamore the fig-mulberry, or syca- 
more-fig {Ficm sycomorus), yet the 
latter is the tree generally referred 
to in the Old Testament, and called 
by the Septuagint sycamine, as 1 
Kings 10 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 27 : 28 ; Ps. 
78 : 47 ; Amos 7 : 14. The sycamore, 
or fig-mulberry, is in Egypt and 
Palestine a tree of great import- 
ance and very extensive use. It 
attains the size of a walnut tree, 
has wide-spreading branches, and 
affords a delightful shade. On this 
account it is frequently planted 
by the waysides. Its leaves are 
heart-shaped, downy on the under 
side, and fragrant. The fruit grows 
directty from the trunk itself on 
I little sprigs, and in clusters like the grape. 
To make it eatable, each fruit, three or 
| four days before gathering, must, it is said, 
be punctured with a sharp instrument or 
the finger-nail. This was the original 
employment of the prophet Amos, as he 
says. Amos 7 : 14. So great was the value 
of these trees that David appointed for 
them in his kingdom a special overseer, 
as he did for the olives, 1 Chron. 27 : 28 ; 
and it is mentioned as one of the heaviest 
of Egypt's calamities that her sycamores 
were destroyed by hailstones. Ps. 78 : 47. 

Sy'char, a place named only in John 
4 : 5. Sychar was either a name applied 
to the town of Shechem or it was an 
independent place. The first of these al- 
ternatives is now almost universally ac- 
cepted. [Shechem.] 

Sy'chem, the Greek form of the word 
Shechem. It occurs in Acts 7 : 16 only. 
[Shechem.] 

Sye'ne, properly Seveneh, a town of 
Egypt, on the frontier of Cush or Ethio- 
pia, Ezek. 29 : 10, 30 : 6, represented by 
the present Arudn or Es-Suan. 



SYM 



SYN 



Sym'eon. (The Jewish form of the 
name Simon, used in the Revised Version 
of Acts 15 : 14, and referring to Simon 
Peter.— Ed.) 

Synagogue. 1. History. — The word 
synagogue {awayuyri) , which means a 
" congregation," is used in the New Tes- 
tament to signify a recognized place of 
worship. A knowledge of the history 
and worship of the synagogues is of great 
importance, since they are the charac- 
teristic institution of the later phase of 
Judaism. They appear to have arisen 
during the exile, in the abeyance of the 
temple-worship, and to have received 
their full development on the return of 
the Jews from captivity. The whole his- 
tory of Ezra presupposes the habit of 
solemn, probably of periodic, meetings. 
Ezra 8:15; Neh. 8:2; 9:1; Zech. 7 : 5. 
After the Maccabsearr struggle for inde- 
pendence, we find almost every town or 
village had its one or more synagogues. 
Where the Jews were not in sufficient 
numbers to be able to erect and fill a build- 
ing, there was the proseucha (irpoacvxn), 
or place of prayer, sometimes open, some- 
times covered in, commonly by a running 
stream or on the seashore, in which de- 
vout Jews and proselytes met to worship, 
and perhaps to read. Acts 16 : 13 ; Juven. 
Sat. iii. 296. It is hardly possible to 
overestimate the influence of the system 
thus developed. To it we may ascribe 
the tenacity with which, after the Macca- 
bsean struggle, the Jews adhered to the 
religion of their fathers, and never again 
relapsed into idolatry. 

2. Structure. — The size of a synagogue 
varied with the population. Its position 
was, however, determinate. It stood, if 
possible, on the highest ground, in or near 
the city to which it belonged. And its 
direction too was fixed. Jerusalem was 
the Kibleh of Jewish devotion. The syn- 
agogue was so constructed that the wor- 
shippers, as they entered and as they 
prayed, looked toward it. The building 
was commonly erected at the cost of the 
district. Sometimes it was built by a rich 
Jew, or even, as in Luke 7 : 5, by a friend- 
ly proselyte. In the internal arrange- 
ment of the synagogue we trace an obvi- 
ous analogy to the type of the tabernacle. 
At the upper or Jerusalem end stood the 
ark, the chest which, like the older and 
more sacred ark, contained the Book of 
the Law. It gave to that end the name 
and character of a sanctuary. This part 
of the synagogue was naturallv the place 
42 



of honor. Here were the " chief seats," 
for which Pharisees and scribes strove so 
eagerly, Matt. 23 : 6, and to which the 
| wealthy and honored worshipper was in- 
: vited. James 2 : 2, 3. Here too, in front 
! of the ark, still reproducing the type of 
j the tabernacle, was the eight-branched 
lamp, lighted only on the greater fes- 
| rivals. Besides this there was one lamp 
! kept burning perpetually. More toward 
\ the middle of the building was a raised 
i platform, on which several persons could 
! stand at once, and in the middle of this 
! rose a pulpit, in which the reader stood 
j to read the lesson or sat down to teach, 
j The congregation were divided, men on 
I one side, women on the other, a low par- 
j tition, five or six feet high, running be- 
: tween them. The arrangements of mod- 
| em synagogues, for many centuries, have 
; made the separation more complete by 
j placing the women in low side-galleries, 
! screened off by lattice- work. 

3. Officer.— Jn smaller towns there was 
j often but one rabbi. Where a fuller or- 
ganization was possible, there was a col- 

j lege of elders, Luke 7 : 3, presided over 
bv one who was " the chief of the syna- 

| gogue." Luke 8 : 41, 49 ; 13:14; Acts 18: 
8, 17. The most prominent functionary 
in a large synagogue was known as the 
sheliach {=legatus), the officiating min- 
ister who acted as the delegate of the 
congregation, and was therefore the chief 
reader of prayers, etc., in their name. 
The chazzdn or " minister " of the syna- 

j gogue, Luke 4 : 20, had duties of a lower 
kind, resembling those of the Christian 
deacon or sub-deacon. He was to open 
the doors and to prepare the building for 
service. Besides these there were ten 
men attached to every synagogue, known 
as the batlanim (=otiosi). They were 
supposed to be men of leisure, not obliged 
to labor for their livelihood, able there- 
fore to attend the week-day as well as the 
Sabbath services. The legatus of the 

! synagogues appears in the angel, Rev. 1 : 
20 ; 2:1, perhaps also in the apostle of 
the Christian Church. 

4. Worship. — It will be enough, in this 
place, to notice in what way the ritual, 

j no less than the organization, was con- 
| nected with the facts of the New Testa- 
ment history, and with the life and order 
of the Christian Church. From the syn- 
agogue came the use of fixed forms of 
prayer. To that the first disciples had 
been accustomed from their youth. They 
; had asked their Master to give them a 

657 



SYN 



SYN 



distinctive one, and he had complied The writings of the prophets were read 
with their request, Luke 11 : 1, as the • as second lessons in a corresponding or- 
Eaptist had done before for his disciples, i der. They were followed by the derash, 
as every rabbi did for his. " Moses " was I Acts 13 : 15, the exposition, the sermon of 
' read in the synagogues every Sabbath j the synagogue. The conformity extends 
day " Acts 15 : 21, the whole law being also to the times of prayer. In the hours 
read consecutively, so as to be completed, of service this was obviously the case, 
according to one cycle, in three years. I The third, sixth and ninth hours were in 





Kuined Synagogue at Merion.— Site of Capernaum. (From a Photograph.) 



the times of the New Testament, Acts 3 : 
1 ; 10 : 3, 9, and had been probably for 
some time before, Ps. 55 : 17 ; Dan. 6 : 10, 
the fixed times of devotion. The same 
hours, it is well known, were recognized 
in the Church of the second century, 
probably in that of the first also. The 
solemn days of the synagogue were the 
second, the fifth and the seventh, the 
last or Sabbath being the conclusion of 
the whole. The transfer of the sanctity 
of the Sabbath to the Lord's day involved 
658 



I a corresponding change in the order of 
the week, and the first, the fourth and 
j the sixth became to the Christian society 
I what the other days had been to the Jew- 
ish. From the synagogue, lastly, come 
many less conspicuous practices, which 
meet us in the liturgical life of the first 
three centuries: Ablution, entire or par- 
tial, before entering the place of meeting, 
John 13:1-15; Heb. 10:22; standing, 
and not kneeling, as the attitude of prayer, 
Luke 18: 11; the arms stretched out; the 



f 




Ruins of a Jewish Synagogue. 



659 



SYN 



SYR 



face turned toward the Kibleh of the east ; 
the responsive amen of the congregation 
to the prayers and benedictions of the 
elders. 1 Cor. 14 : 16. 

5. Judicial functions. — The language 
of the New Testament shows that the 
officers of the synagogue exercised in cer- 
tain cases a judicial power. It is not 
quite so easy, however, to define the na- 
ture of the tribunal and the precise limits 
of its jurisdiction. In two of the passages 
referred to— Matt. 10 : 17 ; Mark 13 : 9— 
they are carefully distinguished from the 
councils. It seems probable that the 
council was the larger tribunal of twenty- 
three, which sat in every city, and that 
under the term synagogue we are to un- 
derstand a smaller court, probably that 
of the ten judges mentioned in the Tal- 
mud. Here also we trace the outline of 
a Christian institution. The Church, 
either by itself or by appointed delegates, 
was to act as a court of arbitration in all 
disputes among its members. The elders 
of the church were not, however, to de- 
scend to the trivial disputes of daily life. 
For the elders, as for those of the syna- 
gogue, were reserved the graver offences 
against religion and morals. 

Synagogue, The Great. On the 
return of the Jews from Babylon, a great 
council was appointed, according to rab- 
binic tradition, to reorganize the religious 
life of the people. It consisted of 120 
members, and these were known as the 
men of the Great Synagogue, the suc- 
cessors of the prophets, themselves, in 
their turn, succeeded by scribes promi- 
nent, individually, as teachers. Ezra 
was recognized as president. Their aim 
was to restore again the crown, or glory, 
of Israel. To this end they collected all 
the sacred writings of the former ages and 
their own, and so completed the canon 
of the Old Testament. They instituted 
the feast of Purim, organized the ritual 
of the synagogue, and gave their sanc- 
tion to the Skemoneh Esreh, the eighteen 
solemn benedictions in it. Much of this 
is evidently uncertain. The absence of 
any historical mention of such a body, 
not only in the Old Testament and the 
Apocrypha, but in Josephus, Philo, etc., 
has led some critics to reject the whole 
statement as a rabbinic invention. The 
narrative of Neh. 8:13 clearly implies 
the existence of a body of men acting 
as councillors under the presidency of 
Ezra; and these may have been an as- 
sembly of delegates from all provin- 
660 



cial synagogues— a synod of the national 
Church. 

Syn'tyche {with fate), a female mem- 
ber of the church of Philippi. Philip. 4 : 
2, 3. (A.D. 57). 

Syr'acuse, the celebrated city on the 
eastern coast of Sicily. " The city in its 
splendor was the largest and richest that 
the Greeks possessed in any part of the 
world, being 22 miles in circumference." 
St. Paul arrived thither in an Alexan- 
drian ship from Melita, on his voyage to 
Rome. Acts 28 : 12. The site of Syracuse 
rendered it a convenient place for the 
African corn-ships to touch at, for the 
harbor was an excellent one, and the 
fountain Arethusa in the island furnished 
an unfailing supply of excellent water. 

Syr'ia is the term used throughout our 
version for the Hebrew Aram, as well as 
for the Greek 1vp\a.. Most probably Syria 
is for Tsyria, the country about Tsur or 
Tyre, which was the first of the Syrian 
towns known to the Greeks. It is diffi- 
cult to fix the limits of Syria. The limits 
of the Hebrew Aram and its subdivis- 
ions are spoken of under Aram. Syria 
proper was bounded by Amanus and 
Taurus on the north, by the Euphrates 
and the Arabian desert on the east, by 
Palestine on the south, by the Mediter- 
ranean near the mouth of the Orontes, 
and then by Phoenicia on the west. This 
tract is about 300 miles long from north 
to south, and from 50 to 150 miles broad. 
It contains an area of about 30,000 square 
miles. 

General physical features. — The gen- 
eral character of the tract is mountain- 
ous, as the Hebrew name Aram (from a 
root signifying "height") sufficiently 
implies. The most fertile and valuable 
tract of Syria is the long valley interven- 
ing between Libanus and Anti-Libanus. 
Of the various mountain ranges of Syria, 
Lebanon possesses the greatest interest. 
It extends from the mouth of the Litany 
to Arka, a distance of nearly 100 miles. 
Anti-Libanus, as the name implies, stands 
over against Lebanon, running in the 
same direction, i. e. nearly north and 
south, and extending the same length. 
[Lebanon.] The principal rivers of 
Syria are the Litany and the Orontes. 
The Litany springs from a small lake 
situated in the middle of the Ccele-Syrian 
valley, about six miles to the southwest 
of Baalbek. It enters the sea about five 
miles north of Tyre. The source of the 
Orontes is but about 15 miles from that 



SYE 



SYR 



of the Litany. Its modern name is the 
Nahr-el-Asi, or "rebel stream," an ap- 
pellation given to it on account of its 
violence and impetuosity in many parts 
of its course. The chief towns of Syria 
may be thus arranged, as nearly as pos- 
sible in the order of their importance : 
1, Antioch ; 2, Damascus ; 3, Apamea ; 4, 
Seleucia; 5, Tadmor or Palmyra; 6, La- 
odicea; 7, Epiphania (Hamath) ; 8, Sa- 
mosata; 9, Hierapolis (Mabug) ; 10, Cha- 
lybou; 11, Emesa; 12, Heliopolis; 13, 
Laodicea ad Libanum ; 14, Cyrrhus ; 
15, Chalcis; 16, Poseideum ; 17, Hera- 
clea; 18, Gindarus; 19, Zeugma; 20, 
Thapsacus. Of these, Samosata, Zeugma 
and Thapsacus are on the Euphrates; 
Seleucia, Laodicea, Poseideum and Her- 
aclea, on the seashore; Antioch, Apa- 
mea, Epiphania and Emesa (Hems), on 
the Orontes; Heliopolis and Laodicea 
ad Libanum, in Coele-Syria; Hierapo- 
lis, Chalybon, Cyrrhus, Chalcis and Gin- 
darus, in the northern highlands ; Da- 
mascus on the skirts, and Palmyra in the 
centre, of the eastern desert. 

History. — The first occupants of Syria 
appear to have been of Hamitic descent — 
Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, etc. After 
a while the first comers, who were still to 
a great extent nomads, received a Semitic 
infusion, which most probably came to 
them from the southeast. The only Syr- 
ian town whose existence we find dis- 
tinctly marked at this time is Damascus, 
Gen. 14 : 15 ; 15 : 2, which appears to have 
been already a place of some importance. 
Next to Damascus must be placed Ha- 
math. Num. 13 : 21 ; 34 : 8. Syria at this 
time, and for many centuries afterward, 
seems to have been broken up among a 
number of petty kingdoms. The Jews 
first come into hostile contact with the 
Syrians, under that name, in the time of 
David. Gen. 15 : 18 ; 2 Sam. 8 : 3, 4, 13. 
When, a few years later, the Ammonites 
determined on engaging in a war with 
David, and applied to the Syrians for 
aid, Zobah, together with Beth-rehob, 
sent them 20,000 footmen, and tw r o other 
Syrian kingdoms furnished 13,000. 2 Sam. 
10:6. This army being completely de- 
feated by Joab, Hadadezer obtained aid 
from Mesopotamia, ibid. ver. 16, and tried 
the chance of a third battle, which like- 
wise went against him, and produced the 
general submission of Syria to the Jewish 
monarch. The submission thus begun 
continued under the reign of Solomon. 
1 Kings 4 : 21. The only part of Syria 



which Solomon lost seems to have been 
Damascus, where an independent king- 
dom was set up by Rezon, a native of 
Zobah. 1 Kings 11 : 23-25. On the sep- 
aration of the two kingdoms, soon after 
the accession of Rehoboam, the remainder 
of Syria no doubt shook off the yoke. 
Damascus now became decidedly the 
leading state, Hamath being second to it, 
and the northern Hittites, whose capital 
was Carchemish, near Bambuk, third. 
[Damascus.] Syria became attached to 
the great Assyrian empire, from which 
it passed to the Babylonians, and from 
them to the Persians. In B.C. 333 it sub- 
mitted to Alexander without a struggle. 
Upon the death of Alexander, Syria be- 
came, for the first time, the head of a 
great kingdom. On the division of the 
provinces among his generals, B.C. 321, 
Seleucus Nicator received Mesopotamia 
and Syria. The city of Antioch was be- 
gun in B.C. 300, and, being finished in a 
few years, was made the capital of Se- 
leucus' kingdom. The country grew rich 
with the wealth which now flowed into it 
on all sides. 

Syria was added to the Roman empire 
by Pompey, B.C. 64, and as it holds an 
important place, not only in the Old Tes- 
tament but in the New, some account of 
its condition under the Romans must be 
given. While the country generally was 
formed into a Roman province, under 
governors who were at first propraetors 
or quaestors, then proconsuls, and finally 
legates, there were exempted from the 
direct rule of the governor, in the first 
place, a number of " free cities," which 
retained the administration of their own 
affairs, subject to a tribute levied accord- 
ing to the Roman principles of taxation ; 
secondly, a number of tracts, which were 
assigned to petty princes, commonly na- 
tives, to be ruled at their pleasure, sub- 
ject to the same obligations with the free 
cities as to taxation. After the formal 
division of the provinces between Augus- 
tus and the senate, Syria, being from its 
exposed situation among the provincial 
principis, was ruled by legates, who were 
of consular rank (consulares) and bore 
severally the full title of " Legatus Au- 
gusti pro prsetore." Judea occupied a 
peculiar position ; a special procurator 
was therefore appointed to rule it, who 
was subordinate to the governor of Syria, 
but within his own province had the 
power of a legatus. Syria continued 
without serious disturbance from the 
661 



SYR 



SYR 



expulsion of the Parthians, B.C. 38, to the 
breaking out of the Jewish war, a.d. 66. 
In A.D. 44-47 it was the scene of a severe 
famine. A little earlier, Christianity had 
begun to spread into it, partly by means 
of those who " were scattered " at the 
time of Stephen's persecution, Acts 11 : 
19, partly by the exertions of St. Paul. 
Gal. 1 : 21. The Syrian Church soon 
grew to be one of the most flourishing. 
Acts 13 : 1 ; 15 : 23, 35, 41, etc. (Syria 
remained under Roman and Byzantine 
rule till a.d. 634, when it was overrun by 
the Mohammedans; after which it was | 
for many years the scene of fierce con- 
tests, and was finally subjugated by the 
Turks, a.d. 1517, under whose rule it 
still remains. — Ed.) 

Sy'ro-phoeni'cian occurs only in 



Mark 7 : 26. The word denoted perhaps 
a mixed race, half Phoenicians and half 
Syrians ; (or the Phoenicians in this re- 
gion may have been called Syro-phoeni- 
cians because they belonged to the Ro- 
man province of Syria, and were thus 
distinguished from the Phoenicians who 
lived in Africa, or the Carthaginians.— 
Ed.) 

Syr'tis, The, Acts 27 : 17 ; in the Re- 
vised Version in place of "quicksands " 
in the Authorized Version. It was the 
well-known Syrtis Major, the terror of 
] all Mediterranean sailors. " It is a dan- 
gerous shallow on the coast of Africa, be- 
tween Tripoli and Barca, southwest of 
the island of Crete." The other Syrtis, 
Syrtis Minor, was too far west to be feared 
by Paul's fellow voyagers. — Ed. 



662 



TAA 



TAB 



T. 



Ta'anach {sandy), an ancient Cana- 
anitish city whose king is enumerated 
among the thirty-one kings conquered by 
Joshua. Josh. 12 : 21. It came into the 
half tribe of Manasseh, Josh. 17 : 11 ; 
21 : 25 ; 1 Chron. 7 : 29, and was bestowed 
on the Kohathite Levites. Josh. 21:25. 
Taanach is almost always named in com- 
pany with Megiddo, and they were evi- 
dently the chief towns of that fine rich 
district which forms the western portion 
of the great plain of p]sdraelon. 1 Kings 
4 : 12. It is still called Ta'annuk, and 
stands about four miles southeast of Lej- 
jun and 13 miles southwest of Nazareth. 

Ta'anath-shi'loh (approach to Shi- 
loh), a place named once only — Josh 16 : 
6— as one of the landmarks of" the bound- 
ary of Ephraim. Perhaps Taanath was 
the ancient Canaanite name of the place, 
and Shiloh the Hebrew name. 

Tab'baoth (rings). The children of 
Tabbaoth were a family of Nethinim who 
returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:43; 
Neh. 7 : 46. (B.C. before 536.) 

Tab'bath (celebrated), a place men- 
tioned only in Judges 7 : 22, in describing 
the flight of the Midianite host after 
Gideon's night attack ; (probably the 
present Tabukhat-Fahil, a very striking 
natural bank 600 feet high, with a long 
horizontal top, embanked against the 
western face of the mountains east of the 
Jordan, and descending with a steep front 
to the river. — Robiyison, Bib. Res.) 

Tabe'al (God is good). The son of 
Tabeal was apparently an Ephraim ite in 
the army of Pekah the son of Remaliah, 
or a Syrian in the army of Rezin, when 
they went up to besiege Jerusalem in the 
reign of Ahaz. Isa. 7 : 6. The Aramaic 
form of the name favors the latter sup- 
position. (B.C. before 738.) 

Ta'be-el (God is good), an officer of 
the Persian government in Samaria in 
the reign of Artaxerxes. Ezra 4:7. His 
name appears to indicate that he was a 
Syrian. (B.C. 519.) 

Tab'erah, the name of a place in the 
wilderness of Paran. Num. 11 : 3 ; Deut. 
9 : 22. It has not been identified. 

Tabering, an obsolete English word 
used in the Authorized Version of Na- 
hum 2 : 7. The Hebrew word connects 



J itself with toph, "a timbrel." The Au- 
I thorized Version reproduces the original 
j idea. The "tabour" or "tabor" was a 
musical instrument of the drum type, 
which with the pipe formed the band of 
a country village. To " tabour," ac- 
cordingly, is to beat with loud strokes, as 
men beat upon such an instrument. 

Tabernacle. The tabernacle was 
the tent of Jehovah, called by the same 
| name as the tents of the people in the 
| midst of which it stood. It was also 
j called the sanctuary and the tabernacle 
\ of the congregation. The first ordinances 
J given to Moses, after the proclamation 
of the outline of the law from Sinai, re- 
| lated to the ordering of the tabernacle, 
i its furniture and its service, as the type 
! which was to be followed when the peo- 
ple came to their own home and " found 
I a place " for the abode .of God. During 
' the forty days of Moses' first retirement 
with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the 
whole was shown him, and all was made 
according to it. Ex. 25 : 9, 40 ; 26 : 30 ; 39 : 
32, 42, 43"; Num. 8:4; Acts 7 : 44; Heb. 
8 : 5. The description of this plan is 
preceded by an account of the freewill 
offerings which the children of Israel 
were to be asked to make for its execu- 
tion. 

1. The Tabernacle itself. — 1. Its 
name. — It was first called a tent or dwell- 
ing, Ex. 25 : 8, because Jehovah, as it 
were, abode there. It was often called 
tent or tabernacle from its external ap- 
pearance. 

2. Its materials. — The materials were 
— (a) Metals : gold, silver and brass, (b) 
Textile fabrics : blue, purple, scarlet and 
fine (white) linen, for the production of 
which Egypt was celebrated ; also a fabric 
of goat's hair, the produce of their own 
flocks, (c) Skins : of the ram, dyed red, 
and of the badger, (d) Wood: the shit- 
tim wood, the timber of the wild acacia 
of the desert itself, the tree of the " burn- 
ing bush." (e) Oil, spices and incense 
for anointing the priests and burning in 
the tabernacle. (/) Gems: onyx stones 
and the precious stones for the breast- 
plate of the high priest. The people 
gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver 
and brass; wood, skins, hair and linen; 

663 



TAB 



TAB 



the women wove ; the rulers offered pre- 
cious stones, oil, spices and incense ; and 
the artists soon had more than they 
needed. Ex. 25 : 1-8; 35 : 4-29; 36 : 5-7. 
The superintendence of the work was 
intrusted to Bezaleel, of the tribe of Ju- 
dah, and to Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, 
who were skilled in " all manner of work- 
manship." Ex. 31 : 2, 6 ; 35 : 30, 34. 

3. Its structure. — The tabernacle was 
to comprise three main parts, — the taber- 
nacle more strictly so called, its tent and 



its covering. Ex. 35 : 11 ; 39 : 33, 34 ; 40 : 
19, 34 ; Num. 3 : 25, etc. These parts are 
very clearly distinguished in the Hebrew, 
but they are confounded in many places 
of the English version. The tabernacle 
itself was to consist of -curtains of fine 
linen woven with colored figures of cher- 
ubim, and a structure of boards which 
was to contain the holy place and the 
most holy place ; the tent was to be a 
true tent of goat's-hair cloth, to contain 
and shelter the tabernacle ; the covering 




Southeast View of the Tabernacle covered by its Tent. 



was to be of red rara-skins and seal-skins, 
Ex. 25 : 5, and was spread over the goat's- 
hair tent as an additional protection 
against the weather. It was an oblong 
rectangular structure, 30 cubits in length 
by 10 in width (45 feet by 15), and 10 in 
height ; the interior being divided into 
two chambers, the first or outer, of 20 
cubits in length, the inner, of 10 cubits, 
and consequently an exact cube. The 
former was the holy place, or first taber- 
nacle, Heb. 9 : 2, containing the golden 
candlestick on one side, the table of 
shew-bread opposite, and between them 
iu the centre the altar of incense. The 
latter was the most holy place, or the holy 
of holies, containing the ark, surmounted 
by the cherubim, with the two tables in- 
side. The two sides and the farther or 
west end were enclosed by boards of shit- 
tim wood overlaid with gold, twenty on 
the north and twenty on the south side, 
664 



six on the west side, and the corner- 
boards doubled. They stood upright, 
edge to edge, their lower ends being made 
with tenons, which dropped into sockets 
of silver, and the corner-boards being 
coupled at the top with rings. They 
were furnished with golden rings, through 
j which passed bars of shittim wood, over- 
laid with gold, five to each side, and the 
middle bar passing from end to end, so* as 
to brace the whole together. Four suc- 
cessive coverings of curtains looped to- 
gether were placed over the open top and 
fell down over the sides. The first or in- 
most was a splendid fabric of linen, em- 
broidered with figures of cherubim in 
i blue, purple and scarlet, and looped to- 
I gether by golden fastenings. It seems 
probable that the ends of this set of cur- 
i tains hung down within the tabernacle, 
! forming a .sumptuous tapestry. The sec- 
| ond was a covering of goat's hair; the 



TAB 



TAB 



third, of ram-skins dyed red; and the 
outermost, of badger-skins (so called in 
our version ; but the Hebrew word prob- 
ably signifies seal-skins). It has been 
commonly supposed that these coverings 
were thrown over the wall, as a pall is 
thrown over a coflin ; but this would 
have allowed every drop of rain that fell 
on the tabernacle to fall through ; for, 
however tightly the curtains might be 
stretched, the water could never run over 
the edge, and the sheep-skins would only 
make the matter worse, as when wetted 
their weight would depress the centre, 
and probably tear any curtain that could 
be made. There can be no reasonable 
doubt that the tent had a ridge, as all 
tents have had from the days of Moses 
down to the present time. The front of 
the sanctuary was closed by a hanging 
of fine linen, embroidered in blue, pur- 
ple and scarlet, and supported by golden 
hooks on five pillars of shittim wood 
overlaid with gold and standing in brass 
sockets; and the covering of goat's hair 
was so made as to fall down over this 
when required. A more sumptuous cur- 
tain of the same kind, embroidered with 
cherubim, hung on four such pillars, 
with silver sockets, divided the holy from 
the most holy place. It was called the 
veil, 1 as it hid from the eyes of all but 
the high priest the inmost sanctuary, 
where Jehovah dwelt on his mercy-seat, 
between the cherubim above the ark. 
Hence " to enter within the veil " is to 
have the closest access to God. It was 
only passed by the high priest once a 
year, on the Day of Atonement, in token 
of the mediation of Christ, who with his 
own blood hath entered for us within the 
veil which separates God's own abode 
from earth. Heb. 6' : 19. In the temple, 
the solemn barrier was at length profaned 
by a Roman conqueror, to warn the Jews 
that the privileges they had forfeited 
were " ready to vanish away;" and the 
veil was at last rent by the hand of God 
himself, at the same moment that the 
body of Christ was rent upon the cross, 
to indicate that the entrance into the holi- 
est of all is now laid open to all believers 
" by the blood of Jesus, by a new and 
living way which he hath consecrated for 
us, through the veil, that is to say, his 
flesh." Heb. 10 : 19, 20. The holy place 



i Sometimes the second veil, either in reference 
t o the fi r st , at th e e n tr an ce o f t h e h oly pi a c e, or a s 
being the veil of the second sanct uary. Heb. 9 : 3. 
666 



was only entered by the priests daily, to 
offer incense at the time of morning and 
evening prayer, and to renew the lights 
on the golden candlesticks; and on the 
Sabbath, to remove the old shew-bread, 
and to place the new upon the table. 

II. The Sacred Furniture and 
Instruments of the Tabernacle.— 
These are described in separate articles, 
and therefore it is only necessary to give 
a list of them here. 1. In the outer 
court. The altar of burnt offering and 
the brazen laver. [Altar; Laver.] 
2. In the holy place. The furniture of 
the court was connected with sacrifice ; 
that of the sanctuary itself with the 
deeper mysteries of mediation and access 
to God. The first sanctuary contained 
three objects : the altar of incense in the 
centre, so as to be directly in front of the 
ark of the covenant, 1 Kings 6 : 22, the 
table of shew-bread on its right or north 
side, and the golden candlestick on the 
left or south side. These objects were 
all considered as being placed before the 
presence of Jehovah, who dwelt in the 
holiest of all, though with the veil be- 
tween. [Altar; Shew-bread; Can- 
dlestick.] 3. In the holy of holies, 
within the veil, and shrouded in dark- 
ness, there was but one object, the ark of 
the covenant, containing the two tables of 
stone, inscribed with the Ten Command- 
ments. [Ark.] 

III. The Court of the Taber- 
nacle, in which the tabernacle itself 
stood, was an oblong space, 100 cubits by 
50 {i. e. 150 feet by 75), having its longer 
axis east and west, with its front to 
the east. It was surrounded by canvas 
screens — in the East called kannatits — 
5 cubits «dn height, and supported by pil- 
lars of brass 5 cubits apart, to which the 
curtains were attached by hooks and fil- 
lets of silver. Ex. 27 : 9, etc. This en- 
closure was broken only on the east side 
by the entrance, which was 20 cubits 
wide, and closed by curtains of fine 
twined linen wrought with needlework, 
and of the most gorgeous colors. In the 
outer or east half of the court was placed 
the altar of burnt offering, and between 
it and' the tabernacle itself, the laver at 
which the priests washed their hands 
and feet on entering the temple. The 
tabernacle itself was placed toward the 
west end of this enclosure. 

IV. History. — " The tabernacle, as 
the place in which Jehovah dwelt, was 
pitched in the centre of the camp, Num. 



TAB 



TAB 



2 : 2, as the tent of a leader always is in 
the East ; for Jehovah was the Captain 
of Israel. Josh. 5 : 14, 15. During the 
marches of Israel, the tabernacle was 
still in the centre. Num. 2. The tribes 
camped and marched around it in the 
order of a hollow square. In certain 
great emergencies it led the march. 
Josh. 3 : 11-16. Upon the tabernacle 
abode always the cloud, dark by day and 
fiery red by night, Ex. 40 : 38, giving the 
signal for the march, Ex. 40:36, 37; 
Num. 9 : 17, and the halt. Num. 9 : 15-23. 
It was always the special meeting-place 
of Jehovah and his people. Num. 11 : 24, 
25; 12:4; 14:10; 16:19,42; 20:6; 
27 : 2 ; Deut. 31 : 14." During the con- 
quest of Canaan the tabernacle, at first 
moved from place to place, Josh. 4 : 19 ; 
8 : 30-35 ; 9:6; 10 : 15, was finally lo- 
cated atShiloh. Josh. 9 : 27 ; 18 : 1. Here 
it remained during the time of the judges, 
till it was captured by the Philistines, 
who carried off the sacred ark of the 
covenant. 1 Sam. 4 : 22. From this time 
forward the glory of the tabernacle was 
gone. When the ark was recovered, it 
was removed to Jerusalem, and placed in 
a new tabernacle, 2 Sam. 6 : 17 ; 1 Chron. 
15 : 1 ; but the old structure still had its 
hold on the veneration of the community, 
and the old altar still received their of- 
ferings. 1 Chron. 16 : 39 ; 21 : 29. It was 
not till the temple was built, and a fitting 
house thus prepared for the Lord, that 
the ancient tabernacle was allowed to 
perish and be forgotten. 

V. Significance. — (The great under- 
lying principles of true religion are the 
same in all ages and for all men; be- 
cause man's nature and needs are the 
same, and the same God ever rules over 
all. But different ages require different 
methods of teaching these truths, and 
can understand them in different degrees. 
As we are taught in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, the tabernacle was part of a 
great system of teaching by object-lessons, 
and of training the world to understand 
and receive the great truths which were 
to be revealed in Jesus Christ, and thus 
really to save the Jews from sin by Jesus 
dimly seen in the future, as we clearly 
see him in the past. (1) The tabernacle 
and its services enabled the Jews, who 
had no visible representation of God, to 
feel the reality of God and of religion. 
(2) The tabernacle, as the most beautiful 
and costly object in the nation, and ever 
in the centre of the camp, set forth the 



J truth that religion was the central fact, 
! and the most important, in a person's 
i life. (3) The pillar of cloud and of fire 
| was the best possible symbol of the living 
I God, — a cloud, bright, glowing like the 
! sunset clouds, glorious, beautiful, mys- 
! terious, self-poised, heavenly; fire, im- 
| material, the source of life and light and 
| comfort and cheer, but yet unapproach- 
able, terrible, a consuming fire to the 
wicked. (4) The altar of burnt offering, 
standing before the tabernacle, was a 
perpetual symbol of the atonement, — the 
greatness of sin, deserving death, hard to 
be removed, and yet forgiveness possible, 
and offered freely, but only through 
blood. The offerings, as brought by the 
people, were a type of consecration to 
God, of conversion and new life, through 
the atonement. (5) This altar stood out- 
side of the tabernacle, and must be passed 
j before we come to the tabernacle itself; 
a type of the true religious life. Before 
the tabernacle was also the laver, signi- 
j fying the same thing that baptism does 
| with us, the cleansing of the heart and 
| life. (6) Having entered the holy place, 
| we find the three great means and helps 
to true living, — the candlestick, the light 
of God's truth ; the shew-bread, teaching 
j that the soul must have its spiritual food, 
j and live in communion with God ; and 
I the altar of incense, the symbol of prayer. 
I The holy of holies, beyond, taught that 
J there was progress in the religious life, 
j and that that progress was toward God, 
I and toward the perfect keeping of the 
i law, till it was as natural to obey the 
law as it is to breathe ; and thus the holy 
I of holies was the type of heaven. — Ed.) 

Tabernacles, The Feast of (Ex. 
! 23 : 16, "the feast of ingathering"), the 
| third of the three great festivals of the 
I Hebrews, which lasted from the 15th till 
j the 22d of Tisri. 1. The following are 
i the principal passages in the Pentateuch 
which refer to it: Ex. 23 : 16 ; Lev. 23 : 
| 34-36, 39-43 ; Num. 29 : 12-38 ; Deut. 16 : 
: 13-15 ; 31 : 10-13. In Neh. 8 there is an 
account of the observance of the feast by 
Ezra. 2. The time of the festival fell in 
j the autumn, when the whole of the chief 
I fruits of the ground, the corn, the wine 
: and the oil, were gathered in. Ex. 23 : 16 ; 
I Lev. 23 : 39 ; Deut. 15 : 13-15. Its duration 
! was strictly only seven days, Deut. 16 : 13 ; 
I Ezek. 45 : 25 ; but it was followed by a day 
I of holy convocation, distinguished by sac- 
j rifices of its own, which was sometimes 
i spoken of as an eighth day. Lev. 23 : 36 ; 

667 



TAB 



TAB 



Neh. 8 : 18. During the seven days the 
Israelites were commanded to dwell in 
booths or huts formed of the boughs of 
trees. The boughs were of the olive, 
palm, pine, myrtle and other trees with 
thick foliage. Neh. 8 : 15, 16. According 
to rabbinical tradition, each Israelite used 
to tie the branches into a bunch, to be 
carried in his hand, to which the name 
luldb was given. The burnt offerings of 
the Feast of Tabernacles were by far 
more numerous than those of any other 
festival. There were offered on each day 
two rams, fourteen lambs and a kid for a 
sin offering. But what was most peculiar 
was the arrangement of the sacrifices of 
bullocks, in all amounting to seventy. 
Num. 29 : 12-38. The eighth day was a 
day of holy convocation of peculiar so- 
lemnity. On the morning of this day the 
Hebrews left their huts and dismantled 
them, and took up their abode again in 
their houses. The special offerings of the 
day were a bullock, a ram, seven lambs 
and a goat for a sin offering. Num. 29 : 
36, 38. When the Feast of Tabernacles 
fell on a sabbatical year, portions of the 
law were read each day in public, to men, 
women, children and strangers. Deut. 31 : 
10-13. We find Ezra reading the law 
during the festival " day by day, from the 
first day to the last day." Neh. 8 : 18. 3. 
There are two particulars in the observ- 
ance of the Feast of Tabernacles which 
appear to be referred to in the New Tes- 
tament, but are not noticed in the Old. 
These were the ceremony of pouring out 
some water of the pool of Siloam and the 
display of some great lights in the court 
of the women. We are told that each 
Israelite, in holiday attire, having made 
up his luldb, before he broke his fast re- 
paired to the temple with the luldb in one 
hand and the citron in the other, at the 
time of the ordinary morning sacrifice. 
The parts of the victim were laid upon 
the altar. One of the priests fetched 
some water in a golden ewer from the 
pool of Siloam, which he brought into 
the court through the water-gate. As he 
entered the trumpets sounded, and he as- 
cended the slope of the altar. At the top 
of this were fixed two silver basins with 
small openings at the bottom. Wine was 
poured into that on the eastern side, and 
the water into that on the western side, 
whence it was conducted by pipes into 
the Cedron. In the evening, both men 
and women assembled in the court of the 
women, expressly to hold a rejoicing for 
668 



the drawing of the water of Siloam. At 
the same time there were set up in the 
court two lofty stands, each supporting 
four great lamps. These were lighted on 
each night of the festival. It appears to 
be generally admitted that the words of 
our Saviour, John 7:37, 38 — "If any 
man thirst, let him come unto me and 
drink. He that believeth on me, as the 
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall 
flow rivers of living water " — were sug- 
gested by the pourmg out of the water of 
Siloam. But it is very doubtful what is 
meant by " the last day, that great day 
of the feast." It would seem that either 
the last day of the feast itself, that is, the 
seventh, or the last day of the religious 
observances of the series of annual festi- 
vals, the eighth, must be intended. The 
eighth day may be meant, and then the 
reference of our Lord would be to an or- 
dinary and well-known observance of 
the feast, though it was not, at the very 
time, going on. We must resort to some 
such explanation if we adopt the notion 
that our Lord's words, John 8 : 12 — " I 
am the light of the world " — refer to the 
great lamps of the festival. 4. Though 
all the Hebrew annual festivals were sea- 
sons of rejoicing, the Feast of Tabernacles 
was, in this respect, distinguished above 
them all. The huts and the luldbs must 
have made a gay and striking spectacle 
over the city by day, and the lamps, the 
flambeaux, the music and the joyous 
gatherings in the court of the temple 
must have given a still more festive char- 
acter to the night. The main purposes 
of the Feast of Tabernacles are plainly 
set forth in Ex. 23 : 16 and Lev. 23 : 43. 
It was to be at once a thanksgiving for 
the harvest and a commemoration of the 
time when the Israelites dwelt in tents 
during their passage through the wilder- 
ness. In one of its meanings it stands 
in connection with the Passover, as the 
Feast of Abib, and with Pentecost, as the 
feast of harvest; in its other meaning, it 
is related to the Passover as the great 
yearly memorial of the deliverance from 
the destroyer and from the tyranny of 
Egypt. But naturally connected with 
this exultation in their regained freedom 
was the rejoicing in the more perfect ful- 
fillment of God's promise in the settle- 
ment of his people in the holy land. But 
the culminating point of this blessing 
was the establishment of the central spot 
of the national worship in the temple at 
Jerusalem. Hence it was evidently fit- 



TAB 



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ting that the Feast of Tabernacles should 
be kept with an unwonted degree of ob- 
servance at the dedication of Solomon's 
temple, 1 Kings 8:2, 65 ; Joseph. Ant. 
viii. 4, § 5 ; again, after the rebuilding of 
the temple by Ezra, Neh. 8 : 13-18, and a 
third time by Judas Maccabaeus when he 
had driven out the Syrians and restored 
the temple to the worship of Jehovah. 2 
Mace. 10 : 5-8. 

Tab'itha (gazelle), also called Dorcas 
by St. Luke, a female disciple of Joppa, 
" full of good works," among which that 
of making clothes for the poor is specific- 
ally mentioned. While St. Peter was at 
the neighboring town of Lydda, Tabitha 
died ; upon which the disciples at Joppa 
sent an urgent message to the apostle 
begging him to come to them without de- 
lay. Upon his arrival Peter found the 
deceased already prepared for burial, and 
laid out in an upper chamber, where she 
was surrounded by the recipients and the 
tokens of her charity. After the example 
of our Saviour in the house of Jairus, 
Matt. 9 : 25 ; Mark 5 : 40, " Peter put them 
all forth," prayed for the divine assist- 
ance, and then commanded Tabitha to 
arise. Comp. Mark 5 : 41 ; Luke 8 : 54. 
She opened her eyes and sat up, and then, 
assisted by the apostle, rose from her 
couch. This great miracle, as we are 
further told, produced an extraordinary 
effect in Joppa, and was the occasion of 
many conversions there. Acts 9 : 36-42. 
The name " Tabitha " is an Aramaic 
word, signifying a " female gazelle." St.* 
Luke gives " Dorcas " as the Greek equiv- 
alent of the name. 

Ta'bor (a mound), or 3Iount Ta'- 
bor, one of the most interesting and re- 
markable of the single mountains in 
Palestine. It rises abruptly from the 
northeastern arm of the plain of Esdrae- 
lon, and stands entirely insulated, except 
on the west, where a narrow ridge con- 
nects it with the hills of Nazareth. It 
presents to the eye, as seen from a dis- 
tance, a beautiful appearance, bein? sym- 
metrical in its proportions, and rounded 
off like a hemisphere or the segment of a 
circle, yet varying somewhat as viewed 
from different directions. The body of 
the mountain consists of the peculiar 
limestone of the country. It is now called 
Jebel-et-Tdr. It lies about six or eight 
miles almost due east from Nazareth. 
The ascent is usually made on the west 
side, near the little village of Deburieh — 
probably the ancient Daberath, Josh. 19 : 



12 — though it can be made with entire 
ease in other places. It requires three 
quarters of an hour or an hour to reach 
the top. The top of Tabor consists of an 
irregular platform, embracing a circuit 
of half an hour's walk, and commanding 
wide views of the subjacent plain from 
end to end. Tabor does not occur in the 
New Testament, but makes a prominent 
figure in the Old. The book of Joshua, 
19 : 22, mentions it as the boundary be- 
tween Issachar and Zebulun. See ver. 12. 
Barak, at the command of Deborah, as- 
sembled his forces on Tabor, and descend- 
ed thence, with " ten thousand men after 
him," into the plain, and conquered 
Sisera on the banks of the Kishon. J udges 
4 : 6-15. The brothers of Gideon, each of 
whom " resembled the children of a 
king," were murdered here by Zebah and 
Zalmunna. Judges 8 : 18, 19. There are 
at present the ruins of a fortress round 
all the summit of Tabor. The Latin 
Christians have now an altar here, at 
which their priests from Nazareth per- 
form an annual mass. The Greeks also 
have a chapel, where, on certain festivals, 
they assemble for the celebration of re- 
ligious rites. The idea that our Saviour 
was transfigured on Tabor prevailed ex- 
tensively among the early Christians, 
and still reappears often in popular re- 
ligious works. It is impossible, however, 
to acquiesce in the correctness of this 
opinion. It can be proved from the Old 
Testament and from later history that a 
fortress or town existed on Tabor from 
very early times down to B.C. 53 or 50 ; 
and, as Josephus says that he strength- 
ened the fortifications there about A.D. 
60, it is morally certain that Tabor must 
have been inhabited during the inter- 
vening period, that is, in the days of 
Christ. Tabor, therefore, could not have 
been the Mount of Transfiguration [see 
HermoxI ; for when it is said that Jesus 
took his disciples " up into a high mount- 
ain apart, and was transfigured before 
them," Matt. 17 : 1, 2, we must under- 
stand that he brought them to the sum- 
mit of the mountain, where they were 
alone by themselves. 

Ta'bor is mentioned in the lists of 
1 Chron. 6 as a city of the Merarite Le- 
vites, in the tribe of Zebulun. ver. 77. 
The list of the towns of Zebulun, Josh. 
19, contains the name of Chisloth tabor, 
ver. 12. It is, therefore, possible, either 
that Chisloth-tabor is abbreviated into 
Tabor by the chronicler, or that by the 
669 



TAB 



TAG 



! 



time these later lists were compiled the 
Merarites had established themselves on 
the sacred mountain, and that Tabor is 
Mount Tabor. 

Ta'bor, The plain of. This is an 
incorrect translation, and should be the 
oak OF Tabor. It is mentioned in 



1 Sam. 10 : 3 only, as one of the points in 
the homeward journey of Saul after his 
anointing by Samuel. 

Tabret. [Timbrel.] 

Tab'rimon (properly Tabrimmon, 
i. e. good is Rimmon, the Syrian god), 
the father of Ben-hadad I., king of Syria 





Mount Tabor. 

of the finest in the holy land. 



in the reign of Asa.- 1 Kings 15 : 18. 
(B.C. before 928.) 

Tache. The word thus rendered oc- 
curs only in the description of the struc- 
ture of the tabernacle and its fittings, 
Ex. 26:6,11,33; 35:11; 36:13; 39:33, 
and appears to indicate the small hooks 
by which a curtain is suspended to the 
rings from which it hangs, or connected 
vertically, as in the case of the veil of the 
670 



holy of holies, with the loops of another 
curtain. , 

Tach'monite, The. "The Tach- 
monite that sat in the seat," chief among 
David's captains, 2 Sam. 23 : 8, is in 
1 Chron. 11 : 11 called " Jashobeam an 
Hachmonite," or, as the margin gives 
it, "son of Hachmoni." Kennicott has 
shown that the words translated "he 
that sat in the seat "are a corruption of 



TAD 



TAH 



Jashobeam, and that "the Tachmonite " 
is a corruption of the ''son of Haeh- 
moni, ,J which was the family or local 
name of Jashobeam. Therefore he con- 
cludes " Jashobeam the Hachmonite" to 
have been the true reading. 

Tad'raor {city of palms), called " Tad- 
mor in the wilderness/' is the same as 
the city known to the Greeks and Ro- 
mans under the name of Palmyra. It j 
lay between the Euphrates and Hamath, j 
to the southeast of that city, in a fertile [ 
tract or oasis of the desert. Being situ- ! 



ated at a convenient distance from both 
the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian 
Gulf, it had great advantages for caravan 
traffic. It was built by Solomon after 
his conquest of Hamath-zobah. 1 Kings 
9 : 18 ; 2 Chron. 8:4. As the city is no- 
where else mentioned in the Bible, it 
would be out of place to enter into a de- 
tailed history of it. In the second cen- 
tury a.d. it seems to have been beauti- 
fied by the emperor Hadrian. In the be- 
ginning ot the third century— 211-217 
a.d. — it became a Roman colony under 




Ruins at Tadmor (Palmyra). 



Caracalla. Subsequently, in the reign of 
Gallienus, the Roman senate invested 
Odenataus, a senator of Palmyra, with 
the regal dignity, on account of his serv- 
ices in defeating Sapor, king of Persia. 
On the assassination of Odenathus, his 
wife, Zenobia, seems to have conceived 
the design of erecting Palmyra into an 
independent monarchy; and in prosecu- 
tion of this object, she for a while suc- 
cessfully resisted the Roman arms. She I 
was at length defeated and taken captive I 
by the emperor Aurelian, a.d. 273, who ' 
left a Roman garrison in Palmyra. This 
garrison was massacred in a revolt; and | 
Aurelian punished the city by the execu- 
tion not only of those who were taken in I 



arms, but likewise of common peasants, 
of old men, women and children. From 
this blow Palmyra never recovered, 
though there are proofs of its having con- 
tinued to be inhabited until the down- 
fall of the Roman empire. The grandeur 
and magnificence of the ruins of Pal- 
myra cannot be exceeded, and attest its 
former greatness. Among the most re- 
markable are the Tombs, the Temple of 
the Sun and the Street of Columns. 

Ta'han (camp^, a descendant of 
Ephraim. Num. 26 : 35. In 1 Chron. 
7 : 25 he appears as the son of Telah. 

Ta'hanites 9 The. Num. 26 : 35. 
[Tahan.] 

Ta'hath (station). 1. A Kohathite 
671 



TAH 



TAL 



Levite, ancestor of Samuel and Heman. 
1 Chron. 6 : 24, 37 (9, 22). (B.C. about 
1415.) 

2. According to the present text, son of 
Bered, and great-grandson of Ephraim. 

1 Chron. 7 : 20. Burrington, however, 
identifies Tahath with Tahan, the son of 
Ephraim. 

3. Grandson of the preceding, as the 
text now stands. 1 Chron. 7 : 20. But 
Burrington considers him as a son of 
Ephraim. 

Ta'hath, the name of a desert station 
of the Israelites between Makheloth and 
Tarah. Num. 33 : 26. The site has not 
been identified. 

Tah'panhes, Tehaph'nehes, Ta- 
hap'anes, a city of Egypt, mentioned in 
the time of the prophets Jeremiah and 
Ezekiel. The name is evidently Egyp- 
tian, and closely resembles that of the 
Egyptian queen Tahpenes. It was evi- 
dently a town of lower Egypt, near or on 
the eastern border. VVheu Johanan and 
the other captains went into Egypt " they 
came to Tahpanbes." Jer. 43 : 7. The 
Jews in Jeremiah's time remained here. 
Jer. 44 : 1. It was an important town, 
being twice mentioned by the latter 
prophet with Noph or Memphis. Jer. 2 : 
16 ; 46 : 14. Here stood a house of Pha- 
raoh-hophra before which Jeremiah hid 
great stones. Jer. 43 : 8-10. 

Tah'penes, an Egyptian queen, was 
wife of the Pharaoh who received Hadad 
the Edomite, and who gave him her sister 
in marriage. 1 Kings 11 : 18-20. (B.C. 
about 1000.) 

Tah'rea (cunning), son of Micahand 
grandson of Mephibosheth. 1 Chron. 9 : 
41. (B.C. after 1037.) 

Tah'tim-hod'shi (lowlands of Hod- 
shif). The land of, one of the places 
visited by Joab during his census of the 
land of Israel. It occurs between Gilead 
and Dan-jaan. 2 Sam. 24 : 6. The name 
has puzzled all the interpreters. (Kitto 
says it was probably a section of the up- 
per valley of the Jordan, now called Ard 
el-Huleh, lying deep down at the western 
base of Hermon. — Ed.) 

Talent. [Weights and Measures.] 

Talitha cuius, two Syriac words, 
Mark 5 : 41, signifying damsel, arise. 

Tal'ma-i (bold). 1. One of the three 
sons of "the Anak " who were slain by 
the men of Judah. Num. 13:22; Josh. 
15 : 14 ; Judges 1 : 10. (B.C. 1450.) 

2. Son of Ammihud king of Geshnr. 

2 Sam. 3:3; 13 : 37 ; 1 Chron. 3:2. He 

672 



was probably a petty chieftain, depend- 
ent on David. (B.C. 1045.) 

Tal'mon (oppressor), the head of a 
family of door-keepers in the temple, 
" the porters for the camps of the sons of 
Levi." 1 Chron. 9 : 17 ; Neh. 11 : 19. 
(B.C. 1013.) Some of his descendants re- 
turned with Zerubbabel, Ezra 2 : 42 ; Neh. 
7 : 45, and were employed in their heredi- 
tary ofiice in the days of Nehemiah and 
Ezra. Neh. 12 : 25. 

Tal'mud (i. e. doctrine, from the He- 
brew word " to learn ") is a larsre collec- 
tion of writings, containing a full account 
of the civil and religious laws of the 
Jews. It was a fundamental principle 
of the Pharisees, common to them with 
all orthodox modern Jews, that by the 
side of the written law, regarded as a 
summary of the principles and general 
laws of the Hebrew people, there was an 
oral law, to complete and to explain the 
written law. It was an article of faith 
that in the Pentateuch there was no pre- 
cept, and no regulation, ceremonial, doc- 
trinal or legal, of which God had not 
given to Moses all explanations necessary 
for their application, with the order to 
transmit them by word of mouth. The 
classical passage in the Mishna on this 
subject is the following : " Moses received 
the (oral) law from Sinai, and delivered 
it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, 
and the elders to the prophets, and the 
prophets to the men of" the Great Syna- 
gogue." This oral law, with the numer- 
ous commentaries upon it, forms the Tal- 
mud. It consists of two parts, the Mishna 
and Gemara. 1. The Mishna, or "sec- 
ond law," which contains a compendium 
of the whole ritual law, was reduced to 
writing in its present form by Rabbi Je- 
huda the Holy, a Jew of great wealth 
and influence, who flourished in the sec- 
ond century of the Christian era. Viewed 
as a whole, the precepts in the Mishna 
treated men like children, formalizing 
and defining the minutest particulars of 
ritual observances. The expressions of 
" bondage," of " weak and beggarly ele- 
ments," and of " burdens too heavy for 
men to bear," faithfully represent the im- 
j pression produced by their multiplicity. 
The Mishna is very concisely written, 
I and requires notes. 2. This circumstance 
I led to the commentaries called Gemara 
| (i. e. supplement, completion), which 
form the second part of the Talmud, and 
which are very commonly meant when 
the word "Talmud" is used by itself. 



TAM 



TAR 



There are two Gemaras : one of Jerusa- 
lem, in which there is said to be no pas- 
sage which can be proved to be later than 
the first half of the fourth century ; and 
the other of Babylon, completed about 
500 A.D. The latter is the more import- 
ant and by far the longer. 

Ta'niah {laughter). The children of 
Tamah or Thamah, Ezra 2 : 53, were 
among the Nethinim Avho returned with 
Zerubbabel. Neh. 7 : 55. 

Ta'mar {palm tree). 1. The wife suc- 
cessively of the two sons of Judah, Er 
and Onan. Gen. 38 : 6-30. (B.C. about' 
1718.) Her importance in the sacred 
narrative depends on the great anxiety to 
keep up the lineage of Judah. It seemed 
as if the family were on the point of ex- 
tinction. Er and Onan had successively 
perished suddenly. Judah's wife, Bath- 
shuah, died ; and there only remained a 
child, Shelah, whom Judah was unwill- 
ing to trust to the dangerous union, as it 
appeared, with Tamar, lest he should 
meet with the same fate as his brothers. 
Accordingly she resorted to the desperate 
expedient of entrapping the father him- 
self into the union which he feared for 
his son. The fruits of this intercourse 
were twins, Pharez and Zarah, and 
through Pharez the sacred line was con- 
tinued. 

2. Daughter of David and Maachah 
the Geshurite princess, and thus sister of 
Absalom. 2 Sam. 13 : 1-32 ; 1 Chron. 3 : 9. 
(B.C. 1033.) She and her brother were 
alike remarkable for their extraordinary 
beauty. This fatal beauty inspired a 
frantic passion in her half-brother Am- 
non, the oldest son of David by Ahinoam. 
In her touching remonstrance two points 
are remarkable : first, the expression of 
the infamy of such a crime " in Israel" 
implying the loftier standard of morals 
that prevailed, as compared with other 
countries at that time; and second, the 
belief that even this standard might be 
overborne lawfully by royal authority — 
" Speak to the king, for he will not with- 
hold me from thee." The intense hatred 
of Amnon succeeding to his brutal pas- 
sion, and the indignation of Tamar at 
his barbarous insult, even surpassing her 
indignation at his shameful outrage, are 
pathetically and graphically told. 

3. Daughter of Absalom, 2 Sam. 14 : 7, 
became, by her marriage with Uriah of 
Gibeah, the mother of Maachah, the fu- 
ture queen of Judah, or wife of Abijah. 
1 Kings 15 : 2. (B.C. 1023.) 

43 



4. A spot on the southeastern frontier 
of Judah, named in Ezek. 47 : 19, 48 : 28 
only, evidently called from a palm tree. 
If not Hazazon -tamar, the old name of 
Engedi, it may be a place called Tha- 
mar in the Onomasticon [Hazazon-ta- 
mak], a day's journey south of Hebron. 

Tam'muz {sprout of life), properly 
"the Tammuz," the article indicating 
that at some time or other the word had 
been regarded as an appellative. Ezek. 8 : 
14. Jerome identifies Tammuz with Ado- 
nis, of Grecian mythology, who was fabled 
to have lost his life while hunting, by a 
wound from the tusk of a wild boar. He 
was greatly beloved by the goddess Venus, 
who was inconsolable at his loss. His 
blood, according to Ovid, produced the 
anemone, but according to others the 
adonium, while the anemone sprang from 
the tears of Venus. A festival in honor 
of Adonis was celebrated at Byblus in 
Phoenicia and in most of the Grecian 
cities, and even by the Jews when they 
degenerated into idolatry. It took place 
in July, and was accompanied by obscene 
rites. 

Ta'nach, a slight variation of the 
name Taanach. Josh. 21 : 25. 

Tan'humeth {consolation), the father 
of Seraiah in the time of Gedaliah. 2 
Kings 25:23; Jer. 40:8. (B.C. before 
582.) 

Ta'phath {ornament), the daughter 
of Solomon, who was married to ben* 
Abinadab. 1 Kings 4 : 11. (B.C. about 
1000.) 

Ta'phon, one of the cities in Judea, 
fortified by Bacchides. 1 Mace. 9 : 50. It 
is probably the Beth-tappuah of the Old 
Testament. 

Tap'puah {the apple-city). 1. A city 
of Judah, in the district of the Shefelaii 
or lowland. Josh. 15 : 34. 

2. A place on the boundarv of the 
" children of Joseph." Josh. 16 : 8 ; 17 : S. 
Its full name was probably En-tappuah. 
Josh. 17:7. ("Around the city was a 
district called the land of Tappuah ; the 
citv belonged to Ephraim and the land 
to Manasseh. Josh. 17 : 8."—Schaff.) 

3. One of the sons of Hebron, of the 
tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 2:43. It is 
doubtless the same as Beth-tappuah. 
(B.C. before 1450.) 

Ta'rah {delay), a desert-station of the 
Israelites between Tahath and Mithcah. 
Num. 33 : 27. 

Tar'alah (reeling), one of the towns in 
the allotment of Benjamin. Josh. 18:27. 

673 



TAR 



TAR 



Tare 'a, the same as Tahreah, the son 
of Micah. 1 Chron. 8 : 35. 

Tares. There can be little doubt that 
the zizania of the parable, Matt. 13 : 25, 
denotes the weed called "darnel" (Loli- 
um temulentum) . The darnel before it 
comes into ear is very similar in appear- 
ance to wheat; hence the command that 
the zizania should be left to the harvest, 




Tares. 



lest while men plucked up the tares 
" they should root up also the wheat with 
them." Dr. Stanley, however, speaks of 
women and children picking up from the 
wheat in the cornfields of Samaria the 
tall green stalks, still called by the Arabs 
zutvdn. " These stalks," he continues, 
" if sown designedly throughout the fields, 
would be inseparable from the wheat, 
from which, even when growing natu- 
rally and by chance, they are at first 
sight hardly distinguishable." See also 
Thomson (" The Land and the Book," p. 
420) : " The grain is in just the proper 
stage to illustrate the parable. In those 
parts where the grain has headed out, the 
tares have done the same, and then a 
child cannot mistake them for wheat or 
barley ; but where both are less devel- 
oped, the closest scrutiny will often fail 
to detect them. Even the farmers, who 
in this country generally weed their fields, 
do not attempt to separate the one from 
674 



the other." The grains of the L. temu- 
lentum, if eaten, produce convulsions, and 
even death. 
Tar'gum. [See Versions.] 
Tar'pelites, The, a race of Assyrian 
colonists who were planted in the cities 
of Samaria after the captivity of the 
northern kingdom of Israel. Ezra 4 : 9. 
They have not been identified with any 
certainty. 

Tar'shish (established). 1. Probably 
Tartessus, a city and emporium of the 
Phoenicians in the south of Spain, repre- 
sented as one of the sons of Javan. Gen. 
10 : 4 ; 1 Kings 10 : 22 ; 1 Chron. 1:7; 
Ps. 48 : 7 ; Isa, 2:16; Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 
27 : 12, 25 ; Jonah 1 : 3 ; 4 : 2. The iden- 
tity of the two places is rendered highly 
probable by the following circumstances : 
1st. There is a very close similarity of 
name between them, Tartessus being 
merely Tarshish in the Aramaic form. 
2d. There seems to have been a special 
relation between Tarshish and Tyre, as 
there was at one time between Tartessus 
and the Phoenicians. 3d. The articles 
which Tarshish is stated by the prophet 
Ezekiel, Ezek. 27 : 12, to have supplied 
to Tyre are precisely such as we know, 
through classical writers, to have been 
productions of the Spanish peninsula. In 
regard to tin, the trade of Tarshish in 
this metal is peculiarly significant, and, 
taken in conjunction with similarity of 
name and other circumstances already 
mentioned, is reasonably conclusive as to 
its identity with Tartessus. For even now 
the countries in Europe or on the shores 
of the Mediterranean Sea where tin is 
found are very few ; and in reference to 
ancient times, it would be difficult to 
name any such countries except Iberia or 
Spain, Lusitania, which was somewhat 
less in extent than Portugal, and Corn- 
wall in Great Britain. In the absence 
of positive proof, we may acquiesce in 
the statement of Strabo, that the river 
Bsetis (now the Guadalquivir) was for- 
merly called Tartessus, that the city Tar- 
tessus was situated between the two arms 
by which the river flowed into the sea, 
and that the adjoining country was called 
Tartessis. 

2. From the book of Chronicles there 
would seem to have been a Tarshish ac- 
cessible from the Red Sea, in addition to 
the Tarshish of the south of Spain. Thus, 
with regard to the ships of Tarshish, 
which Jehoshaphat caused to be con- 
structed at Ezion-geber on the Elanitic 



TAR 



TAR 



Gulf of the Red Sea, 1 Kings 22 : 48, it is 
said in the Chronicles, 2 Chron. 20 : 36, 
that they were made to go to Tarshish; 
and in like manner the navy of ships, 
which Solomon had previously made in 
Ezion-geber, 1 Kings 9 : 26, is said in the 
Chronicles, 2 Chron. 9 : 21, to have gone j 
to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. I 



It is not to be supposed that the author 
of these passages in the Chronicles con- 
templated a voyage to Tarshish in the 
south of Spain by going round what has 
since been called the Cape of Good Hope. 
The expression "ships of Tarshish" 
originally meant ships destined to go to 
Tarshish; and then probably came to 




Tarsus, Birthplace of St. Paul. Mount Taurus in the background. 



signify large Phoenician ships, of a par- 
ticular size and description, destined for 
long. voyages, just as in English "East 
Indiaman " was a general name given to 
vessels, some of which were not intended 
to go to India at all. Hence we may in- 
fer that the word Tarshish was also used 
to signify any distant place, and in this 
case would be applied to one in the In- 
dian Ocean. This is shown by the nature 
of the imports with which the fleet re- 
turned, which are specified as "gold, 
silver, ivorv, apes, and peacocks." 1 Kings 
10:22. The gold miijht possibly have 
been obtained from Africa, orfromOphir 



in Arabia, and the ivory and the apes 
might likewise have been imported from 
Africa; but the peacocks point conclu- 
sively, not to Africa, but to India. There 
are only two species known : both in- 
habit the mainland and islands of India; 
so that the mention of the peacock seems 
to exclude the possibility of the voyage 
having been to Africa. 

Tar'sus, the chief town of Cilicia, 
"no mean city" in other respects, but 
illustrious to all time as the birthplace 
and early residence of the apostle Paul. 
Acts 9 : 11 ; 21 : 39 ; 22 : 3. Even in the 
flourishing period of Greek historv it was 
675 



TAR 



TAX 



a city of some considerable consequence, world he might be living. II. The king- 
In the civil wars of Rome it took Caesar's dom, with its centralized government 
side, and on the occasion of a visit from and greater magnificence, involved, of 
him had its name changed to Juliopolis. course, a larger expenditure, and there- 
Augustus made it a " free city." It was ! fore a heavier taxation. The chief bur- 
renowned as a place of education under j dens appear to have been — (1) A tithe of 
the early Roman emperors. Strabo com- the produce both of the soil and of live 
pares it in this respect to Athens and i stock. 1 Sam. 8 : 15, 17. (2) Forced mil- 
Alexandria. Tarsus also was a place of ! itary service for a month every year. 1 
much commerce. It was situated in a- Sam. 8 : 12 ; 1 Kings 9 : 22; 1 Chron. 27 : 
wild and fertile plain on the banks of ! 1. (3) Gifts to the king. 1 Sam. 10 : 27 ; 
the Cydnus. No ruins of any import- 16 :20; 17 : 18. (4) Import duties. 1 
ance remain. Kings 10 : 15. (5) The monopoly of cer- 

Tar'tak (prince of darkness), one of tain branches of commerce. 1 Kings 9 : 
the gods of the Avite or Avvite colonists I 28; 22 : 48 ; 10 : 28, 29. (6) The appro- 
of Samaria. 2 Kings 17 : 31. According j priation to the king's use of the early 
to rabbinical tradition, Tartak is said to crop of hay. Amos 7:1. At times, too, 
have been worshipped under the form of in the history of both the kingdoms there 
an ass. were special burdens. A tribute of fifty 

Tar'tan, which occurs only in 2 Kings shekels a head had to be paid by Men- 
18 : 17 and Isa. 20 : 1, has been generally | ahem to the Assyrian king, 2 Kings 15 : 
regarded as a proper name ; but like \ 20, and under his successor Hoshea this 
Rabsaris and Rabshakeh, it is more prob- assumed the form of an annual tribute, 
ably an official designation, and indicates j 2 Kings 17 : 4. III. Under the Persian 
the Assyrian commander-in-chief. i empire the taxes paid by the Jews were, 

Tat'na-i {gift), satrap of the province J in their broad outlines, the same in kind 
west of the Euphrates in the time of Da- as those of other subject races. The 
rius Hystaspes. Ezra 5 : 3, 6; 6 : 6, 13. financial system which gained for Darius 
(B.C. 520.) The name is thought to be ! Hystaspes the name of the "shopkeeper 
Persian. j king" involved the payment by each 

Taverns, The three. [Three j satrap of a fixed sum as the tribute due 
Taverns.] from his province. In Judea, as in other 

Taxes. I. Under the judges, accord- j provinces, the inhabitants had to provide 
ing to the theocratic government contem- | in kind for the maintenance of the gov- 
plated by the law, the only payments in- ernor's household, besides a money pay- 
cumbent upon the people as of permanent ment of forty shekels a day. Neh. 5 : 14, 
obligation were the Tithes, the First- 15. In Ezra 4:13,20; 7 : 24, we get a 
fruits, the Redemption-money of the i formal enumeration of the three great 
first-born, and other offerings as belong- | branches of the revenue. The influence 
ing to special occasions. The payment j of Ezra secured for the whole ecclesias- 
by each Israelite of the half-shekel as I tical order, from the priests down to the 
" atonement-money," for the service of ! Nethinim, an immunity from all three, 
the tabernacle, on taking the census of Ezra 7 : 24 ; but the burden pressed 
the people, Ex. 30 : 13, does not appear ; heavily on the great body of the people, 
to have had the character of a recurring I IV. Under the Egyptian and Syrian 
tax, but to have been supplementary to j kings the taxes paid by the Jews became 
the freewill offerings of Ex. 25 : 1-7, levied | yet heavier. The " farming " system of 
for the one purpose of the construction I finance was adopted in its worst form, 
of the sacred tent. In later times, in- The taxes were put up to auction. The 
deed, after the return from Babylon, ' contract sum for those of Phoenicia, Ju- 
there was an annual payment for main- j dea and Samaria had been estimated at 
taining the fabric and services of the j about 8000 talents. An unscrupulous 
temple ; but the fact that this begins by adventurer would bid double that sum, 
the voluntary compact to pay one third j and would then go down to the province, 
of a shekel, Neh. 10 : 32, shows that till j and by violence and cruelty, like that of 
then there was no such payment recog- , Turkish or Hindoo collectors, squeeze 
nized as necessary. A little later the ! out a large margin of profit for himself, 
third became a half, and under the name I V. The pressure of Roman taxation, if 
of the didrachma, Matt. 17 : 24, was paid not absolutely heavier, was probably 
by everv Jew, in whatever part of the more galling, as being more thorough 
676 



TAX 



TEL 



and systematic, more distinctively a 
mark of bondage. The capture of Jeru- 
salem by Pompey was followed immedi- 
ately by the imposition of a tribute, and 
within a short time the sum thus taken 
from the resources of the country 
amounted to 10,^00 talents. When Ju- 
dea became formally a Roman province, 
the whole financial system of the empire 
came as a natural consequence. The 
taxes were systematically farmed, and 
the publicans appeared as a new curse to 
the country. The portoria were levied 
at harbors, piers and the gates of cities. 
Matt. 17:24; Rom. 13:7. In addition 
to this there was the poll-tax paid by 
every Jew, and looked upon, for that 
reason, as the special badge of servitude. 
United with this, as part of the same sys- 
tem, there was also, in all probability, a 
property tax of some kind. In addition 
to these general taxes, the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem were subject to a special house- 
duty about this period. 

Taxing. The English word now con- 
veys to us more distinctly the notion of a 
tax or tribute actually levied ; but it ap- 
pears to have been used in the sixteenth 
century for the simple assessment of a 
subsidy upon the property of a given 
county, or the registration of the people 
for the purpose of a poll-tax. Two dis- 
tinct registrations, or taxings, are men- 
tioned in the New Testament, both of 
them by St. Luke. The first is said to 
have been the result of an edict of the 
emperor Augustus, that " all the world 
(i. e. the Roman empire) should be 
taxed," Luke 2:1, and is connected by 
the evangelist with the name of Cyrenius 
or Quirinus. [Cyrenius.] The second 
and more important, Acts 5 : 37, is dis- 
tinctly associated, in point of time, with 
the revolt of Judas of Galilee. 

Te'bah. {slaughter), eldest of the sons 
of Nahor, by his concubine Reumah. 
Gen. 22 : 24. (B.C. 1872.) 

Tebali'ah ( purified ), third son of 
Hosah of the children of Merari. 1 Chron. 
26 : 11. (B.C. 1014.) 
Te'beth. [Month.] 
Tehin'nah {supplication), the father 
or founder of Ir-nahash, the city of Na- 
hash, and son of Eshton. 1 Chron. 4 : 12. 
(B.C. about 1083.) 
Teil tree. [Oak.] 
Teko'a, or Teko'ah {a stockade). 1. 
A town in the tribe of Judah, 2 Chron. 
11 : 6, on the range of hills which rise 
near Hebron and stretch eastward toward 



the Dead Sea. Jerome says that Tekoa 
was six Roman miles from Bethlehem, 
and that as he wrote he had that village 
daily before his eyes. The " wise wom- 
an" whom Joab employed to effect a 
reconciliation between David and Absa- 
lom was obtained from this place. 2 Sam. 
14 : 2. Here also Ira the son of Ikkesh, 
one of David's thirty, " the mighty men," 
was born, and was called on that account 
"the Tekoite." 2 Sam. 23:26. It was 
one of the places which Rehoboam for- 
tified, at the beginning of his reign, as a 
defence against invasion from the south. 
2 Chron. il : 6. Some of the people from 
Tekoa took part in building the walls of 
Jerusalem, after the return from the cap- 
tivity. Neh. 3 : 5, 27. In Jer. 6:1 the 
prophet exclaims, " Blow the trumpet in 
Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth- 
haccerem." But Tekoa is chiefly mem- 
orable as the birthplace of the prophet 
Amos. Amos 7 : 14. Tekoa is known 
still as Teku'a. It lies on an elevated 
hill, which spreads itself out into an ir- 
regular plain of moderate extent. Vari- 
ous ruins exist, such as the walls of 
houses, cisterns, broken columns and 
heaps of building-stones. 

2. A name occurring in the genealogies 
of Judah, 1 Chron. 2:24; 4:5, as the 
son of Ashur. There is little doubt that 
the town of Tekoa is meant. 

Teko'ite, The. Ira beu-Ikkesh, one 
of David's warriors, is thus designated. 
2 Sam. 23 : 26; 1 Chron. 11 : 28; 27 : 9. 
The common people among the Tekoites 
displayed great activity in the repairs of 
the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. 
Neh. 3 : 5, 27. 

Tel-a'bib (cornhill) was probably a 
city of Chaldsea or Babylonia, not of up- 
per Mesopotamia as generally supposed. 
Ezek. 3 : 15. The whole scene of Eze- 
kiel's preaching and visions seems to 
have been Chaldaea proper; and the river 
Chebar, as already observed, was not the 
Khabour, but a branch of the Euphrates. 

Te'lah [vigor), a descendant of Ephra- 
im, and ancestor of Joshua. 1 Chron. 7 : 
25. (B.C. before 1491.) 

Tel'a-im (lambs), the place at which 
Saul collected and numbered his forces 
before his attack on Amalek, 1 Sam. 15 : 
4, may be identical with Tel em, which 
see. 

Telas'sar {Assyrian hill ) is men- 
tioned in 2 Kings 19 : 12 and in Isa. 37 : 
12 as a city inhabited by " the children 
of Eden," which had been conquered. 

677 



TEL 



TEM 



and was held in the time of Sennacherib, 
by the Assyrians. It must have been in 
western Mesopotamia, in the neighbor- 
hood of Harran and Orfa. 

Te'lem {oppression). 1. One of the 
cities in the extreme south of Judah, 
Josh. 15 : 24, probably the same as Te- 
laim. The name Dhullam is found in 
Van de Velde's map, attached to a dis- 
trict immediately to the north of the 
Kubbet el-Baul, south of el Milk and 
Ar'arah — a position very suitable. 

2. A porter or doorkeeper of the tem- 
ple in the time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 24. He 
is probably the same as Talmon in Neh. 
12 : 25. 

TeJ-har'sa, or Tel-hare'sha {hill 
of the artificer), one of the Babylonian 
towns or villages mentioned in Ezra 2 : 
59 ; Neh. 7 : 61, along with Tel-melah 
and Cherub, probably in the low country 
near the sea. 
Tel-me'lah. [Tel-harsa.] 
Te'ma (a desert), the ninth son of 
Ishmael, Gen. 25:15; 1 Chron. 1:30; 
whence the tribe called after him, men- 
tioned in Job 6:19; Jer. 25 : 23, and also 



the land occupied by this tribe. Isa. 21 : 
13, 14. (B.C. after 1850.) The name is 
identified with Teymd, a small town on 
the confines of Syria. 

Te'man {the south). A son of Eliphaz, 
son of Esau by Adah. Gen. 36 : 11, 15, 42 ; 
1 Chron. 1 : 36, 53. (Bjp. about 1792.) 

2. A country, and probably a city, 
named after tlie Edomite phylarch, or 
from which the phylarch took his name. 
The Hebrew signifies " south," etc., see 
Job 9:9; lsa. 43 : 6 ; and it is probable 
that the land of Teman was a southern 
portion of the land of Edom, or, in a wider 
sense, that of the sons of the east. Teman 
is mentioned in five places by the proph- 
ets, in four of which it is connected with 
Edom and in two with Dedau. Jer. 49 : 7, 
8 ; Ezek. 25 : 13. Eusebius and Jerome 
mention Teman as a town in their day 
distant 15 miles from Petra, and a Roinan 
post. 

Tem'ani. [Teman.] 

Te 'manite, an inhabitant of Teman. 

Tem'eni, son of Ashur the father of 
Tekoa, by his wife Naarah. 1 Chron. 4 : 
6. {B.C. about 1450.) 




Level of the Temple Platform. (After Beswick, 1875.) 



Temple. There is perhaps no build- 
ing of the ancient world which has ex- 
cited so much attention since the time of 
its destruction as the temple which Solo- 
mon built at Jerusalem, and its successor 
as rebuilt by Herod. Its spoils were con- 
sidered worthy of forming the principal 
illustration of one of the most beautiful 
of Roman triumphal arches, and Justin- 
ian's highest architectural ambition was 
that he might surpass it. Throughout 
the middle ages it influenced to a con- 
siderable degree the forms of Christian 
churches, and its peculiarities were the 
watchwords and rally ing-points of all as- 
sociations of builders. When the French 
expedition to Egypt, in the first years of 
this century, had made the world familiar 
with the wonderful architectural remains 
of that country, every one jumped to the 
conclusion that Solomon's temple must 
678 



have been designed after an Egyptian 
model. The discoveries in Assyria by 
Botta and Layard have within the last 
twenty years given an entirely new di- 
rection to the researches of the restorers. 
Unfortunately, however, no Assyrian tem- 
ple has yet been exhumed of a nature to 
throw much light on this subject, and we 
are still forced to have recourse to the 
later buildings at Persepolis, or to gen- 
eral deductions from the style of the 
nearly contemporary secular buildings 
at Nineveh and elsewhere, for such illus- 
trations as are available. 

The Temple of Solomon. — It was 
David who first proposed to replace the 
tabernacle by a more permanent build- 
ing, but was forbidden for the reasons as- 
signed by the prophet Nathan, 2 Sam. 7 : 
5, etc. ; and though he collected materials 
and made arrangements, the execution 



TEM 



TEM 



of the task was left for his son Solomon. 
(The gold and silver alone accumulated 
by David are at the lowest reckoned to 
have amounted to between two and three 
billion dollars, a sum which can be par- 
alleled from secular history. — Lange.) 
Solomon, with the assistance of Hiram 
king of Tyre, commenced this great un- 
dertaking in the fourth year of his reign, 



j B.C. 1012, and completed^ in seven 
years, B.C. 1005. (There were 183,000 
Jews and strangers employed on it — of 
Jews 30,000, by rotation 10,000 a month ; 
of Canaanites 153,600, of whom 70,000 
were bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers of 
wood and stone, and 3600 overseers. The 
parts were all prepared at a distance from 
the site of the building, and when they 



On the Site of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem. 



were brought together the whole immense 
structure was erected without the sound 
of hammer, axe or any tool of iron. 1 
Kings 6:7. — Schaff.) The building oc- 
cupied the site prepared for it by David, 
which had formerly been the threshing- 
floor of the Jebusite Ornan or Araunah, 
on Mount Moriah. The whole area en- 
closed by the outer walls formed a square 
of about 600 feet ; but the sanctuary it- 
self was comparatively small, inasmuch 
as it was intended only for the ministra- 
tions of the priests, the congregation of 
the people assembling in the courts. In 
this and all other essential points the 
temple followed the model of the taber- 
nacle, from which it differed chiefly by 
having chambers built about the sanc- 
tuary for the abode of the priests and at- 
tendants and the keeping of treasures 
and stores. In all its dimensions, length, 
breadth and height, the sanctuary itself 
was exactly double the size of the taber- 



nacle, the ground plan measuring 80 
cubits by 40, while that of the tabernacle 
was 40 by 20, and the height of the tem- 
ple being 30 cubits, while that of the 
tabernacle was 15. [The reader should 
compare the following account with the 
article Tabebnacle.J As in the taber- 
nacle, the temple consisted of three parts, 
the porch, the holy place, and the holy 
of holies. The front of the porch was' 
supported, after the manner of some 
Egyptian temples, by the two great bra- 
zen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, 18 cubits 
high, with capitals of 5 cubits more, 
adorned with lilv-work and pomegran- 
ates. 1 Kings 7 : 15-22. The places of the 
two " veils " of the tabernacle were occu- 
pied by partitions, in which were folding- 
doors. The whole interior was lined with 
woodwork richly carved and overlaid 
with gold. Indeed, both within and with- 
out the building was conspicuous chiefly 
by the lavish use of the gold of Ophir 
679 



TEM 



TEM 



and Parvaim. It glittered in the morn- 
ing sun (it has been well said) like the 
sanctuary of an El Dorado. Above the 
sacred ark, which was placed, as of old, 
in the most holy place, were made new 
cherubim, one pair of whose wings met 
above the ark, and another pair reached 
to the walls behind them. In the holy 
place, besides the altar of incense, which 
was made of cedar overlaid with gold, 
there were seven golden candlesticks in- 
stead of one, and the table of shew-bread 
was replaced by ten golden tables, bear- 
ing, besides the shew-bread, the innumer- 
able golden vessels for the service of the 
sanctuary. The outer court was no doubt 
double the size of that of the tabernacle ; 
and we may therefore safely assume that 
it was 10 cubits in height, 100 cubits 
north and south, and 200 east and west. 
It contained an inner court, called the 
"court of the priests;" but the arrange- 
ment of the courts and of the porticos 
and gateways of the enclosure, though 
described by Josephus, belongs apparent- 
ly to the temple of Herod. In the outer 
court there was a new altar of burnt of- 
fering, much larger than the old one. 
[Altar.] Instead of the brazen laver 
there was "a molten sea" of brass, a 
masterpiece of Hiram's skill, for the ab- 
lution of the priests. It was called a 
" sea" from its great size. [Sea, Molt- 
en.] The chambers for the priests were 
arranged in successive stories against the 
sides of the sanctuary; not, however, 
reaching to the top, so as to leave space 
for the windows to light the holy and 
the most holy place. We are told by Jo- 
sephus and the Talmud that there was a 
superstructure on the temple equal in 
height to the lower part ; and this is con- 
firmed by the statement in the books of 
Chronicles that Solomon "overlaid the 
tipper chambers with gold." 2 Chron. 3 : 
9. Moreover, "the altars on the top of 
the upper chamber," mentioned in the 
books of the Kings, 2 Kings 23 : 12, were 
apparently upon the temple. The dedi- 
cation of the temple was the grandest 
ceremony ever performed under the Mo- 
saic dispensation. The temple was de- 
stroyed on the capture of Jerusalem by 
Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 586. 

Temple of Zerubbabel. — We have 
very few particulars regarding the temple 
which the Jews erected after their return 
from the captivity (about B.C. 520), and 
no description that would enable us to 
realize its appearance. But there are 
680 



some dimensions given in the Bible and 
elsewhere which are extremely interest- 
ing, as affording points of comparison be- 
tween it and the temple which preceded 
it and the one erected after it. The first 
and most authentic are those given in the 
book of Ezra, ch. 6 : 3, when quoting the 
decree of Cyrus, wherein it is said, " Let 
the house be builded, the place where 
they offered sacrifices, and let the founda- 
tions thereof be strongly laid ; the height 
thereof three-score cubits, and the breadth 
thereof three-score cubits, with three rows 
of great stones, and a row of new timber." 
Josephus quotes this passage almost lite- 
rally, but in doing so enables us to trans- 
late with certainty the word here called 
row as "story" — as indeed the sense 
would lead us to infer. We see by the 
description in Ezra that this temple was 
about one third larger than Solomon's. 
From these dimensions we gather that if 
the priests and Levites and elders of fami- 
lies were disconsolate at seeing how much 
more sumptuous the old temple was than 
the one which on account of their poverty 
they had hardly been able to erect, Ezra 
3 : 12, it certainly was not because it was 
smaller; but it may have been that the 
carving and the gold and the other orna- 
ments of Solomon's temple far surpassed 
this, and the pillars of the portico and 
the veils may all have been far more 
splendid ; so also probably were the ves- 
sels; and all this is what a Jew would 
mourn over far more than mere architect- 
ural splendor. In speaking of these tem- 
ples we must always bear in mind that 
their dimensions were practically very 
far inferior to those of the heathen. Even 
that of Ezra is not larger than an average 
parish church of the last century ; Solo- 
mon's was smaller. It was the lavish 
display of the precious metals, the elabo- 
ration of carved ornament, and the beauty 
of the textile fabrics, which made up their 
splendor and rendered them so precious 
in the eyes of the people. 

Temple op Ezekiel. — The vision of 
a temple which the prophet Ezekiel saw 
while residing on the banks of the Che- 
bar in Babylonia, in the twenty-fifth year 
of the captivity, does not add much to 
our knowledge of the subject. It is not 
a description of a temple that ever was 
built or ever could be erected at Jerusa- 
lem, and can consequently only be con- 
sidered as the beau ideal of what a Shem- 
itic temple ousdit to be. 

Temple of Herod. — Herod the 



TEM 



TEM 



Great announced to the people assembled 
at the Passover, B.C. 20 or 19, his inten- 
tion of restoring the temple ; (probably 
a stroke of policy on the part of Herod 



to gain the favor of the Jews and to make 
his name great.) If we may believe Jo- 
sephus, he pulled down the whole edifice 
to its foundations, and laid them anew on 




an enlarged scale ; but the ruins still ex- | 
hibit, in some parts, what seem to be the 
foundations laid by Zerubbabel, and be- 
neath them the more massive substruc- 
tions of Solomon. The new edifice was 
a stately pile of Graeco-Roman architect- 
ure, built in white marble with gilded 



\acroteria. It is minutely described by 
Josephus, and the New Testament has 
made us familiar with the pride of the 
Jews in its magnificence. A different 
feeling, however, marked the commence- 
ment of the work, which met with some 
opposition from the fear that what Herod 
681 



TEM 



TEM 



had begun he would not be able to finish. 
He overcame all jealousy by engaging 
not to pull down any part of the existing 
buildings till all the materials for the 
new edifice were collected on its site. 
Two years appear to have been occupied 
in preparations — among which Josephus 



mentions the teaching of some of the 
priests and Levites to work as masons 
and carpenters — and then the work be- 
gan. The holy " house," including the 
porch, sanctuary and holy of holies, was 
finished in a year and a half, B.C. 16. 
Its completion, on the anniversary of 




Plan of Herod's Temple. 



1. The Holy of Holies. 

2 The HolV Place. 

3. The Court of tlie Priests. 



4. Altar of Burnt Offering. 

5. Inner Gate of Temple. 

6. Court of the Women. 



Herod's inauguration, was celebrated by 
lavish sacrifices and a great feast. About 
B.C. 9 — eight years from the commence- 
ment—the court and cloisters of the tem- 
ple were finished, and the bridge between 
the south cloister and the upper city (de- 
molished by Pompey) was doubtless now 
rebuilt with that massive masonry of 
which some remains still survive. (The 
work, however, was not entirely ended 
till a.d. 64, under Herod Agrippa II. So 
the statement in John 2 : 20 is correct. — 
Schaff.) The temple or holy "house" 
itself was in dimensions and arrangement 
very similar to that of Solomon, or rather 
682 



that of Zerubbabel — more like the lat- 
ter ; but this was surrounded by an inner 
enclosure of great strength and magnif- 
icence, measuring as nearly as can be 
made out 180 cubits by 240, 'and adorned 
by porches and ten gateways of great 
magnificence; and beyond this again 
was an outer enclosure measuring ex- 
ternally 400 cubits each way, which was 
adorned with porticos of greater splendor 
than any we know of as attached to any 
temple of the ancient world. The temple 
was certainly situated in the southwest 
angle of the area now known as the Ha- 
ram area at Jerusalem, and its dimen- 



TEM 



TEM 



sions were what Josephus states them to 
be — 400 cubits, or one stadium, each way. 
At the time when Herod rebuilt it, he 
enclosed a space " twice as large " as that 
before occupied by the temple and its 
courts — an expression that probably must 
not be taken too literally, at least if we 
are to depend on the measurements of 
Hecatseus. According to them, the whole 
area of Herod's temple was between four 
and five times greater than that which 
preceded it. What Herod did, appar- 
ently, was to take in the whole space 
between the temple and the city wall on 
its east side, and to add a considerable 
space on the north and south to support 
the porticos which he added there. As 
the temple terrace thus became the prin- 
cipal defence of the city on the east side, 
there were no gates or openings in that 
direction, and being situated on a sort of 
rocky brow — as evidenced from its ap- 
pearance in the vaults that bounded it 
on this side — it was at all later times con- 
sidered unattackable from the eastward. 
The north side, too, where not covered 
by the fortress Antonia, became part of 
the defences of the city, and was likewise 
without external gates. On the south 
side, which was enclosed by the wall of 
Ophel, there were double gates nearly in 
the centre. These gates still exist at a 
distance of about 365 feet from the south- 
western angle, and are perhaps the only 
architectural features of the temple of 
Herod which remain in situ. This en- 
trance consists of a double archway of 
Cyclopean architecture on the level of 
the ground, opening into a square vesti- 
bule measuring 40 feet each way. From 
this a double tunnel, nearly 200 feet in 
length, leads to a flight of steps which 1 
rise to the surface in the court of the 
temple, exactly at that gateway of the | 
inner temple which led to the altar, and j 
is the one of the four gateways on this I 
side by which any one arriving from j 
Ophel would naturally wish to enter the ; 
inner enclosure. We learn from the j 
Talmud that the gate of the inner temple | 
to which this passage led was called the 
" water gate ;" and it is interesting to be ! 
able to identify a spot so prominent in j 
the description of Nehemiah. Neh. 12 : 
37. Toward the west there were four I 
gateways to the external enclosure of the 
temple* The most magnificent part of 
the temple, in an architectural point of 
view, seems certainly to have been the 
cloisters which were added to the outer 
684 



court when it was enlarged by Herod. 
The cloisters in the west, north and east 
sides were composed of double rows of 
Corinthian columns, 25 cubits or 37 feet 
6 inches in height, with flat roof, and 
resting against the outer wall of the tem- 
ple. These, however, were immeasur- 
ably surpassed in magnificence by the 
royal porch or Stoa Basilica, which* over- 
hung the southern wall. It consisted of 
a nave and two aisles, that toward the 
temple being open, that toward the 
country closed by a wall. The breadth 
of the centre aisle was 45 feet; of the 
side aisles, 30 from centre to centre of 
the pillars ; their height 50 feet, and that 
of the centre aisle 100 feet. Its section 
was thus something in excess of that of 
York Cathedral, while its total length 
was one stadium or 600 Greek feet, or 
100 feet in excess of York or our largest 
Gothic cathedrals. This magnificent 
structure was supported by 162 Corinth- 
ian columns. The porch on the east was 
called " Solomon's Porch." The court 
of the temple was very nearly a square. 
It may have been exactly so, for we ha ve 
not all the details to enable us to feel 
quite certain about it. To the eastward 
of this was the court of the women. The 
great ornament of these inner courts 
seems to have been their gateways, the 
three especially on the north and south 
leading to the temple court. These, ac- 
cording to Josephus, were of great height, 
strongly fortified and ornamented with 
great elaboration. But the wonder of all 
was the great eastern gate leading from 
the court of the women to the upper 
court. It was in all probability the one 
called the " beautiful gate " in the New 
Testament. Immediately within this 
gateway stood the altar of burnt offer- 
ings. Both the altar and the temple 
were enclosed by a low parapet, one cubit 
in height, placed so as to keep the people 
separate from the priests while the latter 
were performing their functions. Within 
this last enclosure, toward the westward, 
stood the temple itself. As before men- 
tioned, its internal dimensions were the 
same as those of the temple of Solomon. 
Although these remained the same, how- 
ever, there seems no reason to doubt that 
the whole plan was augmented by the 
pteromata, or surrounding parts, being 
increased from 10 to 20 cubits, so that the 
third temple, like the second, measured 
60 cubits across and 100 cubits east and 
west. The width of the facade was also 



TEN 



TEN 



augmented by wings or shoulders pro- 
jecting 20 cubits each way, making the 
whole breadth 100 cubits, or equal to the 
length. There is no reason for doubting 
that the sanctuary always stood on iden- 
tically the same spot in which it had 
been placed by Solomon a thousand years 
before it was rebuilt by Herod. The 
temple of Herod was destroyed by the 
Romans under Titus, F riday, August 9, 
a.d. 70. A Mohammedan mosque now 
stands on its site. 

Ten Commandments. The popu- 
lar name in this, as in so many instances, 
is not that of Scripture. There we have 
the " Ten Wokds," Ex. 34 : 28 ; Deut. 4 : 
13; 10:4; the "Covenant," Ex., Deut. 
II. cc. ; 1 Kings 8 : 21 ; 2 Chron. 6:11, 
etc., or, very often as the solemn attesta- 
tion of the divine will, the " Testimo- 
ny." Ex. 25:16, 21; 31:18, etc. The 
circumstances in which the Ten great 
Words were first given to the people sur- 
rounded them with an awe which attached 
to no other precept. In the midst of the 
cloud and the darkness and the flashing 
lightning and the fiery smoke and the 
thunder like the voice of a trumpet, 
Moses was called to Mount Sinai to re- 
ceive the law without which the people 
would cease to be a holy nation. Ex. 19 : 
20. Here, as elsewhere, Scripture unites 
two facts which men separate. God, and 
not man, was speaking to the Israelites 
in those terrors, and yet, in the language 
of later inspired teachers, other instru- 
mentality was not excluded. No other 
words were proclaimed in like manner. 
And the record was as exceptional as the 
original revelation. Of no other words 
could it be said that they were written as 
these were written, engraved on the Tables 
of Stone, not as originating in man's con- 
trivance or sagacity, but by the power of 
the Eternal Spirit, by the " finger of God." 
Ex. 31:18; 32:16. The number Ten was, 
we can hardly doubt, itself significant to 
Moses and the Israelites. The received 
symbol, then and at all times, of com- 
pleteness, it taught the people that the 
law of Jehovah was perfect. Ps. 19 : 7. 
The term "Commandments" had come 
into use in the time of Christ. Luke 18 : 
20. Their division into two tables is not 
only expressly mentioned, but the stress 
laid upon the two leaves no doubt that 
the distinction was important, and that 
it answered to that summary of the law 
which was made both by Moses and by 
Christ into two precepts ; so that the first 



table contained Duties to God, and the 
second, Duties to our Neighbor. 

There are three principal divisions of 
the two tables: 1. That of the Roman 
Catholic Church, making the first table 
contain three commandments, and the 
second the other seven. 2. The familiar 
division, referring the first four to our 
duty toward God and the six remaining 
to our duty toward man. 3. The division 
recognized by the old Jewish writers, Jo- 
sephus and Philo, which places five com- 
mandments in each table. It has been 
maintained that the law of filial duty, 
being a close consequence of God's fath- 
erly relation to us, may be referred to the 
first table. But this is to place human 
parents on a level with God, and, by 
parity of reasoning, the Sixth Command- 
ment might be added to the first table, as 
murder is the destruction of God's image 
in man. Far more reasonable is the view 
which regards the authority of parents as 
heading the second table, as the earthly 
reflex of that authority of the Father of 
his people and of all men which heads 
the first, and as the first principle of the 
whole law of love to our neighbor ; be- 
cause we are all brethren, and the family 
is, for good and ill, the model of the state. 
" The Decalogue differs from all the other 
legislation of Moses: (1) It was pro- 
claimed by God himself in a most public 
and solemn manner. (2) It was given 
under circumstances of most appalling 
majesty and sublimity. (3) It was writ- 
ten by the finger of God on two tables of 
stone. Deut, 5 : 22. (4) It differed from 
any and all other laws given to Israel in 
that it was comprehensive and general 
rather than specific and particular. (5) 
It was complete, being one finished whole, 
to Avhich nothing was to be added, from 
which nothing was ever taken away. 
(6) The law of the Ten Commandments 
was honored by Jesus Christ as embody- 
ing the substance of the law of God en- 
joined upon man. (7) It can scarcely be 
! doubted that Jesus had his eye specially 
if not exclusively on this law, Matt. 5 : 
18, as one never to be repealed, from which 
not one jot or tittle should ever pass 
away. (8) It is marked by wonderful 
simplicity and brevity ; such a contrast 
to our human legislation, our British 
statute-book for instance, which it would 
need an elephant to carry and an GZdipus 
to interpret." 

Tent. Among the leading character- 
istics of the nomad races, those two have 
685 



TER 



TER 



always been numbered whose origin has 
been ascribed to Jabal the son of Lamech, 
Gen. 4 : 20, viz., to be tent-dwellers and 
keepers of cattle. The same may be said 
of the forefathers of the Hebrew race ; 



ment narrative is very brief. We learn 
from it simply that he was an idolater, 
Josh. 24 : 2, that he dwelt beyond the 
Euphrates in Ur of the Chaldees, Gen. 11 : 
28, and that in the southwesterly migra- 



nor was it until the return into Canaan | tion, which from some unexplained cause 

he undertook in his old 
age, he went with his son 
Abram, his daughter-in- 
law Sarai, and his grandson 
Lot, " to go into the land 
of Canaan, and they came 
unto Haran, and dwelt 
there." Gen. 11:31. And 
finally, " the days of Terah 
were two hundred and five 
years ; and Terah died in 
Haran." Gen. 11 : 32. (B.C. 
1921.) 

Teraphim. This word 
occurs only in the plural, and denotes im- 
ages connected with magical rites. The 
derivation of the name is obscure. In one 
case — 1 Sam. 19 : 13, 16 — a single statue 
seems to be intended by the plural. The 
teraphim, translated "images" in the 
Authorized Version, carried away from 
Laban by Rachel were regarded by Laban 
as gods, and it would therefore appear that 
they were used by those who added cor- 




Arab Tents. 

from Egypt that the Hebrews became in- 
habitants of cities. An Arab tent is called 
belt, " house ;" its covering consists of 
stuff, about three quarters of a yard 
broad, made of black goat's-hair, Cant. 
1 : 5, laid parallel with the tent's length. 
This is sufficient to resist the heaviest 
rain. The tent-poles or columns are usu- 
ally nine in number, placed in three 
groups; but many tents have only one 
pole, others two or three. The ropes 
which hold the tent in its place are fast- 
ened, not to the tent-cover itself, but to 
loops consisting of a leathern thong tied 
to the ends of a stick, round which is 
twisted a piece of old cloth, which is itself 
sewed to the tent-cover. The ends of the 
tent-ropes are fastened to short sticks or 
pins, which are driven into the ground 
with a mallet. Judges 4 : 21. Round the 
back and sides of the tent runs a piece 
of stuff removable at pleasure to admit 
air. The tent is divided into two apart- 
ments, separated by a carpet partition 
drawn across the middle of the tent and 
fastened to the three middle posts. When 
the pasture near an encampment is ex- 
hausted, the tents are taken down, packed 
on camels and removed. Gen. 26 : 17, 22, 
25 ; Isa. 38 : 12. In choosing places for 
encampment, Arabs prefer the neighbor- 
hood of trees, for the sake of the shade 
and coolness which they afford. Gen. 
18 : 4, 8. 

Te'rah (station), the father of Abram, 
Nahor and Haran, and through them the 
ancestor of the great families of the Is- 
raelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites, Moab- 
ites and Ammonites. Gen. 11 : 24-32. The 
account given of him in the Old Testa- 
686 



rupt practices to the patriarchal religion. 




Terapl 



Teraphim again are included among Mi- 
cah's images. Judges 17 : 3-5 ; 18 : 17, 18, 
20. Teraphim were consulted for oracu- 
lar answers by the Israelites, Zech. 10 : 2; 



TER 



THE 



corap. Judges 18:5,6; 1 Sam. 15 : 22, 23 ; 
19 : 13, 16, LXX., and 2 Kings 23 : 24, 
and by the Babylonians in the case of 
Nebuchadnezzar. Ezek. 21 : 19-22. 

Te'resh (strictness), one of the two 
eunuchs whose plot to assassinate Ahasu- 
erus was discovered bv Mordecai. Esther 
2 : 21 ; 6 : 2. He was hanged. (B.C. 479.) 

Ter'tius (third), probably a Roman, 
was the amanuensis of Paul in writing 
the Epistle to the Romans. Rom. 16 : 22. 
(a.d. 55.) 

Tertul'lus (diminutive from Tertius), 
"a certain orator," Acts 24:1, who was 
retained by the high priest and Sanhe- 
drin to accuse the apostle Paul at Csesarea 
before the Roman procurator Antonius 
Felix. He evidently belonged to the 
class of professional orators. We may 
infer that Tertullus was of Roman, or at 
all events of Italian, origin, (a.d. 55.) 

Tes'tament, New. [New Testa- 
ment; Bible.] 

Tes'tament, Old. [Old Testa- 
ment; Bible.] 

Tetrarch, properly the sovereign or 
governor of the fourth part of a country. 
Matt. 14 : 1 ; Luke 3:1; 9:7; Acts 13 : 
1. The title was, however, often applied 
to any one who governed a Roman prov- 
ince, of whatever size. The title of king 
was sometimes assigned to a tetrarch. 
Matt. 14 : 9 ; Mark 6 : 14, 22. 

Thadde'us, one of the twelve apos- 
tles. Matt. 10 : 3 ; Mark 3:18. From a 
comparison with the catalogue of St. 
Luke, Luke 6 : 16; Acts 1 : 13, it seems 
scarcely possible to doubt that the three 
names of Judas, Lebbeus and Thaddeus 
were borne by one and the same person. 
[See Jude.] 

Tha'hash {badger), son of Nahor by 
his concubine Reuinah. Gen. 22: 24. (B.C. 
1880.) 

Tha'mah (laughter). " The children 
of Thamah" were a family of Nethinim 
who returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 
53. 

Tha'mar. Tamar, 1. Matt. 1 : 3. 

Thank offering, or Peace offer- 
ing, the properly eucharistic offering 
among the Jews, in its theory resembling 
the meat offering, and therefore indicat- 
ing that the offerer was already recon- 
ciled to and in covenant with God. Its 
ceremonial is described in Lev. 3. The 
peace offerings, unlike other sacrifices, 
were not ordained to be offered in fixed 
and regular course. The only constant- 
ly-recurring peace offering appears to 



have been that of the two firstling lambs 
at Pentecost. Lev. 23 : 19. The general 
principle of the peace offering seems to 
have been that it should be entirely spon- 
taneous, offered as occasion should arise, 
from the feeling of the sacrificer himself. 
Lev. 19 : 5. On the first institution, Lev. 
7 : 11-17, peace offerings are divided into 
"offerings of thanksgiving" and "vows 
or freewill offerings;" of which latter 
class the offering by a Nazarite on the 
completion of his vow is the most re- 
markable. Num. 6 : 14. We find accord- 
ingly peace offerings offered for the peo- 
ple on a great scale at periods of unusual 
solemnity or rejoicing. In two cases 
only— Judges 20 : 26; 2 Sam. 24 : 25— 
peace offerings are mentioned as offered 
with burnt offerings at a time of national 
sorrow and fasting. 

Tha'ra. Terah the father of Abra- 
ham. Luke 3 : 34. 

Thar'ra, Esther 12 : 1, a corrupt form 
of Teresh. 

Thar'shish. 1. In this more accu- 
rate form the translators of the Author- 
ized Version have given in two passages 
— 1 Kings 10 : 22 ; 22 : 48 — the name else- 
where presented as Tarshish. 
2. A Benjamite, one of the family of 
J Bilhan and the house of Jediael. 1 
j Chron. 7 : 10 only. 

Theatre. For the explanation of the 
j biblical allusions, two or three points 
| only require notice. The Greek term, 
J like the corresponding English term, de- 
j notes the place where dramatic perform- 
j ances are exhibited, and also the scene 
itself or spectacle which is witnessed 
there. It occurs in the first or local 
sense in Acts 19 : 29. The other sense 
of the term "theatre" occurs in 1 Cor. 
4:9. 

Thebes (Authorized Version No, the 
multitude of No, populous No), a chief 
city of ancient Egypt, long the capital 
of the upper country, and the seat of the 
Diospolitan dynasties, that ruled over all 
Egypt at the era of its highest splendor. 
It was situated on both sides of the Nile, 
| 400 or 500 miles from its mouth. The 
; sacred name of Thebes was P-amen, "the 
j abode of Amon," which the Greeks re- 
produced in their Diospolis, especially 
! with the addition the Great. No-amon 
| is the name of Thebes in the Hebrew 
Scriptures. Jer. 46 : 25 ; Nah. 3 : 8. Eze- 
kiel uses No simply to designate the 
Egyptian seat of Anion. Ezek. 30 : 14, 
16. [No-AMON.] Its origin and early 
687 



THE 



THE 



allusions to it. — The origin of the city is 
lost in antiquity. Niebuhr is of opinion 
that Thebes was much older than Mem- 




Ruins at Thebes (No) 



phis, and that, " after the centre of Egyp- 
tian life was transferred to lower Egypt, 
Memphis acquired its greatness through 
the ruin of Thebes." But both cities 
date from our earliest authentic knowl- 
edge of Egyptian history. The first allu- 
sion to Thebes in classical literature is 
the familiar passage of the Iliad (ix. 381- 
385) : " Egyptian Thebes, where are vast 
treasures laid up in the houses; where 
are a hundred gates, and from each two 
hundred men go forth with horses and 
chariots." In the first century before 
Christ, Diodorus visited Thebes, and he 
devotes several sections of his general 
work to its history and appearance. 
Though he saw the city when it had 
sunk to quite secondary importance, he 
confirms the tradition of its early grand- 
eur—its circuit of 140 stadia, the size of 
its public edifices, the magnificence of 
its temples, the number of its monuments, 
the dimensions of its private houses, some 
of them four or five stories high — all 
giving it an air of grandeur and beauty 
surpassing not only all other cities of 
Ec:ypt, but of the world. Monuments. — 
The monuments of Thebes are the most 
reliable witnesses for the ancient splendor 
of the city. These are found in almost 
equal proportions upon both sides of the 
river. The plan of the city, as indicated 
by the principal monuments, was nearly 
quadrangular, measuring two miles from 
north to south and four from east to 
west. Its four great landmarks were, 
688 



Karnak and Luxor upon the eastern or 
Arabian side, and Qoornah and Medee- 
net Haboo upon the western or Liby%n 
side. There are indications that 
each of these temples may have 
been connected with those facing 
it upon two sides by grand dromoi, 
lined with sphinxes and other co- 
lossal figures. Upon the western 
bank there was almost a continuous 
line of temples and public edifices 
for a distance of two miles, from 
Qoornah to Medeenet Haboo; and 
Wilkinson conjectures that from a 
point near the latter, perhaps in 
the line of the colossi, the " Royal 
street" ran down to the river, which 
was crossed by a ferry terminating at 
Luxor, on the eastern side. Behind 
this long range of temples and 
palaces are the Libyan hills, which 
for a distance of five miles are ex- 
cavated to the depth of several 
hundred feet for sepulchral cham- 
bers. Some of these, in the number 
and variety of their chambers, the finish 
of their sculptures, and the beauty and 




Temple at Karnak (Thebes). Columns in the 
great Hall. {Fro7n a Photograph.) 

freshness of their frescoes, are among the 
most remarkable monuments of Egyptian 
grandeur and skill. The eastern side of 



THE 



THE 



the river is distinguished by the remains 
of Luxor and Karnak, the latter being 
of itself a city of temples. The approach 
to Karnak from the south is marked by 
a series of majestic gateways and towers, 
which were the appendages of later times 




Avenue of Sph 



to the original structure. The temple 
properly faces the river, i. e. toward the 
northwest. The courts and propylsea 
connected with this structure occupy a 
space nearly 1800 feet square, and the 
buildings represent almost every dynas- 
ty of Egypt. Ezekiel proclaims the de- 
struction of Thebes by the arm of Baby-' 
Ion, Ezek. 30 : 14-16 ; and Jeremiah pre- 
dicted the same overthrow. Jer. 46 : 25, 
26. The city lies to-day a nest of Arab 
hovels amid crumbling columns and 
drifting sands. The Persian invader 
(Cambyses, B.C. 525) completed the de- 
struction that the Babylonian had begun. 

The'bez (conspicuous), a place mem- 
orable for the death of the bravo Abim- 
elech, Judges 9 : 50, was known to Euse- 
bius and Jerome, in whose time it was 
situated "in the district of Neapolis," 13 
Roman miles therefrom, on the road to 
Scythopolis. There it still is, its name— 
Tubas— hardly changed. 

Thel'asar. [Tel-assar.] 

Theoph'ilus {friend of God), the 
person to whom St. Luke inscribes his 
Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. 
Luke 1:3; Acts 1 : 1. From the honor- 
able epithet applied to him in Luke 1 : 3, 
it has been argued w ith much probability 
that he was a person in high official po- 
sition. All that can be conjectured with 
any degree of safety concerning him 
44 



comes to this, that he was a Gentile of 
rank and consideration, who came under 
the inlluence of St. Luke or under that 
of St. Paul at Rome, and was converted 
to the Christian faith. 

Thessalo'nians, First Epistle to 
the, was writ- 
ten by the 
apostle Paul at 
Corinth, a few 
months after he 
had founded the 
church at Thes- 
salonica, at the 
close of the year 
a.d. 52 or the 
beginning of 53. 
The Epistles to 
the Thessa- 
1 o n i a n s, then 
(for the second 
followed the 
first a f t e r no 
long interval), 
are the earliest 
nxcs and Prupylsea at Karnak. of St. Paul's 

wri tings — per- 
haps the earliest written records of Chris- 
tianity. It is interesting, therefore, to 
compare the Thessalonian epistles with 
the later letters, and to note the points of 
difference. These differences are mainly 
threefold. 1. In the general style of these 
earlier letters there is greater simplicity 
and less exuberance of language. 2. The 
antagonism to St. Paul is not the same. 
Here the opposition conies from Jews. A 
period of five years changes the aspect 
of the controversy. The opponents of 
St. Paul are then no longer Jews so 
much as Judaizing Christians. 3. Many 
of the distinctive doctrines of Christianity 
were yet not evolved and distinctly enun- 
ciated till the needs of the Church drew 
them out into prominence at a later date. 
It has often been observed, for instance, 
that there is in the Epistles to the Tiies- 
salonians no mention of the character- 
istic contrast of " faith and works;" that 
the word "justification" does not once 
occur; that the idea of dying with Christ 
and living with Christ, so frequent in St. 
Paul's later writings, is absent in these. 
In the Epistles to the Thessalonians, the 
gospel preached is that of the coming of 
Christ, rather than of the cross of Christ. 
The occasion of this epistle was as fol- 
lows : St. Paul had twice attempted to re- 
visit Thessalonica, and both times had 
been disappointed. Thus prevented from 
689 



THE 



THE 



seeing them in person, he had sent Tim- 
othy to inquire and report to him as to 
their condition. 1 Thess. 3 : 1-5. Timothy 
returned with most favorable tidings, re- 
porting not only their progress in Chris- 
tian faith and practice, but also their 
strong attachment to their old teacher. 
1 Thess. 3:6-10. The First Epistle to 
the Thessalonians is the outpouring of 
the apostle's gratitude on receiving this 
welcome news. At the same time the re- 
port of Timothy was not unmixed with 
alloy. There were certain features in the 
condition of the Thessalonian church 
which called for St. Paul's interference, 
and to which he addresses himself in his 
letter. 1. The very intensity of their 
Christian faith, dwelling too exclusively 
on the day of the Lord's coining, had been 
attended with evil consequences. On the 
other hand, a theoretical difficulty had 
been felt. Certain members of the church 
had died, and there was great anxiety 
lest they should be excluded from any 
share in the glories of the Lord's ad- 
vent, ch. 4 : 13-18. 2. The Thessalonians 
needed consolation and encouragement 
under persecution, ch. 2 : 14 ; 3 : 2-4. 3. 
An unhealthy state of feeling with re- 
gard to spiritual gifts was manifesting 
itself, ch. 5 : 19, 20. 4. There was the 
danger of relapsing into their old hea- 
then profligacy, ch. 4 : 4-8. Yet notwith- 
standing all these drawbacks, the con- 
dition of the Thessalonian church was 
highly satisfactory, and the most cordial 
relations existed between St. Paul and his 
converts there. This honorable distinc- 
tion it shares with the other great church 
of Macedonia, that of Philippi. The 
epistle is rather practical than doctrinal. 
The external evidence in favor of the 
genuineness of the First Epistle to the 
Thessalonians is chiefly negative, but this 
is important enough. There is no trace 
that it was ever disputed at any age or in 
any section of the Church, or even by 
any individual, till the present century. 
Toward the close of the second century, 
from IrenaBus downward, we find this 
epistle directly quoted and ascribed to 
Paul. The evidence derived from the 
character of the epistle itself is so strong 
that it may fairly be called irresistible. 

Thessalo'nians, Second Epistle 
to the, appears to have been written from 1 
Corinth not very long after the first, for j 
Silvanus and Tirnotheus were still with I 
St. Paul. 2 Thess. 1:1. In the former j 
letter we saw chiefly the outpouring of 
690 



strong personal affection, occasioned by 
the renewal of the apostle's intercourse 
with the Thessalonians, and the doctrinal 
and hortatory portions are there subor- 
dinate. In the Second Epistle, on the 
other hand, his leading motive seems to 
have been the desire of correcting errors 
in the church of Thessalonica. We no- 
tice two points especially which call for 
his rebuke : — First, it seems that the anx- 
ious expectation of the Lord's advent, 
instead of subsiding, had gained ground 
since the writing of the First Epistle. 
Second, the apostle had also a personal 
ground of complaint. His authority was 
not denied by any, but it was tampered 
with, and an unauthorized use was made 
of his name. It will be seen that the 
teaching of the Second Epistle is correct- 
ive of or rather supplemental to that of 
the first, and therefore presupposes it. 
This epistle, in the range of subject as 
well as in style and general character, 
closely resembles the first; and the re- 
marks made on that epistle apply for the 
most part equally well to this. The 
structure also is somewhat similar, the 
main body ot the epistle being divided 
into two parts in the same way, and each 
part closing with a prayer, ch. 2 : 16, 17 ; 
3 : 16. The epistle ends with a special 
direction and benediction, ch. 3 : 17, 18. 
The external evidence in favor of the 
.Second Epistle is somewhat more definite 
than that which can be brought in favor 
of the first. The internal character of 
the epistle too, as in the former case, 
bears the strongest testimony to its Paul- 
ine origin. Its genuineness, in fact, was 
never questioned until the beginning of 
the present century. 

Thessaloni'ca. The original name 
of this city was Therma ; and that part 
of the Macedonian shore on which it was 
situated retained through the Roman 
period the designation of the Thermaic 
Gulf. Cassander the son of An ti pater re- 
built and enlarged Therma, and named 
it after his wife Thessalonica, the sister 
of Alexander the Great. The name ever 
since, under various slight modifications, 
has been continuous, and the city itself 
has never ceased to be eminent. Saloniki 
is still the most important town of Euro- 
pean Turkey, next after Constantinople. 
Strabo in the first century speaks of Thes- 
salonica as the most populous city in 
Macedonia. Visit of Paul. — St. Paul vis- 
ited Thessalonica (with Silas and Tim- 
othy) during his second missionary jour- 



THE 



THI 



ney, and introduced Christianity there. 
The first scene of the apostle's work at 
Thessalonica was the synagogue. Acts 
17 : 2, 3. It is stated that the ministra- 
tions among the Jews continued for three 
weeks, ver. 2. Not that we are obliged 



to limit to this time the whole stay of the 
apostle at Thessalonica. A flourishing 
church was certainly formed there ; and 
the epistles show that its elements were 
more Gentile than Jewish. [For per- 
secution and further history see Paul.] 




Thessalonica. 



Circumstances ivhich led Paul to Thessa- 
\ lonica. — Three circumstances "must here 
be mentioned which illustrate in an im- 
portant manner this visit and this journey 
as well as the two Epistles to the Thessa- 
lonians. 1. This was the chief station 
on the great Roman road called the Via 
] Egnatia, which connected Rome with the 
whole region to the north of the iEgean 
j Sea. 2. Placed as it was on this great 
road, and in connection with other im- 
portant Roman ways, Thessalonica was 
an invaluable centre for the spread of 
I the gospel . In fact it was nearly if not 
I quite on a level with Corinth and Ephe- 
;j sus in its share of the commerce of the 
S Levant. 3. The circumstance noted in 
! Acts 17 : 1, that here was the synagogue 
of the Jews in this part of Macedonia, 
had evidently much to do with the apos- 
I tie's plans, and also doubtless with his 
! success. Trade would inevitably bring 
1 Jews to Thessalonica ; and it is remark - 
able that they have ever since had a 
3 prominent place in the annals of the city. 
[ Later eccle.fi a st i nil history. — During sev- 
ji eral centuries this city was the bulwark, 
lj not simply of the later Greek empire, but 
of Oriental Christendom, and was largely 



instrumental in the conversion of the Sla- 
vonians and Bulgarians. Thus it re- 
ceived the designation of " the orthodox 
city;" and its struggles are very prom- 
inent in the writings of the Byzantine 
historians. 

Theu'das (God-given), the name of 
an insurgent mentioned in Gamaliel's 
speech before the Jewish council, Acts 
5 : 35-39, at the time of the arraignment 
of the apostles. He appeared, according 
to Luke's account, at the head of about 
four hundred men. He was probably 
one of the insurrectionary chiefs or fa- 
natics by whom the land was overrun in 
the last year of Herod's reign. Josephus 
speaks of a Theudas who played a sim- 
ilar part in the time of Claudius, about 
A.D. 44 ; but the Theudas mentioned by 
St. Luke must be a different person from 
the one spoken of by Josephus. 

Thieves, The two. The men who 
under this name appear in the history of 
the crucifixion were robbers rather than 
thieves, belonging to the lawless bands 
by which Palestine was at that time and 
afterward infested. Against these brig- 
ands every Roman procurator had to 
I wage continual war. It was necessary to 

691 



THI 



THO 



use an armed police to encounter them. 
Luke 22 : 52. Of the previous history 
of the two who suffered on Golgotha we 
know nothing. They had been tried and 
condemned, and were waiting their exe- 
cution before our Lord was accused. It 
is probable enough, as the death of Bar- 
abbas was clearly expected at the same 
time, that they had taken part in his in- 
surrection. They had expected to die 
with Jesus Barabbas. They find them- 
selves with one who bore the same name, 
but who was described in the superscrip- 
tion on his cross as Jesus of Nazareth. 
They could hardly have failed to hear 
something of his fame as a prophet, of 
his triumphal entry as a king. They 
catch at first the prevailing tone of scorn. 
But over one of them there came a 
change. He looked back upon his past 
life, and saw an infinite, evil. He looked 
to the man dying on the cross beside him, 
and saw an infinite compassion. There 
indeed was one unlike all other " kings 
of the Jews" whom the robber had ever 
known. Such a one must be all that he 
had claimed to be. To be forgotten by 
that king seems to him now the most ter- 
rible of all punishments ; to take part in 
the triumph of his return, the most blessed 
of all hopes. The yearning prayer was 
answered, not in the letter, but in the 
spirit. 

Thim'nathah, a town in the allot- 
ment of Dan. Josh. 19 : 43 only. It is 
named between Elon and Ekron. The 
name is the same as that of the residence 
of Samson's wife. [See Timnah.J 
Thistle. [Thorns and Thistles.] 
Thora'as (a ttvin), one of the apostles. 
According to Eusebius, his real name 
was Judas. This may have been a mere 
confusion with Thaddeus, who is men- 
tioned in the extract. But it may also 
be that Thomas was a surname. Out of 
this name has grown the tradition that 
he had a twin-sister, Lydia, or that he 
was a twin-brother of our Lord ; which 
last, again, would confirm his identifica- 
tion with Judas. Comp. Matt. 13 : 55. 
He is said to have been born at Antioch. 
In the catalogue of the apostles he is 
coupled with Matthew in Matt. 10 : 3 ; 
Mark 3 : 18 ; Luke 6 : 15, and with Philip 
in Acts 1 : 13. All that we know of him 
is derived from the Gospel of St. John ; 
and this amounts to three traits, which, 
however, so exactly agree together that, 
slight as they are, they place his charac- 
ter before us with a precision which be- 
692 



longs to no other of the twelve apostles 
except Peter, John and Judas Iscariot. 
This character is that of a man slow to 
believe, seeing all the difficulties of a 
case, subject to despondency, viewing 
things on the darker side, yet full of ar- 
dent love of his Master. The latter trait 
was shown in his speech when our Lord 
determined to face the dangers that 
awaited him in Judea on his journey to 
Bethany. Thomas said to his fellow dis- 
ciples, " Let us also go, that we may die 
with him." John 11 : 16. His unbelief 
appeared in his question during the Last 
Supper : " Thomas saith unto him, Lord, 
we know not whither thou goest, and 
how can we know the way ?" John 14 : 
5. It was the prosaic, incredulous doubt 
as to moving a step in the unseen future, 
and yet an eager inquiry as to how this 
step was to be taken. The first-named 
trait was seen after the resurrection. He 
was absent — possibly by accident, per- 
haps characteristically — from the first 
assembly when Jesus had appeared. The 
others told him what they had seen. He 
broke forth into an exclamation, the 
terms of which convey to us at once the 
vehemence of his doubt, and at the same 
time the vivid picture that his mind re- 
tained of his Master's form as he had last 
seen him lifeless on the cross. John 20 : 
25. On the eighth day he was with them 
at their gathering, perhaps in expectation 
of a recurrence of the visit of the previous 
week ; and Jesus stood among them. He 
uttered the same salutation, " Peace be 
unto you ;" and then turning to Thomas, 
as if this had been the special object of 
his appearance, uttered the words which 
convey as strongly the sense of condem- 
nation and tender reproof as those of 
Thomas had shown the sense of hesita- 
tion and doubt. The effect on him Avas 
immediate. The conviction produced by 
the removal of his doubt became deeper 
and stronger than that of any of the other 
apostles. The words in which he ex- 
pressed his belief contain a far higher as- 
sertion of his Master's divine nature than 
is contained in any other expression used 
by apostolic lips — " My Lord and my 
God." The answer of our Lord sums up 
the moral of the whole narrative : " Be- 
cause thou hast seen me, thou hast be- 
lieved : blessed are they that have not 
seen me, and yet have believed." John 
20 : 29. In the New Testament we hear 
of Thomas only twice again, once on the 
Sea of Galilee with the seven disciples, 



THO 



THR 



where he is ranked next after Peter, 
John 21:2, and again in the assemblage 
of the apostles after the ascension. Acts 
1 : 13. The earlier traditions, as believed 
in the fourth century, represent him as 
preaching in Parthia or Persia, and as 
finally buried at Edessa. The later tra- 
ditions carry him farther east. His mar- 
tyrdom, whether in Persia or India, is 
said to have been occasioned by a lance, 
and is commemorated by the Latin 
Church on December 21, by the Greek 
Church on October 6, and by the Indians 
on July 1. 




Palestine Thorn. 

Thorns and Thistles. There appear 
to be eighteen or twenty Hebrew words 
which point to different kinds of prickly 
or thorny shrubs. These words are vari- 
ously rendered in the Authorized Version 
by "thorns," "briers," "thistles," etc. 
Palestine abounded in a great variety of 
such plants. (" Travellers call the holy 
land ' a land of thorns.' Giant thistles, 
growing to the height of a man on horse- 
back, frequently spread over regions once 
rich and fruitful, as they do on the pam- 
pas of South America ; and many of the 
most interesting historic spots and ruins 
are rendered almost inaccessible by thick- 
ets of fiercely-armed buckthorns. Entire 
fields are covered with the troublesome 
creeping stems of the spinous ononis, 
while the bare hillsides are studded with 
the dangerous capsules of the paliurus 
and tribulus. Roses of the most prickly 
kinds abound on the lower slopes of Her- 
mon ; while the sub-tropical valleys of 
Judea are choked up in many places by 
the thorny lydum." — Biblical Tilings not 
generally Known.) Crown of thorns. — 
The "crown of thorns/' Matt. 27:29, 
which was put in derision upon our 
Lord's head before his crucifixion, is by 
some supposed to have been the Rham- 
nus, or Spina Christi; but although 



abundant in the neighborhood of Jerusa- 
lem, it cannot be the plant intended, be- 
cause its thorns are so strong and large 
that it could not have been woven into 
a wreath. The largedeaved acanthus 
(bear's-foot) is totally unsuited for the 
purpose. Had the acacia been intended, 
as some suppose, the phrase would have 
been e£ aKdvOrjs. Obviously some small, 
flexile, thorny shrub is meant; perhaps 
Cappares spinosw. Hasselquist ("Trav- 
els," p. 260) says that the thorn used was 
the Arabian nabk. " It was very suitable 
for their purpose, as it has many sharp 
thorns, which inflict painful wounds; 
and its flexible, pliant and round branches 
might easily be plaited in the form of a 
crown." It also resembles the rich dark 
green of the triumphal ivy-wreath, which 
would give additional pungency to its 
ironical purpose. 

Three Taverns, a station on the 
Appian Road, along which St. Paul trav- 
elled from Puteoli to Rome. Acts 28 : 15. 
The distances, reckoning southward from 
Rome, are given as follows in the Anto- 
nine Itinerary: "to Aricia, 16 miles; to 
Three Taverns, 17 miles; to Appii Forum, 
10 miles ;" and, comparing this with what 
is still observed along the line of road, 
we have no difliculty in coming to the 
conclusion that "Three Taverns" was 
near the modern Cisterna. Just at this 
point a road came in from Antium on the 
coast. There is no doubt that "Three 
Taverns " was a frequent meeting-place 
of travellers. 
Threshing. [Agriculture.] 
Threshold. Of the two words so 
rendered in the Authorized Version, one, 
miphthdn, seems to mean sometimes a 
projecting beam or corbel. Ezek. 9:3; 
10 : 4, 18. 

Thresholds, The. This word, Asup- 
pt, appears to be inaccurately rendered 
in Neh. 12 : 25, though its reai force has 
perhaps not yet been discovered. The 
"house of Asuppim," or simply "the 
Asuppim," is mentioned in 1 Cliron. 26 : 
15, 17 as a part, probably a gate, of the 
enclosure of the " house of Jehovah," ap- 
parently at its southwest corner. The 
allusion in Neh. 12 : 25 is undoubtedly 
to the same place. [Gate.] 

Throne. The Hebrew word so trans- 
lated applies to any elevated seat occu- 
pied by a person in authority, whether a 
high priest, 1 Sam. 1 : 9, a judge, Ps. 122 : 
5, or a military chief. Jer. 1 : 15. The 
use of a chair in a country where the 
693 



THU 



THU 



usual postures were squatting and reclin- 
ing was at all times regarded as a symbol 
of dignity. 2 Kings 4 : 10 ; Prov. 9 : 14. 




Assyrian Throne or Chair of State. 

In order to specify a throne in our sense 
of the term, it was necessary to add to 
the word the notion of royalty ; hence 



the frequent occurrence of such expres- 
sions as " throne of the kingdom." JJeut. 
17:18; 1 Kings 1:46; 2 Chron. 7:18. 
The characteristic feature in the royal 
throne was its elevation : Solomon's 
throne was approached by six steps, 1 
Kings 10 : 19 ; 2 Chron. 9:18; and Je- 
hovah's throne is described as " high and 
lifted up." Isa. 6 : 1. The materials and 
workmanship of Solomon's throne were 
costly. It was made of wood inlaid with 
ivory and then covered with gold except 
where the ivory showed. It was fur- 
nished with arms or " stays." The steps 
were also lined with pairs of lions. As 
to the form of chair, we are only informed 
in 1 Kings 10 : 19 that " the top was 
round behind." The king sat on his 
throne on state occasions. At such times 
he appeared in his royal robes. The 
throne was the symbol of supreme power 
and dignity. Gen. 41 : 40. Similarly, " to 
sit upon the throne " implied the exer- 
cise of regal power. Deut. 17 : 18 ; 1 
Kings 16 : 11. 
Thummim. [Urim and Thummim.] 
Thunder is hardly ever heard in 
Palestine from the middle of April to 
the middle of September ; hence it was 
selected by Samuel as a striking expres- 
sion of the divine displeasure toward the 




Israelites. 1 Sam. 12 : 17. Eain in har- 
vest was deemed as extraordinary as 
snow in summer, Prov. 26 : 1, and Je- 



Thyatira. 

rome states that he had never witnessed 
it in the latter part of June or in July. 
Comm. on Amos 4:7. In the imagina- 



THY 



TIB 



tive philosophy of the Hebrews, thunder 
was regarded as the voice of Jehovah, 
Job 37 : 2,4,5; 40 : 9 ; Ps. 18 : 13 ; 29 : 
8-9 ; Isa. 30 : 30, 31, who dwelt behind 
the thunder-cloud. Ps. 81 : 7. Thunder 
was, to the mind of the Jew, the sym- 
bol of divine power, Ps. 29 : 3, etc., and 
vengeance. 1 Sam. 2 : 10 ; 2 Sam. 22 : 14. 

Thyati'ra, a city on the Lycus, 
founded by Seleucus Nicator, lay to the 
left of the road from Pergamos to Sardis, 
27 miles from the latter city, and on the 
very confines of Mysia and Ionia, so as 
to be sometimes reckoned within the one 
and sometimes within the other. Dyeing 
apparently formed an important part of 
the industrial activity of Thyatira, as it 
did of that of Colossre and Laodicea. It 
is first mentioned in connection with 
Lydia, " a seller of purple." Acts 16 : 14. 
One of the Seven Churches of Asia was 
established here. Rev. 2 : 18-29. The 
principal deity of the city was Apollo ; 
but there was another superstition, of an 
extremely curious nature, which seems 
to have been brought thither by some 
of the corrupted Jews of the dispersed 
tribes. A fane stood outside the walls, 
dedicated to Sambatha — the name of the 
sibyl who is sometimes called Chaldsean, 
sometimes Jewish, sometimes Persian — 
in the midst of an enclosure designated 
" the Chaldeans' court." This seems to 
lend an illustration to the obscure pas- 
sage in Rev. 2 : 20, 21, which some inter- 
pret of the wife of the bishop. Now there 
is evidence to show that in Thyatira 
there was a great amalgamation of races. 
If the sibyl Sambatha was in reality a 
Jewess, lending her aid to the amalga- 
mation of different religions, and not dis- 
countenanced by the authorities of the 
Judeo-Christian Church at Thyatira, 
both the censure and its qualification be- 
come easy of explanation. (The present 
name of the city is ak-Hissar ("white 
castle"). It has a reputation for the 
manufacture of scarlet cloth. Its present 
population is 15,000 to 20,000. There 
are nine mosques. — Ed.) 

Thyine wood occurs in Rev. 18 : 12, 
where the margin has "sweet" (wood). 
There can be little doubt that the wood 
here spoken of is that of the Th uya ar- 
ticulata, Desfont., the Callitris quadri- 
valvis of present botanists. It is a cone- j 
bearing tree and allied to the pine. This 
tree was much prized by the ancient j 
Greeks and Romans on account of the 
beauty of its wood for various ornamental 




Thyine Wood {Thuya articulata). 

purposes. By the Romans the ti*ee was 
called citrus, the wood citrum. It is a 
native of Barbary, and grows to the 
height of 15 to 25 feet. 

Tibe'rias, a city in the time of 
Christ, on the Sea of Galilee ; first men- 
tioned in the New Testament, John 6 : 

I, 23; 21 : 1, and then by Josephus, who 
states that it was built by Herod Anti- 
pas, and was named by him in honor of 
the emperor Tiberius. Tiberias was the 
capital of Galilee from the time of its 
origin until the reign of Herod Agrippa 

II. , who changed the seat of power back 
again to Sepphoris, where it had been 
before the founding of the new city. 
Many of the inhabitants were Greeks 
and Romans, and foreign customs pre- 
vailed there to such an extent as to give 
offence to the stricter Jews. It is remark- 
able that the Gospels give us no intima- 
tion that the Saviour, who spent so much 
of his public life in Galilee, ever visited 
Tiberias. The place is only mentioned 
in the New Testament in John 6 : 23. 
History. — Tiberias has an interesting 
history apart from its strictly biblical 
associations. It bore a conspicuous part 
in the wars between the Jews and the 
Romans. The Sanhedrin, subsequent to 

695 



TIB 



TIG 



the fall of Jerusalem, after a temporary 
sojourn at Jamnia and Sepphoris, became 
fixed there about the middle of the sec- 
ond century. Celebrated schools of 
Jewish learning flourished there through 
a succession of several centuries. The 
Mishna was compiled at this place by 
the great Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh, a.d. 
190. The city has been possessed succes- 
sively by Romans, Persians, Arabs and 
Turks. It contains now, under the 
Turkish rule, a mixed population of Mo- 
hammedans, Jews and Christians, vari- 
ously estimated at from two to four 
thousand. Present city. — The ancient 
name has survived in that of the modem 
Tubarieh, which occupies the original 
site. Near Tubarieh, about a mile farther 
south along the shore, are the celebrated 
warm baths, which the Roman naturalists 
reckoned among the greatest known curi- 
osities of the world. '1 iberias is described 
by Dr. Thomson as " a filthy place, fear- 
fully hot in summer." It was nearly 
destroyed in 1837 by an earthquake, by 
which 600 persons lost their lives. 

Tibe'rias, The Sea of. John 21 : 1. 
[Gennesaret, Sea of.J 




Head of Emperor Tiberius. 



Tibe'riiis (in full, Tiberius Claudius 
Nero), the second Roman emperor, suc- 



cessor of Augustus, who began to reign 
A.D. 14 and reigned until A.D. 37. He 
was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero 
and Livia, and hence a stepson of Au- 
gustus. He was born at Rome on the 
Kith of November, B.C. 45. He became 
emperor in his fifty-fifth year, after hav- 
ing distinguished himself as a command- 
er in various wars, and having evinced 
talents of a high order as an orator and 
an administrator of civil affairs. He 
even gained the reputation of possess- 
ing the sterner virtues of the Roman 
character, and was regarded as entirely 
worthy of the imperial honors to which 
his birth and supposed personal merits at 
length opened the way. Yet, on being 
raised to the supreme power, he suddenly 
became, or showed himself to be, a very 
I different man. His subsequent life was 
one of inactivity, sloth and self-indulg- 
ence. He was despotic in his govern- 
ment, cruel and vindictive in his dispo- 
sition. He died a.d. 37, at the age of 
78, after a reign of twenty-three years. 
Our Saviour was put to death in the 
reign of Tiberius. 

Tib'hath (extension), a city of Ha- 
dadezer, king of Zobah, 1 Chron. 18 : 
8, which in 2 Sam. 8 : 8 is called Eetah. 
Its exact position is unknown. 

Tib'ni ^intelligent). After Zimri had 
burnt himself in his palace, there was a 
division in the northern kingdom, half 
of the people following Tibni the son of 
Ginath, and half following Omri. 1 Kings 
16 : 21, 22. Omri was the choice of the 
army. Tibni was probably put forward 
by the people of Tirzah, which was then 
besieged by Omri and his host. The 
struggle between the contending factions 
lasted four years (comp. 1 Kings 16 : 15, 
23), B.C. 926-922, when Tibni died. 

Ti'dal (great son) is mentioned only 
in Gen. 14 : 1, 9. (B.C. about 1900.) He 
is called "king of nations," from which 
we may conclude that he was a chief 
over various nomadic tribes who inhab- 
ited different portions of Mesopotamia at 
different seasons of the year, as do the 
Arabs at the present dav. 

Tig'lath-pile'ser. ' (In 1 Chron. 5 : 
26, and again in 2 Chron. 28 : 20, the 
name of this king is given as Tilgath- 
pilneser.) Tiglath-pileser is the second 
Assyrian king mentioned in Scripture as 
having come into contact with the Israel- 
ites. He attacked Samaria in the reign 
of Pekah, B.C. 756-736, probably because 
Pekah withheld his tribute, and, having 
697 



TIG 



TIM 



entered his territories, he " took Ijon, 
and Abel-beth-niaachah, and Janoah, 
and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and 
Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali, 
and carried them captive to Assyria." 2 
Kings 15 : 29. The date of this invasion 
cannot be fixed. After his first expedi- 
tion a close league was formed between 
Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, having 
for its special object the humiliation of 
Judah. At first great successes were 
gained by Pekah and his confederate, 2 
Kings 15 : 37 ; 2 Chron. 28 : 6-8 ; but on 
their proceeding to attack Jerusalem it- 
self, Ahaz applied to Assyria for assist- 
ance, and Tiglath-pileser, consenting to 
aid him, again appeared at the head of an 
army in these regions. He first marched, 
naturally, against Damascus, which he 
took, 2 Kings 16 : 9, razing it to the 
ground, and killing Rezin, the Damas- 
cene monarch. After this, probably, he 
proceeded to chastise Pekah, whose coun- 
try he entered on the northeast, where 
it bordered upon " Syria of Damascus." 
Here he overran the whole district to the 
east of Jordan, carrying into captivity 
" the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half 
tribe of Manasseh." 1 Chron. 5 : 26. Be- 
fore returning into his own land, Tiglath- 
pileser had an interview with Ahaz at 
Damascus. 2 Kings 16 : 10. This is all 
that Scripture tells us of Tiglath-pileser. 
He reigned certainly from B.C. 747 to B.C. 
730, and possibly a few years longer, 
being succeeded by Shalmaneser at least 
as early as B.C. 725. Tiglath-pileser's 
wars do not, generally, appear to have 
been of much importance. No palace or 
great building can be ascribed to this 
king. His slabs, which are tolerably nu- 
merous, show that he must have built or 
adorned a residence at Calah (Nimrud), 
where they were found. 

Ti'gris is used by the LXX. as the 
Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Hid- 
dekel, and occurs also in several of the 
apocryphal books, as in Tobit, eh. 6 : 1, 
Judith, ch. 1 : 6, and Ecclesiasticus, ch. 
24:25. The Tigris, like the Euphrates, 
rises from two principal sources in the 
Armenian mountains, and flows into the 
Euphrates. Its length, exclusive of wind- 
ings, is reckoned at 1146 miles. It re- 
ceives, along its middle and lower course, 
no fewer than five important tributaries. 
These are the river of Zakko or eastern 
Khabour, the Great Zab (Zab Ala), the 
Lesser Zab (Zab Asfal), the Adhem, and 
the Diyaleh or ancient Gyndes. All 
698 



these rivers flow from the high range of 
Zagros. We find but little mention of 
the Tigris in Scripture. It appears, in- 
deed, under the name of Hiddekel, among 
the rivers of Eden, Gen. 2 : 14, and is there 
correctly described as " running eastward 
to Assyria;" but after this we hear no 
more of it, if we except one doubtful 
allusion in Nahum, ch. 2:6, until the 
captivity, when it becomes well known 
to the prophet Daniel. With him it is 
"the Great River." The Tigris, in its 
upper course, anciently ran through Ar- 
menia and Assyria. 

Tik'vah [hope). 1. The father of Shal- 
lum the husband of the prophetess Hul- 
dah. 2 Kings 22 : 14. (B.C. before 632.) 

2. The father of Jahaziah. Ezra 10 : 15. 
(B.C. 458.) 

Tik'vath [assemblage) (properly T6- 
Mhath or Tokhath), Tikvah the father of 
Shallum. 2 Chron. 34 : 22. 

Til'gathopilne'ser, a variation, and 
probably a corruption, of the name Tig- 
lath-pileser. 1 Chron. 5:6, 26; 2 Chron. 
28 : 20. 

Ti'lon (gift), one of the four sons of 
Shimon, whose family is reckoned in 
the genealogies of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 20. 
(B.C. 1451.) 

Timae'us, the father of the blind man, 
Bartimaeus. Mark 10 : 46. 




Timbrel. 



Timbrel, tabret (Heb. tupli). In 
old English tabor was used for any drum. 
Tabouret and tabourine are diminutives 
of tabor, and denote the instrument now 
known as the tambourine. Tabret is a 
contraction of tabouret. The Hebrew 
topli is undoubtedly the instrument de- 
scribed by travellers as the duff or diff 
of the Arabs. It was played principally 
by women, Ex. 15 : 20 ; Judges 11 : 34 ; 1 



TIM 



TIM 



Sam. 18 : 6 ; Ps. 68 : 25, as an accompani- 
ment to the song and dance. The cliff of 
the Arabs is described by Russell as " a 
hoop (sometimes with pieces of brass fixed 
in it to make a jingling) over which a 
piece of parchment is stretched. It is 
beaten with the fingers, and is the true 
tympanum of the ancients." In Barbary 
it is culled tar. 

Tim'na, or Tim'nah (restraint). 1. 
A concubine of Eliphaz son of Esau, and 
mother of Amalek, Gen. 36 : 12 ; it may 
be presumed that she was the same as 
Timna sister of Lotan. Ibid. ver. 22, 
and 1 Chron. 1 : 39. (B.C. after 1800.) 

2. A duke or phvlarch of Edom in the 
last list in Gen. 36:40-43; 1 Chron. 1: 
51-54. Timnah was probably the name 
of a place or a district. [See the follow- 
ing article.] 

Tim'nah (portion). 1. A place which 
formed one of the landmarks on the 
north boundary of the allotment of Ju- 
dah. Josh. 15 : 10. It is probably iden- 
tical with the Thimnathah of Josh. 19 : 
43, and that again with the Timnath, or, 
more accurately, Timnathah, of Samson, 
Judges 14 : 1, 2, 5, and the Thamnatha of 
the Maccabees. The modern representa- 
tive of all these various forms of the same 
name is probably Tibneh, a village about 
two miles west of Ain Shems (Beth- 
shemesh). In the later history of the 
Jews, Timnah must have been a conspic- 
uous place. It was fortified by Bacchi- 
des as one of the most important military 
posts of Judea. 1 Mace. 9 : 50. 

2. A town in the mountain district of 
Judah. Josh. 15 : 57. A distinct place 
from that just examined. 

3. Inaccurately written Timnath in 
the Authorized Version, the scene of the 
adventure of Judah with his daughter- 
in-law Tamar. Gen. 38 : 12, 13, 14. There 
is nothing here to indicate its position. 
It may be identified either with the Tim- 
nah in the mountains of Judah [No. 2] 
or with the Timnathah of Samson [No. 1]. 

Tim'nath. [Timnah.] 

Tim'nathah, the residence of Sam- 
son's wife. Judges 14 : 1, 2, 5. 

Tim'nath- he'res (portion of the 
sun), the name under which the city and 
burial-place of Joshua, previously called 
Timnath-serah, is mentioned in Judges 

2:9. [TlMNATII-SKKAH.] 

Tim'nath- se'rah (portion of abun- 
dance), the name of the city which was 
presented to Joshua after the partition of 
the country, Josh. 19:50, and in "the 



border" of which he was buried. Josh. 
24 : 30. It is specified as " in Mount 
Ephraim on the north side of Mount 
Gaash." In Judges 2 : 9 the name is al- 
tered to Timnath-heres. The latter 
form is that adopted by the Jewish 
writers. Accordingly, they identify the 
place with Kefar-cheres, which is said by 
Jewish travellers to be about five miles 
south of Shechem (Nablus). No place 
with that name appears on the maps. 
Another identification has, however, been 
suggested by Dr. Eli Smith. In his 
journey from Jifna to Mejdel- Yaba, 
about six miles from the former he dis- 
covered the ruins of a considerable town. 
Opposite the town was a much higher 
hill, in the north side of which are sev- 
eral excavated sepulchres. The whole 
bears the name of Tibneh. 

Tim'nite, The, Samson's father-in- 
law, a native of Timnathah. Judges 15 : 6. 

Ti'mon, one of the seven,' commonly 
called " deacons." Acts 6 : 1-6. He was 
probably a Hellenist, (a.d. 34.) 

Timo'theus. 1. A "captain of the 
Ammonites," 1 Mace. 5 : 6, who was de- 
feated on several occasions by Judas Mac- 
cabseus, B.C. 164. 1 Mace. 5 : 6, 11, 34-44. 
He was probably a Greek adventurer. 

2. In 2 Mace, a leader named Timo- 
theus is mentioned as having taken part 
in the invasion of Nicanor, B.C. 166. 2 
Mace. 8 : 30 ; 9:3. 

3. The Greek name of Timothy. Acts 
16 : 1 ; 17 : 14, etc. 

Tim'othy. The disciple thus named 
was the son of one of those mixed mar- 
riages which, though condemned by 
stricter Jewish opinion, were yet not un- 
common in the later periods of Jewish 
history. The father's name is unknown ; 
he was a Greek, i. e. a Gentile, by de- 
scent. Acts 16:1,3. The absence of any 
personal allusion to the father in the 
Acts or Epistles suggests the inference 
that he must have died or disappeared 
during his son's infancy. The care of 
the boy thus devolved upon his mother 
Eunice and her mother Lois. 2 Tim. 1 : 
5. Under their training his education 
was emphatically Jewish. "From a 
child " he learned to " know the Holy 
Scriptures " daily. The language of the 
Acts leaves it uncertain whether Lystra 
or Derbe was the residence of the devout 
family. The arrival of Paul and Bar- 
nabas in Lycaonia, A.D. 44, Acts 14 : 6, 
brought the message of glad tidings to 
Timothy and his mother, and they re- 
699 



TIM 



TIM 



ceived it with " unfeigned faith." 2 Tim. 
1 : 5. During the interval of seven years 
between the apostle's first and second 
journeys the boy grew up to manhood. 
Those who had the deepest insight into 
character, and spoke with a prophetic 
utterance, pointed to him, 1 Tim. 1 : IS; 
4 : 14, as others had pointed before to 
Paul and Barnabas, Acts 13 : 2, as speci- 
ally fit for the missionary work in which 
the apostle was engaged. Personal feel- 
ing led St. Paul to the same conclusion, 
Acts 16 : 3, and he was solemnly set apart 
to do the work and possibly to bear the 
title of evangelist. 1 Tim. 4 : 14; 2 Tim. 
1 : 6 ; 4 : 5. A great obstacle, however, 
presented itself. Timothy, though reck- 
oned as one of the seed of Abraham, had 
been allowed to grow up to the age of 
manhood without the sign of circumcis- 
ion. With a special view to the feelings 
of the Jews, making no sacrifice of prin- 
ciple, the apostle, who had refused to 
permit the circumcision of Titus, " took 
and circumcised " Timothy. Acts 16 : 3. 
Henceforth Timothy was one of his most 
constant companions. They and Sil- 
van us, and probably Luke also, jour- 
neyed to Philippi, Acts 16 : 12, and there 
the young evangelist was conspicuous at 
once for his filial devotion and his zeal. 
Philip. 2 : 22. His name does not appear 
in the account of St. Paul's work at Thes- 
salonica, and it is possible that he re- 
mained some time at Philippi. He ap- 
pears, however, at Berea, and remains 
there when Paul and Silas are obliged 
to leave, Acts 17 : 14, going afterward to 
join his master at Athens. 1 Thess. 3 : 2. 
From Athens he is sent back to Thessa- 
lonica, ibid., as having special gifts for 
comforting and teaching. He returns 
from Thessalonica, not to Athens, but to 
Corinth, and his name appears united 
with St. Paul's in the opening words of 
both the letters written from that city to 
the Thessalonians. 1 Thess. 1 : 1 ; 2 Thess. 
1 : 1. Of the next five years of his life 
we have no record. When we next meet 
with him, it is as being sent on in ad- 
vance when the apostle was contem- 
plating the long journey which was to 
include Macedonia, Achaia, Jerusalem 
and Rome. Acts 19 : 22. It is probable 
that he returned by the same route and 
met St. Paul according to a previous ar- 
rangement, 1 Cor. 16 : 11, and was thus 
with him when the Second Epistle was 
written to the church of Corinth. 2 Cor. 
1 : 1. He returns with the apostle to 
700 



that city, and joins in messages of greet- 
ing to the disciples whom he had known 
personally at Corinth, and who had since 
found their way to Pome. Pom. 16 : 21. 
He forms one of the company of friends 
who go with St, Paul to Philippi, and 
then sail by themselves, waiting for his 
arrival by a different ship. Acts 20 : 3-6. 
The absence of his name from Acts 27 
leads to the conclusion that he did not 
share in the perilous voyage to Italy. 
He must have joined the apostle, how- 
ever, apparently soon after his arrival at 
Rome, and was with him when the Epis- 
tles to the Philippians, to the Colossians 
and to Philemon were written. Philip. 
1 : 1 ; 2 : 19 ; Col. 1:1; Phil. ver. 1. All 
the indications of this period point to 
incessant missionary activity. 

From the two Epistles addressed to 
Timothy we are able to put together a 
feAv notices as to his later life. It follows 
from 1 Tim. 1 : 3 that he and his master, 
after the release of the latter from his 
imprisonment, a.d. 63, revisited procon- 
sular Asia; that the apostle then con- 
tinued his journey to Macedonia, while 
the disciple remained, half reluctantly, 
even weeping at the separation, 2 Tim. 
1:4, at Ephesus, to check, if possible, 
the outgrowth of heresy and licentious- 
ness which had sprung up there. The 
position in which he found himself might 
well make him anxious. He had to rule 
presbyters most of whom were older than 
himself. 1 Tim. 4 : 12. Leaders of rival 
sects were there. The name of his be- 
loved teacher was no longer honored as 
it had been. We cannot wonder that the 
apostle, knowing these trials, should be 
full of anxiety and fear for his disciple's 
steadfastness. In the Second Epistle to 
him, a.d. 67 or 68, this deep personal 
feeling utters itself yet more fully. The 
last recorded words of the apostle express 
the earnest hope, repeated yet more earn- 
estly, that he might see him once again. 
2 Tim. 4:9, 21. We may hazard the 
conjecture that he reached him in time, 
and that the last hours of the teacher 
were soothed by the presence of the dis- 
ciple whom he loved so truly. Some 
writers have seen in Heb. 13 : 23 an indi- 
cation that he even shared St. Paul's im- 
prisonment, and was released from it by 
the death of Nero. Beyond this all is 
apocryphal and uncertain. He con- 
tinued, according to the old traditions, 
to act as bishop of Ephesus, and died a 
martyr's death under Domitian or Nerva. 



TIM 



TIE 



A somewhat startling theory as to the 
intervening period of his life has found 
favor with some. If he continued, ac- 
cording to the received tradition, to be 
bishop of Ephesus, then he, and no other, 
must have been the "angel" of the 
church of Ephesus to whom the message 
of Rev. 2 : 1-7 was addressed. 

Timothy, Epistles of Paul to. 
The Epistles to Timothy and Titus are 
called the Pastoral Epistles, because they 
are principally devoted to directions about 
the work of the pastor of a church. The 
First Epistle was probably written from 
Macedonia, a.d. 65, in the interval be- 
tween St. Paul's first and second impris- 
onments at Rome. The absence of any 
local reference but that in 1 Tim. 1:3 
suggests Macedonia or some neighboring 
district. In some MSS. and versions Lao- 
dicea is named in the inscription as the 
place from which it was sent. The Second 
Epistle appears to have been written A.D. 
67 or 68, and in all probability at Rome. 
The following are the characteristic fea- 
tures of these epistles: — (1) The ever- 
deepening sense in St. Paul's heart of the 
divine mercy of which he was the object, 
as shown in the insertion of the word 
"mercy" in the salutations of both epis- 
tles, and in the "obtained mercy" of 1 
Tim. 1 : 13. (2) The greater abruptness 
of the Second Epistle. From first to last 
there is no plan, no treatment of subjects 
carefully thought out. All speaks of 
strong overflowing emotion, memories of 
the past, anxieties about the future. (3) 
The absence, as compared with St. Paul's 
other epistles, of Old Testament refer- 
ences. This may connect itself with the 
fact just noticed, that these epistles are 
not argumentative, possibly also with the 
request for the " honks and parchments " 
which had been left behind. 2 Tim. 4: 
13. (4) The conspicuous position of the 
"faithful sayings" as taking the place 
occupied in other epistles by the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures. The way in which 
these are cited as authoritative, the variety 
of subjects which t hey cover, suggests the 
thought that in them we have specimens 
of the prophecies of the apostolic Church 
Avhich had mosl impressed themselves on 
the mind of the apostle and of the dis- 
ciples generally, l Cor. 14 shows how 
deep a reverence lie was likely to feel for 
such spiritual utterances. In 1 Tim. 4 : 
1 we have ;i distinct reference to them. 
(5) The tendency of the apostle's mind to 
dwell more on the universality of the re- 



demptive work of Christ, 1 Tim. 2 : 3-6 ; 4 : 
10, and his strong desire that all the teach- 
ing of his disciples should be "sound." 
(6) The importance attached by him to 
the practical details of administration. 
The gathered experience of a long life 
had taught him that the life and well- 
being of the Church required these for 
its safeguards. (7) The recurrence of 
doxologies, 1 Tim. 1 : 17 ; 6 : 15, 16 ; 2 
Tim. 4:18, as from one living perpetu- 
| ally in the presence of God, to whom the 
language of adoration was as his nat- 
ural speech. 

Tin. Among the various metals found 
in the spoils of the Midianites, tin is enu- 
merated. Num. 31 : 22. It was known to 
the Hebrew metal-workers as an alloy of 
other metals. Isa. 1 : 25 ; Ezek. 22 : 18, 
20. The markets of Tyre were supplied 
with it by the ships of Tarshish. Ezek. 
27 : 12. It was used for plummets, Zech. 
4 : 10, and was so plentiful as to furnish 
the writer of Ecclesiasticus, Ecclus. 47 : 
18, with a figure by which to express the 
wealth of Solomon. Tin is not found in 
Palestine. Whence, then, did the ancient 
Hebrews obtain their supply ? " Only 
three countries are known to contain 
any considerable quantity of it : Spain 
and Portugal, Cornwall and the adjacent 
parts of Devonshire, and the islands of 
Junk, Ceylon and Banca, in the Straits 
of Malacca." (Kenrick, " Phoenicia," p. 
212.) There can be little doubt that the 
mines of Britain were the chief source of 
supply to the ancient world. [See Tar- 
shish.] (" Tin ore has lately been found 
in Midian."— Schaff.) 

Tiph/sah (ford) is mentioned in 1 
Kings 4 : 24 as the limit of Solomon's em- 
pire toward the Euphrates, and in 2 Kings 
15 : 16 it is said to have been attacked by 
Menahem. It was known to the Greeks 
and Romans under the name of Thap- 
sacus, and was the point where it was 
usual to cross the Euphrates. Thapsacus 
has been generally placed at the modern 
De'ir; but the Euphrates expedition 
proved that there is no ford at De'ir, and 
that the only ford in this part of the 
course of the Euphrates is at Suriyeh, 45 
miles below Balis, and 165 above De'ir. 
This, then, must have been the position 
of Thapsacus. 

Tir'ras (desire), the youngest son of 
Japheth, Gen. 10:2, usually identified 
with the Thracians, as presenting the 
closest verbal approximation to the name. 

Ti'iathites, The, one of the three 
701 



TIR 



TIT 



families of scribes residing at Jabez, 1 
Chron. 2 : 55, the others being the Shira- 
eathites and Sucathites. The passage is 
hopelessly obscure. 

Tire, an old English word for head- 
dress. It was an ornamental headdress 
worn on festive occasions, Ezek. 24 : 17, 23, 
and perhaps, as some suppose, also an 
ornament for the neck worn by both 
women, Isa. 3 : 18, and men, and even on 
the necks of camels. Judges 8 : 21, 26. 

Tir'hakah, or Tirha'kah {exalted ?), 
king of Ethiopia (Cush), the opponent of 
Sennacherib. 2 Kings 19:9; lsa. 37:9. 
He may be identified with Tarkos or Tar- 
akos, who was the third and last king of 
the twenty-fifth dynasty, which was of 
Ethiopians. His accession was probably 
about B.C. 695. Possibly Tirhakah ruled 
over Ethiopia before becoming king of 
Egypt. 

Tir'hanah (favor), son of Caleb ben- 
Hezron by his concubine Maachah. 1 
Chron. 2 : 48. [B.C. about 1451. J 

Tir'ia (fear), son of Jehaleleel, of 
the tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 16. (B.C. 
about 1451.) 

Tirshatha (always written with the 
article), the title of the governor of Ju- 
dea under the Persians, perhaps derived 
from a Persian root signifying stern, severe, 
is added as a title after the name of Nehe- 
miah, Neh. 8:9; 10:1, and occurs also 
in three other places. In the margin of 
the Authorized Version, Ezra 2 : 63 ; Neh. 
7 : 65 ; 10 : 1, it is rendered " governor." 

Tir'zah (delight), youngest of the five 
daughters of Zelophehad. Num. 26 : 33 ; 
27 : 1 ; 36 : 11 ; Josh. 17 : 3. (B.C. 1450.) 

Tir'zah, an ancient Canaanite city, 
whose king is enumerated among those 
overthrown in the conquest of the coun- 
try. Josh. 12 : 24. It reappears as a royal 
city, the residence of Jeroboam and of 
his successors, 1 Kings 14 : 17, 18 ; and as 
the seat of the conspiracy of Menahem 
ben-Gaddi against the wretched Shallum. 
2 Kings 15 : 16. Its reputation for beauty 
throughout the country must have been 
widespread. It is in this sense that it is 
spoken of in the Song of Solomon. Eu- 
sebius mentions it in connection with 
Menahem, and identifies it with a "vil- 
lage of Samaritans in Batanea," Its site 
is Telluzah, a place in the mountains 
north of Nablus. 

Tish'bite, The, the well-known des- 
ignation of Elijah. 1 Kings 17 : 1; 21 : 17, 
28; 2 Kings 1 : 3, 8; 9:36. The name 
naturally points to a place called Tish- 
702 



beh, Tishbi, or rather perhaps Tesheb, as 
the residence of the prophet. Assuming 
that a town is alluded to as Elijah's na- 
tive place, it is not necessary to infer that 
it was itself in Gilead, as many have 
imagined. The commentators and lexi- 
cographers, with few exceptions, adopt 
the name "Tishbite" as referring to the 
place Thisbe in Naphtali, which is found 
in the Septuagint text of Tobit 1 : 2. 

Tithe or tenth, the proportion of 
property devoted to religious uses from 
very early times. Instances of the use of 
tithes are found prior to the appointment 
of the Levitical tithes under the law. In 
biblical history the two prominent in- 
stances are — 1. Abram presenting the 
tenth of all his property, or rather of the 
spoils of his victorv, to Melchizedek. 
Gen. 14 : 20 ; Heb. 7 : 2, 6. 2. Jacob, after 
his vision at Luz, devoting a tenth of all 
his property to God in case he should re- 
turn home in safety. Gen. 28 : 22. The 
first enactment of the law in respect of 
tithe is the declaration that the tenth of 
all produce, as well as of flocks and cat- 
tle, belongs to Jehovah, and must be 
oifered to him ; that the tithe was to be 
paid in kind, or, if redeemed, with an 
addition of one fifth to its value. Lev. 27 : 
30-33. This tenth is ordered to be as- 
signed to the Levites as the reward of 
their service, and it is ordered further 
that they are themselves to dedicate to 
the Lord a tenth of these receipts, which 
is to be devoted to the maintenance of the 
high priest. Num. 18 : 21-28. This legis- 
lation is modified or extended in the book 
of Deuteronomy, i. e. from thirty-eight to 
forty years later. Commands are given 
to the people — 1. To bring their tithes, 
together with their votive and other offer- 
ings and first-fruits, to the chosen centre 
of worship, the metropolis, there to be 
eaten in festive celebration in company 
with their children, their servants and 
the Levites. Deut. 12:5-18. 2. All the 
produce of the soil was to be tithed every 
year, and these tithes, with the firstlings 
of the flock and herd, were to be eaten in 
the metropolis. 3. But in case of dis- 
tance, permission is given to convert the 
produce into money, which is to be taken 
to the appointed place, and there laid out 
! in the purchase of food for a festal cele- 
I bration, in w^hich the Levite is, by special 
■ command, to be included. Deut. 14 : 22- 
27. 4. Then follows the direction that at 
the end of three years all the tithe of 
| that year is to be gathered and laid up 



TIT 



TIT 



" within the gates," and that a festival is 
to be held, of which the stranger, the 
fatherless and the widow, together with 
the Levite, are to partake. Ibid. 5 : 28, 
29. 5. Lastly, it is ordered that after 
taking the tithe in each third year, 
" which is the year of tithing," an excul- 
patory declaration is to be made by every 
Israelite that lie has done his best to ful- 
fill the divine command. Deut. 26 : 12-14. 
From all this we gather — (1) That one 
tenth of the whole produce of the soil 
was to be assigned for the maintenance 
of the Levites.^ (2) That out of this the 
Levites were to dedicate a tenth to God 
for the use of the high priest. (3) That 
a tithe, in all probability a second tithe, 
was to be applied to festival purposes. 
(4) That in every third year, either this 
festival tithe or a third tenth was to be 
eaten in company with the poor and the 
Levites. (These' tithes in early times 
took the place of our modern taxes, as 
well as of gifts for the support of religious 
institutions. — Ed. ) 

Ti'tus. Our materials for the biog- 
raphy of this companion of St. Paul must 
be drawn entirely from the notices of him 
in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 
the Galatians, and to Titus himself, com- 
bined with the Second Epistle to Timothy. 
He is not mentioned in the Acts at all. 
Taking the passages in the epistles in the 
chronological order of the events referred 
to, we turn first to Gal. 2:1, 3. We con- 
ceive the journey mentioned here to be 
identical with that (recorded in Acts 15) 
in which Paul and Barnabas went from 
Antioch to Jerusalem to the conference 
which was to decide the question of the 
necessity of circumcision to the Gentiles. 
Here we see Titus in close association 
with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch. He 
goes with them to Jerusalem. His cir- 
cumcision was either not insisted on at 
Jerusalem, or, if demanded, was firmly 
resisted. He is very emphatically spoken 
of as a Gentile, by which is most prob- 
ably meant that both his parents were 
Gentiles. Titus would seem, on the oc- 
casion of the council, to have been spe- 
cially a representative of the church of 
the uncireutncision. It is to our purpose 
to remark that, in the passage cited above, 
Titus is so mentioned as apparently to 
imply that he had become personally 
known to the Galatian ( 'hristians. After 
leaving Galatia, Acts 18:23, and spend- 
ing a long time at Kphesus, Acts 19 : 1- 
20 : 1, the apostle proceeded to Macedonia 



by way of Troas. Here he expected to 
meet Titus, 2 Cor. 2 : 13, who had been 
sent on a mission to Corinth. In this 
hope he was disappointed, but in Mace- 
donia Titus joined him. 2 Cor. 7 : 6, 7, 
13-15. The mission to Corinth had refer- 
ence to the immoralities rebuked in the 
First Epistle, and to the collection, at 
that time in progress, for the poor Chris- 
tians of Judea. 2 Cor. 8 : 6. Thus we are 
prepared for what the apostle now pro- 
ceeds to do after his encouraging conver- 
sations with Titus regarding the Corinth- 
ian church. He sends him back from 
Macedonia to Corinth, in company with 
two other trustworthy Christians, bearing 
the Second Epistle, and with an earnest 
request, ibid. 8 : 6, 17, that he would see 
to the completion of the collection, ch. 
8:6. 

A considerable interval now elapses 
before we come upon the next notices of 
this disciple. St. Paul's first imprison- 
ment is concluded, and his last trial is 
impending. In the interval between the 
two, he and Titus were together in Crete. 
Titus 1 : 5. We see Titus remaining in 
the island when St. Paul left it, and re- 
ceiving there a letter written to him by 
the apostle. From this letter we gather 
the following biographical details : In 
the first place we learn that he was orig- 
inally converted through St. Paul's in- 
strumentality. Titus 1 :4. Next we learn 
the various particulars of the responsible 
duties which he had to discharge in Crete. 
He is to complete what St. Paul had been 
obliged to leave unfinished, ch. 1 : 5, and 
he is to organize the church throughout 
the island by appointing presbyters in 
every city. Next he is to control and 
bridle, ver. 11, the restless and mischiev- 
ous Judaizers. He is also to look for the 
arrival in Crete of Artemas and Tychi- 
cus, ch. 3:12, and then is to hasten to 
join St. Paul at Nicopolis, where the 
apostle purposes to pass the winter. 
Zenas and Apollos are in Crete, or ex- 
pected there ; for Titus is to send them 
on their journey, and to supply them 
with whatever they need for it. ch. 3 : 13. 
AVhether Titus did join the apostle at 
Nicopolis we cannot tell; but we natu- 
rally connect the mention of this place 
with what St. Paul wrote, at no great in- 
terval of time afterward, in the last of 
the Pastoral Epistles, 2 Tim. 4:10; for 
Dalmatia lay to the north of Nicopolis, 
at no great distance from it. From the 
form of the whole sentence, it seems 
703 



TIT 



TOB 



probable that this disciple had been with 
St. Paul in Rome during his final im- 
prisonment ; but this cannot be asserted 
confidently. The traditional connection 
of Titus with Crete is much more specific 
and constant, though here again we can- 
not be certain of the facts. He is said to 
have been permanent bishop in the isl- 
and, and to have died there at an ad- 
vanced age. The modern capital, Can- 
did, appears to claim the honor of being 
his burial-place. In the fragment by 
the lawyer Zenas, Titus is called bishop 
of Gortyna. Lastly, the name of Titus 
was the watchword of the Cretans when 
they were invaded by the Venetians. 

Titus, Epistle to. There are no 
specialties in this epistle which require I 
any xery elaborate treatment distinct 
from the other Pastoral Letters of St. 
Paul. It was written about the same 
time and under similar circumstances 
with the other two ; i. e., from Ephesus, 
in the autumn of 67, in the interval be- 
tween Paul's two Roman imprisonments. 

Ti'tus Jus'tus. (The form given in 
the Revised Version, of the proselyte 
Justus, at whose house in Corinth Paul 
preached when driven from the syna- 
gogue. He is possibly the same as Titus 
the companion of Paul.) 

Ti'zite, The, the designation of 
Joha, one of the heroes of David's army. 
1 Chron. 11 : 45. It occurs nowhere else, 
and nothing is known of the place or 
family which it denotes. 

To'ah {lowly), a Kohathite Levite, 
ancestor of Samuel and Heman. 1 Chron. 
6:34 (19). 

Tob-adoni'jah {Adonijah the good), 
one of the Levites sent by Jehoshaphat 
through the cities of Judah to teach the 
law to the people. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. (B.C. 
910.) 

Tob {good), The land of, a place in 
which Jephthah took refuge when ex- 
pelled from home by his half-brother, 
Judges 11 : 3, and where he remained, at 
the head of a band of freebooters, till he 
was brought back by the sheikhs of Gil- 
ead. ver. 5. The narrative implies that 
the land of Tob was not far distant from 
Gilead; at the same time, from the na- 
ture of the case, it must have lain out to- 
ward the eastern deserts. It is undoubt- 
edly mentioned again in 2 Sam. 10 : 6, 8, 
as Ishtob, i. e. man of Tob, meaning, ac- | 
cording to a common Hebrew idiom, the 
men of Tob. After a long interval it ap- 
pears a^ain, in the Maccabsean history, 
704 



j 1 Mace. 5 : 13, in the names Tobie and 
Tubieni. 2 Mace. 12 : 17. No identifica- 
tion of the ancient district with any 
modern one has yet been attempted. 

Tobi'ah {goodness of Jehovah). 1. 
" The children of Tobiah " were a family 
who returned with Zerubbabel, but were 
unable to prove their connection with 
Israel. Ezra 2:60; Neh. 7:62. (B.C. 
before 536.) 

2. " Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite," 
played a conspicuous part in the rancor- 
ous opposition made by Sanballat the 
Moabite and his adherents to the rebuild- 
ing of Jerusalem. (B.C. 446.) The two 
races of Moab and Amnion found in these 
men fit representatives of that hereditary 
I hatred to the Israelites which began be- 
fore the entrance into Caanan, and was 
not extinct when the Hebrews had ceased 
to exist as a nation. But Tobiah, though 
I a slave, Neh. 2 : 10, 19 — unless this is a 
i title of opprobrium — and an Ammonite, 
found means to ally himself with a 
priestly family, and his son Johanan 
married the daughter of Meshullam the 
son of Berechiah. Neh. 6 : 18. He himself 
was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son 
of Arah, Neh. 6 : 17, and these family re- 
lations created for him a strong -faction 
among the Jews. 

Tobi'jah {goodness of Jehovah). 1. 
One of the Levites sent by Jehoshaphat 
to teach the law in the cities of Judah. 
2 Chron. 17:8. (B.C. 910.) 

2. One of the captivity in the time of 
Zechariah, in whose presence the prophet 
was commanded to take crowns of silver 
and gold and put them on the head of 
Joshua the high priest. Zech. 6:10, 14. 
(B.C. 519.) 

To'bit, Book of, a book of the 
Apocrypha, which exists at present in 
Greek, Latin, Syriac and Hebrew texts, 
but it was probably written originally in 
Greek. The scene of the book is placed 
in Assyria, whither Tobit, a Jew, had 
been carried as a captive by Shalmaneser. 
It is represented as completed shortly 
after the fall of Nineveh (B.C. 606), Tob. 
14:15, and written, in the main, some 
time before. Tob. 12 : 20. But the whole 
tone of the narrative bespeaks a later 
age ; and above all, the doctrine of good 
and evil spirits is elaborated in a form 
which belongs to a period considerably 
i posterior to the Babylonian captivity. 
Asmodeus iii. 8 ; vi. 14 ; viii. 3 ; Raphael 
xii. 15. It cannot be regarded as a true 
history. It is a didactic narrative; and 



TOO 



TOM 



its point lies in the moral lessons which 
it conveys, and not in the incidents. In 
modern 'times the moral excellence of 
the book has been rated highly, except 
in the heat of controversy. Nowhere 
else is there preserved so complete and 
beautiful a picture of the domestic life of 
the Jews after the return. Almost every 
family relation is touched upon with nat- 
ural grace and affection. A doctrinal 
feature of the book is the firm belief in a 
glorious restoration of the Jewish people. 
Tob. 14:5; 13:9-18, But the restora- 
tion contemplated is national, and not 
the work of a universal Saviour. In all 
there is not the slightest trace of the be- 
lief in a personal Messiah. 

To'chen (task), a place mentioned in 
1 Chron. 4 : 32 only, among the towns of 
Simeon. 

Togar'mah, a son of Gomer, of the 
family of Japheth, and brother of Ash- 
kenaz and Riphath. Gen. 10 : 3. His de- 
scendants became a people engaged in 
agriculture, breeding horses and mules 
to be sold in Tyre. Ezek. 27 : 14. They 
were also a military people, well skilled 
in the use of arms. Togarmah was prob- 
ably the ancient name of Armenia. 

To'hu (lowly), an ancestor of Samuel 
the prophet, perhaps the same as Toah. 
1 Sam. 1:1; comp. 1 Chron. 6 : 34. 

To'i (erring), king of Hamath on the 
Orontes, who, after the defeat of his pow- 
erful enemy the Syrian king Hadadezer 
by the army of David, sent his son Joram 
or Hadoram to congratulate the victor 
and do him homage with presents of gold 
and silver and brass. 2 Sam. 8:9, 10. 
(B.C. 1036.) 

To'la. 1. The first-born of Issachar, 
and ancestor of the Tolaites. Gen. 46 : 13 ; 
Num. 26 : 23; 1 Chron. 7:1, 2. (B.C. 
about 1700.) 

2. Judge of Israel after Abimelech. 
Judges 10 : 1, 2. lie is described as "the 
son of Puah the son of Dodo, a man of 
Issachar." Tola judged Israel for twenty- 
three years at Shamir in Mount Ephraim, 
where he died and was buried. (B.C. 
1206-1183.) 

To'lad, one of the towns of Simeon, 
1 Chron. 4 : 29, elsewhere called El-tolad. 

To'laites, The, the descendants of 
Tola the son of Issachar. Num. 26 : 23. 

Tomb. From the burial of Sarah in 
the cave of Machpelah, Gen. 23 : 19, to 
the funeral rites prepared for Dorcas, Acts 
9 : 37, there is no mention of any sar- 
cophagus, or even coffin, in any Jewish 
45 



burial. Still less were the rites of the 
Jews like those of the Pelasgi or Etrus- 
cans. They were marked with the same 
simplicity that characterized all their re- 
ligious observances. This simplicity of 
rite led to what may be called the distin- 
guishing characteristic of Jewish sepul- 
chres — the deep locuius — which, so far as 
is now known, is universal in all purely 
Jewish rock-cut tombs, but hardly known 
! elsewhere. Its form will be understood 
by referring to the following diagram, 




Diagram of Jewish Sepulchre. 

representing the forms of Jewish sepul- 
ture. In the apartment marked A there 
are twelve such loculi, about two feet in 
width by three feet high. On the ground 
floor these generally open on the level of 
the floor ; when in the upper story, as at 
C, on a ledge or platform, on which the 
body might be laid to be anointed, and 
on which the stones might rest which 
closed the outer end of each locuius. 
The shallow locuius is shown in chamber 
B, but was apparently only used when 
sarcophagi were employed, and therefore, 
so far as we know, only during theGraco- 
Eoman period, when foreign customs 
came to be adopted. The shallow locuius 
would have been singularly inappropriate 
and inconvenient where an unembalmed 
body was laid out to decay, as there would 
evidently be no means of shutting it oft* 
from the rest of the catacomb. The deep 
locuius, on the other hand, was strictly 
conformable with Jewish customs, and 
could easily be closed by a stone fitted to 
the end and luted into the groove which 
usually exists there. This fact is espec- 
ially interesting as it affords a key to 
much that is otherwise hard to be under- 
stood in certain passages in the New Tes- 
tament. Thus in John 11 : 39, Jesus says, 
705 



TOM 



TOM 



" Take away the stone," and (ver. 40) 
" they took away the stone," without dif- 
ficulty, apparently. And in ch. 20 : 1 the 
same expression is used, " the stone is 
taken away." There is one catacomb— 
that known as the " tomb of the kings " 
—which is closed by a stone rolled across 
its entrance ; but it is the only one, and 
the immense amount of contrivance and 
fitting which it has required is sufficient 
proof that such an arrangement was not 




Entrance to Tomb of the Kings, with Stone at 
its Mouth. 

applied to any other of the numerous 
rock tombs around Jerusalem, nor could 
the traces of it have been obliterated had 
it anywhere existed. Although, there- 
fore, the Jews were singularly free from 
the pomps and vanities of funereal mag- 
nificence, they were at all stages of their 
independent existence an eminently bury- | 
ing people. Tombs of the patriarchs. — j 
One of the most striking events in the j 
life of Abraham is the purchase of the j 
field of Ephron the Hittite at Hebron, in J 
which was the cave of Machpelah, in 
order that he might therein bury Sarah 
his wife, and that it might be a sepul- 
chre for himself and his children. There 
706 



he and his immediate descendants were 
laid 3700 years ago, and there they are 
believed to rest now, under the great 
mosque of Hebron ; but no one in modern 
times has seen their remains, or been al- 
lowed to enter into the cave where they 
rest. From the time when Abraham es- 
tablished the burying-place of his family 
at Hebron till the time when David fixed 
that of his family in the city which bore 
his name, the Jewish rulers had no fixed 
or favorite place of sepulture. Each was 
buried on his own property, or where he 
died, without much caring for either the 
sanctity or convenience of the plac€ 
chosen. Tomb of the kings. — Of the 
twenty-two kings of Judah who reigned 
at Jerusalem from 1048 to 590 B.C., eleven , 
or exactly one half, were buried in one 
hypogeum in the " city of David." Of 
al l these it is merely said that they were 
buried in "the sepulchres of their fathers" 
or "of the kings" in the city of David, 
except of two — Asa and Hezekiah. Two 
more of these kings— Jehoram and Joash 
— were buried also in the city of David, 
" but not in the sepulchres of the kings." 
The passage in Neh. 3 : 16 and in Ezek. 
43 : 7, 9, together with the reiterated as- 
sertion of the books of Kings and Chron- 
icles that these sepulchres were situated 
in the city of David, leaves no doubt that 
they were on Zion, or the Eastern Hill, 
and in the immediate proximity of the 
temple. Up to the present time we have 
not been able to identify one single sepul- 
chral excavation about Jerusalem which 
can be said with certainty to belong to a 
period anterior to that of the Maccabees, 
or, more correctly, to have been used for 
burial before the time of the Romans. 
The only important hypogeum which is 
wholly Jewish in its arrangement, and 
may consequently belong to an earlier or 
to any epoch, is that known as the tombs 
of the prophets, in the western flank of 
the Mount of Olives. It has every appear- 
ance of having originally been a natural 
cavern improved by art, and with an ex- 
ternal gallery some 140 feet in extent, 
into which twenty-seven deep or Jewish 
loculi open. Grceco- Roman tombs. — Be- 
sides the tombs above enumerated, there 
are around Jerusalem, in the valleys of 
Hinnom and Jehoshaphat and on the 
plateau to the north, a number of remark- 
able rock -cut sepulchres, with more or 
less architectural decoration, sufficient to 
enable us to ascertain that they are all 
of nearly the same age, and to assert with 



TON 



TON 



very tolerable confidence that the epoch 
to which they belong must be between 
the introduction of Roman influence and 
the destruction of the city by Titus, a.d. 
70. In the village of Siloam there is a 
monolithic cell of singularly Egyptian 
aspect, which De Saulcy assumes to be a 
chapel of Solomon's Egyptian wife. It 
is probably of very much more modern 
date, and is more Assyrian than Egyptian 
in character. The principal remaining 
architectural sepulchres may be divided 
into three groups : first, those existing in 
the valley of Jehoshaphat, and known 
popularly as the tombs of Zechariah, of 
St. James and of Absalom. Second, those 
known as the tombs of the judges, and 
the so-called Jewish tomb about a mile 
north of the city. Third, that known as 
the tomb of the kings, about half a mile 
north of the Damascus gate. Of the 
three first-named tombs the most south- 
ern is known as that of Zechariah, a pop- 
ular name which there is not even a 
shadow of tradition to justify. Tombs of 
the judges. — The hypogeum known as 
the tombs of the judges is one of the most 
remarkable of the catacombs around Je- 
rusalem, containing about sixty deep loc- 



Josephus. They are twice again men- 
tioned under the title of the " monuments 
of Herod." There seems no reason for 
doubting that all the architectural tombs 





Facade of the Tomb of the Judges. 

uli, arranged in three stories; the upper 
stories with ledges in front, to give con- 
venient access, and to support the stones 
that close them ; the lower flush with the 
ground; the whole, consequently, so es- 
sentially Jewish that it might be of any 
age if it were not for its distance from 
the town and its architectural character. 
Tombs of Berod. — The last of the great 
groups enumerated above is that known 
as the tomb of the kings — Kebxvr es Sul- 
tan—or the Royal Caverns, so called be- 
cause of their magnificence, and also be- 
cause that name is applied to them by 



Facade of Herod's Tomb. 

of Jerusalem belong to the age of the 
Romans. Tomb of Helena of Adiabene. 
— There was one other very famous tomb 
at Jerusalem, which cannot be passed 
over in silence, though not one vestige of 
it exists — the supposed tomb of Helena. 
We are told that " she with her brother 
was buried in the pyramids which she 
had ordered to be constructed at a dis- 
tance of three stadia from Jerusalem." 
Joseph. Ant. xx. 4, \ 3. This is confirmed 
by Pausanias. viii. 16. The tomb was 
situated outside the third wall, near a 
gate between the tower Psephinus and 
the Royal Caverns. B. J. v. 22 and v. 4, 
£ 2. The people still cling to their an- 
cient cemeteries in the valley of Jehosha- 
phat with a tenacity singularly charac- 
teristic of the East. [Burial.] 

Tongues, Confusion of. The unity 
of the human race is most clearly im- 
plied, if not positively asserted, in the 
Mosaic writings. Unity of language is 
assumed by the sacred historian appa- 
rently as a corollary of the unity of race. 
(This statement is confirmed by philol- 
ogists.) No explanation is given of the 
origin of speech, but its exercise is evi- 
dently regarded as coeval with the crea- 
tion of man. The original unity of speech 
was restored in Noah. Disturbing causes 
were, however, early at work to dissolve 
this twofold union of community and 
speech. The human family endeavored 
to check the tendency to separation by 
the establishment of a great central edi- 
707 



TON 



TON 



fice and a city which should serve as the 
metropolis of the whole world. The proj- 
ect was defeated by the interposition of 
Jehovah, who determined to " confound 
their language, so that they might not 
understand one another's speech." Con- 
temporaneously with, and perhaps as the 
result of, this confusion of tongues, the 
people were scattered abroad from thence 
upon the face of all the earth, and the 
memory of the great event was preserved 
in the name Babel. [Babel, Tower 
OF.] Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. — 
In the Borsippa inscription of Nebuchad- 
nezzar there is an allusion to the confu- 
sion of tongues. " We say for the other, 
that is, this edifice, the house of the 
Seven Lights of the Earth, the most an- 
cient monument of Borsippa: a former 
king built it [they reckon forty-two ages] , 
but he did not complete its head. Since a 
remote time people had abandoned it, with- 
out order expressing their words. Since 
that time the earthquake and the thun- 
der had dispersed its sun-dried clay; the 
bricks of the casing had been split, and 
the earth of the interior had been scat- 
tered in heaps." It is unnecessary to as- 
sume that the judgment inflicted on the 
builders of Babel amounted to a loss, or 
even a suspension, of articulate speech. 
The desired object would be equally at- 
tained by a miraculous forestallment of 
those dialectical differences of language 
which are constantly in process of pro- 
duction. The elements of the one orig- 
inal language may have remained, but so 
disguised by variations of pronunciation 
and by the introduction of new combina- 
tions as to be practically obliterated. 
The confusion of tongues and the disper- 
sion of nations are spoken of in the Bible 
as contemporaneous events. The diverg- 
ence of the various families into distinct 
tribes and nations ran parallel with the 
divergence of speech into dialects and 
languages, and thus the tenth chapter of 
Genesis is posterior in historical sequence 
to the events recorded in the eleventh 
chapter. 

Tongues, Gift of. I. rWra, or 
•yAwa-cra, the word employed throughout the 
New Testament for the gift now under 
consideration, is used — (1) for the bodily 
organ of speech; (2) for a foreign word, 
imported and half-naturalized in Greek ; 
(3) in Hellenistic Greek, for " speech " or 
" language." The received traditional 
view, which starts from the third mean- 
ing, and sees in the gift of tongues a 
708 



distinctly linguistic power, is the more 
correct one. II. The chief passages from 
which we have to draw our conclusion as 
to the nature and purpose of the gift in 
question are — 1. Mark 16 : 17. 2. Acts 2 : 
1-13 ; 10 : 46 ; 19 : 6. 3. 1 Cor. 12, 14. 
III. The promise of a new power coming 
from the divine Spirit, giving not only 
comfort and insight into truth, but fresh 
powers of utterance of some kind, appears 
once and again in our Lord's teaching. 
The disciples are to take no thought what 
they shall speak, for the spirit of their 
Father shall speak in them. Matt. 10 : 19, 
20; Mark 13 : 11. The lips of Galilean 
peasants are to speak freely and boldly 
before kings. The promise of our Lord 
to his disciples, " They shall speak with 
new tongues," Mark 16 : 17, was fulfilled 
on the day of Pentecost, when cloven 
tongues like fire sat upon the disciples, 
and " every man heard them speak in his 
own language." Acts 2 : 1-12. IV. The 
wonder of the day of Pentecost is, in its 
broad features, familiar enough to us. 
What views have men actually taken of 
a phenomenon so marvellous and ex- 
ceptional? The prevalent belief of the 
Church has been that in the Pentecostal 
gift the disciples received a supernatural 
knowledge of all such languages as they 
needed for their work as evangelists. 
The knowledge was permanent. Widely 
diffused as this belief has been, it must 
be remembered that it goes beyond the 
data with which the New Testament sup- 
plies us. Each instance of the gift re- 
corded in the Acts connects it, not with 
the work of teaching, but with that of 
praise and adoration ; not with the nor- 
mal order of men's lives, but with excep- 
tional epochs in them. The speech of 
St. Peter which follows, like most other 
speeches addressed to a Jerusalem audi- 
ence, was spoken apparently in Aramaic. 
When St. Paul, who " spake with tongues 
more than all," was at Lystra, there is no 
mention made of his using the language 
of Lycaonia. It is almost implied that 
he did not understand it. Acts 14 : 11. 
Not one word in the discussion of spirit- 
ual gifts in 1 Cor. 12-14 implies that the 
gift was of this nature, or given for this 
purpose. Nor, it may be added, within 
the limits assigned by the providence 
of God to the working of the apostolic 
Church, was such a gift necessary. Ara- 
maic, Greek, Latin, the three languages 
of the inscription on the cross, were me- 
dia of intercourse throughout the empire. 



TON 



TON 



Some interpreters have seen their way 
to another solution of the difficulty by 
changing the character of the miracle. It 
lay not in any new character bestowed 
on the speakers, but in the impression 
produced on the hearers. Words which 
the Galilean disciples uttered in their 
own tongue were heard as in their native 
speech by those who listened. There are, 
it is believed, weighty reasons against 
both the earlier and later forms of this 
hypothesis. L It is at variance with the 
distinct statement of Acts 2:4: "They 
began to speak with other tongues." 2. 
It at once multiplies the miracle and de- 
grades its character. Not the 120 disci- 
ples, but the whole multitude of many 
thousands, are in this case the subjects of 
it. 3. It involves an element of false- 
hood. The miracle, on this view, was 
wrought to make men believe what was 
not actually the fact. 4. It is altogether 
inapplicable to the phenomena of 1 Cor. 
14. Critics of a negative school have, as 
might be expected, adopted the easier 
course of rejecting the narrative either 
altogether or in part. What, then, are 
the facts actually brought before us? 
What inferences may be legitimately 
drawn from them? {a) The utterance 
of words by the disciples, in other lan- 
guages than their own Galilean Aramaic, 
is distinctly asserted, (b) The words 
spoken appear to have been determined, 
not by the will of the speakers, but by the 
Spirit which " gave them utterance." (e) 
The word used, 6.no()>9eyyeaeai } has in the 
LXX. a special association with the orac- 
ular speech of true or false prophets, and 
appears to imply a peculiar, perhaps mu- 
sical, solemn intonation. Gomp. 1 Chron. 
25 : 1 ; Ezek. 13 : 9. (d) The " tongues " 
were used as an instrument, not of teach- 
ing, but of praise, (r) Those who spoke 
them seemed to others to be under the in- 
fluence of some strong excitement, " full 
of new wine." (/) Questions as to the 
mode of operation of a power above the 
common laws of bodily or mental life 
lead us to a region where our words 
should be "wary and few." It must be 

I remembered, then, that in all likelihood 
such words as they then uttered had been 
I heard by the disciples before. Thediffer- 
ence was that before, the Galilean peas- 
ants had stood in that crowd, neither 
heeding nor understanding nor remem- 

j bering what they heard, still less able to 
reproduce it ; now tin y had the power of 
speaking it clearly and freely. The di- 



vine work would in this case take the 
form of a supernatural exaltation of the 
memory, not of imparting a miraculous 
knowledge of words never heard before. 
{g) The gift of tongues, the ecstatic burst 
of praise, is definitely asserted to be a ful- 
fillment of the prediction of Joel 2 : 28. 
We are led, therefore, to look for that 
which answers to the gift of tongues in 
the other element of prophecy which is 
included in the Old Testament use of the 
word; and this is found in the ecstatic 
praise, the burst of song. 1 Sam. 10 : 5-13 ; 
19 : 20-24 ; 1 Chron. 25 : 3. (A) The other 
instances in the Acts offer essentially the 
same phenomena. By implication in ch. 
14 : 15-19, by express statement in ch. 10 : 
47 ; 11 : 15, 17 ; 19 : 6, it belongs to special 
critical epochs. V. The First Epistle to 
the Corinthians supplies fuller data. The 
spiritual gifts are classified and compared, 
arranged, apparently, according to their 
worth. The facts which may be gathered 
are briefly these : 1. The phenomena of 
the gift of tongues were not confined to 
one church or section of a church. 2. 
The comparison of gifts, in both the lists 
given by St. Paul— 1 Cor. 12 : 8-10, 28- 
30 — places that of tongues and the inter- 
pretation of tongues lowest in the scale. 3. 
The main characteristic of the " tongue " 
is that it is unintelligible. The man 
" speaks mysteries," prays, blesses, gives 
thanks, in the tongue, 1 Cor. 14 : 15, 16, 
but no one understands him. 4. The pe- 
culiar nature of the gift leads the apostle 
into what at first appears a contradiction. 
" Tongues are for a sign," not to believ- 
ers, but to those who do not believe; yet 
the effect on unbelievers is not that of at- 
tracting, but of repelling. They involve 
of necessity a disturbance of the equilib- 
rium between the understanding and the 
feelings. Therefore it is that, for those 
who believe already, prophecy is the 
greater gift. 5. The "tongues,", how- 
ever, must be regarded as real languages. 
The " divers kinds of tongues," 1 Cor. 
12 : 28, the " tongues of men," 1 Cor. 13 : 
1, point to differences of some kind, and 
it is easier to conceive of these as differ- 
ences of language than as belonging to 
utterances all equally wild and inarticu- 
late. 6. Connected with the "tongues" 
there was the corresponding power of in- 
terpretation. VI. 1. Traces of the gift 
are found in the Epistles to the Romans, 
the Galatians, the Ephesians. From the 
Pastoral Epistles, from those of St. Peter 
and St. John, they are altogether absent, 
709 



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and this is in itself significant. 2. It is 
probable, however, that the disappear- j 
ance of the "tongues" was gradual. 
There must have been a time when 
" tongues " were still heard, though less 
frequently and with less striking results. 
For the most part, however, the place 
which they had filled in the worship of 
the Church was supplied by the " hymns 
and spiritual songs" of the succeeding 
age. After this, within the Church we 
lose nearly all traces of them. The gift 
of the day of Pentecost belonged to a 
critical epoch, not to the continuous life 
of the Church, it implied a disturbance 
of the equilibrium of man's normal state ; 
but it was not the instrument for building 
up the Church. 

Topaz, one of the gems used in the 
high priest's breastplate, Ex. 28 : 17 ; 39 : 
10 ; Ezek. 28 : 13 ; one of the foundations 
also of the New Jerusalem, in St. John's 
description of the city. Rev. 21 : 20. The 
topaz of the ancient Greeks and Romans 
is generally allowed to be our chryso- 
lite, while their chrysolite is our topaz. 
Chrysolite is a silicate of magnesia and 
iron ; it is so soft as to lose its polish un- 
less carefully used. It varies in color 
from a pale-green to a bottle-green. It 
is supposed that its name w r as derived 
from Topazos, an island in the Red Sea 
where these stones were procured. 

To'phel {mortar), Deut. 1 : 1, has 
been identified with TufUeh on a wady 
of the same name running north of Bozra 
toward the southeast corner of the Dead 
Sea. 

To'pheth, and once To'phet {place 
of burning), was in the southeast ex- 
tremity of the "valley of the son of 
Hinnom," Jer. 7:31, which is "by the 
entry of the east gate." Jer. 19 : 2. The 
locality of Hinnon is given elsewhere. 
[Hinnom.] It seems also to have been 
part of the king's gardens, and watered 
by Si loam, perhaps a little to the south 
of the present Birket el-Hamra. The 
name Tophet occurs only in the Old Tes- 
tament. 2 Kings 23 : 10 ; Isa. 30 : 33 ; 
Jer. 7 : 31, 32 ; 19 : 6, 11, 12, 13, 14. The 
New does not refer to it, nor the Apoc- 
rypha. Tophet has been variously trans- 
lated. The most natural meaning seems 
that suggested by the occurrence of the 
word in two consecutive verses, in one of 
which it is a tobret and in the other To- 
phet. Isa. 30 : 32, 33. The Hebrew words 
are nearly identical; and Tophet was 
probably the king's " music-grove " or 
710 



garden, denoting originally nothing evil 
or hateful. Certainly there is no proof 
that it took its name from the drums 
beaten to drown the cries of the burning 
victims that passed through the fire to 
Molech. Afterward it was defiled by 
idols and polluted by the sacrifices of 
Baal and the fires of Molech. Then it 
became the place of abomination, the 
very gate or pit of hell. The pious kings 
defiled it and threw down its altars and 
high places, pouring into it all the filth 
of the city, till it became the " abhor- 
rence" of Jerusalem. 

Tor'mah occurs only in the margin 
of Judges 9 : 31. By a few commentators 
it has been conjectured that the word 
was originally the same with Aeumah 
in ver. 41. 

Tortoise (Heb. tsab). The tsdb oc- 
j curs only in Lev. 11 : 29,. as the name of 
; some unclean animal. The Hebrew word 
may be identified with the kindred Ar- 
abic dkab, " a large kind of lizard," 
which appears to be the Pswmmosaarus 
scincus of Cuvier. 

To'n, or To'i, king of Hamath. 1 
Chron. 18 : 9, 10. 
Tower, Watch-towers or fortified 




Watch-tower. 



posts in frontier or exposed situations are 
mentioned in Scripture, as the tower of 
Edar, etc., Gen. 35 : 21 ; Isa. 21 : 5, 8, 11 ; 
Micah 4 : 8, etc. ; the tower of Lebanon. 
2 Sam. 8 : 6. Besides these military 
structures, we read in Scripture of towers 
built in vineyards as an almost necessary 
appendage to them. Isa. 5:2; Matt. 21 : 
33 ; Mark 12 : 1. Such towers are still in 
use in Palestine in vineyards, especially 



TOW 



TEA 




Towers in the Desert. 

near Hebron, and are used as lodges for 
the keepers of the vineyards. 

Town clerk, the title ascribed in 
our version to the magistrate at Ephesus 
who appeased the mob in the theatre at 
the time of the tumult excited by Deme- 
trius and his fellow craftsmen. Acts 19 : 
35. The original service of this class of 
men was to record the laws and decrees 
of the state, and to read them in public. 

Trachomatis {a rugged region), Luke 
3 : 1, is in all probability the Greek equiv- 
alent for the Aramaic Argob, one of the 
five Roman provinces into which the 
country northeast of the Jordan was 
divided in New Testament times. [Ar- 
gob.] 

Trance. (1) In the only passage — 
Num. 24 : 4, 16 — in which this word oc- 
curs in the English of the Old Testament 
there is, as the italics show, no corre- 
sponding word in Hebrew. In the New 
Testament we meet with the word three 
times— Acts 10 : 10 ; 11:5; 22 : 17. The 
eKo-Tao-Ls (i. e. trance) is the state in which 
a man lias passed out of the usual order 
of his life, beyond the usual limits of 
consciousness and volition, being rapt in 
visions of distant or future things. The 
causes of this state are to be traced com- 



monly to strong religious im- 
pressions. Whatever explana- 
tion may be given of it, it is 
true of many, if not of most, of 
those who have left the stamp 
of their own character on the 
religious history of mankind, 
that they have been liable to 
pass at times into this abnor- 
mal state. The union of in- 
tense feeling, strong volition, 
long-continued thought (the 
conditions of all wide and last- 
ing influence), aided in many 
cases by the withdrawal from 
the lower life of the support 
which is needed to maintain a 
healthy equilibrium, appears 
to have been more than the 
" earthen vessel " will bear. 
The words which speak of " an 
ecstasy of adoration " are often 
literally true. As in other 
things, so also here, the phe- 
nomena are common to higher 
and lower, to true and false, 
systems. We may not point to 
trances and ecstasies as proofs 
of a true revelation, but still 
less may we think of them as 
I at all inconsistent with it. Thus, though 
we have not the word, Ave have the thing 
in the " deep sleep," the " horror of great 
j darkness,'' that fell on Abraham. Gen. 
15 : 12. Balaam, as if overcome by the con- 
I straining power of a Spirit mightier than 
his own, " sees the vision of God, falling, 
| but with opened eyes." Num. 24 : 4. Saul, 
in like manner, when the wild chant of 
J the prophets stirred the old depths of feel- 
! ing, himself also "prophesied" and "fell 
j down " — most, if not all, of his kingly 
clothing being thrown off in the ecstasy 
of the moment—" all that day and all 
that night." 1 Sam. 19 : 24. Something 
there was in Jeremiah that made men 
say of him that he was as one that " is 
j mad and niaketh himself a prophet." 
Jer. 29 : 26. In Ezekiel the phenomena 
appear in more wonderful and awful 
! forms. Ezek. 3 : 15. As other elements 
and forms of the prophetic work were re- 
' vived in "the apostles and prophets " of 
I the New Testament, so also was this. 
Though different in form, it belongs to 
the same class of phenomena as the gift 
of tongues, and is connected with "visions 
and revelations of the Lord." In some 
cases, indeed, it is the chosen channel for 
such revelations. Acts 10; 11; 22:17-21. 

711 



TEA 



TEE 



Wisely for the most part did the apostle I 
draw a veil over these more mysterious 
experiences. 2 Cor. 12 : 1-4. 

Transfiguration, The. (The event 
in the earthly life of Christ which marks i 
the culminating point in his public min- I 
istry, and stands midway between the | 
temptation in the wilderness and the 
agony in Gethsemane. Matt. 17 : 1-13 ; 
Mark 9 : 2-13 ; Luke 9 : 28-36. Place.— 
Though tradition locates the transfigura- 
tion on Mount Tabor, there is little to 
confirm this view, and modern critics j 
favor Mount Hermon, the highest mount- ! 
ain-top in (iaulanitis, or one of the spurs 
of the Anti-Lebanus. Time. — The trans- 
figuration probably took place at night, 
because it could then be seen to better 
advantage than in daylight, and Jesus 
usually went to mountains to spend there 
the night in prayer. Matt. 14 : 23, 24 ; Luke 
G : 12 ; 21 : 37. The apostles were asleep, 
and are described as having kept them- 
selves awake through the act of transfig- 
uration. Luke 9 : 32. The actors and wit- 
nesses. — Christ was the central figure, the 
subject of transfiguration. Moses and 
Elijah appeared from the heavenly world, 
as the representatives of the Old Testa- 
ment, the one of the law, the other of 
prophecy, to do homage to him who was 
the fulfillment of both. Mr. Ellicott 
says, " The close of the ministry of each 
was not after the ' common death of all 
men.' No man knew of the sepulchre of 
Moses, Deut. 34 : 6 ; and Elijah had passed 
away in the chariot and horses of fire. 2 
Kings 2:11. Both were associated in 
men's minds with the glory of the king- 
dom of the Christ. The Jerusalem Tar- 
gum on Ex. 12 connects the coming of 
Moses with that of the Messiah. Another 
Jewish tradition predicts his appearance 
with that of Elijah." Moses the law- 
giver and Elijah the chief of the proph- 
ets both appear talking with Christ the 
source of the gospel, to show that they 
are all one and agree in one. St. Luke, 
Luke 9 : 31, adds the subject of their com- 
muning : " They spake of his decease 
which he should accomplish at Jerusa- 
lem." Among the apostles the three favor- 
ite disciples, Peter, James and John, were 
the sole witnesses of the scene — " the 
sons of thunder and the man of rock." 
The event itself. — The transfiguration or 
transformation, or, as the Germans call 
it, the glorification, consisted in a visible 
manifestation of the inner glory of Christ's 
person, accompanied by an audible voice 
712 



from heaven. It was the revelation and 
anticipation of his future state of glory, 
which was concealed under the veil of 
his humanity in the state of humiliation. 
The cloud which overshadowed the wit- 
nesses was bright or light-like, luminous, 
of the same kind as the cloud at the as- 
cension. Significance of the miracle. — 

1. It served as a solemn inauguration of 
the history of the passion and final con- 
summation of Christ's work on earth. 

2. It confirmed the faith of the three 
favorite disciples, and prepared them for 
the great trial which was approaching, 
by showing them the real nature and 
glory and power of Jesus. 3. It was a 
witness that the spirits of the lawgiver 
and the prophet accepted the sufferings 
and the death which had shaken the faith 
of the disciples as the necessary condi- 
tions of the messianic kingdom. — Ellicott. 
As envoys from the eternal Majesty, they 
audibly affirmed that it was the will of 
the Father that with his own precious 
blood he should make atonement for sin. 
They impressed a new seal upon the an- 
cient, eternal truth that the partition- 
wall which sin had raised could be broken 
down by no other means than by the 
power of his sufferings; that he, as the 
good Shepherd, could only ransom his 
sheep with the price of his own life. — 
Krummacher. 4. It furnishes also to us 
all a striking proof of the unity of the 
Old and Kew Testaments, for personal 
immortality, and the mysterious inter- 
communion of the visible and invisible 
worlds. Both meet in Jesus Christ ; he 
is the connecting link between the Old 
and New Testaments, between heaven 
and earth, between the kingdom of grace 
and the kingdom of glory. It is very 
significant that at the end of the scene 
the disciples saw no man save Jesus alive. 
Moses and Elijah, the law and the prom- 
ise, types and shadows, pass away ; the 
gospel, the fulfillment, the substance, 
Christ remains — the only one who can 
relieve the misery of earth and glorify 
our nature, Christ all in all. (Chiefly 
from Smith's larger Bib. Die. — Ed.) 

Treasure-cities. The kings of Ju- 
dah had keepers of their treasures both 
in city and country, 1 Chron. 27 : 25, and 
the places where these magazines Avere 
laid up were called treasure-cities, and 
the buildings treasure-houses. Pharaoh 
compelled the Hebrews to build him 
ti-easure-cities. Ex. 1 : 11. — McClintock 
and Strong. [PiTHOM.] 



TEE 



TRO 



Treasury, Mark 12 : 41 ; Luke 21 : 1, 
a name given by the rabbins to thirteen 
chests in the temple, called trumpets 
from their shape. They stood in the court 
of the women. It would seem probable 
that this court was sometimes itself called 
" the treasury " because it contained these 
repositories. 

Trespass offering. [Sin offek- 

ING.] 

Trial, Information on the subject of 
trials under the Jewish law will be found 
in the articles on Judges and Sanhe- 
dein, and also in Jesus Chkist. 



Tribute. The chief biblical facts 
connected with the payment of tribute 
have been already given under Taxes. 
The tribute (money) mentioned in Matt. 
17:24, 25 was the half shekel (worth 
from 25 to 27 cents) applied to defray the 
general expenses of the temple. After 
the destruction of the temple this was 
sequestrated by Vespasian and his suc- 
cessors and transferred to the temple of 
the Capitoline Jupiter. This " tribute " 
of Matt. 17 : 24 must not be confounded 
with the tribute paid to the Roman em- 
peror. Matt. 22 : 17. The temple rate, 




Site of Troas. 



though resting on an ancient precedent — 
Ex. 30 : 13— was, as above, a fixed annual 
tribute of comparatively late origin. 
Tribute money. [Taxes; Teib- 

UTE.] 

Tro'as, the city from which St. Paul 
first sailed, in consequence of a divine 
intimation, to carry the gospel from Asia 
to Europe. Acts 16:8, 11. It is men- 
tioned on other occasions. Acts 20 : 5, 6 ; 
2 Cor. 2 : 12, 13; 2 Tim. 4 : 13. Its full 
name was Alexandria Troas (Li v. xxxv. 
42), and sometimes it was called simply 
Alexandria, sometimes simply Troas. It 
was first built by Antigonus, under the 
name of Antigonea Troas, and peopled 
with the inhabitants of some neighbor- 
ing cities. Afterward it was embellished 
by Lysimachus, and named Alexandria 
Troas. Its situation was on the coast of 



Mysia, opposite the southeast extremity 
of the island of Tenedos. Under the Ro- 
mans it was one of the most important 
towns of the province of Asia. In the 
time of St. Paul it was a colonia with 
the Jus It a lic am. The modern name is 
Eski-Stamboul, with considerable ruins. 
We can still trace the harbor in a basin 
about 400 feet long and 200 broad. 

Trogyl'lium is the rocky extremity 
of the ridge of Mycale, exactly opposite 
Samos. Acts 20 : 15. A little to the east 
of the extreme point there is an anchor- 
age, which is still called St. Paul's port. 
[Samos.] 

Troop, Band. These words are em- 
ployed to represent the Hebrew word 
gedud, which has invariably the sense of 
an irregular force, gathered with the 
object of marauding and plunder. 

713 



TKO 



TUB 



Troph'imus {nutritious). Both 
Trophimus and Tychicus accompanied 
Paul from Macedonia as far as Asia, but 
Tychicus seems to have remained there, 
while Trophimus proceeded with the 
apostle to Jerusalem, (a.d. 54.) There 
he was the innocent cause of the tumult 
in which St. Paul was apprehended. Acts 
21:27-29. From this passage we learn 
two new facts, viz. that Trophimus was a 




Ancient Trumpets. 



the first year, with the accustomed meat 
offerings, and a kid for a sin offering. 
Num. 29 : 1-6. The regular monthly of- 
fering was thus repeated, with the excep- 
tion of the young bullock. It has been 
conjectured that Ps. 81, one of the songs 
of Asaph, was composed expressly for the 
Feast of Trumpets. The psalm is used 
in the service for the day by the modern 
Jews. Various meanings have been as- 
signed to the Feast of Trumpets ; but 
there seems to be no sufficient reason 
to call in question the common opin- 
ion of Jews and Christians, that it 
was the festival of the New Year's 
day of the civil year, the first of 
Tisri, the month which commenced 
the sabbatical year and the year of 
jubilee. 

Tryphe'na and Trypho'sa {lux- 
urious), two Christian women at 
Pome, enumerated in the conclusion 
of St. Paul's letter. Pom. 16 : 12. 
(A.D. 55.) They may have been sis- 
ters, but it is more likely that they 
were fellow deaconesses. We know 
nothing more of these two sister 
workers of the apostolic time. 

Try'phon, a usurper of the Syrian 
throne. His proper name was Dio- 
dotus, and the surname Tryphon was 
given to him or adopted by him after 
his accession to power. He was a 
native of Cariana. 1 Mace. 11:39; 



Gentile, and that he was a native of 1 12 : 39-50, etc. " Tryphon, by treason and 
Ephesus. Trophimus was probably one successive wars, gained supreme power, 



of the two brethren who, with Titus, con 
veyed the second Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians. 2 Cor. 8 : 16-24. [Tychicus.] 

Trumpet. [Cor- 
net.] 

Trumpets, Feast 

of, Nun i.29:l; Lev. 23: 
24, the feast of the new 
moon, which fell on the 
first of Tisri. It differed 
from the ordinary festi- 
vals of the new moon in 
several important par- 
ticulars. It was one of 
the seven days of holy 
convocation. Instead of 
the mere blowing of the 
trumpets of the temple at 
the time of the offering of 
the sacrifices, it was " a day of blowing of 
trumpets." In addition to the daily sacri- 
fices and the eleven victims offered on the 
first of every month, there were offered a 
young bullock, a ram and seven lambs of 
714 



killed Antiochus and assumed the throne. 
The coins bear his head as Antiochus and 
Trypho." 




Tryphon. 

Trypho'sa. TTryphena.] 
Tu'bal is reckoned with Javan and 
Meshech among the sons of Japheth. 
Gen. 10:2; 1 Chron. 1:5. The three 
are again associated in the enumeration 



TUB 



TYR 



of the sources of the wealth of Tyre. 
Ezek. 27 : 13. Tubal and Javan, Isa. 66 : 
19, Meshech and Tubal, Ezek. 32 : 26 ; 
38 : 2, 3 ; 39 : 1, are nations of the north. 
Ezek. 38 : 15 ; 39 : 2. Josephus identified 
the descendants of Tubal with the Iberi- 
ans, that is, the inhabitants of a tract of 
country between the Caspian and Euxine 
Seas, which nearly corresponded to the 
modern Georgia. 

Tu'bal-cain, the son of Laraech the 
Cainite by his wife Zillah. Gen. 4 : 22. 
(B.C. about 3000.) He is called "a fur- 
bisher of every cutting instrument of 
copper and iron." 

Turpentine tree occurs only once, 
viz. in the Apocrypha. Ecclus. 24 : 16. 
It is the Pistacia terebinthus, terebinth 
tree, common in Palestine and the East. 
The terebinth occasionally grows to a 
large size. It belongs to the natural 
order Anacardiacece, the plants of which 
order generally contain resinous secre- 
tions. 

Turtle, Turtle-dove, Turtur auri- 
tus (Heb. tor). The name is phonetic, 
evidently derived from the plaintive coo- 
ing of the bird. It is one of the smaller 
members of the group of birds which or- 
nithologists usually call pigeons. The 
turtle-dove occurs first in Scripture in 
Gen. 15 : 9. In the Levitical law a pair 
of turtle-doves or of young pigeons are 
constantly prescribed as a substitute for 
those who were too poor to provide a 
lamb or a kid. The offering of two 
young pigeons must have been one easily 
within the reach of the poorest. The ad- 
mission of a pair of turtle-doves was per- 
haps a yet further concession to extreme 
poverty, for they were extremely numer- 
ous, and their young might easily be 
found and captured by those who did not 
possess pigeons. In the valley of the Jor- 
dan, an allied species, the palm-dove (so 
named because it builds its nest in the 
palm tree), or Egyptian turtle — Turtur 
cegyptiacus, Temm. — is by no means un- 
common. It is not improbable that the 
palm-dove may in some measure have 
supplied the sacrifice in the wilderness, 
for it is found in amazing numbers wher- 
ever the palm tree occurs, whether wild 
or cultivated. From its habit of pairing 
for life, and its fidelity to its mate, the 
turtle-dove was a symbol of purity and 
an appropriate offering. The regular 
migration of the turtle-dove and its re- 
turn in the spring are alluded to in Jer. 
8 : 7 and Cant. 2 : 11, 12. It is from its 



plaintive note doubtless that David in 
Ps. 74 : 19, pouring forth his lament to 
j God, compares himself to a turtle-dove. 
Twin Brothers. This term is used 
in the Revised Version of Acts 28 : 11 for 
! Castor and Pollux, which see. 

Tych'icus (fatef ul) and Troph'imus 
(nutritious), companions of St. Paul on 
some of his journeys, are mentioned as 
natives of Asia. Acts 20 : 4 ; 21 : 29 ; 2 
Tim. 4 : 20. ( A.D. 54-64.) There is much 
probability in the conjecture that Tych- 
icus and Trophimus were the two breth- 
ren who were associated with Titus, 2 
Cor. 8 : 16-24, in conducting the business 
of the collection for the poor Christians 
in Judea. 

Tyran'nus (sovereign), the name of 
a man in whose school or place of audi- 
ence Paul taught the gospel for two 
years, during his sojourn at Ephesus. 
See Acts 19 : 9. (A.D. 52, 53.) The pre- 
sumption is that Tyrannus himself was 
a Greek, and a public teacher of philos- 
ophy or rhetoric. 

Tyre (a rock), a celebrated commercial 
city of Phoenicia, on the coast of the 
Mediterranean Sea. Its Hebrew name, 
Tzor, signifies a rock ; which well agrees 
with the site of Sur, the modern town, 
on a rocky peninsula, formerly an island. 
There is no doubt that, previous to the 
siege of the city by Alexander the Great, 
Tyre was situated on an island ; but, ac- 
cording to the tradition of the inhab- 
itants, there was a city on the mainland 
before there was a city on the island ; 
and the tradition receives some color 
from the name of Palsetyrus, or Old 
Tyre, which was borne in Greek times 
by a city on the continent, thirty stadia 
to the south. Notices in the Bible. — In 
the Bible Tyre is named for the first 
time in the book of Joshua, ch. 19 : 29, 
where it is adverted to as a fortified city 
(in the Authorized Version "the strong 
city"), in reference to the boundaries of 
the tribe of Asher. But the first passages 
in the Hebrew historical writings, or in 
ancient history generally, which afford 
glimpses of the actual condition of Tyre 
are in the book of Samuel, 2 Sam. 5 : 11, 
in connection with Hiram king of Tyre 
sending cedar wood and workmen to 
David, for building him a palace ; and 
subsequently in the book of Kings, in 
j connection with the building of Solo- 
[ mon's temple. It is evident that under 
I Solomon there was a close alliance be- 
i tween the Hebrews and the Tyrians. 

715 



TYR 



TYR 



Hiram supplied Solomon with cedar 
wood, precious metals and workmen, and 
gave him sailors for the voyage to Ophir 
and India, while on the other hand Sol- 
omon gave Hiram supplies of corn and 
oil, ceded to him some cities, and per- 




Ruins at Tyre. 

mitted him to make use of some havens 
on the Eed Sea. 1 Kings 9 : 11-14, 26-28 ; 
10 : 22. These friendly relations survived 
for a time the disastrous secession of the 
ten tribes, and a century later Ahab mar- 
ried a daughter of Ethbaal king of the 
Sidonians, 1 Kings 16 : 31, who, ac- 
cording to Menander, was daughter 
of Ithobal king of Tyre. When mer- 
cantile cupidity induced the Tyr- 
ians and the neighboring Phoenic- 
ians to buy Hebrew captives from 
their enemies, and to sell them as 
slaves to the Greeks and Edomites, 
there commenced denunciations, 
and at first threats of retaliation. 
Joel 3:4-8; Amos 1 : 9, 10. When 
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, had 
taken the city of Samaria, had con- 
quered the kingdom of Israel, and 
carried its inhabitants into cap- 
tivity, he laid siege to Tyre, which, 
however, successfully resisted his 
arms. It is in reference to this siege 
that the prophecy against Tyre in 
Isaiah, ch. 23, was uttered. After 
the siege of Tyre by Shalmaneser 
(which must have taken place not 
long after 721 B.C.), Tyre remained a 
powerful state, with its own kings, Jer. 
25 : 22 ; 27 : 3 ; Ezek. 28 : 2-12 ; remark- 
able for its wealth, with territory on the 
mainland, and protected by strong forti- 
716 



fications. Ezek. 26 : 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 ; 27 : 
11 ; 28 : 5 ; Zech. 9 : 3. Our knowledge 
of its condition thenceforward until the 
siege by Nebuchadnezzar depends en- 
tirely on various notices of it by the 
Hebrew prophets ; but some of these no- 
tices are singularly full, and espec- 
ially the twenty -seventh chapter of 
Ezekiel furnishes us, on some points, 
with details such as have scarcely 
come down to us respecting any one 
city of antiquity excepting Kome 
and Athens. Siege by Nebuchad- 
nezzar. — In the midst of great pros- 
perity and wealth, which was the 
natural result of extensive trade, 
Ezek. 28 : 4, Nebuchadnezzar, at the 
head of an army of the Chaldees, 
invaded Judea and captured Jeru- 
salem. As Tyre was so near to 
Jerusalem, and as the conquerors 
were a fierce and formidable race, 
Hab. 1:6, it would naturally be 
supposed that this event would have 
excited alarm and terror amongst 
the Tyrians. Instead of this, we 
may infer from Ezekiel's state- 
ment, Ezek. 26 : 2, that their predom- 
inant feeling was one of exultation. At 
first sight this appears strange and al- 
most inconceivable; but it is rendered 
intelligible by some previous events in 
Jewish history. Only 34 years before 




Ruins of the Wall of Tyre. 

the destruction of Jerusalem commenced 
the celebrated reformation of Josiah, B.C. 
622. This momentous religious revolu- 
tion, 2 Kings 22, 23, fully explains the 
exultation and malevolence of the Tyr- 




717 



TYB, 



TYR 



ians. In that reformation Josiah had 
heaped insults on the gods who were the 
objects of Tyrian veneration and love. 
Indeed, he seemed to have endeavored to 
exterminate their religion. 2 Kings 23 : 
20. These acts must have been regarded 
by the Tyrians as a series of sacrilegious 
and abominable outrages; and we can 
scarcely doubt that the death in battle 
of Josiah at Megiddo, and the subsequent 
destruction of the city and temple of 
Jerusalem, were hailed by them with 
triumphant joy as instances of divine 
retribution in human affairs. This joy, 
however, must soon have given way ito 
other feelings, when Nebuchadnezzar in- 
vaded Phoenicia and laid siege to Tyre. 
That siege lasted thirteen years, and it is 
still a disputed point whether Tyre was 
actually taken by Nebuchadnezzar on 
this occasion. However this may be, it 
is probable that, on some terms or other, 
Tyre submitted to the Chaldees. The rule 
of Nebuchadnezzar over Tyre, though 
real, may have been light, and in the na- 
ture of an alliance. Attack by the Per- 
sians ; Capture by Alexander. — During 
the Persian domination the Tyrians were 
subject in name to the Persian king, and 
may have given him tribute. With the 
rest of Phoenicia they had submitted to 
the Persians without striking a blow. 
Toward the close of the following cen- 
tury, B.C. 332, Tyre was assailed for the 
third time by a great conqueror. At that 
time Tyre was situated on an island 
nearly half a mile from the mainland ; 
it was completely surrounded by pro- 
digious walls, the loftiest portion of 
which on the side fronting the mainland 
reached a height of not less than 150 
feet ; and notwithstanding the persever- 
ing efforts of Alexander, he could not 
have succeeded in his attempt if the har- 
bor of Tyre to the north had not been 
blockaded by the Cyprians and that to 
the south by the Phoenicians, thus afford- 
ing an opportunity to Alexander for 
uniting the island to the mainland by an 
enormous artificial mole. (The materials 
for this he obtained from the remains of 
old Tyre, scraping the very dust from 
her rocks into the sea, as prophesied by 
Ezekiel, Ezek. 26 : 3, 4, 12, 21, more than 
250 years before.) The immediate re- 
sults' of the capture by Alexander were 
718. 



most disastrous to Tyre, as its brave de- 
fenders were put to death ; and in accord- 
ance with the barbarous policy of ancient 
times, 30,000 of its inhabitants, including 
slaves, free females and free children, 
were sold as slaves. It gradually, how - 
ever, recovered its prosperity through the 
immigration of fresh settlers, though its 
trade is said to have suffered by the vi- 
cinity and rivalry of Alexandria. Under 
the Macedonian successors of Alexander 
it shared the fortunes of the Seleucidai. 
Under the Eomans, at first it enjoyed a 
kind of freedom. Subsequently, how- 
ever, on the arrival of Augustus in the 
East, he is said to have deprived both 
Tyre and Sidon of their liberties for sedi- 
tious conduct. Still the prosperity of 
Tyre in the time of Augustus was unde- 
niably great. Strabo gives an account 
of it at that period, and speaks of the 
great wealth which it derived from the 
dyes of the celebrated Tyrian purple, 
which, as is well known, were extracted 
from shell-fish found on the coast, be- 
longing to a species of the genus Murex. 
Tyre in the time of Christ and since. — 
When visited by Christ, Matt. 15:21; 
Mark 7 : 24, Tyre was perhaps more pop- 
ulous than Jerusalem, and if so it was 
undoubtedly the largest city which the 
Saviour is known to have visited. At 
the time of the crusades it was still a 
flourishing city, when it surrendered to 
the Christians on the 27th of June, 1144. 
It continued more than a century and a 
half in the hands of Christians, but was 
deserted by its inhabitants in a.D. 1291, 
upon the conquest of Acre (Ptolemais) 
by the sultan of Egypt and Damascus. 
This was the turning-point in the history 
of Tyre, which has never recovered from 
the blow. Its present condition is a ful- 
fillment of Ezekiel's prophecy, Ezek. 26 : 
5. It contains, according to Volney, 50 
or 60 poor families, who live in part by 
fishing; and is, as Bruce describes it, "a 
rock whereon fishers dry their nets." 

Ty'rus. This form is employed in 
the Authorized Version of the books of 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea (Joel has 
"Tyre"), Amos and Zechariah, as fol- 
lows : Jer. 25 : 22 ; 27 : 3 ; 47 : 4 ; Ezek. 
26 : 2, 3, 4, 7, 15 ; 27 : 2, 3, 8, 32 ; 28 : 2, 
12; 29:18; Hos. 9:13; Amos 1:9, 10; 
Zech. 9 : 2, 3. 



UCA 



UNC 



U. 



U'cal (I am strong). According to 
the received text of Prov. 30 : 1, Ithiel 
and Ucal must be regarded as proper 
names ; and if so, they must be the names 
of disciples or sons of Agur the son of 
Jakeh, an unknown sage among the 
Hebrews. But there is great obscurity 
about the passage. Ewald considers both 
Ithiel and Ucal as symbolical names, 
employed by the poet to designate two 
classes of thinkers to whom he addresses 
himself. 

U'el (will of God), one of the family of 
Bani, who during the captivity had mar- 
ried a foreign wife. Ezra 10 : 34. (B.C. 
458.) 

Uk'naz. In the margin of 1 Chron. 
4:15 the words "even Kenaz" in the 
text are rendered " Uknaz," as the proper 
name. 

U'la-i (pure water) is mentioned by 
Daniel, Dan. 8 : 2, 16, as a river near to 
Susa, where he saw his vision of the ram 
and the he-goat. It has been generally 
identified with the Eulseus of the Greek 
and Roman geographers, a large stream 
in the immediate neighborhood of that 
city. The Eulseus has been by many 
identified with the Choaspes, which is 
undoubtedly the modern Kerkhah, an af- 
fluent of the Tigris, flowing into it a lit- 
tle below Kurnah. Recent surveys show 
that the Choaspes once divided into two 
streams about 20 miles above Susa. The 
eastern was the Ulai. This bifurcation 
explains Dan. 8 : 16. 

U'lam (porch). 1. A descendant of 
Giiead, the grandson of Manasseh and 
father of Bedan. 1 Chron. 7 : 17. (B.C. 
1450.) 

2. The first-born of Eshek, a descend- 
ant of the house of Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 39, 
40. (B.C. 588.) 

Ul'la (yoke), an Asherite, head of a 
family in his tribe. 1 Chron. 7 : 39. (B.C. 
about 1014.) 

Um'mah (union), one of the cities of 
the allotment of Asher. Josh. 19 : 30 only. 
Probably 'Alma, in the highlands on the 
coast, about five miles east-northeast of 
Has en-Nakhura. 

Unclean meats. These were things 
strangled, or dead of themselves or 
through beasts or birds of prey; what- 



ever beast did not both part the hoof and 
chew the cud ; and certain other smaller 
animals rated as "creeping things;" cer- 
tain classes of birds mentioned in Lev. 
11 and Deut. 14, twenty or twenty-one in 
all ; whatever in the waters had not both 
fins and scales; whatever winged insect 
had not besides four legs the two hind- 
legs for leaping; besides things offered 
in sacrifice to idols ; and all blood or 
whatever contained it (save perhaps the 
blood of fish, as would appear from that 
only of beast and bird being forbidden, 
Lev. 7 : 26), and therefore flesh cut from 
the live animal; as also all fat, at any 
rate that disposed in masses among the 
intestines, and probably wherever dis- 
cernible and separable among the flesh. 
Lev. 3 : 14-17 ; 7 : 23. The eating of blood 
was prohibited even to " the stranger that 
sojourneth among you." Lev. 17 : 10, 12- 
14. . As regards blood, the prohibition in- 
deed dates from the declaration to Noah 
against " flesh with the life thereof, which 
is the blood thereof," in Gen. 9 : 4, which 
was perhaps regarded by Moses as still 
binding upon all Noah's descendants. It 
is noteworthy that the practical effect of 
the rule laid down is to exclude all the 
carnivora among quadrupeds, and, so far 
as we can interpret the nomenclature, 
the raptores among birds. They were 
! probably excluded as being not averse to 
' human carcasses, and in most eastern 
j countries acting as the servitors of the 
j battle-field and the gibbet. Among fish 
those which were allowed contain unques- 
tionably the most wholesome varieties, 
save that they exclude the oyster. Prac- 
tically the law left among the allowed 
meats an ample variety. As Orientals 
have minds sensitive to teaching by types, 
there can be little doubt that such "cere- 
monial distinctions not only tended to 
keep Jew and Gentile apart (and so pre- 
vented the Jews from becoming contami- 
nated with the idolatry of the Gentiles), 
but were a perpetual reminder to the for- 
mer that he and the latter were not on 
one level before God. Hence, when that 
ceremony was changed we find that this 
was the very symbol selected to instruct 
St. Peter in the truth that God was not a 
"respecter of persons." It remains to 
719 



UNC 



UNI 



mention the sanitary aspect of the case. 
Swine are said to be peculiarly liable to 
disease in their own bodies. This prob- 
ably means that they are more easily 
led than other creatures to the foul feed- 
ing which produces it. As regards the 
animals allowed for food, comparing 
them with those forbidden, there can 
be no doubt on which side the balance 
of wholesomeness lies. 

Uncleanness. The distinctive idea at- 
tached to ceremonial uncleanness among 
the Hebrews was that it cut a person oft' 
for the time from social privileges, and 
left his citizenship among God's people 
for the while in abeyance. There is an 
intense reality in the fact of the divine 
law taking hold of a man by the ordinary 
infirmities of flesh, and setting its stamp, 
as it were, in the lowest clay of which he 
is moulded. The sacredness attached to 
the human body is parallel to that which 
invested the ark of the covenant itself. 
It is as though Jehovah thereby would 
teach men that the " very hairs of their 
head were all numbered" before him, 
and that " in his book were all their mem- 
bers written." Thus was inculcated, so 
to speak, a bodily holiness. Nor were 
the Israelites to be only " separated from 
other people," but they were to be "holy 
unto God" Lev. 20 : 24, 26; " a kingdom 
of priests, and a holy nation." The im- 
portance to physical well-being of the 
injunctions which required frequent ab- 
lution, under whatever special pretexts, 
can be but feebly appreciated in our 
cooler and damper climate. Uncleanness, 
as referred to man, may be arranged in 
three degrees: 1. That which defiled 
merely " until even," and was removed 
by bathing and washing the clothes at 
the end of it ; such were all contacts with 
dead animals. 2. That graver sort which 
defiled for seven days, and was removed 
by the use of the " water of separation ;" 
such were all defilements connected with 
the human corpse. 3. Uncleanness from 
the morbid puerperal or menstrual state, 
lasting as long as that morbid state last- 
ed; and in the case of leprosy lasting 
often for life. As the human person was 
itself the seat of a covenant token, so 
male and female had each their ceremo- 
nial obligations in proportion to their 
sexual differences. There is an emphatic 
reminder of human weakness in the fact 
of birth and death — man's passage alike 
into and out of his mortal state — being 
marked with a stated pollution. The 
720 



corpse bequeathed a defilement of seven 
days to all who handled it, to the " tent" 
or chamber of death, and to sundry things 
within it. Nay, contact with one slain 
in the field of battle, or with even a hu- 
man bone or grave, was no less effectual 
to pollute than that with a corpse dead 
by the course of nature. Num. 19 : 11-18. 
This shows that the source of pollution 
lay in the mere fact of death. The du- 
ration of defilement caused by the birth 
of a female infant being double that due 
to a male, extending respectively to eighty 
and forty days in all, Ley. 12 : 2-5, may 
perhaps represent the woman's heavier 
share in the first sin and first curse. Gen. 
3:16; 1 Tim. 2 : 14. Among causes of 
defilement should be noticed the fact that 
the ashes of the red heifer, burnt whole, 
which were mixed with water, and be- 
came the standing resource for purifying 
uncleanness in the second degree, them- 
selves became a source of defilement to all 
who were clean, even as of purification to 
the unclean, and so the water. Somewhat 
similarly the scapegoat, who bore away 
the sins of the people, defiled him who 
led him into the wilderness, and the 
bringing forth and burning the sacrifice 
on the Great Day of Atonement had a 
similar power. This lightest form of un- 
cleanness was expiated by bathing the 
body and washing the clothes. Besides 
the water of purification made as afore- 
said, men and women, in their " issues," 
were, after seven days, reckoned from the 
cessation of the disorder, to bring two 
turtle-doves or young pigeons to be killed 
by the priests. All these kinds of un- 
cleanness disqualified for holy functions : 
as the layman so affected might not ap- 
proach the congregation and the sanctu- 
ary, so any priest who incurred defilement 
must abstain from holy things. Lev. 22 : 
2-8. [Leprosy.] The religion of the 
Persians shows a singularly close corre- 
spondence with the Levitical code. 
Undergirding. Acts 27 : 17. [Ship.] 
Unicorn, the rendering of the Au- 
thorized Version of the Hebrew re'em, a 
word which occurs seven times in the 
Old Testament as the name of some large 
wild animal. The retm of the Hebrew 
Bible, however, has nothing at all to do 
with the one-horned animal of the Greek 
and Roman writers, as is evident from 
Deut. 33 : 17, where, in the blessing of 
Joseph, it is said, " His glory is like the 
firstling of his bullock, and his horns are 
like the horns of a unicorn;" not, as the 



UNN UK 



text of the Authorized Version renders 
it, " the horns of unicorns" The two 
horns of the reevi are "the ten thousands 
of Ephraim and the thousands of Manas- 
seh." This text puts a one-horned ani- 
mal entirely out of the question. Con- 
sidering that the re&m is spoken of as a 
two-horned animal of great strength and 
ferocity, that it was evidently well known 
and often seen by the Jews, that it is 
mentioned as an animal fit for sacrificial 
purposes, and that it is frequently asso- 
ciated with bulls and oxen, we think 
there can be no doubt that some species 
of wild ox is intended. The allusion in 
Ps. 92 : 10, " But thou shalt lift up, as a 




The Wild Ox (Unicorn). 



foregoing be intended) concerned in the 
sacred office after the return from Bab- 
ylon. Neh. 12 : 9. (B.C. 535.) 

U'phaz. Jer. 10:9; Dan. 10:5. 
[Ophir.] 

Ur was the land of Haran's nativity, 
Gen. 11 : 28, the place from which Terah 
and Abraham started " to go into the land 
of Canaan." Gen. 11 : 31. It is called in 
Genesis "Ur of the Chaldaeans," while 
in the Acts St. Stephen places it, by im- 
plication, in Mesopotamia, ch. 7:2, 4. 
These are all the indications which 
Scripture furnishes as to its locality. It 
has been identified by the most ancient 
traditions with the city of Orfah in the 
highlands of Mesopotamia, which 
unite the table-land of Armenia to 
the valley of the Euphrates. In 
later ages it was called Edessa, and 
:;_ was celebrated as the capital of Ab- 
garus or Acbarus, who was said to 
have received the letter and por- 
trait of our Saviour. " Two phys- 
ical features must have secured 
Orfah, from the earliest times, as a 
nucleus for the civilization of those 
regions. One is a high-crested crag, 
the natural fortifications of the 
crested citadel. . . . The other is 
an abundant spring, issuing in a 
pool of transparent clearness, and 
embosomed in a mass of luxuriant 
verdure, which, amidst the dull- 
brown desert all around, makes, 
and must always have made, this 
spot an oasis, a paradise, in the 
Chaldsean wilderness. Bound this 
sacred pool, ' the beautiful spring 
Callirrhoe,' as it was called by the 



rZ&ym, my horn," seems to point to the | Qreek writers, gather the modern tradi- 



mode in which the Bovidce use their 
horns, lowering the head and then toss- 
ing it up. But it is impossible to de- 
termine what particular species of wild 
ox is signified. Probably some gigantic 
urus is intended. (It is probable that it 
was the gigantic Bos primigenius, or au- 
rochs, now extinct, but of which Csesar 
says, " These uri are scarcely less than 
elephants in size, but in their nature, 
color and form are bulls. Great is their 
strength and great their speed ; they 
spare neither man nor beast when once 
they have caught sight of them." — Bell. 
Gall. vi. 20.— Ed.) 

TJn'ni (depressed). 1. One of the 
Levite doorkeepers in the time of David. 
1 Chron. 15 : 18, 20. (B.C. 1043.) 2. A 
second Levite (unless the family of the 
46 



tions of the patriarch." — Stanley, Jeivish 
Church, part i. p. 7. A second tradition, 
which appears in the Talmud, finds Ur 
in Warka, 120 miles southeast from Bab- 
ylon and four east of the Euphrates. It 
was the Orchoe of the Greeks, and prob- 
ably the Ereck of Holy Scripture, This 
place bears the name of flxirtik in the 
native inscriptions, and was in the coun- 
tries known to the Jews as the land of 
the Chaldpeans. But in opposition to 
the most ancient traditions, many mod- 
ern writers have fixed the site of Ur at a 
very different position, viz. in the ex- 
treme south of Chaldrea, at Mugheir, not 
very far above— and probably in the 
time of Abraham actually upon — the 
head of the Persian Gulf. Among the 
ruins which are now seen at the spot are 
721 



URB 



UEI 



the remains of one of the great temples, 
of a model similar to that of Babel, ded- 
icated to the moon, to whom the city was 
sacred. (Porter and Rawlinson favor 
this last place.) 

Ur'bane, or Ur'ba-ne (of the city ; 
polite), the Greek form of the Latin Ur- 
banus, as it is given in the Revised Ver- 
sion. He was a Christian disciple who 
is in. the long list of those whom St. Paul 
salutes in writing to Rome. Rom. 16 : 9. 
(a.d. 55.) 

Ur'banus, the form given in the Re- 
vised Version for Urbane. 

U'ri {fiery). 1. The father of Bez- 
aleel, one of the architects of the tab- 
ernacle. Ex. 31:2; 35 : 30 ; 38 : 22 ; 1 
Chron. 2 : 20 ; 2 Chron. 1:5. He was of 
the tribe of Judah, and grandson of Ca- 
leb ben-Hezron. (B.C. 1491.) 

2. The father of Geber, Solomon's 
commissariat officer in Gilead. 1 Kings 
4:19. (B.C. before 1010.) 

3. One of the gatekeepers of the tem- 
ple in the time of Ezra. Ezra 10 : 24. 
(B.C. 458.) 

Uri'ah {light of Jehovah). 1. One of 
the thirty commanders of the thirty 
bands into which the Israelite army of 
David was divided. 1 Chron. 11 : 41 ; 2 
Sam. 23 : 39. Like others of David's offi- 
cers he was a foreigner — a Hittite. His 
name, however, and his manner of speech, 
2 Sam. 11 : 11, indicate that he had 
adopted the Jewish religion. He mar- 
ried Bath-sheba, a woman of extraordi- 
nary beauty, the daughter of Eliam — pos- 
sibly the same as the son of Ahithophel, 
and one of his brother officers, 2 Sam. 
23 : 34, and hence, perhaps, Uriah's first 
acquaintance with Bath-sheba. It may 
be inferred from Nathan's parable, 2 
Sam. 12 : 3, that he was passionately de- 
voted to his wife, and that their union 
was celebrated in Jerusalem as one of 
peculiar tenderness. In the first war 
with Amnion, B.C. 1035, he followed 
Joab to the siege, and with him re- 
mained encamped in the open field. 2 
Sam. 12 : 11. He returned to Jerusalem, 
at an order from the king on the pretext 
of asking news of the war — really in the 
hope that his return to his wife might 
cover the shame of his own crime. The 
king met with an unexpected obstacle 
in the austere, soldier-like spirit which 
guided all Uriah's conduct, and which 
gives us a high notion of the character 
and discipline of David's officers. On 
the morning of the third day David sent 
722 



him back to the camp with a letter con- 
taining the command to Joab to cause 
his destruction in the battle. The device 
of Joab was to observe the part of the 
wall of Rabbath-ammon where the great- 
est force of the besieged was congregated, 
and thither, as a kind of forlorn hope, to 
send Uriah. A sally took place. Uriah 
and the officers with him advanced as far 
as the gate of the city, and were there 
shot down by the archers on the wall. 
Just as Joab had forewarned the mes- 
senger, the king broke into a furious 
passion on hearing of the loss. The mes- 
senger, as instructed by Joab, calmly 
continued, and ended the story with the 
words, " Thy servant also, Uriah the Hit- 
tite, is dead." In a moment David's 
anger is appeased. It is one of the touch- 
ing parts of the story that Uriah falls 
| unconscious of his wife's dishonor. 

2. High priest in the reign of Ahaz. 
! Isa. 8:2; 2 Kings 16 : 10-16. He is 

probably the same as Urijah the priest, 
I who built the altar for Ahaz. 2 Kings 16 : 
10. (B.C. about 738.) 

3. A priest of the family of Hakkoz, 
the head of the seventh course of priests. 
Ezra 8 : 33 ; Neh. 3 : 4, 21. (B.C. 458.) 

Uri'as. 1. Uriah, the husband of 
Bath-sheba. Matt. 1 : 6. 

2. Ueuah, 3. 1 Esdr. 9 : 43. 

U'ri-el {the fire of God), an angel 
named only in 2 Esdr. 4 : 1, 36; 5 : 20; 
10 : 28. 

U'ri- el. 1. A Kohathite Levite, son 
of Tahath. 1 Chron. 6 : 24. 

2. Chief of the Kohathites in the reign 
of David. 1 Chron. 15 : 5, 11. (B.C. 1043.) 

3. Uriel of Gibeah was the father of 
Maachah or Michaiah, the favorite wife 
of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah. 2 
Chron. 13:2. (B.C. before 973.) In 2 
Chron. 11 : 20 she is called " Maachah 
the daughter of Absalom." Probably 
her mother, Tamar, was the daughter of 
Absalom. 

Uri'jah (light of Jehovah). 1. Urijah 
the priest in the reign of Ahaz, 2 Kings 
16 : 10, probably the same as Uriah, 2. 

2. A priest of the family of Koz or 
Hakkoz, the same as Uriah, 3. 

3. One of the priests who stood at Ez- 
ra's right hand when he read the law to 
the people. Neh. 8 : 4. (B.C. 458.) 

4. The son of Shemaiah of Kirjath- 
jearim. He prophesied in the days of 
Jehoiakim, B.C. 608, and the king sought 
to put him to death; but he escaped, and 
fled into Egypt. His retreat was soon dis- 



UEI 



UZ 



covered ; Elnathan and his men brought 
him up out of Egypt, and Jehoiakim 
slew him with the sword and cast his 
body forth among the graves of the com- 
mon people. Jer. 26 : 20-23. 

U'rim and Thum'mim {light and 
perfection). When the Jewish exiles 
were met on their return from Babylon 
by a question which they had no data for 
answering, they agreed to postpone the 
settlement of the difficulty till there 
should rise up " a priest with Urim and 
Thummim." Ezra 2: 63; Neh.7:65. The 
inquiry what those Urim and Thummim 
themselves were seems likely to wait as 
long for a final and satisfying answer. 
On every side we meet with confessions 
of ignorance. Urim means " light/' and 
Thummim " perfection." Scriptural state- 
ments. — The mysterious words meet us 
for the first time, as if they needed no ex- 
planation, in the description of the high 
priest's apparel. Over the ephod there 
is to be a "breastplate of judgment" of 
gold, scarlet, purple and fine linen, folded 
square and doubled, a "span" in length 
and width. In it are to be set four rows 
of precious stones, each stone with the 
name of a tribe of Israel engraved on it, 
that Aaron " may bear them on his 
heart." Then comes a further order. In- 
side the breastplate, as the tables of the 
covenant were placed inside the ark, Ex. 
25 : 16 ; 28 : 30, are to be placed " the 
Urim and the Thummim," the light and 
the perfection ; and they too are to be on 
Aaron's heart when he goes in before the 
Lord. Ex. 28 : 15-30. Not a word de- 
scribes them. They are mentioned as 
things already familiar both to Moses and 
the people, connected naturally with the 
functions of the high priest as mediating 
between Jehovah and his people. The 
command is fulfilled. Lev. 8 : 8. They 
pass from Aaron to Eleazar with the 
sacred ephod and other pontificalia. 
Num. 20 : 28. When Joshua is solemnly 
appointed to succeed the great hero-law- 
giver, he is bidden to stand before Elea- 
zar, the priest, "who shall ask counsel 
for him after the judgment of Urim," and 
this counsel is to determine the move- 
ments of the host of Israel. Num. 27 : 21. 
In the blessings of Moses they appear as 
the crowning glory of the tribe of Levi : 
" thy Thummim and thy Urim are with 
thy 'Holy One." Deut. 33 : 8, 9. In what 
way the Urim and Thummin were con- 
sulted is quite uncertain. Josephus and 
the rabbins supposed that the stones gave 



out the oracular answer by preternatural 
illumination ; but it seems to be far sim- 
pler and more in agreement with the dif- 
ferent accounts of inquiries made by Urim 
and Thummim, 1 Sam. 14 : 3, 18, 19 ; 23 : 
2, 4, 9, 11, 12; 28:6; Judges 20:28; 2 
Sam. 5 : 23, etc., to suppose that the an- 
swer was given simply by the word of the 
Lord to the high priest, comp. John 11 : 
51, when, clothed with the ephod and the 
breastplate, he had inquired of the Lord. 
Such a view agrees with the true notion 
of the breastplate. 

Usury. (The word usury has come in 
modern English to mean excessive inter- 
est upon money loaned, either formally 
illegal or at least oppressive. In the 
Scriptures, however, the word did not 
bear this sense, but meant simply inter- 
est of any kind upon money. The Jews 
were forbidden by the law of Moses to 
take interest from their brethren, but 
were permitted to take it from foreigners. 
The prohibition grew out of the agricul- 
tural status of the people, in which ordi- 
nary business loans were not needed, and 
such loans as were required should be 
made only as to friends and brothers in 
need. — Ed.) The practice of mortgaging 
land, sometimes at exorbitant interest, 
grew up among the Jews during the cap- 
tivity, in direct violation of the law. Lev. 
25 : 36, 37 ; Ezek. 18 : 8, 13, 17. We find 
the rate reaching 1 in 100 per month, cor- 
responding to the Roman centesimal usurce, 
or 12 per cent, per annum. 

U'ta. 1 Esdr. 5 : 30. It appears to be 
a corruption of Akkub. Ezra 2 : 45. 

U'tha-i {helpful). 1. The son of Am- 
mihud, of the children of Pharez the son 
of Judah. 1 Chron. 9 : 4. (B.C. 536.) 

2. One of the sons of Bigvai, who re- 
turned in the second caravan with Ezra. 
Ezra 8 : 14. (B.C. 459.) 

U'thii. 1 Esdr. 8 : 40. [Uthai, 2.] 

Uz {wooded). 1. A son of Aram, Gen. 
10 : 23; 1 Chron. 1 : 17, and consequently 
a grandson of Shem. (B.C. 2400-2300.) 

2. A son of Nahor by Milcah. Gen. 22 : 
21 ; Authorized Version, Huz. (B.C. about 
1900.) 

3. A son of Dishan, and grandson of 
Seir. Gen. 36 : 28. (B.C. after 1800.) 

4. The country in which Job lived. 
Job 1:1. As far as we can gather, " the 
land of Uz " lay either east or southeast 
of Palestine, Job 1:3; adjacent to the 
Sabseans and the Chaldseans, Job 1 : 15, 
17, consequently north of the southern 
Arabians and west of the Euphrates; 

723 



UZA 



UZZ 



and, lastly, adjacent to the Edomites of 
Mount Seir, who at one period occupied 
Uz, probably as conquerors, Lam. 4 : 21, 
and whose troglodyte habits are probably 
described in Job 30 : 6, 7. From the 
above data we infer that the land of Uz 
corresponds to the Arabia Deserta of 
classical geography, at all events to so 
much of it as lies north of the 30th par- 
allel of latitude. 

U'za-i (strong), the father of Palal, 
who assisted Nehemiah in rebuilding the 
city wall. Neh. 3 : 25. (B.C. before 446.) 

U'zal {separate), the sixth son of Jok- 
tan, Gen. 10 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 21, whose 
settlements are clearly traced in the an- 
cient name of San'ct, the capital city of 
the Yemen (a district of Arabia), which 
was originally Awzal. From its position 
in the centre of the best portion of that 
kingdom, it must always have been an 
important city. (San'a is situated about 
150 miles from Aden and 100 miles from 
the coast of the Red Sea. It is one of the 
most imposing cities of Arabia. — Ed.) 

Uz'za {strength). 1. A Benjamite of 
the sons of Ehud. 1 Chron. 8 : 7. (B.C. 
1445.) 

2. Elsewhere called Uzzah. 1 Chron. 
13 : 7, 9, 10, 11. [Uzzah.] 

3. The children of Uzza were a family 
of Nethinim who returned with Zerub- 
babel. Ezra 2 : 49 ; Neh. 7 : 51. (B.C. be- 
fore 536.) 

4. Properly Uzzah. As the text now 
stands, Uzzah is a descendant of Merari, 
1 Chron. 6 : 29 (14) ; but there appears to 
be a gap in the verse. Perhaps he is the 
same as Zina or Zizah, the son of Shimei. 
1 Chron. 23 : 10, 11 ; for these names evi- 
dently denote the same person, and, in 
Hebrew character, are not unlike Uzzah. 

Uz'za, The garden of, the spot in 
which Manasseh king of Judah and his 
son Amon were buried. 2 Kings 21 : 18, 
26. It was the garden attached to Ma- 
nasseh's palace, ver. 18. The fact of its 
mention shows that it was not where the 
usual sepulchres of the kings were. No 
clue, however, is afforded to its position. 

Uz'za, or Uz'zah (strength), one of 
the sons of Abinadab, in whose house at 
Kirjath-jearim the ark rested for twenty 
years. Uzzah probably was the second 
and Ahio the third. They both accom- 
panied its removal when David first un- 
dertook to carry it to Jerusalem. (B.C. 
1043.) Ahio apparently went before the 
new cart, 1 Chron. 13 : 7, on which it was 
placed, and Uzzah walked by the side. 
724 



" At the threshing-floor of Nachon," 2 
Sam. 6 : 6, or Chidon, 1 Chron. 13 : 9, per- 
haps slipping over the smooth rock, the 
oxen stumbled. Uzzah caught the ark 
to prevent its falling. The profanation 
was punished by his instant death, to the 
great grief of David, who named the 
place Perez-uzzah (the breaking-forth on 
Uzzah). But Uzzah 's fate was not merely 
the penalty of his own rashness. The 
improper mode of transporting the ark, 
which ought to have been borne on the 
shoulders of the Levites, was the primary 
cause of his unholy deed; and David 
distinctly recognized it as a punishment 
on the people in general, " because we 
sought him not after the due order." 

Uz'zen-she'rah (ear (or point) of 
Sherah), a town founded or rebuilt by She- 
rah, an Ephraimite woman, the daughter 
either of Ephraim himself or of Beriah. 
It is named only in 1 Chron. 7 : 24, in 
connection with the two Beth-horons. 

Uz'zi (strong). 1. Son of Bukki, and 
father of Zerahiah, in the line of the 
high priests. 1 Chron. 6 : 5, 51 ; Ezra 7 : 4. 
Though Uzzi was the lineal ancestor of 
Zadok, it does not appear that he was 
ever high priest. He must have been 
contemporary with, but rather earlier 
than, Eli. (B.C. before 1161.) 

2. Son of Tola the son of Issachar. 1 
Chron. 7 : 2, 3. (B.C. 1706.) 

3. Son of Bela, of the tribe of Benja- 
min. 1 Chron. 7 : 7. (B.C. 1706.) 

4. Another, or the same, from whom 
descended some Benjamite houses, which 
were settled at Jerusalem after the return 
from captivity. 1 Chron. 9 : 8. 

5. A Levite, son of Bani, and overseer 
of the Levites dwelling at Jerusalem, in 
the time of Nehemiah. Neh. 11 : 22. 

6. A priest, chief of the father's house 
of Jedaiah, in the time of Joiakim the 
high priest. Neh. 12 : 19. (B.C. about 
500.) 

7. One of the priests who assisted Ezra 
in the dedication of the wall of Jerusa- 
lem. Neh. 12 : 42. Perhaps the same as 
the preceding. (B.C. 446.) 

Uzzi'a (strength of Jehovah), one of 
David's guard, and apparently a native 
of Ashtaroth beyond Jordan. 1 Chron. 
11:44. (B.C. 1053.) 

Uzzi'ah (strength of Jehovah). 1. 
King of Judah B.C. 809-8 to 757-6. In 
some passages his name appears in the 
lengthened form Azariah. After the mur- 
der of Amaziah, his son Uzziah was chosen 
by the people, at the age of sixteen, to 



uzz 



uzz 



occupy the vacant throne ; and for the 
greater part of his long reign of fifty-two 
years he lived in the fear of God, and 
showed himself a wise, active and pious 
ruler. He never deserted the worship of 
the true God, and was much influenced 
by Zechariah, a prophet who is mentioned 
only in connection with him. 2 Chron. 
26 : 5. So the southern kingdom was 
raised to a condition of prosperity which 
it had not known since the death of Sol- 
omon. The end of Uzziah was less pros- 
perous than his beginning. Elated with 
his splendid career, he determined to 
burn incense on the altar of God, but 
was opposed by the high priest Azariah 
and eighty others. See Ex. 30 : 7, 8 ; 
Num. 16:40; 18 : 7._ The king was en- 
raged at their resistance, and, as he 
pressed forward with his censer, was sud- 
denly smitten with leprosy. This law- 
less attempt to burn incense was the only 
exception to the excellence of his admin- 
istration. 2 Chron. 27 : 2. Uzziah was 
buried " with his fathers," yet apparently 
not actually in the royal sepulchres. 2 
Chron. 26 : 23. During his reign a great 
earthquake occurred. Amos 1:1; Zech. 
14:5. 

2. A Kohathite Levite, and ancestor of 
Samuel. 1 Chron. 6 : 24 (9). 

3. A priest of the sons of Harim, Avho 



had taken a foreign wife in the days of 
Ezra. Ezra 10 : 21. (B.C. 458.) 

4. Father of Athaiah or Uthai. Neh. 
11 : 4. 

5. Father of Jehonathan, one of David's 
overseers. 1 Chron. 27 : 25. (B.C. about 
1053.) 

Uzzi/el {my strength is God). 1. 
Fourth son of Kohath, father of Mishael, 
Elzaphan or Elizaphan and Zithri, and 
uncle to Aaron. Ex. 6 : 18, 22 ; Lev. 10 : 
4. (B.C. before 1491.) 

2. A Simeonite captain, son of Ishi, in 
the days of Hezekiah. 1 Chron. 4 : 42. 

3. Head of a Benjamite house, of the 
sons of Bela. 1 Chron. 7 : 7. (B.C. 1706.) 

4. A musician, of the sons of Heman, 
in David's reign. 1 Chron. 25 : 4. 

5. A Levite, of the sons of Jeduthun, 
in the days of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 14, 
18. (B.C. 726.) 

6. Son of Harhaiah, probably a priest 
in the days of Nehemiah, who took part 
in repairing the wall. Neh. 3 : 8. (B.C. 
446.) He is described as "of the gold- 
smiths," i. e. of those priests whose he- 
reditary office it was to repair or make 
the sacred vessels. 

Uzzi'elites, The, the descendants of 
Uzziel, and one of the four great families 
of the Kohathites. Num. 3 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 
26 : 23. 

725 



VAJ 



VEI 



V. 



Vajez'atha {strong as the wind), one 
of the ten sons of Hainan whom the Jews 
slew in Shushan. Esther 9 : 9. (B.C. 473. ) 

Vale, Valley. It is hardly necessary 
to state that these words signify a hollow 
sweep of ground between two more or 
less parallel ridges of high land. The 
structure of the greater part of the holy 
land does not lend itself to the formation 
of valleys in our sense of the word. The 
abrupt transitions of its crowded rocky 
hills preclude the existence of any ex- 
tended sweep of valley. Valley is em- 
ployed in the Authorized Version to„ ren- 
der five distinct Hebrew words. 1. 'Emek. 
This appears to approach more nearly to 
the general sense of the English word 
than any other. It is connected with 
several places. 2. Ga'i or gt. Of this 
there is fortunately one example which 
can be identified with certainty — the deep 
hollow which compasses the southwest 
and south of Jerusalem. This identifica- 
tion establishes the gt as a deep and ab- 
rupt ravine, with steep sides and narrow 
bottom. 3. Nachal. This word answers 
to the Arabic wady, and expresses, as no 
single English word can, the bed of a 
stream (often wide and shelving, and like 
a " valley" in character, which in the 
rainy season may be nearly filled by a 
foaming torrent, though for the greater 
part of the year dry). 4. Bi/c'dh. This 
term appears to mean rather a plain than 
a valley, though so far resembling it as 
to be enclosed by mountains. It is ren- 
dered by " valley " in Deut. 34 : 3 ; Josh. 

11 : 8, 17 ; 12 : 7 ; 2 Chron. 35 : 22 ; Zech. 

12 : 11. 5. has-ShefUdh. The district to 
which the name has-ShefUdh is applied 
in the Bible has no resemblance what- 
ever to a valley, but is a broad, swelling- 
tract of many hundred miles in area, 
which sweeps gently down from the 
mountains of Judah to the Mediterra- 
nean. It is rendered " the vale " in Deut. 
1:7; Josh. 10:40; 1 Kings 10:27; 2 
Chron. 1 : 15 ; Jer. 33 : 13 ; and " the val- 
ley " or " the valleys" in Josh. 9:1; 11 : 
2, 16 ; 12:8; 15 : 33 ; Judges 1:9; Jer. 
32 : 44. 

Vani'ah {Jehovah is praise), one of 
the sons of Bani. Ezra 10 : 36. (B.C. 458.) j 
Vash'ni {strong), the first-born of j 

726 1 



Samuel as the text now stands, 1 Chron. 
6 : 28 (13) ; but in 1 Sam. 8 : 2 the name 
of his first-born is Joel. Most probably 
in the Chronicles the name of Joel has 
dropped out, and Vashni is a corruption 
of vesheni, "and (the) second." 

Vash/ti {beautiful), the "queen" of 
Ahasuerus, who, for refusing to show her- 
self to the king's guests at the royal ban- 
quet, when sent for by the king, was 
repudiated and deposed. Esther I. (B.C. 
483.) Many attempts have been made to 
identify her with historical personages; 
but it is far more probable that she was 
only one of the inferior wives, dignified 
with the title of queen, whose name has 
utterly disappeared from history. 




Veil. 



Veil. With regard to the use of the 
veil, it is important to observe that it 
was by no means so general in ancient 
as in modern times. Much of the scru- 
pulousness in respect of the use of the 
veil dates from the promulgation of the 
Koran, which forbade women appearing 
unveiled except in the presence of their 
nearest relatives. In ancient times the 
veil was adopted only in exceptional 
cases, either as an article of ornamental 
dress, Cant. 4:1,3; 6 : 7, or by betrothed 
l maidens in the presence of their future 
i husbands, especially at the time of the 



VEI 



VER 



wedding, Gen. 24 : 65 ; or, lastly, by 
women of loose character for purposes 
of concealment. Gen. 38: 14. Among the 
Jews of the New Testament age it appears 
to have been customary for the women to 
cover their heads (not necessarily their 
faces) when engaged in public worship. 

Veil of the tabernacle and tem- 
ple. [Tabeenacle ; Temple.] 

Versions, Ancient, of the Old 
and New Testaments. In treating 
of the ancient versions that have come 
down to us, in whole or in part, they will 
be described in the alphabetical order of 
the languages. 

tEthiopic Veesion. — Christianity 
was introduced into ^Ethiopia in the 
fourth century, through the labors of 
Frumentius and ^Edesius of Tyre, who 
had been made slaves and sent to the 
king. The JEthiopic version which we 
possess is in the ancient dialect of Axum ; 
hence some have ascribed it to the age of 
the earliest missionaries, but it is prob- 
ably of a later date. In 1548-9 the J£thi- 
opic New Testament was also printed at 
Eome, edited by three Abyssinians. 

Aeabic Veesions. — i. Arabic ver- 
sions of the Old Testament were made 
from the Hebrew (tenth century), from 
the Syriac and from the LXX. 2. Ar- 
abic versions of the New Testament. There 
are four versions. The first, the Roman, 
of the Gospels only, was printed in 
1590-1. 

Aemenian Veesion. — In the year 
431, Joseph and Eznak returned from 
the Council of Ephesus, bringing with 
them a Greek copy of the Scriptures. 
From this a version in Armenian was 
made by Isaac, the Armenian patriarch, 
and Miesrob. The first printed edition 
of the Old and New Testaments in Ar- 
menian appeared at Amsterdam in 1666, 
under the care of a person commonly 
termed Oscan or Uscan, and described as 
being an Armenian bishop. 

Chaldee Veesions. — Targum, a 
Chaldee word of uncertain origin, is the 
general term for the Chaldee, or more 
accurately Aramaic, versions of the Old 
Testament. 1. The Targums were orig- 
inally oral, and the earliest Targum, 
which is that of Onkelos on the Penta- 
teuch, began to be committed to writing 
about the second century of the Christian 
era ; though it did not assume its present 
shape till the end of the third or the be- 
ginning of the fourth century. So far, 
however, from superseding the oral Tar- 



gum at once, it was, on the contrary, 
strictly forbidden to read it in public. 
Its language is Chaldee, closely ap- 
proaching in purity of idiom to that of 
Ezra and Daniel. It follows a sober and 
clear though not a slavish exegesis, and 
keeps as closely and minutely to the text 
as is at all consistent with its purpose, 
viz. to be chiefly and above all a version 
for the people. Its explanations of dif- 
ficult and obscure passages bear ample 
witness to the competence of those who 
gave it its final shape. It avoids, as 
far as circumstances would allow, the 
legendary character with which all the 
later Targums entwine the biblical word. 
2. Targum on the prophets, — viz. Joshua, 
Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jer- 
emiah, Ezekiel and the twelve minor 
prophets, — called Taegum of Jona- 
than ben-Uzziel. We shall probably 
not be far wrong in placing this Targum 
some time, although not long, after On- 
kelos, or about the middle of the fourth 
century. 3 and 4. Targum of Jonathan 
ben-Uzziel and Jerushalmi-Targum on 
the Pentateuch. — Onkelos and Jonathan 
on the Pentateuch and prophets, what- 
ever be their exact date, place, author- 
ship and editorship, are the oldest of 
existing Targums, and belong, in their 
present shape, to Babylon and the Bab- 
ylonian academies flourishing between 
the third and fourth centuries a.d. 

Egyptian Veesions.— Of these there 
are three, — the Memphitic, of lower 
Egypt, the Coptic, of upper Egypt, and 
the Thebaic, with some fragments of an- 
other. The Thebaic was the earliest, 
and belongs to the third century. 

Gothic Veesion— In the year 318 
the Gothic bishop and translator of 
Scripture, Ulphilas, was born. He suc- 
ceeded Theophilus as bishop of the Goths 
in 348; through him it is said that the 
Goths in general adopted Arianism. The 
great work of Ulphilas was his version 
of the Scriptures. As an ancient mon- 
ument of the Gothic language the version 
of Ulphilas possesses great interest; as a 
version the use of which was once ex- 
tended widely through Europe, it is a 
monument of the Christianization of the 
Goths ; and as a version known to have 
been made in the fourth century, and 
transmitted to us in ancient MSS., it has 
its value in textual criticism. 

Geeek Veesions of the Old Tes- 
tament. — 1. Septuagint.— [See Septu- 
agint.] 2. Aquila. — It is a remarkable 
727 



VEK 



VER 



fact that in the second century there 
were three versions executed of the Old 
Testament Scriptures into Greek. The 
first of these was made by Aquila, a 
native of Sinope in Pontus, who had 
become a proselyte to Judaism. It was 
made during the reign of Hadrian, A.D. 
117-138. 3. Theodotion — The second 
version of which we have information as 
executed in the second century is that of 
Theodotion. He is stated to have been 
an Ephesian, and he seems to be most 
generally described as an Ebionite. 4. 
Symmachus is stated by Eusebius and 
Jerome to have been an Ebionite ; Epi- 
phanius and others, however, style him 
a Samaritan. It may be that as a Sa- 
maritan he made this version for some 
of that people who employed Greek, and 
who had learned to receive more than 
the Pentateuch. 
Latin Versions.— [Vulgate.] 
Samaritan Versions.— [Samaritan 
Pentateuch.] 

Slavonic Version. — In a.d. 862 
there was a desire expressed or an in- 
quiry made for Christian teachers in Mo- 
ravia, and in the following year the 
labors of missionaries began among the 
Moravians. These missionaries were Cy- 
ril lus and Methodius, two brothers from 
Thessalonica. To Cyrillus is ascribed 
the invention of the Slavonian alphabet 
and the commencement of the translation 
of the Scriptures. He appears to have 
died at Rome in 868, while Methodius 
continued for many years to be the 
bishop of the Slavonians. He is stated 
to have continued his brother's transla- 
tion. 

Syriac Versions. — 1. Of the Old 
Testament, (a) From the Hebrew. In 
the early times of Syrian Christianity 
there was executed a version of the Old 
Testament from the original Hebrew, the 
use of which must have been as widely 
extended as was the Christian profession 
among that people. It is highly improb- 
able that any part of the Syriac version 
is older than the advent of our Lord. 
The Old Syriac has the peculiar value 
of being the first version from the He- 
brew original made for Christian use. 
The first printed edition of this version 
was that which appeared in the Paris 
Polyglot of Le Jay in 1645. (b) The 
Syriac version from the Hexaplar Greek 
text. The only Syriac version of the 
Old Testament up to the sixth century 
was apparently the Peshito. The version 
728 



by Paul of Tela, a Monophysite, was 
made in the beginning of the seventh 
century ; for its basis he used the Hex- 
aplar Greek text — that is, the LXX., 
with the corrections of Origen, the aster- 
isks, obeli, etc., and with the references 
to the other Greek versions. In fact, it 
is from this Syriac version that we ob- 
tain our most accurate acquaintance with 
the results of the critical labors of Or- 
igen. It is from a MS. in the Ambrosian 
Library at Milan that we possess accu- 
rate means of knowing this Syriac ver- 
sion. 2. The Syriac New Testament 
Versions, (a) The Peshito Syriac New 
Testament. It may stand as an admitted 
fact that a version of the New Testament 
in Syriac existed in the second century. 
(b) The Curetonian Syriac Gospels. 
I Among the MSS. brought from the Nit- 
rian monasteries in 1842, Dr. Cureton 
noticed a copy of the Gospels, differing 
greatly from the common text ; and this 
is the form of text to which the name of 
Curetonian Syriac has been rightly ap- 
plied. Every criterion which proves the 
common Peshito not to exhibit a text of 
extreme antiquity equally proves the 
early origin of this. 

Versions, Authorized. 1. Wyc- 
liffe. — The New Testament was trans- 
j lated by Wycliffe himself. The Old Tes- 
j tament was undertaken by Nicholas de 
Hereford, but was interrupted, and ends 
! abruptly (following so far the order of 
the Vulgate) in the middle of Baruch. 
The version was based entirely upon the 
i Vulgate. The following characteristics 
i may be noticed as distinguishing this 
I version: (1) The general homeliness of 
; its style. (2) The substitution, in many 
; cases, of English equivalents for quasi- 
technical words. (3) The extreme lit- 
eralness with which in some instances, 
even at the cost of being unintelligible, 
the Vulgate text is followed, as in 2 Cor. 
1 : 17-19. 

2. Tyndal.— The work of Wycliffe 
stands by itself. Whatever power it ex- 
ercised in preparing the way for the Ref- 
ormation of the sixteenth century, it had 
no perceptible influence on later trans- 
lations. With Tyndal we enter on a 
continuous succession. He is the patri- 
arch, in no remote ancestry, of the Au- 
thorized Version. More than Cranmer 
or Ridley he is the true hero of the Eng- 
lish Reformation. " Ere many years," 
he said at the age of thirty-six (a.d. 
1520), he would cause " a boy that driv- 



VER 



VER 



eth.the plough " to know more of Scrip- 
ture than the great body of the clergy 
then knew. He prepared himself for 
the work by long years of labor in Greek 
and Hebrew. First the Gospels of St. 
Matthew and St. Mark were published 
tentatively. In 1525 the whole of the 
New Testament was printed in quarto at j 
Cologne, and in small octavo at Worms, ; 
In England it was received with denun- | 
ciations. Tonstal, bishop of London, i 
preaching at Paul's Cross, asserted that j 
there were at least two thousand errors j 
in it, and ordered all copies of it to be j 
bought up and burnt. An act of Parlia- i 
ment (35 Hen. VIII. cap. 1) forbade the j 
use of all copies of Tyndal's " false trans- 
lation." The treatment which it received j 
from professed friends was hardly less 
annoying. In the mean time the work j 
went on. Editions were printed one | 
after another. The last appeared in j 
1535, just before his death. To Tyndal j 
belongs the honor of having given the 
first example of a translation based on j 
true principles, and the excellence of 
later versions has been almost in exact ; 
proportion as they followed his. All the 
exquisite grace and simplicity which ' 
have endeared the Authorized Version to j 
men of the most opposite tempers and ■ 
contrasted opinions is due mainly to his 
clear-sighted truthfulness. 

3. Coverdale. — A complete transla- i 
tion of the Bible, different from Tyndal's, ' 
bearing the name of Miles Coverdale, 
printed probably at Zurich, appeared in 
1535. The undertaking itself, and the 
choice of Coverdale as the translator, I 
were probably due to Cromwell. He j 
was content to make the translation at 
second hand "out of the Douche (Lu- j 
ther's German Version) and the Latine." j 
Fresh editions of his Bible were pub- \ 
lished, keeping their ground in spite of j 
rivals, in 1537, 1539, 1550, 1553. He was 
called in at a still later period to assist 
in the Geneva Version. 

4. Matthew. — In the year 1537, a 
large folio Bible appeared as edited and 
dedicated to the king by Thomas Mat- I 
thew. No one of that name appears at j 
all prominently in the religious history 
of Henry VIII., and this suggests the j 
inference that the name was adopted to i 
conceal the real translator. The tradi- j 
tion which connects this Matthew with j 
John Rogers, the proto-martyr of the ■ 
Marian persecution, is all but undis- I 
puted. Matthew's Bible reproduces Tyn- I 



dal's work, in the New Testament en- 
tirely, in the Old Testament as far as 2 
Chron., the rest being taken with occa- 
sional modifications from Coverdale. A 
copy was ordered, by royal proclamation, 
to be set up in every church, the cost be- 
ing divided between the clergy and the 
parishioners. This was, therefore, the 
first Authorized Version. 

5. Taveener (1539).— The boldness 
of the pseudo-Matthew had frightened 
the ecclesiastical world from its pro- 
priety. Coverdale's version was, how- 
ever, too inaccurate to keep its ground. 
It was necessary to find another editor, 
and the printers applied to Richard Tav- 
erner. But little is known of his life. 
The fact that, though a layman, he had 
been chosen as one of the canons of the 
Cardinal's College at Oxford indicates a 
reputation for scholarship, and this is 
confirmed by the character of his trans- 
lation. In most respects this may be de- 
scribed as an expurgated edition of Mat- 
thew's. 

6. Cranmer. — In the same year as 
Taverner's, and coming from the same 
press, appeared an English Bible, in a 
more stately folio, with a preface contain- 
ing the initials T. C, which implied the 
archbishop's sanction. Cranmer's ver- 
sion presented, as might be expected, 
many points of interest. The prologue 
gave a more complete ideal of what a 
translation ought to be than had as yet 
been seen. Words not in the original 
were to be printed in a different type. 
It was reprinted again and again, and 
was the Authorized Version of the Eng- 
lish Church till 1568 — the interval of 
Mary's reign excepted. From it, accord- 
ingly, were taken most, if not all, the 
portions of Scripture in the Prayer- 
books of 1549 and 1552. The Psalms as 
a whole, the quotations from Scripture 
in the Homilies, the sentences in the 
Communion Services, and some phrases 
elsewhere, still preserve the remem- 
brance of it. 

7. Geneva.— The exiles who fled to 
Geneva in the reign of Mary entered on 
the work of translation with more vigor 
than ever. The Genevan refugees — 
among them Whittingham, Goodman, 
Pullain, Sampson and Coverdale him- 
self—labored " for two years or more, 
day and night." Their translation of 
the New Testament was "diligently re- 
vised by the most approved Greek ex- 
amples." The New Testament, trans- 

729 



VER 



VER 



lated by Whittingham, was printed in 
1557, and the whole Bible in 1560. 
Whatever may have been its faults, the 
Geneva Bible, commonly called the 
Breeches Bible from its rendering of 
Gen. 3:7, was unquestionably, for sixty 
years, the most popular of all versions. 
Not less than eighty editions, some of 
the whole Bible, were printed between 
1558 and 1611. It kept its ground for 
some time even against the Authorized 
Version, and gave way, as it were, slowly 
and under protest. It was the version 
specially adopted by the great Puritan 
party through the whole reign of Eliz- 
abeth and far into that of James. As 
might be expected, it was based on Tyn- 
dal's version. It presents, in a calendar, 
prefixed to the Bible, something like a 
declaration of war against the established 
order of the Church's lessons commemo- 
rating Scripture facts and the deaths of 
the great reformers, but ignoring saints' 
days altogether. It was the first English 
Bible which entirely omitted the Apoc- 
rypha. The notes were characteristic- 
ally Swiss, not only in their theology, 
but in their politics. 

8. The Bishops' Bible.— The facts 
just stated will account for the wish of 
Archbishop Parker to bring out another 
version, which might establish its claims 
against that of Geneva. Great prepara- 
tions were made. Eight bishops, together 
with some deans and professors, brought 
out the fruit of their labors in a magnifi- 
cent folio (1568 and 1572). It was avow- 
edly based on Cranmer's ; but of all the 
English versions it had probably the 
least success. It did not command the 
respect of scholars, and its size and cost 
were far from meeting the wants of the 
people. 

9. Pheims and Douay. — The succes- 
sive changes in the Protestant versions 
of the Scriptures were, as might be ex- 
pected, matter of triumph to the contro- 
versialists of the Latin Church. Some 
saw in it an argument against any trans- 
lation of Scripture into the spoken lan- 
guage of the people.. Others pointed de- 
risively to the want of unity which these 
changes displayed. There were some, 
however, who took the line which Sir 
T. More and Gardiner had taken under 
Henry VIII. They did not object to 
the principle of an English translation. 
They only charged all the versions 
hitherto made with being false, corrupt, 
heretical. To this there was the ready 

730 



retort that they had done nothing; that 
their bishops in the reign of Henry had 
promised, but had not performed. It 
was felt to be necessary that they should 
take some steps which might enable 
them to turn the edge of this reproach. 
The English Catholic refugees who were 
settled at Eheims undertook a new Eng- 
lish version. The New Testament was 
published at Pheims in 1582, and pro- 
fessed to be based on " the authentic text 
! of the Vulgate." Notes were added, as 
j strongly dogmatic as those of the Geneva 
Bible, and often keenly controversial. 
The work of translation was completed 
j somewhat later by the publication of the 
Old Testament at Douay in 1609. 

10. Authorized Version— The po- 
sition of the English Church in relation 
to the versions in use at the commence- 
ment of the reign of James was hardly 
satisfactory. The Bishops' Bible was 
sanctioned by authority. That of Ge- 
neva had the strongest hold on the affec- 
tions of the people. Scholars, Hebrew 
scholars in particular, found grave fault 
with both. Among the demands of the 
Puritan representatives at the Hampton 
Court Conference in 1604 was one for a 
new, or at least a revised, translation. 
The work of organizing and superintend- 
ing the arrangements for a new transla- 
tion was one specially congenial to 
James, and accordingly in 1C06 the task 
was commenced. It was intrusted to 
54 scholars. The following were the 
instructions given to the translators : 
(1) The Bishops' Bible was to be fol- 
lowed, and as little altered as the orig- 
j inal would permit. (2) The names of 
prophets and others were to be retained, 
I as nearly as may be, as they are vulgarly 
j used. (3) The old ecclesiastical words 
| to be kept. (4) When any word hath 
| divers significations, that to be kept 
which hath been most commonly used by 
the most eminent fathers, being agree- 
able to the propriety of the place and the 
analogy of faith. (5) The division of 
the chapters to be altered either not at 
all or as little as possible. (6) No mar- 
ginal notes to be affixed but only for the 
explanation of Hebrew and Greek words. 
(7) Such quotations of places to be mar- 
ginally set down as may serve for fit ref- 
erence of one Scripture to another, (8 
and 9) State plan of translation. Each 
company of translators is to take its 
own books ; each person to bring his own 
corrections. The company to discuss 



VIL 



VLN 



them, and having finished their work, to 
send it on to another company, and so 
on. (10) Provides for differences of 
opinion between two companies by re- 
ferring them to a general meeting. (11) 
Gives power, in cases of difficulty, to con- 
sult any scholars. (12) Invites sugges- 
tions from any quarter. (13) Names the 
directors of the work : Andrews, dean of 
Westminster; Barlow, dean of Chester; 
and the regius professors of He- 
brew and Greek at both univer- 
sities. (14) Names translations 
to be followed when they agree 
more with the original than the 
Bishops' Bible, sc. Tyndal's, Cov- 
erdale's, Matthew's, Whitchurch's 
(Cranmer's), and Geneva. (15) 
Authorizes universities to appoint 
three or four overseers of the 
work. For three years the work 
went on, the separate companies 
comparing notes as directed. 
When the work drew toward its 
completion, it was necessary to 
place it under the care of a select 
few. Two from each of the three 
groups were accordingly selected, 
and the six met in London to su- 
perintend the publication. The final cor- 
rection, and the task of writing the argu- 
ments of the several books, was given to 
Bilson, bishop of Winchester, and Dr. 
Miles Smith, the latter of whom also wrote 
the dedication and preface. The version 
thus published did not at once supersede 
the versions already in possession. The 
fact that five editions were published in 
three years shows that there was a good 
demand. But the Bishops' Bible prob- 
ably remained in many churches, and 
the popularity of the Geneva Version is 
shown by not less than thirteen reprints, 
in whole or in part, between 1G11 and 
1617. It is not easy to ascertain the im- 
pression which the Authorized Version 
made at the time of its appearance. Sel- 
den says it is "the best of all transla- 
tions, as giving the true sense of the orig- 
inal." [For Revised Version (of 
1881), see under Bible.] 

Village. This word, in addition to 
its ordinary sense, is often used, especially 
in the enumeration of towns in Josh. 13 : 
15, 19, to imply unwalled suburbs out- 
side the walled "towns. Arab villages, as 
found in Arabia, are often mere collec- 
tions of stone huts, " long, low, rude 
hovels, roofed only with the stalks of 
palm leaves," or covered for a time with 



tent-cloths, which are removed when the 
tribe change their quarters. Others are 
more solidly built, as are most of the 
modern villages of Palestine, though in 
some the dwellings are mere mud-huts. 

Vine, the well-known valuable plant 
( Vitis vinifera) very frequently referred 
to in the Old and New Testaments, and 
cultivated from the earliest times. The 
first mention of this plant occurs in Gen. 




9 : 20, 21. That it was abundantly cul- 
tivated in Egypt is evident from the fre- 
quent representations on the monuments, 
as well as from the scriptural allusions. 
Gen. 40 : 9-11 ; Ps. 78 : 47. The vines of 
Palestine were celebrated both for luxu- 
riant growth and for the immense clus- 
ters of grapes which they produced, 
which were sometimes carried on a staff 
between two men, as in the case of the 
spies, Num. 13 : 23, and as has been done 
in some instances in modern times. Spe- 
cial mention is made in the Bible of the 
vines of Eshcol, Num. 13 : 24 ; 32 : 9, of 
Sibmah, Heshbon and Eleaieh, Isa. 16 : 
8,9,10; Jer.48:32, and of Engedi. Cant. 
1 : 14. From the abundance and excel- 
lence of the vines, it may readily be un- 
derstood how frequently this plant is the 
subject of metaphor in the Holy Scrip- 
tures. To dwell under the vine and fig 
tree is an emblem of domestic happiness 
and peace, 1 Kings 4 : 25 ; Ps. 128 : 3 ; 
Micah 4:4; the rebellious people of Is- 
rael are compared to " wild grapes," " an 
empty vine," " the degenerate plant of a 
strange vine," etc. Isa. 5:2, 4 ; Jer. 2 : 
21 ; Hos. 10 : 1. It is a vine which our 
Lord selects to show the spiritual union 
which subsists between himself and his 
members. John 15 : 1-6. The ancient 
731 




Vine. 



VIN 



VOW 



Hebrews probably allowed the vine to 
go trailing on the ground or upon sup- 
ports. This latter mode of cultivation 
appears to be alluded to by Ezekiel. 
Ezek. 19 : 11, 12. The vintage, which 
formerly was a season of general festiv- 
ity, began in September. The towns 
were deserted ; the people lived among 
the vineyards in the lodges and tents. 
Comp. Judges 9 : 27 ; Isa. 16 : 10 ; Jer. 
25 : 30. The grapes were gathered with 
shouts of joy by the " grape gatherers," 
Jer. 25 : 30, and put into baskets. See 
Jer. 6 : 9. They were then carried on 
the head and shoulders, or slung upon 
a yoke, to the " wine-press." Those in- 




Gathering Grapes. 

tended for eating were perhaps put into 
flat open baskets of wickerwork, as was 
the custom in Egypt. In Palestine, at 
present, the finest grapes, says Dr. Robin- 
son, are dried as raisins, and the juice of 
the remainder, after having been trodden 
and pressed" "is boiled down to a sirup, 
which, under the name of dibs, is much 
used by all classes, wherever vineyards 
are found, as a condiment with their 
food." The vineyard, which was gen- 
erally on a hill, Isa. 5:1; Jer. 31 : 5 ; 
Amos 9 : 13, was surrounded by a wall or 
hedge in order to keep out the wild boars, 
Ps. 80 : 13, jackals and foxes. Num. 22 : 
24 ; Neh. 4:3; Cant. 2 : 15 ; Ezek. 13 : 4, 
5 ; Matt. 21 : 33. Within the vineyard 
was one or more towers of stone in which 
the vine-dressers lived. Isa. 1:8; 5:2; 
Matt. 21 : 33. The vat, which was dug, 
Matt. 21 : 33, or hewn out of the rocky 
soil, and the press, were part of the vine- 
yard furniture. Isa. 5 : 2. 

Vine of Sodom occurs only in Deut. 
32 : 32. It is generally supposed that this 
passage alludes to the celebrated apples 
of Sodom, of which Josephus speaks, 
" which indeed resemble edible fruit in 
732 



color, but, on being plucked by the hand, 
are dissolved into smoke and ashes." It 
has been variously identified. Dr. Rob- 
inson pronounced in favor of the 'dsher 
fruit, the Asclepias (Calotropis) procera 
of botanists. He says, " The fruit greatly 
resembles externally a large smooth ap- 
ple or orange, hanging in clusters of three 
or four together, and when ripe is of a 
yellow color. It is now fair and delicious 
to the eye and soft to the touch ; but, on 
being pressed or struck, it explodes with 
a puff, like a bladder or puff-ball, leaving 
in the hand only the shreds of the thin 
rind and a few fibres. It is indeed filled 
chiefly with air, which gives it the round 
form." Dr. Hooker writes, " The vine 
of Sodom I always thought might 
refer to Cucumis colocynthis, which is 
bitter and powdery inside; the term 
vine would scarcely be given to any 
but a trailing or other plant of the 
habit of a vine." His remark that the 
term vine must refer to some plant 
of the habit of a vine is conclusive 
against the claims of all the plants 
hitherto identified with the vine of 
Sodom. 

Vinegar. The Hebrew word trans- 
lated " vinegar " was applied to a bev- 
erage consisting generally of wine or 
strong drink turned sour, but some- 
times artificially made by an admixture 
of barley and wine, and thus liable to fer- 
mentation. It was acid even to a proverb, 
Prov. 10 : 26, and by itself formed an un- 
pleasant draught, Ps. 49 : 21, but was used 
by laborers. Ruth 2 : 14. Similar was the 
acetum of the Romans — a thin, sour wine, 
consumed by soldiers. This was the 
beverage of which the Saviour partook 
in his dying moments. Matt. 27 : 48; 
Mark 15 : 36 ; John 19 : 29, 30. 
Vineyards, Plain of the. This 

{dace, mentioned only in Judges 11 : 33, 
ay east of the Jordan, beyond Aroer. 
Viol. [Psaltery.] 
Viper. [Serpent.] 
Voph'si (rich), father of Nahbi, the 
Naphtalite spy. Num. 13 : 14. (B.C. be- 
fore 1490.) 

Vows. A vow is a solemn promise 
made to God to perform or to abstain 
from performing a certain thing. The 
earliest mention of a vow is that of Jacob. 
Gen. 28 : 18-22; 31 : 13. Vows in general 
are also mentioned in the book of Job, ch. 
22 : 27. The law therefore did not intro- 
duce, but regulated the practice of, vows. 
Three sorts are mentioned : 1, vows of 



VUL 



VUL 



devotion ; 2, vows of abstinence ; 3, vows 
of destruction. 1. As to vows of devotion, 
the following rules are laid down : A 
man might devote to sacred uses posses- 
sions or persons, but not the first-born 
of either man or beast, which was devoted 
already. Lev. 27 : 26. (a) If he vowed 
land, he might either redeem it or not. 
Lev. 25, 27. (6) Animals fit for sacrifice, 
if devoted, were not to be redeemed or 
changed. Lev. 27 : 9, 10, 33. The case of 
persons devoted stood thus : A man might 
devote either himself, his child (not the 
first-born) or his slave. If no redemption 
took place, the devoted person became a 
slave of the sanctuary : see the case of 
Absalom. 2 Sam. 15 : 8. Otherwise he 
might be redeemed at a valuation accord- 
ing to age and sex, on the scale given in 
Lev. 27 : 1-7. Among general regulations 
affecting vows, the following may 
be mentioned : (1) Vows were en- 
tirely voluntary, but once made 
were regarded as compulsorv. 
Num. 30 : 2 ; Deut. 23 : 21 ; Eccles. 
5 : 4. (2) If persons in a depend- 
ent condition made vows, as (a) an 
unmarried daughter living in her 
father's house, or {b) a wife, even 
if she afterward became a widow, 
the vow, if (a) in the first case her 
father, or (b) in the second her 
husband, heard and disallowed it, 
was void ; but if they heard with- 
out disallowance, it was to remain 
good. Num. 30 : 3-16. (3) Votive 
offerings arising from the produce 
of any impure traffic were wholly 
forbidden. Deut, 23 : 18. 2. For 
vows of abstinence, see Corban. 
3. For vows of extermination, see 
Anathema, and Ezra 10 : 8 ; Mi- 
cah 4 : 13. It seems that the practice of 
shaving the head at the expiration of a 
votive period was not limited to the Naz- 
aritic vow. Acts 18 : 18 ; 21 : 24. 

Vul'gate, The, the Latin version of 
the Bible. The influence which it exer- 
cised upon western Christianity is scarcely 
less than that of the LXX. upon the Greek 
churches. Both the Greek and the Latin 
Vulgate have been long neglected ; yet 
the Vulgate should have a very deep in- 
terest for all the western churches. For 
many centuries it was the only Bible 
generally used ; and, directly or indirect- 
ly, it is the real parent of all the vernac- 
ular versions of* western Europe. The 
Gothic version of Ulphilas alone is inde- 
pendent of it. The name is equivalent 



to Vulgata editio (the current text of 
Holy Scripture. This translation was 
made by Jerome — Eusebius Hieronymus 
— who was born in 329 a.d. at Stridon in 
Dalmatia, and died at Bethlehem in 420 
a.d. This great scholar probably alone 
for 1500 years possessed the qualifica- 
tions necessary for producing an original 
version of the Scriptures for the use of 
the Latin churches. Going to Rome, he 
was requested by Pope Damascus, a.d. 
383, to make a revision of the old Latin 
version of the New Testament, whose his- 
tory is lost in obscurity. In middle life 
Jerome began the study of the Hebrew, 
and made a new version of the Old Testa- 
ment from the original Hebrew, which was 
completed a.d. 404. The critical labors 
of Jerome were received with a loud out- 
cry of reproach. He was accused of dis- 




The Vulture. 

turbing the repose of the Church and 
shaking the foundations of faith. But 
clamor based upon ignorance soon dies 
away ; and the New translation gradually 
came into use equally with the Old, and 
at length supplanted it. The vast power 
which the Vulgate has had in determin- 
ing the theological terms of western Chris- 
tendom can hardly be overrated. By far 
I the greater part of the current doctrinal 
i terminology is based on the Vulgate. 
J Predestination, .justification, supereroga- 
I lion (supererogo), sanctification, salva- 
I tion, mediation, regeneration, revelation, 
\ visitation (met,), propitiation, first ap- 
| pear in the Old Vulgate. Grace, redemp- 
tion, election, reconciliation, satisfaction, 
inspiration, scripture, were devoted there 
733 



VUL 



VUL 



to a new and holy use. Sacrament and 
communion are from the same source; 
and though baptism is Greek, it comes 
to us from the Latin. It would be easy 
to extend the list by the addition of or- 
ders, penance, congregation, priest; but 
it can be seen from the forms already 
brought forward that the Vulgate has 
left its mark both upon our language and 
upon our thoughts. It was the version 
which alone they knew who handed 
down to the reformers the rich stores 
of mediaeval wisdom ; the version with 
which the greatest of the reformers were 
734 



most familiar, and from which they had 
drawn their earliest knowledge of divine 
truth. 

Vulture. The rendering in the Au- 
thorized Version of the Hebrew dddh, 
day yah, and also in Job 28 : 7 of ayydh. 
There seems no doubt that the Authorized 
Version translation is incorrect, and that 
the original words refer to some of the 
smaller species of raptorial birds, as kites 
or buzzards. [Kite.] But the Hebrew 
word nesher, invariably rendered " eagle " 
in the Authorized Version, is probably the 
vulture. [Eagle.] 



WAG 



WAR 



W. 



Wages. The earliest mention of wages 
is of a recompense, not in money, but in 
kind, to Jacob from Laban. Gen. 29 : 15, 
20; 30:28; 31:7,8,41. In Egypt money 
payments by way of wages were in use, 
tut the terms cannot now be ascertained. 
Ex. 2 : 9. The only mention of the rate 
of wages in Scripture is found in the 
parable of the householder and the vine- 
yard, Matt. 20 : 2, where the laborer's 
wages are set at one denarius per day, 

Erobably 15 to 17 cents, a sum which may 
e fairly taken as equiva- 
lent to the denarius, and 
to the usual pay of a sol- 
dier (ten asses per diem) 
in the later days of the 
Roman republic. Tac. 
Ann. i. 17; Polyb. vi. 39. In 
earlier times it is probable 
that the rate was lower; 
but it is likely that labor- 
ers, and also soldiers, were 
supplied with provisions. 
The law was very strict in 
requiring daily payment 
of wages. Lev. 19 : 13 ; 
Deut. 24 : 14, 15. The em- 
ployer who refused to give 
his laborers sufficient vic- 
tuals is censured, Job 24 : 
11, and the iniquity of 
withholding wages is de- 
nounced. Jer. 22 : 13 ; Mai. 
3:5; James 5 : 4. 

Wagon. The Oriental wagon, or ar- 
abah, is a vehicle composed of two or 
three planks fixed on two solid circular 
blocks of wood, from two to five feet in 
diameter, which serve as wheels. For 
the conveyance of passengers, mattresses 
or clothes are laid in the bottom, and the 
vehicle is drawn by buffaloes or oxen. 
[Cart and Chariot.] 

Walls. Only a few points need be 
noticed. 1. The practice common in 
Palestine of carrying foundations down 
to the solid rock, as in the case of the 
temple, with structures intended to be 
permanent. Luke 6 : 48. 2. A feature of 
some parts of Solomon's buildings, as de- 
scribed by Josephus, corresponds remark- 
ably to the method adopted at Nineveh 



or stone with slabs of a more costly mate- 
rial, as marble or alabaster. 3. Another 
use of walls in Palestine is to support 
mountain roads or terraces formed on the 
sides of hills for purposes of cultivation. 
4. The "path of the vineyards," Num. 
22 : 24, is a pathway through vineyards, 
with walls on each side. 

Wandering in the Wilderness. 
[Wilderness of the Wandering.] 

War. The most important topic in 
connection with war is the formation of 




The Catapult, a machine for throwing heavy darts. 



the army which is destined to carry it on. 
[Army.] In 1 Kings 9 : 22, at a period 
(Solomon's reign) when the organization 
of the army was complete, we have ap- 
parently a list of the various gradations 
of rank in the service, as follows: 1. 
"Men of war" = privates; 2. "serv- 
ants," the lowest rank of officers = lieu- 
tenants; 3. " princes" = captains; 4. 
"captains," perhaps = staff officers; 5. 
" rulers of his chariots and his horse- 
men " t= cavalry officers. Formal procla- 
mations of war were not interchanged be- 
tween the belligerents. Before entering 
the enemy's district spies were sent to as- 
certain the character of the country and 
the preparations of its inhabitants for re- 
sistance. Num. 13 : 17 ; Josh. 2:1; Judges 
7:10; 1 Sam. 26:4. The combat as- 
of incrusting or veneering a wall of brick | sumed the form of a number of hand- 

735 



WAS 



WAS 



to-hand contests ; hence the high value 
attached to fieetness of foot and strength 
of arm. 2 Sam. 1 : 23 ; 2:18; 1 Chron. 
12:8. At the same time various strategic 
devices were practiced, such as the am- 
buscade, Josh. 8:2, 12 ; Judges 20 : 36, 
surprise, Judges 7 : 16, or circumvention. 
2 Sam. 5 : 23. Another mode of settling 
the dispute was by the selection of cham- 
pions, 1 Sam. 17 ; 2 Sam. 2 : 14, who were 
spurred on to exertion by the offer of high 
reward. 1 Sam. 17 : 25; 18 : 25; 2 Sam. 
18 : 11 ; 1 Chron. 11 : 6. The contest hav- 
ing been decided, the conquerors were 
recalled from the pursuit by the sound 
of a trumpet. 2 Sam. 2 : 28 ; 18 : 16 ; 20 : 
22. The siege of a town or fortress was 




The Crow. 



conducted in the following manner: A 
line of circumvallation was drawn round 
the place, Ezek. 4:2; Micah 5:1, con- 
structed out of the trees found in the 
neighborhood, Deut. 20 : 20, together with 
earth and any other materials at hand. 
This line not only cut off the besieged 
from the surrounding country, but also 
served as a base of operations for the 
besiegers. The next step was to throw 
out from this line one or more mounds or 
" banks " in the direction of the city, 2 
Sam. 20 : 15 ; 2 Kings 19 : 32 ; Isa. 37 : 33, 
which were gradually increased in height 
until they were about half as high as the 
city wall. On this mound or bank tow- 
ers were erected, 2 Kings 25 : 1 ; Jer. 52 : 
4 ; Ezek. 4:2; 17:17; 21 : 22 ; 26 : 8, 
whence the slingers and archers might 
attack with effect. Catapults were pre- 
736 



pared for hurling large darts and stones ; 
and the crotv, a long spar, with iron claws 
at one end and ropes at the other, to pull 




Battering-ram and Tower. 



down stones or men from the top of the 
wall. Battering-rams, Ezek. 4:2; 21 : 
22, were brought up to the walls by means 
of the bank, and scaling-ladders might 
also be placed on it. The treatment of 
the conquered was extremely severe in 
ancient times. The bodies of the soldiers 
killed in action were plundered, 1 Sam. 
31 : 8 ; 2 Mace. 8 : 27 ; the survivors were 
either killed in some savage manner, 
Judges 9:45; 2 Sam. 12:31; 2 Chron. 
25 : 12, mutilated, Judges 1:6; 1 Sam. 
11 : 2, or carried into captivity. Num. 
31 : 26. 

Washing the hands and feet. As 

knives and forks were not used in the 




Washing the Hands. 



East, in Scripture times, in eating, it was 
necessary that the hand, which was thrust 
into the common dish, should be scrupu- 
lously clean ; and again, as sandals were 



WAT 



WAV 



ineffectual against the dust and heat of the 
climate, washing the feet on entering a 
house was an act both of respect to the 
company and of refreshment to the trav- 
eller. The former of these usages was 
transformed by the Pharisees of the New 
Testament age into a matter of ritual ob- 
servance, Mark 7 : 3, and special rules 
were laid down as to the time and man- 
ner of its performance. Washing the feet 
did not rise to the dignity of a ritual ob- 
servance except in connection with the 
services of the sanctuary. Ex. 30 : 19, 21. 
It held a high place, however, among the 
rites of hospitality. Immediately that a 




Eastern Washing-vessels. 

guest presented himself at the tent door, 
it was usual to offer the necessary mate- 
rials for washing the feet. Gen. 18:4; 
19 : 2 ; 24 : 32 ; 43 : 24 ; Judges 19 : 21. It 
was a yet more complimentary act, be- 
tokening equally humility and affection, 
if the host himself performed the office 
for his guest. 1 Sara. 25 : 41 ; Luke 7 : 38, 
44 ; John 13 : 5-14 ; 1 Tim. 5 : 10. Such 
a token of hospitality is still occasionally 
exhibited in the East. 

Watches of night. The Jews, like 
the Greeks and Romans, divided the 
night into military watches instead of 
hours, each watch representing the pe- 
riod for which sentinels or pickets re- 
mained on duty. The proper Jewish 
reckoning recognized only three such 
watches, entitled the first or " beginning 
of the watches," Lam. 2 : 19, the middle 
watch, Judges 7 : 19, and the morning 
watch. Ex. 14 : 24 ; 1 Sam. 11 : 11. These 
would last respectively from sunset to 10 
47 



p.m. ; from 10 P.M. to 2 A.M. ; and from 
2 A.M. to sunrise. After the establish- 
ment of the Roman supremacy, the num- 
ber of watches was increased to four, 
which were described either according to 
their numerical order, as in the case of 
the " fourth watch," Matt. 14 : 25, or by 
the terms "even," "midnight," "cock- 
crowing" and "morning." Mark 13 : 35. 
These terminated respectively at 9 P.M., 
midnight, 3 a.m. and 6 A.M. 

Water of jealousy. Num. 5 : 11-31. 
The ritual prescribed consisted in the 
husband's bringing before the priest the 
woman suspected of infidelity, and the 
essential part of it is unquestion- 
ably the oath, to which the " water" 
was subsidiary, symbolical and 
ministerial. With her he was to 
bring an offering of barley meal. 
As she stood holding the offering, 
so the priest stood holding an 
earthen vessel of holy water mixed 
with the dust from the floor of the 
sanctuary, and, declaring her free 
from all evil consequences if inno- 
cent, solemnly devoted her in the 
name of Jehovah to be "a curse 
and an oath among her people" 
if guilty. He then " wrote these 
curses in a book, and blotted them 
out with the bitter water," and 
fjr having th rown the handful of meal 
on the altar, "caused the woman 
to drink " the potion thus drugged, 
she moreover answering to the 
words of his imprecation, " Amen, 
1 amen." Josephus adds, if the suspicion 
j was unfounded, she obtained conception; 
; if true, she died infamously. (This was 
entirely different from most trials of this 
kind, for the bitter water the woman must 
drink was harmless in itself, and only by 
a direct act of God could it injure her .if 
guilty ; while in most heathen trials the 
suspected party must take poison, or suf- 
fer that which only a miracle would save 
them from if they were innocent. — Ed.) 

Water of separation. [Purifica- 
tion.] 

Wave offering. This rite, together 
with that of " heaving" or " raising" the 
offering, was an inseparable accompani- 
ment of peace offerings. In such the 
right shoulder, considered the choicest 
part of the victim, was to be "heaved," 
ana viewed as holy to the Lord, only 
eaten therefore by the priest : the breast 
was to be " waved," and eaten by the 
worshipper. The scriptural notices of 
737 



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these rites are to be found in Ex. 29 : 24, 
28 ; Lev. 7 : 30, 34 ; 8:27; 9:21; 10 : 14, 
15; 23:10,15,20; Num. 6:20; 18:11, 
18, 26-29, etc. In conjecturing the mean- 
ing of this rite, regard must be had that 
it was the accompaniment of peace offer- 
ings, which were witnesses to a ratified 
covenant — an established communion be- 
tween God and man. 

Weapons. [Arms.] 

Weasel {eluded) occurs only in Lev. 
11 : 29, in the list of unclean animals ; 
but the Hebrew word ought more prob- 
ably to be translated " mole." Moles 
are common in Palestine. 




Ancient Roman Loom. 



Weaving. The art of weaving ap- 
pears to be coeval with the first dawning 
of civilization. We find it practiced with 
great skill by the Egyptians at a very 
early period. The " vestures of fine 
linen " such as Joseph wore, Gen. 41 : 
42, were the product of Egyptian looms. 
The Israelites were probably acquainted 
with the process before tbeir sojourn in 
Egypt; but it was undoubtedly there 
that they attained the proficiency which 
enabled them to execute the hangings of 
the tabernacle, Ex. 35 : 35; 1 Cliron. 4 : 
21, and other artistic textures. The 
Egyptian loom was usually upright, and 
the weaver stood at his work. The cloth 
was fixed sometimes at the top, some- 
times' at the bottom. The modern Arabs 
use a procumbent loom, raised above the 
ground by short legs. The textures pro- 
duced by the Jewish weavers were very 
various. The coarser kinds, such as 
tent-cloth, sack-cloth and the " hairy 
garments " of the poor, were made of 
goat's or camel's hair. Ex. 26 : 7 ; Matt. 
3 : 4. Wool was extensively used for 
ordinary clothing, Lev. 13 : 47 ; Prov. 
27 : 26 ; 31:13; Ezek. 27 : 18 ; while fcr 
738 



finer work flax was used, varying in 
quality, and producing the different tex- 
tures described in the Bible as "linen" 
and " fine linen." The mixture of wool 
and flax in cloth intended for a garment 
was interdicted. Lev. 19 : 19 ; Deut. 22 : 
11. 

Wedding. [Marriage.] 

Week. There can be no doubt about 
the great antiquity of measuring time by 
a period of seven days. Gen. 8 : 10; 29 : 
27. The origin of this division of time is 
a matter which has given birth to much 
speculation. Its antiquity is so great, its 
observance so widespread, and it occu- 
pies so important a place in sacred 
things, that it must probably be thrown 
back as far as the creation of man. The 
week and the Sabbath are thus as old 
as man himself. A purely theological 
ground is thus established for the week. 
They who embrace this view support it 
by a reference to the six days' creation 
and the divine rest on the seventh. 1st. 
That the week rests on a theological 
ground may be cheerfully acknowledged 
by both sides ; but nothing is determined 
by such acknowledgment as to the orig- 
inal cause of adopting this division of 
time. Whether the week gave its sacred- 
ness to the number seven, or whether the 
ascendency of that number helped to de- 
termine the dimensions of the week, it 
is impossible to say. 2d. The weekly 
division was adopted by all the Shemitic 
races, and, in the later period of their 
history at least, by the Egyptians. On 
the other hand, there is no reason for 
thinking the week known till a late pe- 
riod to either Greeks or Eomans. 3d. 
So far from the week being a division of 
time without ground in nature, there was 
much to recommend its adoption. And, 
further, the week is a most natural and 
nearly an exact quadri-partition of the 
month, so that the quarters of the moon 
may easily have suggested it. It is clear 
that if not in Paul's time, yet very soon 
after, the whole Roman world had 
adopted the hebdomadal division. 

Weeks, Feast of. [Pentecost.] 

Weights and Measures. A. 
Weights. — The general principle of the 
present inquiry is to give the evidence 
of the monuments the preference on all 
doubtful points. All ancient Greek sys- 
tems of weight were derived, either di- 
rectly or indirectly, from an eastern 
source. The older systems of ancient 
Greece and Persia were the iEginetan, 



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the Attic, the Babylonian and the Eu- 
boi'c. 1. The ^Eginetan talent is stated 
to have contained 60 minse, 6000 drachms. 
2. The Attic talent is the standard weight 
introduced by Solon. 3. The Babylonian 
talent may be determined from existing 
weights found by Mr. Layard at Nineveh. 
Pollux makes it equal to 7000 Attic 
drachms. 4. The Euboi'c talent, though 
bearing a Greek name, is rightly held to 
have been originally an eastern system. 
The proportion of the Euboic talent to 
the Babylonian was probably as 60 to 72, 
or 5 to 6. Taking the Babylonian maneh 
at 7992 grs., we obtain 399,600 for the 
Euboic talent. The principal, if not the 
only, Persian gold coin is the daric, 
weighing about 129 grs. 5. The Hebrew 
talent or talents and divisions. A talent 
of silver is mentioned in Exodus, which 
contained 3000 shekels, distinguished as 
"the holy shekel," or "shekel of the 
sanctuary." The gold talent contained 



100 manehs, 10,000 shekels. The silver 
talent contained 3000 shekels, 6000 be- 
kas, 60,000 gerahs. The significations of 
the names of the Hebrew weights must 
be here stated. The chief unit was the 
Shekel (i. e. weight), called also the 
holy shekel or shekel of the sanctuary; 
subdivided into the beka (i. e. half) or 
half -shekel, and the gerah {i. e. a grain 
or bean). The chief multiple, or higher 
unit, was the kikkar { i. e. circle or globe, 
probably for an aggregate sum), trans- 
lated in our version, after the LXX., 
Talent; subdivided into the maneh 
(i. e. part, portion or number), a word 
i used in Babylonian and in the Greek 
rjva or mina. (1) The relations of these 
weights, as usually employed for th e stand- 
ard of weigh ing silver, and their absolute 
values, determined from the extant silver 
coins, and confirmed from other sources, 
were as follows, in grains exactly, and in 
avoirdupois weight approximately : 



Silver Weights. 


Grains. 


Lhs. 


Oz. 


Correction. 


Gerah 






11 




i 

40 


+ -06 gr. nearly. 


10 


Beka 




110 




k 


+ .6 gr. 


20 


2 


Shekel 


220 




1 


+ 1.75 gr. 


1,200 


120 


60 1 Maneh 


13,200 


2 




— 2 oz. nearly. 


60,000 


6,000 


3,000 50 ' Talent (Kikkar) 


660,000 


100 




— 6 lb. nearly. 



(2) For gold a different shekel was used, 
probably of foreign introduction. Its 
value has been calculated at from 129 to 
132 grains. The former value assimi- 
lates it to the Persian daric of the Bab- 



ylonian standard. The talent of this 
system was just double that of the silver 
standard ; it was divided into 100 manehs, 
and each maneh into 100 shekels, as fol- 
lows : 



Gold Weights. 


Grains. 


Lbs. 


Oz. 


Correction. 


Shekel 


132 




.3 


+ .75 gr. 




13,200 


2 




— 2 oz. nearly. 


10,000 j 100 Talent (Kikkar) .... 


1,320,000 


200 




— 12 lb. nearly. 



(3) There appears to have been a third 
standard for copper, namely, a shekel 
four times as heavy as the gold shekel 
(or 528 grains), 1500 of which made up 
the copper talent of 792,000 grains. It 
seems to have been subdivided, in the 
coinage, into halves (of 264 grains), 
quarters (of 132 grains) and sixths (of 88 
grains). 

B. Measures. — I. Measures of 
Length. — In the Hebrew, as in every 



I other system, these measures are of two 
classes : length, in the ordinary sense, for 
i objects whose size we wish to determine, 
1 and distance, or itinerary measures ; and 
the two are connected by some definite 
relation, more or less simple, between 
their units. 1. The measures of the 
former class have been universally de- 
rived, in the first instance, from the parts 
of the human body; but it is remark- 
able that, in the Hebrew system, the only 
739 



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part used for this purpose is the hand 
and fore-arm, to the exclusion of the 
foot, which was the chief unit of the 
western nations. Hence arises the diffi- 
culty of determining the ratio of the foot 
to the Cubit, 1 which appears as the chief 
Oriental unit from the very building of 
Noah's ark. Gen. 6:15,16; 7 : 20. The 
Hebrew lesser measures were the finger's 
breadth, Jer. 52 : 21 only ; the palm or 
handbreadth, Ex. 25 : 25 ; 1 Kings 7 : 26 ; 
2 Chron. 4 : 5, used metaphorically in Ps. 
39 : 5 ; the span, i. e. the full stretch be- 
tween the tips of the thumb and the 
little finger. Ex. 28:16; 1 Sam. 17 : 4 ; 
Ezek. 43 : 13, and figuratively Isa. 40 : 
12. The data for determining the actual 
length of the Mosaic cubit involve pecul- 
iar difficulties, and absolute certainty 
seems unattainable. The following, how- 
ever, seem the most probable conclusions : 



First, that three cubits were used in the 
times of the Hebrew monarchy, namely : 
(1) The cubit of a man, Deut. 3 : 11, or 
the common cubit of Canaan (in contra- 
distinction to the Mosaic cubit) of the 
Chaldsean standard ; (2) The old Mosaic 
or legal cubit, a handbreadth larger than 
the first, and agreeing with the smaller 
Egyptian cubit; (3) The new cubit, 
which was still larger, and agreed with 
the larger Egyptian cubit, of about 20.6 
inches, used in the Nilometer. Second, 
that the ordinary cubit of the Bible did 
not come up to the full length of the 
cubit of other countries. The reed (kd- 
neh), for measuring buildings (like the 
Roman decempeda), was equal to 6 cubits. 
It occurs only in Ezekiel. ch. 40: 5-8; 
41 : 8 ; 42 : 16-19. The values given in the 
following table are to be accepted with 
reservation, for want of greater certainty : 





Hebrew Measures of Length. 


Inches. 


Approximate. 




















Feet. 


Inches. 


Digit 










.7938 




.8 or 1-| 


4 


Palm 








3.1752 






12 


3 


Span . 






5.5257 




?! 


24 




2 


Cubit 




19.0515 


1 


7 


144 


36 


12 


6 


Reed 


114.3090 


9 


6 



2. Of measures of distance the smallest 
is the pace, and the largest the day's 
journey, (a) The pace, 2 Sam. 6:13, 
whether it be single, like our pace, or 
double, like the Latin passus, is defined 
by nature within certain limits, its usual 
length being about 30 inches for the 
former and 5 feet for the latter. There is 
some reason to suppose that even before 
the Roman measurement of the roads of 
Palestine, the Jews had a mile of 1000 
paces, alluded to in Matt. 5 : 41. It is 
said to have been single or double, ac- 
cording to the length of the pace; and 
hence the peculiar force of our Lord's 
saying : " Whosoever shall compel thee 
[as a courier] to go a mile, go with him 
twain" — put the most liberal construc- 
tion on the demand, (b) The day's jour- 



1 The Hebrew word for the cubit (ammah) 
appears to have been of Egyptian origin, as 
some of the measures of capacity (the hin and 
ephah) certainly were. 
740 



ney was the most usual method of calcu- 
lating distances in travelling, Gen. 30: 
36; 31 : 23; Ex. 3 : 18; 5:3; Num. 10: 
33 ; 11 : 31 ; 33 : 8 ; Deut. 1 : 2; 1 Kings 
19:4; 2 Kings 3:9; Jonah 3:3; 1 Mace. 
5 : 24 ; 7 : 45 ; Tobit 6:1, though but one 
instance of it occurs in the New Testa- 
ment—Luke 2 : 44. The ordinary day's 
journey among the Jews was 30 miles; 
but when they travelled in companies, 
only ten miles. Neapolis formed the first 
stage out of Jerusalem according to the 
former and Beeroth according to the 
latter computation. (c) The Sabbath 
day's journey of 2000 cubits, Acts 1 : 12, 
is peculiar to the New Testament, and 
arose from a rabbinical restriction. _ It 
was founded on a universal application 
of the prohibition given by Moses for a 
special occasion : " Let no man go out of 
his place on the seventh day." Ex. 16 : 
29. An exception was allowed for the 
purpose of worshipping at the taber- 
nacle ; and, as 2000 cubits was the pre- 



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scribed space to be kept between the ark 
and the people, as well as the extent of 
the suburbs of the Levitical cities on 
every side, Num. 35 : 5, this was taken 
for the length of a Sabbath-day's journey, 
•measured from the wall of the city in 
which the traveller lived. Computed 
from the value given above for the cubit, 
the Sabbath-day's journey would be just 
six tenths of a mile, (d) After the cap- 
tivity the relations of the Jews to the 
Persians, Greeks and Romans caused the 
use, probably, of the parasang, and cer- 
tainly of the stadium and the mile. 
Though the first is not mentioned in the 
Bible, it is well to exhibit the ratios of 
the three. The universal Greek stand- 
ard, the stadium of 600 Greek feet, which 



For estimating area, and especially land, 
there is no evidence that the Jews used 
any special system of square measures, 
but they were content to express by the 
cubit the length and breadth of the sur- 
face to be measured, Num. 35:4, 5; 
Ezek. 40 : 27, or by the reed. Ezek. 41 : 
8; 42:16-19; Rev. 21 : 16. 

II. Measures of Capacity— 1. The 
measures of capacity for liquids were : 
(a) The log, Lev. 14 : 10, etc., the name 
originally signifying basin, (b) The hin, 
a name of Egyptian origin, frequently 
noticed in the Bible. Ex. 29 : 40 ; 30 : 24 ; 
Num. 15 : 4, 7, 9; Ezek. 4 : 11, etc. (c) 
The bath, the name meaning "meas- 
ured," the largest of the liquid measures. 
1 Kings 7 : 26, 38 ; 2 Chron. 2 : 10 ; Ezra 
7 : 22 ; Isa. 5 : 10. The relative values of 
these measures stand thus: 



Log. 
12 j Hin. 
72 | 6 | Bath. 



was the length of the race-course at 
Olympia, occurs first in the Maccabees, 
and is common in the New Testament. 
Our version renders it furlong ; it being, 
in fact, the eighth part of the Roman 
mile, as the furlong is of ours. 2 Mace. 
11 : 5 ; 12 : 9, 17, 29 ; Luke 24 : 13 ; John 
6 : 19 ; 11:18; Rev. 14 : 20 ; 21 : 16. One 
measure remains to be mentioned. The 
fathom, used in sounding by the Alexan- 
drian mariners in St. Paul's voyage, is 
the Greek bpyvia, i. e. the full stretch of 
the two arms from tip to tip of the middle 
finger, which is about equal to the height, 
and in a man of full stature is six feet. 
For the sake of completeness, the values 
of the Greek and Roman foot are shown 
in the following table : 



Miles. 


Feet. 


Inches. 






11.6496 




1 


0.135 




4 


10.248 




6 


0.81 




606 


9 


.9193 


= 4854 




31. nearly. 







2. The dry measure contained the follow- 
ing denominations: (a) The cab, men- 
tioned only in 2 Kings 6 : 25, the name 
meaning literally hollow or concave, (b) 
The omer, mentioned only in Ex. 16 : 16- 
36. The word implies a heap, and sec- 
ondarily a sheaf, (c) The sedh, or " meas- 
ure," this being the etymological meaning 
of the term, and appropriately applied to 
it, inasmuch as it was the ordinary meas- 
ure for household purposes. Gen. 18:6; 

I Sam. 25:18; 2 Kings 7:1, 16. The 
Greek equivalent occurs in Matt. 13 : 33 ; 
Luke 13 : 21. (d) The ephah, a word of 
Egyptian origin, and of frequent recur- 
rence in the Bible.* Ex. 16 : 36 ; Lev. 5 : 

II ; 6 : 20 ; Num. 5 : 15 ; 28 : 5 ; Judges 
6 : 19 ; Ruth 2:17; 1 Sam. 1 : 24 ; 17 : 
17 ; Ezek. 45 : 11, 13 ; 46 : 5, 7, 11, 14. (e) 
The lethec, or " half homer," literally 
meaning what is poured out; it occurs 
only in Hos. 3 : 2. (/) The homer, mean- 
ing heap. Lev. 27; 16; Num. 11: 32; Isa. 
5:10; Ezek. 45:13. It is elsewhere 
termed cor, from the circular vessel in 
which it was measured. 1 Kings 4:22; 

741 



Roman foot = .96 of Greek foot 













5 


4 f 


Roman 




6 i 


6 


H 


Greek Fathom (bpyvia) .... 


625 


600 


125 


100 


Furlong ((ttolSlov) . . . 


5,000 


4,800 


1,000 


800 


8 


Roman Mile . . . 


18,750 


18,000 


3,750 


3,000 


30 


31 j Persian Parasang 



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WEL 



5:11; 2 Chron. 2 : 10 ; 27 : 5 ; Ezra 7 : 22 ; 
Ezek. 45 : 14. The Greek equivalent oc- 
curs in Luke 16 : 7. The following scale 
gives the relative values of these meas- 
ures : 



Cab. 








Mr 


Onier. 






6 


3i 


Seah. 




18 


10 


3 


Ephah. 


180 


100 


30 


10 | Homer. 



The absolute values of the liquid and 
dry measures are stated differently by 
Josephus and the rabbinists, and as we 
are unable to decide between them, we 
give a double estimate of the various de- 
nominations. 

(Josephus.) (Rabbinists.) 
Gallons. Gallons. Bushels. 

Homer or Cor 86.696 or 44.286 lOf or 5 ^ 

Ephah or Bath 8.6696 or 4.4286 

Seah .... 2.8898 or 1.4762 

Hin .... 1.4449 or .7381 

Omer 8669 or .4428 

Cab 4816 or .246 

Log 1204 or .0615 

In the New Testament we have notices 
of the following for- 
eign measures : (a) 
The metrites, John 2 : 
6, Authorized Version 
" firkin," for liquids. 
{b) The chcenix, Rev. 
6 : 6, Authorized Ver- 
sion " measure," for 
dry goods, (c) The 
xestec, applied, how- 
ever, not to the pecul- 
iar measure so named 
by the Greeks, but to 
any small vessel, such 
as a cup. Mark 7 : 4, 
8, Authorized Version 
"pot." (d) The mo- 
dius, similarly applied 
to describe any vessel 
of moderate dimen- 
sions, Matt. 5 : 15 ; 
Mark 4 : 21 ; Luke 11 : 
33, Authorized Version 
"bushel," though pro- 
perly meaning a Ro- 
man measure, amount- 
ing to about a peck. 
The value of the Attic metritis was 8.6696 
gallons, and consequently the amount of 
742 



liquid in six stone jars, containing on the 
average 2& metrites each, would exceed 
110 gallons. John 2 : 6. Very possibly, 
however, the Greek term represents the 
Hebrew bath ; and if the bath be taken 
at the lowest estimate assigned to it, the 
amount would be reduced to about 60 gal- 
lons. The chcenix was l-48th of an Attic 
medimnus, and contained nearly a quart. 
It represented the amount of corn for a 
day's food ; and hence a chcenix for a 
penny (or denarius), which usually pur- 
chased a bushel (Cic. Verr. iii. 81), in- 
dicated a great scarcity. Rev. 6 : 6. 

Well. Wells in Palestine are usually 
excavated from the solid limestone rock, 
sometimes with steps to descend into 
them. Gen. 24 : 16. The brims are fur- 
nished with a curb or low wall of stone, 
bearing marks of high antiquity in the 
furrows worn by the ropes used in draw- 
ing water. It was on a curb of this sort 
that our Lord sat when he conversed with 
the woman of Samaria, John 4:6; and it 
was this, the usual stone cover, which 
the woman placed on the mouth of the 
well at Bahurim, 2 Sam. 17 : 19, where 
the Authorized Version weakens the 
sense by omitting the article. The usual 
methods for raising water are the follow- 
ing : 1. The rope and bucket, or water- 




Modern Shadoof. 

skin. Gen. 24:14-20; John 4:11. 2. 
The sakiyeh, or Persian wheel. This 



WHA 



WHE 



consists of a vertical wheel furnished with 
a set of buckets or earthen jars attached 
to a cord passing over the wheel, which 
descend empty and return full as the 
wheel revolves. 3. A modification of 
the last method, by which a man, sitting 
opposite to a wheel furnished with buck- 
ets, turns it by drawing with his hands 




Ancient Well in Palestine 



one set of spokes prolonged beyond its 
circumference, and pushing another set 
from him with his feet. 4. A method 
very common in both ancient and mod- 
ern Egypt is the shadoof, a simple con- 
trivance consisting of a lever moving on 
a pivot, which is loaded at one end with 
a lump of clay or some other weight, and 
has at the other a bowl or bucket. Wells 
are usually furnished with troughs of 
wood or stone, into which the water is 
emptied for the use of persons or animals 
coming to the wells. Unless machinery 
is used, which is commonly worked by 
men, women are usually the water-car- 
riers. 

Whale. As to the signification of the 
Hebrew terms tan and tannin, variously 
rendered in the Authorized Version by 
"dragon," "whale," "serpent," "sea- 
monster," see Dragon. It remains for 
us in this article to consider the transac- 
tion recorded in the book of Jonah, of 
that prophet having been swallowed up 
by some " great fish " which in Matt. 12 : 
40 is called cetos (kt)to?), rendered in our 
version by " whale." In the first place, 
it is necessary to observe that the Greek 
word cetos, used by St. Matthew, is not 
restricted in its meaning to "a whale," 
or any Cetacean ; like the Latin cete or 



cetus, it may denote any sea-monster, 
either " a whale," or " a shark," or " a 
seal," or " a tunny of enormous size." 
Although two or three species of whale 
are found in the Mediterranean Sea, yet 
the "great fish" that swallowed the 
prophet cannot properly be identified 
with any Cetacean, for, although the 
sperm whale has a gullet suffi- 
ciently large to admit the body 
of a man, yet it can hardly be 
the fish intended, as the natural 
food of Cetaceans consists of 
small animals, such as medusae 
and Crustacea. The only fish, 
then, capable of swallowing a 
man would be a large specimen 
of the white shark (Carch arias 
vulgaris), that dreaded enemy of 
sailors, and the most voracious 
of the family of Squalidos. This 
shark, which sometimes attains 
the length of thirty feet, is quite 
able to swallow a man whole. 
The whole body of a man in 
armor has been found in the 
stomach of a white shark ; and 
Captain King, in his survey of 
Australia, says he had caught 
one which could have swallowed a man 
with the greatest ease. Blumenbach men- 
tions that a whole horse has been found 
in a shark, and Captain Basil Hall re- 
ports the taking of one in which, besides 
other things, he found the whole skin of 
a buffalo which a short time before had 
been thrown overboard from his ship (i. 
p. 27). The white shark is not uncommon 
in the Mediterranean. 

Wheat, the well-known valuable 
cereal, cultivated from the earliest times, 
is first mentioned in Gen. 30 : 14, in the 
account of Jacob's sojourn with Laban in 
Mesopotamia. Egypt in ancient times 
was celebrated for the growth of its 
wheat; the best quality was all bearded; 
and the same varieties existed in ancient 
as in modern times, among which may 
be mentioned the seven-eared quality de- 
scribed in Pharaoh's dream. Gen. 41 : 22. 
Babylonia was also noted for the excel- 
lence of its wheat and other cereals. 
Syria and Palestine produced wheat of 
fine quality and in large quantities. Ps. 
81 : 16 ; 147 : 14, etc. There appear to be 
two or three kinds of wheat at present 
grown in Palestine, the Triticum vul- 
gare, the T. spelta, and another variety 
of bearded wheat which appears to be 
the same as the Egyptian kind, the T. 

743 



WID 



WIL 



compositum. In the parable of the sower 
our Lord alludes to grains of wheat which 
in good ground produce a hundred-fold. 
Matt. 13 : 8. The common Triticum vul- 
gare will sometimes produce one hundred 
grains in the ear. Wheat is reaped to- 
ward the end of April, in May, and in 
June, according to the differences of soil 




Egyptian Wheat. 



and position; it was sown either broad- 
cast and then ploughed in or trampled in 
by cattle, Isa. 32 : 20, or in rows, if we 
rightly understand Isa. 28 : 25, which 
seems to imply that the seeds were 
planted apart in order to insure larger 
and fuller ears. The wheat was put into 
the ground in the winter, and some time 
after the barley ; in the Egyptian plague 
of hail, consequently, the barley suffered, 
but the wheat had not appeared, and so 
escaped injury. 

Widow. Under the Mosaic dispensa- 
tion no legal provision was made for the 
maintenance of widows. They were left 
dependent partly on the affection of rela- 
tions, more especially of the eldest son, 
whose birthright, or extra share of the 
property, imposed such a duty upon him, 
and partly on the privileges accorded to 
other distressed classes, such as a par- 
ticipation in the triennial third tithe, 
Deut. 14 : 29 ; 26 : 12, in leasing, Dent. 
24: 19-21, and in religious feasts. Deut. 
16 : 11, 14. With regard to the remarriage 
of widows, the only restriction imposed 
744 



by the Mosaic law had reference to the 
contingency of one being left childless, 
in which case the brother of the deceased 
husband had a right to marry the widow. 
Deut. 25 : 5, 6 ; Matt. 22 : 23-30. In the 
apostolic Church the widows were sus- 
tained at the public expense, the relief 
being daily administered in kind, under 
the superintendence of officers appointed 
for this special purpose. Acts 6:1-6. Par- 
ticular directions are given by St. Paul 
as to the class of persons entitled to such 
public maintenance. 1 Tim. 5 : 3-16. Out 
of the body of such widows a certain 
number were to be enrolled, the qualifi- 
cations for such enrollment being that 
they were not under sixty years of age ; 
that they had been " the wife of one 
man," probably meaning but once mar- 
ried; and that they had led useful and 
charitable lives, vs. 9, 10. We are not 
disposed to identify the widows of the 
Bible either with the deaconesses or with 
the npeo-pvTiSes of the early Church. The 
order of widows existed as a separate in- 
stitution, contemporaneously with these 
offices, apparently for the same eleemo- 
synary purpose for which it was origin- 
ally instituted. 

Wife. [Maeeiage.] 

Wilderness of the Wandering. 
(The region in which the Israelites spent 
nearly 38 years of their existence after 
they had left Egypt, and spent a year 
before Mount Sinai. They went as far 
as Kadesh, on the southernmost border 
of Palestine, from which place spies were 
sent up into the promised land. These 
returned with such a report of the inhab- 
itants and their walled cities that the 
people were discouraged, and began to 
murmur and rebel. For their sin they 
were compelled to remain 38 years longer 
in the wilderness, because it showed that 
they were not yet prepared and trained 
to conquer and to hold their promised 
possessions. The wilderness of the wan- 
dering was the great central limestone 
plateau of the sinaitic peninsula. It 
was bordered on the east by the valley 
of the Arabah, which runs from the Dead 
Sea to the head of the eastern branch of 
the Red Sea. On the south and south- 
west were the granite mountains of Sinai, 
and on the north the Mediterranean Sea 
and the mountainous region south of 
Judea. It is called the Desert of Paran, 
and Badiet et-Tih, which means " Desert 
of the Wandering." The children of 
Israel were not probably marching as a 



WIL 



WIN 



nation from place to place in this wilder- 
ness during these 38 years, but they prob- 
ably had a kind of headquarters at Ka- 
desh, and were " compelled to linger on, 
as do the Bedouin Arabs of the present 
day, in a half-savage, homeless state, 
moving about from place to place, and 
pitching their tents wherever they could 
find pasture for their flocks and herds." — 
E. H. Palmer. Toward the close of the 
forty years from Egypt they again as- 
sembled at Kadesh, and, once more under 
the leadership of the Shechinah, they 
marched down the Arabah on their way 
to the promised land. — Ed.) 

Willows are mentioned in Lev. 23 : 
40 ; Job 40 : 22 ; Ps. 137:2; Isa. 44 : 4. 
With respect to the tree upon which the 
captive Israelites hung their harps, there 
can be no doubt that the weeping willow, 
Salix babylonica, is intended. This tree 
grows abundantly on the banks of the 
Euphrates, in other parts of Asia as in 
Palestine. The Hebrew word translated 
willows is generic, and includes several 
species of the large family of Salices, 
which is well represented in Palestine 
and the Bible lands, such as the Salix 
alba, S. viminalis (osier), S. azgyptiaca. 

Willows, The brook of the, a wady 
mentioned by Isaiah, Isa. 15 : 7, in his 
dirge over Moab. It is situated on the 
southern boundary of Moab, and is now 
called Wady el-A ksa. 

Wills. Under a system of close inher- 
itance like that of the Jews, the scope 
for bequest in respect of land was limited 
by the right of redemption and general 
re-entry in the jubilee year; but the law 
does not forbid bequests by will of such 
limited interest in land as was consistent 
with those rights. The case of houses in 
walled towns was different, and there can 
be no doubt that they must, in fact, have 
frequently been bequeathed by will. Lev. 
25 : 30. Two instances are recorded in 
the Old Testament under the law of tes- 
tamentary disposition, (1) effected in the 
case of Ahithophel, 2 Sam. 17 : 23, (2) 
recommended in the case of Hezekiah. 2 
Kings 20 : 1 ; Isa. 38 : 1. THeir.] 

Wimple, an old English word for 
hood or veil, used in the Authorized Ver- 
sion of Isa. 3 : 22. The same Hebrew 
word is translated " veil " in Ruth 3 : 15, 
but it signifies rather a kind of shawl or 
mantle. 

Window. The window of an Oriental 
house consists generally of an aperture 
closed in with lattice-work. Judges 5 : 28 ; 



Prov. 7 : 6, Authorized Version " case- 
ment;" Eccles. 12 : 3, Authorized Version 
"window;" Cant. 2:9; Hos. 13 : 3, Au- 
thorized Version " chimney." Glass has 
been introduced into Egypt in modern 
times as a protection against the cold of 
winter, but lattice-work is still the usual, 
and with the poor the only, contrivance 
for closing the window. The windows 
generally look into the inner court of the 
house, but in every house one or more 
look into the street. In Egypt these 
outer windows generally project over the 
doorway. [ House.] 

Winds. That the Hebrews recognized 
the existence of four prevailing winds as 
issuing, broadly speaking, from the four 
cardinal points, north, south, east and 
west, may be inferred from their custom 
of using the expression "four winds" as 
equivalent to the " four quarters" of the 
hemisphere. Ezek. 37 : 9 ; Dan. 8:8; 
Zech. 2:6; Matt. 24:31. The north 
wind, or, as it was usually called, " the 
north," was naturally the coldest of the 
four, Ecclus. 43 : 20, and its presence is 
hence invoked as favorable to vegetation 
in Cant. 4:16. It is described in Prov. 
25 : 23 as bringing rain ; in this case we 
must understand the northwest wind. 
The northwest wind prevails from the 
autumnal equinox to the beginning of 
November, and the north wind from 
June to the equinox. The east wind 
crosses the sandy wastes of Arabia De- 
serta before reaching Palestine, and was 
hence termed "the wind of the wilder- 
ness." Job 1 : 19 ; Jer. 13 : 24. It blows 
with violence, and is hence supposed to 
be used generally for any violent wind. 
Job 27 : 21 ; 38 : 24 ; Ps. 48 : 7 ; Isa. 27 : 
8 ; Ezek. 27 : 26. In Palestine the east 
wind prevails from February to June. 
The south wind, which traverses the 
Arabian peninsula before reaching Pal- 
estine, must necessarily be extremely 
hot. Job 37 : 17 ; Luke 12 : 55. The west 
and southwest winds reach Palestine 
loaded with moisture gathered from the 
Mediterranean, and are hence expressly 
termed by the Arabs " the fathers of the 
rain." Westerly winds prevail in Pal- 
estine from November to February. In 
addition to the four regular winds, we 
have notice in the Bible of the local 
squalls, Mark 4:37; Luke 8:23, to 
which the Sea of Gennesareth was liable. 
In the narrative of St. Paul's voyage we 
meet with the Greek term Lips to de- 
scribe the southwest wind ; the Latin 
745 



WIN 



WIN 



Cams or Caurus, the northwest wind, 
Acts 27 : 12, and Euroclydon, a wind of 
a very violent character coming from 
east-northeast. Acts 27 : 14. 



yoAw.w\ \\\\\ i / /////////////// /////^ 




Egyptian Wine-press. 

Wine. The manufacture of wine is 
carried back in the Bible to the age of 
Noah, Gen. 9 : 20, 21, to whom the dis- 
covery of the process is apparently, 
though not explicitly, attributed. The 
natural history and culture of the vine 
are described under a separate head. 
[Vine.] The only other plant whose 
fruit is noticed as having been converted 



into wine was the pomegranate. Cant. 8 : 
2. In Palestine the vintage takes place 
in September, and is celebrated with 
great rejoicings. The ripe fruit was 
gathered in baskets, Jer. b' : 9, as repre- 
sented in Egyptian paintings, and was 
carried to the wine-press. It was then 
placed in the upper one of the two vats 
or receptacles of which the wine-press 
was formed, and was subjected to the 
process of "treading," which has pre- 
vailed in all ages in Oriental and south- 
European countries. Neh. 13 : 15 ; Job 
24:11; Isa. 16:10; Jer. 25 : 30; 48 : 33; 
Amos 9 : 13 ; Rev. 19 : 15. A certain 
amount of juice exuded from the ripe 
fruit from its own pressure before the 
treading commenced. This appears to 
have been kept separate from the rest of 
the juice, and to have formed the " sweet 
wine " noticed in Acts 2 : 13. [See be- 
low.] The "treading" was effected by 
one or more men, according to the size of 
the vat. They encouraged one another 
by shouts. Isa. 16:9, 10; Jer. 25:30; 
48 : 33. Their legs and garments were 
dyed red with the juice. Gen. 49:11; 
Isa. 63 : 2, 3. The expressed juice es- 
caped by an aperture into the lower vat, 
or was at once collected in vessels. A 
hand-press was occasionally used in 
Egypt, but we have no notice of such an 
instrument in the Bible. As to the sub- 
sequent treatment of the wine we have 
but little information. Sometimes it was 
preserved in its unfermented state and 




Egyptians expressing the Juice of the Grape. 



drunk as must, but more generally it was 
bottled off after fermentation, and, if it 
were designed to be kept for some time, 
a certain amount of lees was added to 
give it body. Isa. 25 : 6. The wine con- 
sequently required to be " refined " or 
strained previous to being brought to 
table. Isa. 25 : 6. To wine is attributed 
the " darkly-flashing eye," Gen. 49 : 12, 
746 



Authorized Version " red," the unbridled 
tongue, Prov. 20 : 1 ; Isa. 28 : 7, the ex- 
citement of the spirit, Prov. 31 : 6 ; Isa. 
5:11; Zech. 9 : 15 ; 10 : 7, the enchained 
affections of its votaries, Hos. 4 : 11, the 
perverted judgment, Prov. 31 : 5 ; Isa. 
28 : 7, the indecent exposure, Hab. 2 : 15, 
16, and the sickness resulting from the 
heat (chemdh, Authorized Version " bot- 



WIN 



WIS 



ties ") of wine. Hos. 7 : 5. The allusions 
to the effects of tirosh are confined to a 
single passage, but this a most decisive 
one, viz. Hos. 4 : 11, " Whoredom and 
wine (yayin) and new wine (tirosh) take 
away the heart," where tirosh appears as 
the climax of engrossing influences, in 
immediate connection with yayin. It 
has been disputed whether the Hebrew 
wine was fermented ; but the impression 
produced on the mind by a general re- 
view of the above notices is that the He- 
brew words indicating wine refer to fer- 
mented, intoxicating wine. The notices 
of fermentation are not very decisive. A 
certain amount of fermentation is im- 
plied in the distension of the leather 
bottles when new wine was placed in 
them, and which was liable to burst old 
bottles. It is very likely that new wine 
was preserved in the state of must by 
placing it in jars or bottles and then 
burying it in the earth. The mingling 
that we read of in conjunction with wine 
may have been designed either to increase 
or to diminish the strength of the wine, 
according as spices or water formed the 
ingredient that was added. The notices 
chiefly favor the former view ; for min- 
gled liquor was prepared for high festi- 
vals, Prov. 9 : 2, 5, and occasions of ex- 
cess. Prov. 23 : 30 ; Isa. 5 : 22. At the 
same time strength was not the sole ob- 
ject sought; the wine "mingled with 
myrrh," given to Jesus, was designed to 
deaden pain, Mark 15 : 23, and the spiced 
pomegranate wine prepared by the bride, 
Cant. 8 : 2, may well have been of a mild 
character. In the New Testament the 
character of the " sweet wine," noticed 
in Acts 2 : 13, calls for some little re- 
mark. It could not be new wine in the 
proper sense of the term, inasmuch as 
about eight months must have elapsed 
between the vintage and the feast of Pen- 
tecost. The explanations of the ancient 
lexicographers rather lead us to infer 
that its luscious qualities were due, not to 
its being recently made, but to its being 
produced from the very purest juice of 
the grape. There can be little doubt that 
the wines of Palestine varied in quality, 
and were named after the localities in 
which they were made. The only wines 
of which we have special notice belonged 
to Syria ; these were the wine of Helbon, 
Ezek. 27 : 18, and the wine of Lebanon, 
famed for its aroma. Hos. 14 : 7. With 
regard to the uses of wine in private life 
there is little to remark. It was pro- 



duced on occasions of ordinary hospi- 
tality, Gen. 14 : 18, and at festivals, such 
as marriages. John 2 : 3. Under the Mo- 
saic law wine formed the usual drink 
ottering that accompanied the daily sac- 
rifice, Ex. 29 : 40, the presentation of the 
first-fruits, Lev. 23 : 13, and other offer- 
ings. Num. 15 : 5. Tithe was to be paid 
of wine, as of other products. The priest 
was also to receive first-fruits of wine, as 
of other articles. Deut. 18:4; comp. Ex. 
22 : 29. The use of wine at the paschal 
feast was not enjoined by the law, but 
had become an established custom, at all 
events in the post- Babylonian period. 
The wine was mixed with warm water 
on these occasions. Hence in the early 
Christian Church it was usual to mix 
the sacramental wine with water. (The 
simple wines of antiquity were incom- 
parably less deadly than the stupefying 
and ardent beverages of our western na- 
tions. The wines of antiquity were more 
like sirups ; many of them were not in- 
toxicant; many more intoxicant in a 
small degree ; and all of them, as a rule, 
taken only when largely diluted with 
water. They contained, even undiluted, 
but 4 or 5 per cent, of alcohol. — Canon 
Farrar. ) 

Wine-press. From the scanty no- 
tices contained in the Bible we gather 
that the wine-presses of the Jews consist- 
ed of two receptacles or vats placed at 
different elevations, in the upper one of 
which the grapes were trodden, while the 
lower one received the expressed juice. 
The two vats are mentioned together only 
in Joel 3 : 13 : " The press is full : the 
fats overflow " — the upper vat being full 
of fruit, the lower one overflowing with 
the must. [Wine.] The two vats were 
usually hewn out of the solid rock. Isa. 5 : 
2, margin ; Matt. 21 : 33. Ancient wine- 
presses, so constructed, are still to be seen 
in Palestine. 
Winnowing. [Agriculture.] 
Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach. 

[ECCLESIASTICUS.] 

Wisdom, The, of Solomon, a book 
of the Apocrypha, may be divided into 
two parts, the first, chs. 1-9, containing 
the doctrine of wisdom in its moral and 
intellectual aspects ; the second, the doc- 

j trine of wisdom as shown in history, chs. 
10-19. The first part contains the praise 

! of wisdom as the source of immortality, 
in contrast with the teaching of sensual- 
ists ; and next the praise of wisdom as 

! the guide of practical and intellectual 

747 



WIS 



WIT 



life, the stay of princes, and the inter- 
preter of the universe. The second part, 
again, follows the action of wisdom sum- 
marily, as preserving God's servants, 
from Adam to Moses, and more particu- 
larly in the punishment of the Egyptians 
and Canaanites. Style and language. — 
The literary character of the book is 
most remarkable and interesting. In the 
richness and freedom of its vocabulary it 
most closely resembles the Fourth Book 
of Maccabees, but it is superior to that 
fine declamation in both power and va- 
riety of diction. The magnificent de- 
scription of wisdom, eh. 7 : 22-8 : 1, must 
rank among the noblest passages of hu- 
man eloquence, and it would be perhaps 
impossible to point out any piece of equal 
length in the remains of classical antiq- 
uity more pregnant with noble thought 
or more rich in expressive phraseology. 
Doctrinal character. — The theological 
teaching of the book offers, in many re- 
speets, the nearest approach to the lan- 
guage and doctrines of Greek philosophy 
that is found in any Jewish writing up 
to the time of Philo. There is much in 
the views which it gives of the world, of 
man and of the divine nature which 
springs rather from the combination or 
conflict of Hebrew and Greek thought 
than from the independent development 
of Hebrew thought alone. The concep- 
tion is presented of the body as a mere 
weight and clog to the soul. ch. 9 : 15 ; 
contrast 2 Cor. 5 : 1-4. There is, on the 
other hand, no trace of the characteristic 
Christian doctrine of a resurrection of the 
body. The identification of the tempter, 
Gen. 3, directly or indirectly with the 
devil, as the bringer " of death into the 
world," ch. 2 : 23, 24, is the most remark- 
able development of biblical doctrine 
which the book contains. Generally, 
too, it may be observed that, as in the 
cognate books, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, 
there are few traces of the recognition of 
the sinfulness even of the wise man in 
his wisdom, which forms, in the Psalms 
and the prophets, the basis of the Chris- 
tian doctrine of the atonement : yet comp. 
15 : 2. In connection with the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures, the book, as a whole, 
may be regarded as carrying on one step 
farther the great problem of life con- 
tained in Ecclesiastes and Job. Date. — 
From internal evidence it seems most 
reasonable to believe that the work was 
composed in Greek at Alexandria some 
time before the time of Philo — about 
748 



120-80 B.C. It seems impossible to study 
this book dispassionately and not feel 
that it forms one of the last links in the 
chain of providential connection between 
the Old and New Covenants. It would 
not be easy to find elsewhere any pre- 
Christian view of religion equally wide, 
sustained and definite. 

Wise men. [Magi.] 

Witch, Witchcralts. [Divination ; 
Magic] 

Witness. Among people with whom 
writing is not common, the evidence of a 
transaction is given by some tangible 
memorial or significant ceremony. Abra- 
ham gave seven ewe-lambs to Abimelech 
as an evidence of his property in the 
well of Beersheba. Jacob raised a heap 
of stones, " the heap of witness," as a 
boundary -mark between himself and La- 
ban. Gen. 21 : 30 ; 31 : 47, 52. The tribes 
of Reuben and Gad raised an " altar " as 
a witness to the covenant between them- 
selves and the rest of the nation. Joshua 
set up a stone as an evidence of the alle- 
! giance promised by Israel to God. Josh. 
22 : 10, 26, 34; 24 : 26, 27. But written 
evidence was by no means unknown to 
the Jews. Divorce was to be proved by 
a written document. Deut. 24 : 1, 3. In 
civil contracts, at least in later times, 
documentary evidence was required and 
carefully preserved. Isa. 8 : 16 ; Jer. 32 : 
10-16. On the whole the law was very 
careful to provide and enforce evidence 
for all its infractions and all transactions 
bearing on them. Among special pro- 
visions with respect to evidence are the 
following : 1. Two witnesses at least are 
required to establish any charge. Num. 
35 : 30 ; Deut. 17 : 6 ; John 8:17; 2 Cor. 
13 : 1 ; comp. 1 Tim. 5 : 19. 2. In the case 
of the suspected wife, evidence besides 
the husband's was desired. Num. 5 : 13. 
3. The witness who withheld the truth 
was censured. Lev. 5:1. 4. False wit- 
ness was punished with the penalty due 
to the offence which it sought to estab- 
lish. 5. Slanderous reports and officious 
witness are discouraged. Ex. 20 : 16 ; 23 : 
1 ; Lev. 19 : 16, 18, etc. 6. The witnesses 
were the first executioners. Deut. 13:9; 
17 : 7 ; Acts 7 : 58. 7. In case of an ani- 
mal left in charge and torn by wild 
beasts, the keeper was to bring the car- 
cass in proof of the fact and disproof of 
his own cx'iminality. Ex. 22 : 13. 8. Ac- 
cording to Josephus, women and slaves 
were not admitted to bear testimony. In 
the New Testament the original notion 



WIZ 



WOK 



of a witness is exhibited in the special 
form of one who attests his belief in the 
gospel by personal suffering. Hence it 
is that the use of the ecclesiastical term 
" martyr," the Greek word for " witness," 
has arisen. 
Wizard. [Divination ; Magic] 
Wolf. There can be little doubt that 
the wolf of Palestine is the common 
Canis lupus, and that this is the animal 
so frequently mentioned in the Bible. 
(The wolf is a fierce animal, of the same 
species as the dog, which it resembles. 
The common color is gray with a tinting 
of fawn, and the hair is long and black. 
The Syrian wolf is of lighter color than 
the wolf of Europe. It is the dread of the 
shepherds of Palestine. — Ed.) Wolves 
were doubtless far more common in bib- 
lical times than they are now, though 
they are occasionally seen by modern 
travellers. The following are the scrip- 
tural allusions to the wolf : Its ferocity 
is mentioned in Gen. 49 : 27 ; Ezek. 22 : 
27 ; Hab. 1:8; Matt. 7 : 15 ; its nocturnal 
habits, in Jer. 5:6; Zeph. 3:3; Hab. 1 : 
8 ; its attacking sheep and lambs, Matt. 
10 : 16 ; Luke 10 : 3 ; John 10 : 12. Isaiah, 
Isa. 11:6; 65:25, foretells the peaceful 
reign of the Messiah under the metaphor 
of a wolf dwelling with a lamb ; cruel 
persecutors are compared with wolves. 
Matt. 10 : 16 ; Acts 20 : 29. 

Women. The position of women in 
the Hebrew commonwealth contrasts fa- 
vorably with that which in the present 
day is assigned to them generally in east- 
ern countries. The most salient point of 
contrast in the usages of ancient as com- 
pared with modern Oriental society was 
the large amount of liberty enjoyed by 
women. Instead of being immured in a 
harem, or appearing in public with the 
face covered, the wives and maidens of 
ancient times mingled freely and openly 
with the other sex in the duties and amen- 
ities of ordinary life. Rebekah travelled 
on a camel with her face unveiled, until 
she came into the presence of her affi- 
anced. Gen. 24 : 64, 65. Jacob saluted 
E,achel with a kiss in the presence of the 
shepherds. Gen. 29 : 11. Women played 
no inconsiderable part in public celebra- 
tions. Ex. 15:20, 21; Judges 11: 34. The 
odes of Deborah, Judges 5, and of Han- 
nah, 1 Sam. 2 : 1, etc., exhibit a degree of 
intellectual cultivation which is in itself 
a proof of the position of the sex in that 
period. Women also occasionally held 
public office, particularly that of proph- 



etess or inspired teacher. Ex. 15 : 20 ; 
Judges 4 : 4 ; 2 Kings 22 : 14 ; Neh. 6 : 14 ; 
Luke 2 : 36. The management of house- 
hold affairs devolved mainly on the wom- 
en. The value of a virtuous and active 
housewife forms a frequent topic in the 
book of Proverbs, ch. 11:16; 12 : 4 ; 14 : 
1 ; 31 : 10 ; etc. Her influence was of 
course proportionably great. 




" Outer Garments of Women " as used by- 
Egyptians of the present day. 

Wood. [Forest.] 

Wool was an article of the highest 
value among the Jews, as the staple ma- 
terial for the manufacture of clothing. 
Lev. 13 : 47 ; Deut. 22 : 11 ; Job 31 : 20 ; 
Prov. 31 : 13 ; Ezek. 34 : 3 ; Hosea 2 : 5. 
The importance of wool is incidentally 
shown by the notice that Mesha's tribute 
was paid in a certain number of rams 
"with the wool." 2 Kings 3:4. The 
wool of Damascus was highly prized in 
the mart of Tyre. Ezek. 27 : 18. 

Worm, the representative in the Au- 
thorized Version of several Hebrew words. 
Sds, which occurs in Isa. 51 : 8, probably 
denotes some particular species of moth, 
whose larva is injurious to wool. Rim- 
mdh, Ex. 16 : 20, points evidently to va- 
rious kinds of maggots and the larvae of 
insects which feed on putrefying ani- 
mal matter, rather than to earthworms. 
ToWdk is applied in Deut. 28 : 39 to some 
kinds of larvae destructive to the vines. 
In Job 19 : 26 ; 21 : 26 ; 24 : 20, there is 
an allusion to worms (insect larvae) feed- 
749 



WOR 



WRI 



ing on the dead bodies of the buried. 
There is the same allusion in lsa. 66 : 24, 
which words are applied by our Lord, 
Mark 9 : 44, 46, 48, metaphorically to the 
torments of the guilty in the world of 
departed spirits. The valley of Hinnom, 
near Jerusalem, where the filth of the 
city was cast, was alive with worms. The 
death of Herod Agrippa I. was caused by 
worms. Acts 12 : 23. 




Wormwood. 

Wormwood. Four kinds of worm- 
wood are found in Palestine — Artemisia 
nilotica, A. Judaica, A. fructicosa and 
A. cinerea. The word occurs frequently 
in the Bible, and generally 
in a metaphorical sense. In 
Jer. 9 : 15 ; 23 : 15 ; Lam. 3 : 
15, 19, wormwood is symbol- 
ical of bitter calamity and 
sorrow; unrighteous judges 
are said to " turn judgment 
to wormwood." Amos 5 : 7. 
The Orientals typified sor- 
rows, cruelties and calami- 
ties of any kind by plants of 
a poisonous or bitter nature. 

Worshipper, a transla- 
tion of the Greek word neo- 
coros, used once only, Acts 
19 : 35 ; in the margin, " temple-keeper." 
The neocoros was originally an attendant 
in a temple, probably intrusted with its 
charge. The term neocoros became thus 
applied to cities or communities which 
undertook the worship of particular em- 
750 



perors even during their lives. The first 
occurrence of the term in connection with 
Ephesus is on coins of the age of Nero, 
A.D. 54-68. 

Wrestling. [Games.] 

Writing. There is no account in the 
Bible of the origin of writing. That the 
Egyptians in the time of Joseph were ac- 
quainted with writing of a certain kind 
there is evidence to prove, but there is 
nothing to show that up to this period 
the knowledge extended to the Hebrew 
family. At the same time there is no 
evidence against it. Writing is first dis- 
tinctly mentioned in Ex. 17 : 14, and the 
connection clearly implies that it was 
not then em ] Joyed for the first time, but 
was so familiar as to be used for historic 
records. It is not absolutely necessary 
to infer from this that the art of writing 
was an accomplishment possessed by 
every Hebrew citizen. If we examine 
the instances in which writing is men- 
tioned in connection with individuals, 
we shall find that in all cases the writers 
were men of superior position. In lsa. 
29 : 11, 12 there is clearly a distinction 
drawn between the man who was able to 
read and the man who was not, and it 
seems a natural inference that the accom- 
plishments of reading and writing were 
not widely spread among the people, 
when we find that they are universally 
attributed to those of high rank or edu- 
cation. — kings, priests, prophets and pro- 
fessional scribes. In the name Kirjath- 
sepher (book-town), Josh. 15 : 15, there is 
an indication of a knowledge of writing 
among the Phoenicians. The Hebrews, 




Pens and Writing Materials. 

then, a branch of the great Semitic fam- 
ily, being in possession of the art of writ- 
ing, according to their own historical 
records, at a very early period, the further 
questions arise, what character they made 
use of, and whence they obtained it. Re- 



WEI 



WEI 



cent investigations have shown that the 
square Hebrew character is of compara- 
tively modern date, and has been formed 
from a more ancient type by a gradual 
process of development. What then was 
this ancient type? Most probably the 
Phoenician. Pliny was of opinion that 
letters were of Assyrian origin. Diodo- 
rus Siculus (v. 74) says that the Syrians 
invented letters, and from them the 
Phoenicians, having learned them, trans- 
ferred them to the Greeks. According 
to Tacitus (Ann. xi. 14), Egypt was be- 
lieved to be the source whence the Phoe- 
nicians got their knowledge. Be this as 
it may, to the Phoenicians, the daring 
seamen and adventurous colonizers of the 
ancient world, the voice of tradition has 
assigned the honor of the invention of 



letters. Whether it came to them from 
an Aramsean or an Egyptian source can 
at best be but the subject of conjecture. 
It may, however, be reasonably inferred 
that the ancient Hebrews dei'ived from or 
shared with the Phoenicians the knowl- 
edge of writing and the use of letters. 
The names of the Hebrew letters indicate 
that they must have been the invention 
of a Shemitic people, and that they were 
moreover a pastoral people may be in- 
ferred * from the same evidence. But 
whether or not the Phoenicians were the 
inventors of the Shemitic alphabet, there 
can be no doubt of their just claim to 
being its chief disseminators; and with 
this understanding we may accept the gen- 
ealogy of alphabets as given by Gesenius, 
and exhibited in the accompanying table. 



Phoenician. 
I 





Anc. Greek. 
1 


Anc. 


1 

Ktruscan. 


1 

Roman. Later C 


reek. 


Unibrian. 


1 




Oscan. 


Runic ? 




Samnite. 







Celti- 
berian. 



I I I 

Coptic. Gothic. Slavonian. 



— Zend. 
Pehlvi. 



Anc. Aramaean. 
I 



Palmyrene. 
I 



Heb. square 
character. 
I 



I I I 

ssanid— writing. F.strangelo Sabian. 

| and Nestorian. 
J 

I I I 

Cufic. Peshito. I iguric, or 

I Old Turkish. 



The old Semitic alphabets may be di- 
vided into two principal classes:' 1. The 
Phoenician, as it exists in the inscriptions 
in Cyprus, Malta, Carpentras, and the 
coins of Phoenicia and her colonies. From 
it are derived the Samaritan and the 
Greek character. 2. The Hebrew-Chal- 
dee character; to which belong the He- 
brew square character; the Palmyrene, 
which has some traces of a cursive hand ; 
the Estrangelo, or ancient Syriae; and 
the ancient Arabic or Cufic. It was prob- 
ably about the first or second century 
after Christ that the square character 
assumed its present form ; though in a 
question involved in so much uncertainty 
it is impossible to pronounce with great 
positiveness. The alphabet.. — The oldest 
evidence on the subject of the Hebrew 
alphabet is derived from the alphabetical 
psalms and poems: Pss. 25, 34, 37, 111, 
112, 119, 145 ; Prov. 31 : 10-31 ; Lam. 1- 
4. From these we ascertain that the 
number of the letters was twenty-two, as 
at present. The Arabic alphabet origin- 
ally consisted of the same number. It 



has been argued by many that the alpha- 
bet of the Phoenicians at first consisted 
of only sixteen letters. The legend, as 
told by Pliny (vii. 56), is as follows : Cad- 
mus brought with him into Greece six- 
teen letters; at the time of the Trojan 
war Palamedes added four others, 0, H,<i>, 
X, and Simonides of Melos four more, 
Z, H, Ci. Divisions of words. — Hebrew 
was originally written, like most ancient 
languages, without any divisions between 
the words. The same is the case with 
the Phoenician inscriptions. The various 
readings in the LXX. show that, at the 
time this version was made, in the He- 
j brew MSS. which the translators used 
the words were written in a continuous 
series. The modern synagogue rolls and 
j the MSS. of the Samaritan Pentateuch 
j have no vowel-points, but the words are 
divided, and the Samaritan in this re- 
! spect differs but little from the Hebrew. 
| Writing materials, etc. — The oldest doc- 
1 uments which contain the writing of a 
Semitic race are probably the bricks of 
Nineveh and Babylon, on which are im- 
751 



WEI 



WEI 



pressed the cuneiform Syrian inscrip- 
tions. There is, however, no evidence 
that they were ever used by the Hebrews. 
It is highly probable that the ancient as 
well as the most common material which 
the Hebrews used for writing was dressed 
skin in some form or other. We know 
that the dressing of skins was practiced 
by the Hebrews, Ex. 25:5; Lev. 13 : 48, 
and they may have acquired the knowl- 
edge of the art from the Egyptians, among 
whom it had attained great perfection, 
the leather-cutters constituting one of the 
principal subdivisions of the third caste. 
Perhaps the Hebrews may have borrowed, 
among their other acquirements, the use 
of papyrus from the Egyptians, but of 
this we have no positive evidence. In 
the Bible the only allusions to the use of 
papyrus are in 2 John 12, where chartes 
(Authorized Version "paper") occurs, 
which refers especially to papyrus paper, 
and 3 Mace. 4 : 20, where charteria is 
found in the same sense. Herodotus, 
after telling us that the Ionians learned 
the art of writing from the Phoenicians, 
adds that they called their books skins, 
because they made use of sheep-skins and 
goat-skins when short of paper. Parch- 
ment was used for the MSS. of the Penta- 
teuch in the time of Josephus, and the 
membranes of 2 Tim. 4 : 13 were skins of 
parchment. It was one of the provisions 
in the Talmud that the law should be 
written on the skins of clean animals, 
tame or wild, or even of clean birds. 
The skins when written upon were formed 
into rolls {m&gilloth). Ps. 40 : 7 ; com p. 
Isa. 34:4; Jer. 36:14; Ezek.2:9; Zech. 
5:1. They were rolled upon one or two 
sticks and fastened with a thread, the 
ends of which were sealed. Isa. 29 : 11 ; 
Dan. 12:4; Rev. 5:1, etc. The rolls 
were generally written on one side only, 
except in Ezek. 2:9; Eev. 5:1. They 
752 



were divided into columns (Authorized 
Version "leaves," Jer. 36:23); the up- 
per margin was to be not less than three 
fingers broad, the lower not less than 
four; and a space of two fingers breadth 
was to be left between every two columns. 




Writing Tablets. 

But besides skins, which were used for 
the more permanent kinds of writing, 
tablets of wood covered with wax, Luke 
1 : 63, served for the ordinary purposes 
of life. Several of these were fastened 
together and formed volumes. They 
were written upon with a pointed style, 
Job 19 : 24, sometimes of iron. Ps. 45 : 1 ; 
Jer. 8:8; 17.: 1. For harder materials 
a graver, Ex. 32:4; Isa. 8:1, was em- 
ployed. For parchment or skins a reed 
was used. 3 John 13; 3 Mace. 5 : 20. The 
ink, Jer. 36:18, literally "black," like 
the Greek ^\av, 2 Cor. 3 : 3 ; 2 John 12 ; 
3 John 13, was of lampblack dissolved in 
gall-juice. It was carried in an inkstand, 
which w T as suspended at the girdle, Ezek. 
9 : 2, 3, as is done at the present day in 
the East. To professional scribes there 
are allusions in Ezra 7:6; Ps. 45 : 1 ; 2 
Esdr. 14 : 24. 



YAE 



YOK 



Y. 



Yarn. The notice of yarn is contained | 
in an extremely obscure passage in 1 
Kings 10 : 28 ; 2 Chron. 1 : 16. The He- 
brew Received Text is questionable. 
Gesenius gives the sense of " number" 
as applying equally to the merchants 
and the horses: "A band of the king's 
merchants bought a drove (of horses) at 
a price." 

Year, the highest ordinary division 
of time. Two years were known to, and 
apparently used by, the Hebrews. 1. A 
year of 360 days appears to have been in 
use in Noah's time. 2. The year used 
by the Hebrews from the time of the 
exodus may be said to have been then 
instituted, since a current month, Abib, 
on the 14th day of which the first Pass- 
over was kept, was then made the first 
month of the year. The essential char- 
acteristics of this year can be clearly de- 
termined, though we cannot fix those of 
any single year. It was essentially solar, 
for the offering of productions of the 
earth, first-fruits, harvest produce and 
ingathered fruits, was fixed to certain 
days of the year, two of which were in 
the periods of great feasts, the third itself 
a feast reckoned from one of the former 
days. But it is certain that the months 
were lunar, each commencing with a 
new moon. There must therefore have 
been some method of adjustment. The 
first point to be decided is how the com- 
mencement of each year was fixed. 
Probably the Hebrews determined their 
new year's day by the observation of 
heliacal or other star-risings or settings 
known to mark the right time of the 
solar year. It follows, from the determ- 
ination of the proper new moon of the 
first month, whether by observation of a 
stellar phenomenon or of the forward- 
ness of the crops, that the method of in- 
tercalation can only have been that in 
use after the captivity, — the addition of 
a thirteenth month whenever the twelfth 
ended too long before the equinox for the 
offering of the first-fruits to be made at 
the time fixed. The later Jews had two 
commencements of the year, whence it is 
48 



commonly but inaccurately said that they 
had two years, the sacred year and the 
civil. We prefer to speak of the sacred 
and civil reckonings. The sacred reck- 
oning was that instituted at the exodus, 
according to which the first month was 
Abib ; by the civil reckoning the first 
month was the seventh. The interval 
between the two commencements was 
thus exactly half a year. It has been 
supposed that the institution at the time 
of the exodus was a change of commence- 
ment, not the introduction of a new year, 
and that thenceforward the year had two 
beginnings, respectively at about the 
vernal and the autumnal equinox. The 
year was divided into — 1. Seasons. Two 
seasons are mentioned in the Bible, 
"summer" and "winter." -The former 
properly means the time of cutting fruits, 
the latter that of gathering fruits ; they 
are therefore originally rather summer 
and autumn than summer and winter. 
But that they signify ordinarily the two 
grand divisions of the year, the warm 
and cold seasons, is evident from their 
use for the whole year in the expression 
" summer and winter." Ps. 74 : 17 ; Zech. 
14 : 8. 2. Months. [Months.] 3. Weeks. 
[Weeks.] 

Year, Sabbatical. [Sabbatical 
Year.] 

Year of Jubilee. [Jubilee, Year 

OF.] 

Yoke. 1. A well-known implement 
of husbandry, frequently used metaphor- 
ically for subjection, e. g. 1 Kings 12 : 4, 
9-11; Isa. 9:4; Jer. 5:5; hence an 
" iron yoke " represents an unusually 
galling bondage. Deut. 28 : 48 ; Jer. 28 : 
13. 2. A pair of oxen, so termed as be- 
ing yoked together. 1 Sam. 11 : 7 ; 1 
Kings 19 : 19, 21. The Hebrew term is 
also applied to asses, Judges 19 : 10, and 
mules, 2 Kings 5 : 17, and even to a 
couple of riders. Isa. 21 : 7. 3. The term is 
also applied to a certain amount of land, 
1 Sam. 14 : 14, equivalent to that which 
a couple of oxen could plough in a day, 
Isa. 5 : 10 (Authorized Version "acre"), 
corresponding to the Latin jugum. 

753 



ZAA 



ZAC 



Za=ana'im (removings), The plain 
cf, or, more accurately, "the oak by 
Zaanaini," a tree — probably a sacred tree 
— mentioned as marking the spot near 
which Heber the Kenite was encamped 
when Sisera took refuge in his tent, i 
Judges 4:11. Its situation is defined as 
"near Kedesh," i. e. Kedesh-naphtali, 
the name of which still lingers on the 
high ground north of Safed and two or 
three miles west of the lake of el-Huleh 
(waters of Merom). This whole region 
abounds in oaks. 

Za'anan. [Zenax.] 

Za'avan, or Za'van {migratory >. a 
Horite chief, son of Ezer the son of Seir. 
Gen. 36 : 27 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 42. 

Za'bad {gift). 1. Son of Nathan, son 
of Attai, sonof Ahlai Sheshan's daughter, 
1 Chron. 2 : 31-37, and hence called son 
of Ahlai. 1 Chron. 11 : 41. (B. c. 1046.) 
He was one of David's mighty men, but 
none of his deeds have been recorded. 
The chief interest connected with him is 
in his genealogy, which is of consider- 
able importance in a chronological point 
of view. 

2. An Ephraimite, if the text of 1 
Chron. 7 : 21 is correct. 

3. Son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess ; 
an assassin who, with Jehozabad, slew 
King Joash, according to 2 Chron. 24 : 
26 (B. C. 840) ; but in 2 Kings 12 : 21 his 
name is written, probably more cor- 
rectly, JOZACHAE. 

4. A layman of Israel, of the sons of 
Zattu, who put away his foreign wife at 
Ezra's command. Ezra 10 : 27. (B.C. 
458.) 

5. One of the descendants of Hashum, 
who had married a foreign wife after the 
captivity. Ezra 10 : 33. (B.C. 458.) 

6. One of the sons of Nebo, whose 
name is mentioned under the same cir- 
cumstances as the two preceding. Ezra 
10 : 43. 

Zabade'ans, an Arab tribe who were 
attacked and spoiled by Jonathan, on 
his way back to Damascus from his fruit- 
less pursuit of the army of Demetrius. 
1 Mace. 12 : 31. Their 'name probably 
survives in the village of Zebddny, about 
26 miles from Damascus. 

Zab'ba-i {pure). 1. One of the de- 
754 



scendants of Bebai, who had married a 
foreign wife in the days of Ezra. Ezra 
10 : 28. (B.C. 458.) 

2. Father of Baruch, who assisted Ne- 
hemiah in rebuilding the city wall. Neh. 
3:20. (B.C. before 446.) 

Zab'bud (given), one of the sons of 
Bigvai, who returned in the second car- 
avan with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 14. (B.C. 459.) 

Zab'di (my gift). 1. Son of Zerah 
the son of Judah, and ancestor of Achan. 
Josh. 7 : 1, 17, 18. (B.C. before 1450.) 

2. A Benjamite, of the sons of Shimhi. 
1 Chron. S : 19. (B.C. about 1442.) 

3. David's officer over the produce of 
the vineyards for the wine-cellars. 1 
Chron. 27 : 27. (B.C. 1043.) 

4. Son of Asaph the minstrel, Neh. 11 : 
17; called ZACCUB in Neh. 12:35 and 
Zichei in 1 Chron. 9 : 15. (B.C. before 
446.) 

Zab'di-el (gift of God). 1. Father 

of Jashobeam, the chief of David's guard. 
1 Chron. 27 : 2. (B.C. before 1046.) 

2. A priest, son of the great men, or, 
as the margin gives it, " Haggedolim." 
Neh. 11:14. (B.C. 459.) 

Za'bud {given), son of Nathan, 1 
Kings 4 : 5, is described as a priest (Au- 
thorized Version "principal officer"), 
and as holding at the court of Solomon 
the confidential post of "king's friend," 
which had been occupied by Hushai the 
Archite during the reign of David. 2 
Sam. 15 : 37 ; 16 : 16 ; 1 Chron. 27 : 33. 
(B.C. 1012.) 

Zab'ulon, the Greek form of the 
name Zebulun. Matt. 4 : 13, 15 ; Rev. 7 : 8. 

Zac'ca-i {pure). The sons of Zaecai, 
to the number of 760, returned with Ze- 
rubbabel. Ezra 2:9; Neh. 7:14. (B.C. 
before 536.) 

Zacchae'us {pure), a tax-collector 
near Jericho, who, being short in stature, 
climbed up into a sycamore tree in order 
to obtain a sight of Jesus as he passed 
through that place. Luke 19 : 1-10. Zac- 
chaeus was a Jew, as may be inferred 
from his name and from the fact that the 
Saviour speaks of him expressly as " a 
son of Abraham." The term which des- 
ignates his office — "the chief among the 
publicans" — is unusual, but describes 
him, no doubt, as the superintendent of 



ZAC 



ZAD 



customs or tribute in the district of Jer- 
icho, where he lived. The office must 
have been a lucrative one in such a re- 
gion, and it is not strange that Zacchseus 
is mentioned by the evangelists as a rich 
man. The Saviour spent the night prob- 
ably in the house of Zacchseus, and the 
next day pursued his journey. He was 
in the caravan from Galilee which was 
going to Jerusalem to keep the Pass- 
over. 

Zac'chur, a Simeonite, of the family 
of Mishma. 1 Chron. 4 : 26. 

Zac'cur {mindful). 1. Father of 
Shammua, the Reubenite spy. Num. 13 : 
4. (B.C. 1451.) 

2. A Merarite Levite, son of Jaaziah. 
1 Chron. 24 : 27. 

3. Son of Asaph the singer. 1 Chron. 
25 : 2, 10 ; Neh. 12 : 35. 

4. The son of Imri, who assisted .Ne- 
hemiah in rebuilding the city wall. Neh. 
3 : 2. (B.C. 446.) 

5. A Levite, or family of Levites, who 
signed the covenant with Nehemiah. 
Neh. 10:12. (B.C. 410.) 

6. A Levite whose son or descendant 
Hanan was one of the treasurers over the i 
treasuries appointed by Nehemiah. Neh. 
13 : 13. 

Zachari'ah {remembered by Jehovah), 
or properly Zechariah. 1. Son of Jer- 
oboam II., fourteenth king of Israel, 
and the last of the house of Jehu. There 
is a difficulty about the date of his reign. 
Most chronologers assume an interreg- 
num of eleven years between Jeroboam's 
death and Zachariah's accession. The 
latter event took place B.C. 772-1. His 
reign lasted only six months. He was { 
killed in a conspiracy of which Shallum 
was the head, and by which the proph- 
ecy in 2 Kings 10 : 30 was accomplished. 

2. The father of Abi or Abijah, Heze- 
kiah's mother. 2 Kings 18 : 2. 

Zachari'as (Greek form of Zacha- 
riah). 1. Father of John the Baptist. 
Luke 1 : 5, etc. He was a priest of the 
course of Abia, the eighth of the twenty ^ 
four courses who ministered at the tem- 
ple in turn. He probably lived at He- 
bron. His wife's name was Elisabeth. 
John was born to them in their old age, 
and the promise of this son was commu- 
nicated to Zacharias by an angel Avhile 
he was offering incense and praying in 
the temple. 

2. Son of Barachias, who, our Lord 
says, was slain by the Jews between the 
altar and the temple. Matt. 23 : 35 ; Luke 



11 : 51. There has been much dispute 
who this Zacharias was. Many of the 
Greek fathers have maintained that the 
father of John the Baptist is the person 
to whom our Lord alludes; but there 
can be little or no doubt that the allusion 
is to Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, 2 
Chron. 24 : 20, 21 ; and he may have been 
called "the son" of Barachias from his 
grandfather. (B.C. 838.) He is men- 
tioned as being the martyr last recorded 
in the Hebrew Scriptures (as Abel was 
the first), — 2d Chronicles being the last 
book in their canon. 

Za'cher {memorial ), one of the sons 
of Jehiel, the father or founder of Gib- 
eon, by his wife Maachah. 1 Chron. 8 : 
31. (B.C. about 1450.) 

Za'dok {just). 1. Son of Ahitub, 
and one of the two chief priests in the 
time of David, Abiathar being the other. 
Zadok was of the house of Eleazar the 
son of Aaron, 1 Chron. 24 : 3, and eleventh 
in descent from Aaron. 1 Chron. 12 : 28. 
He joined David at Hebron after Saul's 
death, 1 Chron. 12 : 28, and thenceforth 
his fidelity to David was inviolable, 
i When Absalom revolted, and David fled 
from Jerusalem, Zadok and all the Levites 
bearing the ark accompanied him. Wh en 
Absalom was dead, Zadok and Abiathar 
were the persons who persuaded the eld- 
ers of Judah to invite David to return. 2 
Sam. 19 : 11. When Adonijah, in David's 
old age, set up for king, and had per- 
suaded Joab, and Abiathar the priest, to 
join his party, Zadok was unmoved, and 
was employed by David to anoint Solo- 
mon to be king in his room. 1 Kings 1 : 
[ 34. For this fidelity he was rewarded by 
Solomon, who " thrust out Abiathar from 
being priest unto the Lord," and " put in 
Zadok the priest" in his room. 1 Kings 
2 : 27, 35. From this time, however, we 
hear little of him. Zadok and Abiathar 
were of nearly equal dignity. 2 Sam. 15 : 
35, 36; 19 : 11. The duties of the office 
were divided. Zadok ministered before 
the tabernacle at Gibeon, 1 Chron. 16 : 
39 ; Abiathar had the care of the ark at 
Jerusalem. 

2. According to the genealogy of the 
high priests in 1 Chron. 6 : 12, there was 
a second Zadok, son of a second Ahitub, 
son of Amariah, about the time of King 
Ahaziah. It is probable that no such 
person as this second Zadok ever existed, 
but that the insertion of the two names is 
a copyist's error. 

3. Father of Jerushah, the wife of 
755 



ZAH 



ZAR 



King Uzziah and mother of King Jotham. 
2 Kings 15 : 33 ; 2 Chron. 27 : 1. 

4. Son of Baana, and 

5. Son of Inimer, persons who repaired 
a portion of the wall in Nehemiah's time. 
Neh. 3:4, 29. 

6. In 1 Chron. 9 : 11 and Neh. 11 : 11 
mention is made, in a genealogy, of Za- 
dok, the soil of Meraioth, the son of Ahi- 
tub ; but it can hardly be doubtful that 
Meraioth is inserted by the error of a 
copyist, and that Zadok the son of Ahi- 
tub is meant. 

Za'ham (fatness), son of Rehoboam 
by Abihail the daughter of Eliab. 2 
Chron. 11 : 19. 

Za'ir {small), a place named, in 2 
Kings 8 : 21 only, in the account of Jo- 
ram's expedition against the Edomites. 
It has been conjectured that Zair is iden- 
tical with Zoar. 

Za'laph [wound), father of Hanun, 
who assisted in rebuilding the city wall. 
Neh. 3 : 30. 

Zal'mon (shady), an Ahohite, one of 
David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 28. 

Zal'mon, Mount, a wooded 
eminence in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of Shechem. Judges 9 : 
48. The name of Dalmanutha has 
been supposed to be a corruption 
of that of Zalmon. 

Zalmo'nah (shady), a desert- 
station of the Israelites, Num. 33 : 
41, lies on the east side of Edom. 

Zalmun'na. [Zebah.J 

Zamzum'mim, Deut. 2 : 20 
only, the Ammonite name for the 
people who by others were called 
Rephaim. They are described as 
having originally been a power- 
ful and numerous nation of giants. 
From a slight similarity between 
the two names, and from the men- 
tion of the Emim in connection 
with each, it is conjectured that 
the Zamzummim are identical with the 
Zuzim. 

Zano'ah (marsh). 1. A town of Ju- 
dah in the Shefelah or plain, Josh. 15 : 
34 ; Neh. 3 : 13 ; 11 : 30 ; possibly identi- 
cal with Zdnu'a. 

2. A town of Judah in the highland 
district, Josh. 15:56, not improbably 
identical with Sanute, about 10 miles 
south of Hebron. 

3. In the genealogical lists of the tribe 
of Judah in 1 Chron., Jekuthiel is said 
to have been the father of Zanoah. ch. 4 : 
18. As Zanoah is the name of a town of 

756 



Judah, this mention of Bithiah probably 
points to some colonization of the place 
by Egyptians or by Israelites directly 
from Egypt. 

Zaph'nath-pa-ane'ah, a name giv- 
en by Pharaoh to Joseph. Gen. 41 : 45. 
The rabbins interpreted Zaphnath-paan- 
eah as Hebrew, in the sense revealer of a 
secret. As the name must have been 
Egyptian, it has been explained from the 
Coptic as meaning the preserver of the 
age. 

Za'phon (north), a place mentioned 
in the enumeration of the allotment of 
the tribe of Gad. Josh. 13 : 27. 

• Za'ra, or Za'rah, the son of Judah. 
Matt. 1 : 3. 

Za'rah, or Ze'rah, the son of Ju- 
dah. Gen. 38 : 30 ; 46 : 12. 

Z a' re ah, the same as Zorah and Zo- 
reah. Neh. 11 : 29. 

Za'reathites, The, the inhabitants 
of Zareah or Zorah. 1 Chron. 2 : 53. 

Za'red, The valley of. [Zered.] 

Zar'ephath (smelting place), the res- 




Zarephath. 

idence of the prophet Elijah during the 
latter part of the drought. 1 Kings 17 : 
9, 10. It was near to, or dependent on, 
Zidon. It is represented by the modern 
village of Sura-fend. Of the old town 
considerable indications remain. One 
group of foundations is on a headland 
called Ain el-Xanatarah ; but the chief 
remains are south of this, and extend for 
a mile or more, with many fragments of 
columns, slabs and other architectural 
features. In the New Testament Zare- 
phath appears under the Greek form of 
Sarepta. Luke 4 : 26. 



ZAR 



ZEB 



Zar'etan, or Zar'than. Josh. 3 : 10. 

Za'reth-sha'har (splendor of the 
dawn), a place mentioned only in Josh. 
13 : 19, in the catalogue of the towns al- 
lotted to Reuben. 

Zar'hites, The, a branch of the tribe 
of Judah, descended from Zerah the son 
of Judah. Num. 26 : 13, 20; Josh. 7 : 17 ; 
1 Chron. 27 : 11, 13. 

Zar'tanah. 1 Kings 4 : 12. [Zar- 

THAN.j 

Zar'than. 1. A place in the circle 
of Jordan, mentioned in connection with 
Succoth. 1 Kings 7 : 46. 

2. It is also named in the account of 
the passage of the Jordan by the Israel- 
ites, Josh. 3 : 16, where the Authorized 
Version has Zaretan. 

3. A place with the similar name of 
Zartanah. 1 Kings 4 : 12. 

4. Further, Zeredathah, named in 2 
Chron. 4 : 17 only in specifying the situ- 
ation of the founderies for the brass-work 
of Solomon's temple, is substituted for 
Zarthan ; and this again is not impossibly 
identical with the Zererath of the story 
of Gideon. Judges 7 : 22. All these spots 
agree in proximity to the Jordan, but be- 
yond this we are absolutely at fault as to 
their position. 

Zat'tu. The sons of Zattu were a 
family of laymen of Israel who returned 
with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:8; Neh. 7 : 13. 
Za'van. 1 Chron. 1 : 42. [Zaavan.J 
Za'za, one of the sons of Jonathan, a 
descendant of Jerahmeel. 1 Chron. 2 : 
33. 

Zebadi'ah. 1. A Benjamite of the 
sons of Beriah. 1- Chron. 8 : 15. 

2. A Benjamite of the sons of Elpaal. 
1 Chron. 8 : 17. 

3. One of the sons of Jeroham of Gedor. 
1 Chron. 12 : 7. 

4. Son of Asahel, the brother of Joab. 
1 Chron. 27 : 7. 

5. Son of Michael, of the sons of She- 
phatiah. Ezra 8 : 8. 

6. A priest of the sons of Immer, who 
had married a foreign wife after the re- 
turn from Babylon. Ezra 10 : 20. 

7. Third son of Meshelemiah the Kor- 
hite. 1 Chron. 26 : 2. 

8. A Levite in the reign of Jehosha- 
phat. 2 Chron. 17 : 8. 

9. The son of Ishmael and prince of 
the house of Judah in the reign of Je- 
hoshaphat. 2 Chron. 19 : 11. 

Ze'bah and Zalmun'na [deprived, of 
protection), the two (i kings" of Midian 
who commanded the great invasion of 



Palestine, and who finally fell by the 
hand of Gideon himself. Judges S : 5- 
21 ; Ps. 83 : 11. (B.C. 1250.) While Oreb 
and Zeeb, two of the inferior leaders of 
the incursion, had been slain, with a vast 
number of their people, by the Ephrami- 
ites, at the central fords of the Jordan, 
the two kings had succeeded in making 
their escape by a passage farther to the 
north (probably the ford near Bethshean), 
and thence by the Wady Yabis, through 
Gilead, to Karkor, high up on the Hau- 
ran. Here they were reposing with 
15,000 men, a mere remnant of their 
huge horde, when Gideon overtook them. 
The people fled in dismay, and Gideon 
captured the two kings and brought them 
! to his native village, Ophrah, where he 
' slew them because they had killed his 
brothers. 

Zeba'im (the gazelles), mentioned in 
the catalogue of the families of "Sol- 
omon's slaves " who returned from the 
captivity with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 57 ; 
Neh. 7 : 59. 

Zeb'edee (my gift) (Greek form cf 
Zabdi), a fisherman of Galilee, the father 
of the apostles J ames the Great and J ohn, 
Matt. 4 : 21, and the husband of Salome. 
Matt. 27 : 56; Mark 15 : 40. He probably 
lived either at Bethsaida or in its imme- 
diate neighborhood. It has been inferred 
from the mention of his " hired servants," 
Mark 1 : 20, and from the acquaintance 
between the apostle John and Annas the 
high priest, John 18 : 15, that the family 
of Zebedee were in easy circumstances, 
comp. John 19 : 27, although not above 
manual labor. Matt. 4 : 21. He appears 
onlv twice in the Gospel narrative, name- 
ly, in Matt. 4 : 21, 22; Mark 1 : 19, 20, 
where he is seen in his boat with his two 
sons mending their nets. 

Zebi'na (purchase), one of the sons 
of Nebo who had taken foreign wives 
after the return from Babvlon. Ezra 
10 : 43. 

Zebo'im (gazelles^. 1. One of the 
five cities of the " plain " or circle of 
Jordan. It is mentioned in Gen. 10 : 19; 
14 : 2, 8; Deut. 29 : 23; Hos. 11 : 8, in 
each of which passages it is either cou- 
pled with Admah or placed next it in 
the lists — perhaps represented by Talda 
Sebtian, a name attached to extensive 
ruins on the high ground between the 
Dead Sea and Kerak. In Gen. 14 : 2, 8 
the name is given more correctly in the 
Authorized Version Zeboiim. 

2. The valley of Zeboim, a ravine or 
757 



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gorge, apparently east of Michmash, 
mentioned only in 1 Sam. 13 : 18. The 
road running from Michmash to the east 
is specified as " the road of the border 
that looketh to the ravine of Zeboim to- 
ward the wilderness." The wilderness 
is no doubt the district of uncultivated 
mountain tops and sides which lies be- 
tween the central district of Benjamin and 
the Jordan valley. In that very district 
there is a wild gorge bearing the name of 
Shuk ed-Dubba', " ravine of the hyena," 
the exact equivalent of Ge hat-tsebo'im. 

Zebu'dah (bestowed), wife of Josiah 
and mother of King Jehoiakim. 2 Kings 
23:36. (B.C. 653.) 

Ze'bul (habitation), chief man (Au- 
thorized Version "ruler") of the city of 
Shechem at the time of the contest be- 
tween Abimelech and the native Canaan- 
ites. Judges 9 : 28, 30, 36, 38, 41. (B.C. 
1209.) 

Zeb'ulonite, a member of the tribe 
of Zebulun. Judges 12 : 11, 12. Applied 
only to Elon, the one judge produced by 
the tribe. Judges 12 : 11, 12. 

Zeb'ulun (a habitation), the tenth of 
the sons of Jacob, according to the order 
in which their births are enumerated; 
the sixth and last of Leah. Gen. 30 : 20 ; 
35 : 23 ; 46 : 14; 1 Chron. 2 : 1. His birth 
is mentioned in Gen. 30 : 19, 20. Of the 
individual Zebulun nothing is recorded. 
The list of Gen. 46 ascribes to him three 
sons, founders of the chief families of the 
tribe (comp. Num. 26 : 26) at the time of 
the migration to Egypt. The tribe is not 
recorded to have taken part, for evil or 
good, in any of the events of the wander- 
ing or the conquest. The statement of 
Josephus is probably in the main correct, 
that it reached on the one side to the 
Lake of Gennesareth and on the other to 
Carmel and the Mediterranean. On the 
south it was bounded by Issachar, who 
lay in the great plain or valley of the 
Kishon ; on the north it had Naphtali 
and Asher. Thus remote from the centre 
of government, Zebulun remains through- 
out the history, with one exception, in 
the obscurity which envelops the whole 
of the northern tribes. That exception, 
however, is a remarkable one. The con- 
duct of the tribe during the struggle with 
Sisera, when they fought with desperate 
valor side by side with their brethren of 
Naphtali, was such as to draw down the 
special praise of Deborah, who singles 
them out from all the other tribes. 
Judges 5 : 18. 
758 



Zeb'ulunites, The, the members of 
the tribe of Zebulun. Num. 26 : 27 only. 

Zechari'ah. 1. The eleventh in order 
of the twelve minor prophets. He is 
called in his prophecy the son of Ber- 
echiah and the grandson of Iddo, where- 
as in the book of Ezra, ch. 5 : 1, 6 : 14, he 
is said to have been the son of Iddo. It 
is natural to suppose, as the prophet him- 
self mentions his father's name, whereas 
the book of Ezra mentions only Iddo, 
that Berechiah had died early, and that 
there was now no intervening link be- 
tween the grandfather and the grandson. 
Zechariah, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel 




So-called "Tomb of Zechariah," in the Valley 
of Jehoshaphat. 

before him, was priest as well as prophet. 
He seems to have entered upon his office 
while yet young, Zech. 2 : 4, and must 
have been born in Babylon, whence he 
returned with the first caravan of exiles 
under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. It was in 
the eighth month, in the second year of 
Darius, that he first publicly discharged 
his office. In this he acted in concert 
with Haggai. Both prophets had the 
same great object before them ; both di- 
rected all their energies to the building 
of the second temple. To their influence 
we find the rebuilding of the temple in a 
great measure ascribed. If the later Jew-" 
ish accounts may be trusted, Zechariah, 
as well as Haggai, was a member of the 
Great Synagogue. The genuine writings 



ZEC 



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of Zechariah help us but little in our 
estimate of his character. Some faint 
traces, however, we may observe in them 
of his education in Babylon. He leans 
avowedly on the authority of the older 
prophets, and copies their expressions. 
Jeremiah especially seems to have been 
his favorite ; and hence the Jewish say- 
ing that " the spirit of Jeremiah dwelt in 
Zechariah." But in what may be called 
the peculiarities of his prophecy, he 
approaches more nearly to Ezekiel and 
Daniel. Like them he delights in visions ; 
like them he uses symbols and allegories 
rather than the bold figures and meta- 
phors which lend so much force and 
beauty to the writings of the earlier 
prophets. Generally speaking, Zecha- 
riah 's style is pure, and remarkably free 
from Chaldaisms. 

2. Son of Meshelemiah or Shelemiah, 
a Korhite, and keeper of the north gate 
of the tabernacle of the congregation. 1 
Chron. 9:21. (B.C. 1043.) 

3. One of the sons of Jehiel. 1 Chron. 
9:37. 

4. A Levite of the second order in the 
temple band as arranged by David, ap- 
pointed to play " with psalteries on Al- 
amoth." 1 Chron. 15 : 18, 20. (B.C. 1043.) 

5. One of the princes of Judah in the 
reign of Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. 17 : 7. 
(B.C. 910.) 

6. Son of the high priest Jehoiada, in 
the reign of Joash king of Judah, 2 Chron. 
24 : 20, and therefore the king's cousin. 
After the death of Jehoiada, Zechariah 
probably succeeded to his office, and in 
attempting to check the reaction in favor 
of idolatry which immediately followed, 
he fell a victim to a conspiracy formed 
against him by the king, and was stoned 
in the court of the temple. He is prob- 
ably the same as the "Zacharias son of 
Barachias" who was slain between the 
temple and the altar. Matt. 23 : 35. 
[Zacharias, No. 2.] (B.C. 838.) 

7. A Kohathite Levite in the reign of 
Josiah. 2 Chron. 34 : 12. (B.C. 628.) 

8. The leader of the sons of Pharosh 
who returned with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 3. (B.C. 
459.) 

9. Son of Bebai. Ezra 8:11. 

10. One of the chiefs of the people 
whom Ezra summoned in council at the 
river Ahava. Ezra 8 : 16. He stood at 
Ezra's left hand when he expounded the 
law to the people. Neh. 8 : 4. (B.C. 
459.) 

11. One of the family of Elam who had | 



married a foreign wife after the captivitv. 
Ezra 10: 26. (B.C. 458.) 

12. Ancestor of Athaiah or Uthai. Neh. 
11 : 4. 

13. A Shilonite, descendant of Perez. 
Neh. 11 : 5. 

14. A priest, son of Pashur. Neh. 11 : 
12. 

15. The representative of the priestly 
family of Iddo in the days of Joiakim 
the son of Jeshua. Neh. 12 : 16. (B.C. 
536.) Possibly the same as Zechariah 
the prophet, the son of Iddo. 

16. One of the priests, son of Jonathan, 
who blew with the trumpets at the ded- 
ication of the city wall by Ezra and Ne- 
hemiah. Neh. 12 : 35, 41. (B.C. 446.) 

17. A chief of the Beubenites at the 
time of the captivity by Tiglath-pileser. 
1 Chron. 5 : 7. (B.C. 740.) 

18. One of the priests who accompanied 
the ark from the house of Obed-edom. 1 
Chron. 15:24. (B.C. 1043.) 

19. Son of Isshiah or Jesiah, a Ko- 
hathite Levite descended from Uzziel. 
1 Chron. 24 : 25. (B.C. 1043.) 

20. Eourth son of Hosah, of the chil- 
dren of Merari. 1 Chron. 26 : 11. 

21. A Manassite. 1 Chron. 27 : 21. 

22. The father of Jahaziel. 2 Chron. 
20 : 14. 

23. One of the sons of Jehoshaphat. 2 
Chron. 21 : 2. 

24. A prophet in the reign of Uzziah, 
who appears to have acted as the king's 
counsellor, but of whom nothing is 
known. 2 Chron. 26 : 5. (B.C. 807.) 

25. The father of Abijah or Abi, Hez- 
ekiah's mother. 2 Chron. 29 : 1. 

26. One of the family of Asaph in the 
reign of Hezekiah. 2 Chron. 29 : 13. (B.C. 
727.) 

27. One of the rulers of the temple in 
the reign of Josiah. 2 Chron. 35 : 8. (B.C. 
628.) 

28. The son of Jeberechiah, who was 
taken by the prophet Isaiah as one of the 
"faithful witnesses to record," when he 
w T rote concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 
Isa. 8 : 2. (B.C. 723.) He may have been 
the Levite of the same name who in the 
reign of Hezekiah assisted in the purifi- 
cation of the temple. 2 Chron. 29 : 13. 
Another conjecture is that lie is the same 
as Zechariah the father of Abijah, the 
queen of Ahaz. 

Zechariah, The book of. The 
book of Zechariah, in its existing form, 
consists of three principal parts, viz. chs. 
1-8; chs. 9-11 ; chs. 12-14. 1. The first 
759 



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of these divisions is allowed by all critics 
to be the genuine work of Zechariah the 
son of Iddo. It consists, first, of a short 
introduction or preface, in which the 
prophet announces his commission ; then 
of a series of visions, descriptive of all 
those hopes and anticipations of Avhich 
the building of the temple was the pledge 
and sure foundation ; and finally of a dis- 
course, delivered two years later, in reply 
to questions respecting the observance of 
certain established fasts. 2. The remain- 
der of the book consists of two sections 
of about equal length, chs. 9-11 and 12- 
14, each of which has an inscription. 
(1) In the first section he threatens Da- 
mascus and the seacoast of Palestine with 
misfortune, but declares that Jerusalem 
shall be protected. (2) The second sec- 
tion is entitled " The burden of the word 
of Jehovah for Israel." But Israel is 
here used of the nation at large, not of 
Israel as distinct from Judah. Indeed, 
the prophecy which follows concerns Ju- 
dah and Jerusalem. In this the prophet 
beholds the near approach of troublous 
times, when Jerusalem should be hard 
pressed by enemies. But in that day 
Jehovah shall come to save them, and 
all the nations which gather themselves 
against Jerusalem shall be destroyed. 
Many modern critics maintain that the 
later chapters, from the ninth to the 
fourteenth, were written by some other 
prophet, who lived before the exile. The 
prophecy closes with a grand and stirring 
picture. All nations are gathered to- 
gether against Jerusalem, and seem al- 
readv sure of their prey. Half of their 
cruel work has been accomplished, when 
Jehovah himself appears on behalf of his 
people. He goes forth to war against the 
adversaries of his people. He establishes 
his kingdom over all the earth. All na- 
tions that are still left shall come up to 
Jerusalem, as the great centre of religious 
worship, and the city from that day for- 
ward shall be a holy city. Such is, 
briefly, an outline of the second portion 
of that book which is commonly known 
as the Prophecy of Zechariah. Integrity. 
— Mede was the first to call this in ques- 
tion. The probability that the later 
chapters, from the ninth to the four- 
teenth, were by some other prophet 
seems first to have been suggested to him 
by the citation in St. Matthew. He rests 
his opinion partly on the authority of St. 
Matthew and partly on the contents of 
the later chapters, which he considers 
760 



j require a date earlier than the exile. 
Archbishop Newcombe went further. 
He insisted on the great dissimilarity of 
I style as well as subject between the ear- 
j lier and later chapters ; and he was the 
j first who advocated the theory that the 
j last six chapters of Zechariah are the 
i work of two distinct prophets. 

Ze'dad (mountain side), one of the 
landmarks on the north border of the 
land of Israel, as promised by Moses, 
I Num. 34 : 8, and as restored by Ezekiel. 
Ezek. 47 : 15. A place named Sudud 
exists to the east of the northern ex- 
| tremity of the chain of Anti-Libanus, 
about fifty miles east-northeast of Baal- 
j bee. This may be identical with Zedad. 

Zedeki'ah (justice of Jehovah). 1. 
i The last king of Judah and Jerusalem. 
| He was the son of Josiah by his wife 
Hamutal, and therefore own brother to 
j Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 24 : 18 ; comp. 23 : 31. 
! His original name was Mattaniah, which 
| was changed to Zedekiah by Nebuchad- 
i nezzar when he carried oft' his nephew 
I Jehoiachim to Babylon, and left him on 
| the throne of Jerusalem. Zedekiah was 
| but twenty-one ) T ears old when he was 
| thus placed in charge of an impoverished 
kingdom, B.C. 597. His history is con- 
j tained in a short sketch of the events of 
j his reign given in 2 Kings 24 : 17-25 : 7, 
| and, with some trifling variations, in Jer. 
39 : 1-7 ; 52 : 1-11, together with the still 
j shorter summary in 2 Chron. 36 : 10, etc. ; 
| and also in Jer. 21, 24, 27, 28, 29, 32, 
34, 37, 38, and Ezek. 16 : 11-21. From 
! these it is evident that Zedekiah was a 
! man not so much bad at heart as weak 
in will. It is evident from Jer. 27 and 
j 28 that the earlier portion of Zedeki- 
ah's reign was marked by an agitation 
throughout the whole of Syria against 
the Babylonian yoke. Jerusalem seems 
to have taken the lead, since in the fourth 
year of Zedekiah's reign we find ambas- 
sadors from all the neighboring king- 
doms — Tyre, Sidon, Edom and Moab — at 
his court to consult as to the steps to be 
taken. The first act of rebellion of which 
any record survives was the formation 
of an alliance with Egypt, of itself equiv- 
alent to a declaration of enmity with 
Babylon. As a natural consequence it 
brought on Jerusalem an immediate in- 
vasion of the Chaldseans. The mention 
of this event in the Bible, though indis- 
putable, is extremelv slight, and occurs 
only in Jer. 37 : 5-11 ; 34 : 21, and Ezek. 
17 f 15-20; but Josephus (x. 7, $ 3) re- 



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lates it more fully, and gives the date of 
its occurrence, namely, the eighth year 
ofZedekiah. (B.C. 589.) Nebuchadnezzar 
at once sent an army to ravage Judea. 
This was done, and the whole country re- 
duced, except Jerusalem and two strong 
places in the western plain, Lachish and 
Azekah, which still held out. Jer. 34 : 7. 
Called away for a time by an attack from 
Pharaoh and the Egyptians, on the tenth 
day of the tenth month of Zedeki all's 
ninth year the Chaldaians were again be- 
fore the walls. Jer. 52 : 4. From this 
time forward the siege progressed slow- 
ly but surely to its consummation. The 
city was indeed reduced to the last ex- 
tremity. The bread had for long been 
consumed, Jer. 38 : 9, and all the terrible 
expedients had been tried to which the 
wretched inhabitants of a besieged town 
are forced to resort in such cases. At 
last, after sixteen dreadful months, the 
catastrophe arrived. It was on the ninth 
day of the fourth month, about the middle 
of July, at midnight, as Josephus with 
careful minuteness informs us, that the 
breach in those strong and venerable 
walls was effected. The moon, nine days 
old, had gone down. The wretched rem- 
nants of the army quitted the city in the 
dead of night ; and as the Chaldsean army 
entered the city at one end, the king and 
his wives fled from it by the opposite 
gate. They took the road toward the 
Jordan. As soon as the dawn of day 
permitted it, swift pursuit was made. 
The king's party were overtaken near 
Jericho and carried to Nebuchadnezzar, 
who was then at Riblah, at the upper end 
of the valley of Lebanon. Nebuchad- 
nezzar, with a refinement of barbarity 
characteristic of those cruel times, or- 
dered the sons of Zedekiah to be killed 
before him, and lastly his own eyes to be 
thrust out. He was then loaded with 
brazen fetters, and at a later period taken 
to Babylon, where he died. 

2. Son of Chenaanah, a false prophet at 
the court of Ahab, head, or, if not head, 
virtual leader, of the college. (B.C. 896.) 
He appears but once, viz. as spokesman 
when the prophets are consulted by Ahab 
on the result of his proposed expedition 
to Ramoth-gilead. 1 Kings 22; 2 Chron. 
18. Zedekiah had prepared himself for 
the interview with a pair of iron horns, 
with which he illustrated the manner in 
which Ahab should drive the Syrians 
before him. When Micaiah the prophet 
of the Lord appeared and had delivered 



his prophecy, Zedekiah sprang forward 
and struck him a blow on the face, ac- 
companying it by a taunting sneer. 

3. The son of Maaseiah, a false prophet 
in Babylon. Jer. 29 : 21, 22. He was de- 
nounced in the letter of Jeremiah for 
having, with Ahab the son of Kolaiah, 
buoyed up the people with false hopes, 
and for profane and flagitious conduct. 
Their names were to become a by-word, 
and their terrible fate a warning. (B.C. 
595.) 

4. The son of Hananiah, one of the 
princes of Judah in the time of Jere- 
miah. Jer. 36 : 12. (B.C. 605.) 

Z e'eb (wolf), one of the two " princes " 
of Midian in the great invasion of Israel. 
(B.C. about 1250.) He is always named 
with Oreb. Judges 7 : 25 ; 8:3; Ps. 83 : 
11. Zeeb and Oreb were not slain at the 
first rout of the Arabs, but at a later stage 
of the struggle, probably in crossing the 
Jordan at a ford farther down the river. 
Zeeb, the wolf, was brought to bay in a 
wine-press which in later times bore his 
name — the "wine-press of Zeeb." 
[Oreb.] 

Ze'lah {a rib), a city in the allotment 
of Benjamin, Josh. 18 : 28, contained the 
family tomb of Kish, the father of Saul. 
2 Sam. 21 : 14. [Perhaps the same as 
Zelzah.] 

Ze'lek {fissure), an Ammonite, one of 
David's guard. 2 Sam. 23 : 37 ; 1 Chron. 
11 : 39. 

Zelo'phehad {first-born), son of He- 
pher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son 
of Manasseh. Josh. 17:3. (B.C. before 
1450.) He was apparently the second 
son of Hepher. 1 Chron. 7 : 15. Zelo- 
phehad came out of Egypt with Moses, 
but died in the wilderness, as did the 
whole of that generation. Num. 14 : 35; 
27 : 3. On his death without male heirs, 
his five daughters, just after the second 
numbering in the wilderness, came be- 
fore Moses and Eleazar to claim the in- 
heritance of their father in the tribe of 
Manasseh. The claim was admitted by 
divine direction. Num. 26 : 33 ; 27 : 1-11. 

Zelo'tes, the epithet given to the 
apostle Simon to distinguish him from 
| Simon Peter. Luke 6 : 15. [Canaanite ; 
Simon, 5.] 

Zel'zah {shadoio), a place named once 
only, 1 Sam. 10:2, as on the boundary 
of Benjamin, close to Rachel's sepulchre, 
five miles southwest of Jerusalem. 

Zemara'im (double fleece of wool), a 
town in the allotment of Benjamin, Josh. 

761 



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18 : 22, perhaps identical with Mount 
Zemaraim, mentioned in 2 Chron. 13 : 4 
only, which was " in Mount Ephraim," 
that is to say, within the general district 
of the highlands of that great tribe. 2 
Chron. 13 : 4. 

Zem'arite, The, one of the Hamite 
tribes who, in the genealogical table of 
Gen. 10 (ver. 18) and 1 Chron. 1 (ver. 16), 
are represented as "sons of Canaan." 
Nothing is certainly known of this an- 
cient tribe. The old interpreters place 
them at Emessa, the modern Hums. 

Zemi'ra (a song), one of the sons of 
Becher the son of Benjamin. 1 Chron. 7 : 
8. (B.C. after 1706.) 

Ze'nan (pointed), a town in the allot- 
ment of Judah, situated in the district of 
the Shefelah. Josh, 15 : 37. It is prob- 
ably identical with Zaanan. Micah 1 : 
11. 

Ze'nas, a believer, and, as may be in- 
ferred from the context, a preacher of the 
gospel, who is mentioned in Titus 3 : 13 
in connection with Apollos. He is fur- 
ther described as "the lawyer." It is 
impossible to determine whether Zenas 
was a Eoman jurisconsult or a Jewish 
doctor. 

Zephani'ah (hidden by Jehovah). 1. 
The ninth in order of the twelve minor 
pixmhets. His pedigree is traced to his 
fourth ancestor, Hezekiah, Zeph. 1 : 1, 
supposed to be the celebrated king of 
that name. The chief characteristics of 
this book are the unity and harmony of 
the composition, the grace, energy and 
dignity of its style, and the rapid and 
effective alternations of threats and 
promises. The general tone of the last 
portion is Messianic, but without any 
specific reference to the person of our 
Lord. The date of the book is given in 
the inscription — viz. the reign of Josiah, 
from 642 to 611 B.C. It is most probable, 
moreover, that the prophecy was deliv- 
ered before the eighteenth year of Josiah. 

2. The son of Maaseiah, Jer. 21 : 1, and 
sagan or second priest in the reign of 
Zedekiah. (B.C. 588.) He succeeded Je- 
hoiada, Jer. 29 : 25, 26, and was probably 
a ruler of the temple, whose office it was, 
among others, to punish pretenders to 
the gift of prophecy. Jer. 29 : 29. On 
the capture of Jerusalem he was taken 
and slain at Riblah. Jer. 52 : 24, 27 ; 2 
Kings 25 : 18, 21. 

3. Father of Josiah, 2, Zech. 6 : 10, and 
of Hen, according to the reading of the 
received text of Zech. 6 : 14. 

762 



Ze'phath (watch-tower), the earlier 
name, Judges 1 : 17, of a Canaanite town, 
which after its capture and destruction 
was called by the Israelites Hormah. 

[HORMAH.] 

Zeph'athah (watch-tower), The 
valley of, the spot in which Asa joined 
battle with Zerahthe Ethiopian. 2 Chron. 
14 : 10 only. 

Ze'phi. 1 Chron. 1 : 36. [Zepho.] 

Ze'pho (watch-tower), son of Eliphaz, 
son of Esau, Gen. 36 : 11, and one of the 
"dukes" or phylarchs of the Edomites. 
ver. 15. In 1 Chron. 1 : 36 he is called 
Zephi. (b.c. after 1760.) 

Ze'phon (watch), the son of Gad, 
Num. 26 : 15, and ancestor of the family 
of the Zephonites. Called Ziphion in 
Gen. 46:16. (B.C. 1706.) 

Zer (flint), a fortified town in the al- 
lotment of Naphtali, Josh. 19 : 35 only, 
probably in the neighborhood of the 
southwest side of the Lake of Gennes- 
areth. 

Ze'rah (rising (of the sun)). 1. A son 
of Reuel, son of Esau, Gen. 36:13; 1 
Chron. 1 : 37, and one of the " dukes" or 
phylarchs of the Edomites. Gen. 36 : 17. 
(B.C. after 1760.) 

2. Less properly, Zarah, twin son, with 
his elder brother Pharez, of Judah and 
Tamar. Gen. 38 : 30 ; 1 Chron. 2:4; 
Matt. 1:3. (B.C. about 1728.) His de- 
scendants were called Zarhites, Ezrahites 
and Izrahites. Num. 26 : 20; 1 Kings 4 : 
31 ; 1 Chron. 27 : 8, 11. 

3. Son of Simeon, 1 Chron. 4 : 24, called 
Zohab, in Gen. 46 : 10. (B.C. 1706.) 

4. A Gershonite Levite, son of Iddo or 
Adaiah. 1 Chron. 6 : 21, 41. (B.C. 1043.) 

5. The Ethiopian or Cushite, an in- 
vader of Judah, defeated by Asa about 
B.C. 941. [Asa.] Zerah is probably the 
Hebrew name of Usarken I., second king 
of the Egyptian twenty -second dynasty ; 
or perhaps more probably Usarken II., 
his second successor. In the fourteenth 
year of Asa, Zerah the Ethiopian, with a 
mighty army of a million, invaded his 
kingdom, and advanced unopposed in 
the field as far as the valley of Zephathah 
at Mareshah. The Egyptian monuments 
enable us to picture the general dispo- 
sition of Zerah's army. The chariots 
formed the first corps in a single or 
double line; behind them, massed in 
phalanxes, were heavy-armed troops; 
probably on the flanks stood archers and 
horsemen in lighter formations. After a 
prayer by Asa, his army attacked the 



ZEE 



ZEE, 



Egyptians and defeated them. The 
chariots, broken by the charge and with 
horses made unmanageable by nights of 
arrows, must have been forced back upon 
the cumbrous host behind. So complete 
was the overthrow that the Hebrews 
could capture and spoil the cities around 
Gerah, which must have been in alliance 
with Zerah. The defeat of the Egyptian 
army is without parallel in the history 
of the Jews. On no other occasion did 
an Israelite army meet an army of one 
of the great powers and defeat it. 

Zerahi'ah (Jehovah has risen). 1. A 
priest, son of Uzzi and ancestor of Ezra 
the scribe. 1 Chron. 6 : 6, 51 ; Ezra 7 : 4. 

2. Father of Elihoenai of the sons of 
Pahath-moab,whose descendants returned 
from the captivity with Ezra. Ezra 8 : 4. 

Ze'red {osier brook), Deut. 2 : 13, 14, 
or Za'red, Num. 21 : 12, a brook or val- 
ley running into the Dead Sea near its 
southeast corner, which Dr. Robinson 
with some probability suggests as iden- 
tical with the Wady el-Ahsy. It lay be- 
tween Moab and Edom, and is the limit 
of the proper term of the Israelites' wan- 
dering. Deut, 2 : 14. 

Zer/eda (the fortress), the native 
place of Jeroboam. 1 Kings 11 : 26. Zer- 
eda or Zeredah has been supposed to be 
identical with Zeredathah and Zarthan 
or Zartanah ; but the last two were in the 
valley of the Jordan, while Zeredah was, 
according to the repeated statement of 
the LXX., on Mount Ephraim. 

Zered'athah. [Zarthan.] 

Zer'erath. [Zarthan.] 

Ze'resh (gold), the wife of Haman the 
Agagite. Esther 5 : 10, 14 ; 6:13. (B.C. 
474.) 

Ze'reth (splendor), son of Ashur, the 
founder of Tekoa, bv his wife Helah. 1 
Chron. 4 : 7. (B.C. 1440.) 

Ze'ri (built), one of the sons of Jed- 
uthun in the reign of David. 1 Chron. 
25 : 3. (B.C. 1043.) 

Ze'ror (a bundle), a Benjamite, an- 
cestor of Kish the father of Saul. 1 Sam. 
9:1. (B.C. about 1730.) 

Zeru'ah (fall breasted), the mother 
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 1 Kings 
11:26. (B.C. 973.) 

Zerub'babel (born at Babel, i.e. Bab- 
ylon), the head of the tribe of Judah at 
the time of the return from the Bab- 
ylonish captivity in the first year of Cy- 
rus. The history of Zerubbabel in the 
Scriptures is as follows : In the first year 
of Cyrus he Avas living at Babylon, and 



was the recognized prince of Judah in 
the captivity, — what in later times was 
called "the prince of the captivity," or 
"the prince." On the issuing of Cyrus' 
decree he immediately availed himself 
of it, and placed himself at the head of 
those of his countrymen "whose spirit 
God had raised to go up to build the 
house of the Lord which is in Jerusa- 
lem." It is probable that he was in the 
king of Babylon's service, both from his 
having, like Daniel and the three chil- 
dren, received a Chaldee name, Shesh- 
bazzar, and from the fact that he was ap- 
pointed by the Persian king to the office 
of governor of Judea. On arriving at 
Jerusalem, ZerubbabePs great work, 
which he set about immediate? y, was the 
rebuilding of the temple. In the second 
month of the second year of the return, 
the foundation was laid with all the 
pomp which could be commanded. The 
efforts of the Samaritans were successful 
in putting a stop to the work during the 
seven remaining years of the reign of Cy- 
rus and through the eight years of Cam- 
by ses and Sine rd is. Nor does Zerub- 
babel appear quite blameless for this 
long delay. The difficulties in the way 
of building the temple were not such as 
need have stopped the work ; and during 
this long suspension of sixteen years Ze- 
rubbabel and the rest of the people had 
been busy in building costly houses for 
themselves. But in the second year of 
Darius light dawned upon the darkness 
of the colony from Babylon. In that 
year — it was the most memorable event 
in ZerubbabePs life — the spirit of proph- 
ecy suddenly blazed up with a most 
brilliant light among the returned cap- 
tives. Their words fell like sparks upon 
tinder. In a moment Zerubbabel, roused 
from his apathy, threw his whole strength 
into the work. After much opposition 
[see Nehemiah] and many hindrances 
and delays, the temple was at length fin- 
ished, in the sixth year of Darius, and 
was dedicated with much pomp and re- 
joicing. [Temple.] The only other 
works of Zerubbabel of which we learn 
from Scripture are the restoration of the 
courses of priests and Levites and of the 
provision for their maintenance, accord- 
ing to the institution of David, Ezra 6 : 
18; Neh. 12 :47; the registering the re- 
turned captives according to their gene- 
alogies, Neh. 7:5; and the keeping of a 
Passover in the seventh year of Darius, 
with which last event ends all that we 
763 



ZER 



ZID 



know of the life of Zerubbabel. His 
apocryphal history is told in 1 Esdr. 3-7. 
The exact parentage of Zerubbabel is a 
little obscure, from his being always 
called the son of Shealtiel, Ezra 3 : 2, 8 ; 
5 : 2, etc. ; Hag. 1 : 1, 12, 14, etc., and ap- 
pearing as such in the genealogies of 
Christ, Matt. 1 : 12 ; Luke 3 : 27 ; whereas 
in 1 Chron. 3 : 19 he is represented as the 
son of Pedaiah, Shealtiel or SalathiePs 
brother, and consequently as Salathiel's 
nephew. Zerubbabel was the legal suc- 
cessor and heir of Jeconiah's royal es- 
tate, the grandson of Neri and the lineal 
descendant of Nathan the son of David. 
In the New Testament the name appears 
in the Greek form of Zorobabel. 

Zeru'iah {balsam), the mother of the 
three leading heroes of David's army — 
Abishai, Joab and Asahel — known as the 
" sons of Zeruiah." Of Zeruiah's hus- 
band there is no mention in the Bible. 
( B.C. before 1046.) 

Ze'tham {olive), the son of Laadan, a 
Gershonite Levite. 1 Chron. 23 : 8. (B.C. 
1043.) 

Ze'than {olive), a Benjamite of the 
sons of Bilhan. 1 Chron. 7 : 10. (B.C. 
probably 1014.) 

Ze'tliar {star), one of the seven eu- 
nuchs of Ahasuerus. Esther 1 : 10. (B.C. 
483.) 

Zi'a {motion), one of the Gadites who 
dwelt in Bashan. 1 Chron. 5 : 13. (B.C. 
1014.) 

Zi/ba {statue), a servant of Saul whom 
David made steward of Saul's son Me- 
phibosheth. 2 Sam. 9:2-12; 16:1-4; 
19 : 17, 29. [Mephibosheth.] (b.c. 
1023.) 

Zib'eon {robber), father of Anah, 
whose daughter Aholibamah was Esau's 
wife. Gen. 36 : 2. (B.C. 1797.) Although 
called a Hivite, he is probably the same 
as Zibeon the son of Seir the Horite. vs. 
20, 24, 29 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 38, 40. 

Zib'ia {roe), a Benjamite, apparently 
the son of Shaharaim by his wife Hodesh. 
1 Chron. 8 : 9. (B.C. 1440.) 

Zib'iah {roe), a native of Beersheba, 
and mother of King Joash. 2 Kings 
12 : 1 ; 2 Chron. 24 : 1. (B.C. 876.) 

Zich'ri {memorable). 1. Sonoflshar 
the son of Kohath. Ex. 6:21. (B.C. 1491.) 

2. A Benjamite of the sons of Shimhi. 
1 Chron. 8 : 19. (B.C. 1440.) 

3. A Benjamite of the sons of Shashak. 
1 Chron. 8 : 23. 

4. A Benjamite of the sons of Jeroham. 
1 Chron. 8 : 27. 

764 



5. Son of Asaph, elsewhere called 
Zabdi and Zaccur. 1 Chron. 9 : 15. 

6. A descendant of Eliezer the son of 
Moses. 1 Chron. 26 : 25. (B.C. before 
1043.) 

7. The father of Eliezer, the chief of 
the Beubenites in the reign of David. 1 
Chron. 27 : 16. (B.C. before 1043.) 

8. One of the tribe of Judah, father of 
Amasiah. 2 Chron. 17 : 16. 

9. Father of Elishaphat, one of the 
conspirators with Jehoiada. 2 Chron. 23 : 
1. (B.C. before 876.) 

10. An Ephraimite hero in the invad- 
ing army of Pekah the son of Pemaliah. 
2 Chron. 28 : 7. (B.C. 734.) 

11. Father or ancestor of Joel, 14. 
Neh. 11:9. 

12. A priest of the family of Abijah, in 
the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua. 
Neh. 12 : 17. (B.C. 480.) 

Zid'dim {the declivities), a fortified 
town in the allotment of Naphtali. Josh. 
19 : 35. 

Zidki'jah {justice of Jehova h), a priest 
or family of priests avIio signed the cov- 
enant with Nehemiah. Neh. 10 : 1. (B.C. 
410.) 




Gate at Sidon. 



Zi'don, or Si'don, Gen. 10:15, 19; 
Josh. 11 : 8 ; 19 : 28 ; Judges 1 : 31 ; 18 : 28 ; 
Isa. 23 : 2, 4, 12 ; Jer. 25 : 22 ; 27 : 3 ; Ezek . 
28 : 21, 22; Joel 3:4 (4:4); Zech. 9 : 
2 ; Matt. 11 : 21, 22 ; 15 : 21 ; Mark 3:8; 
7 : 24, 31 ; Luke 6:17; 10 : 13, 14, an an- 
cient and wealthy city of Phoenicia, on 
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean 
Sea, less than twenty English miles to the 
north of Tyre. Its Hebrew name, Tsidon, 
signifies fishing or fishery. Its modern 




765 



ZID 



ZIK 



name is Saida. It is situated in the nar- 
row plain between the Lebanon and the 
sea. From a biblical point of view this 
city is inferior in interest to its neighbor 
Tyre ; though in early times Sidon was 
the more influential of the two cities. 
This view is confirmed by Zidonians being 
used as the generic name of Phoenicians 
or Canaanites. Josh. 13 : 6 ; Judges 18 : 7. 
From the time of Solomon to the invasion 
of Nebuchadnezzar Zidon is not often di- 
rectly mentioned in the Bible, and it ap- 
pears to have been subordinate to Tyre. 
When the people called " Zidonians " are 
mentioned, it sometimes seems that the 
Phoenicians of the plain of Zidon are 
meant. 1 Kings 5 : 6 ; 11 : 1, 5, 33 ; 16 : 31 ; 
2 Kings £3 : 13. All that is known re- 
specting the city is very scanty, amount- 
ing to scarcely more than that one of its 
sources of gain was trade in slaves, in 
which the inhabitants did not shrink 
from selling inhabitants of Palestine, and 
that it was governed by kings. Jer. 25 : 
22; 27 : 3. During the Persian domina- 
tion Zidon seems to have attained its 
highest point of prosperity ; and it is re- 
corded that, toward the close of that 
period, it far excelled all other Phoeni- 
cian cities in wealth and importance. Its 
prosperity was suddenly cut short by an 
unsuccessful revolt against Persia, which 
ended in the destruction of the town, B.C. 
351. Its king, Tennes, had proved a 
traitor and betrayed the city to Ochus, 
king of the Persians ; the Persian troops 
were admitted within the gates, and oc- 
cupied the city walls. The Zidonians, 
before the arrival of Ochus, had burnt 
their vessels to prevent any one's leaving 
the town ; and when they saw themselves 
surrounded by the Persian troops, they 
adopted the desperate resolution of shut- 
ting themselves up with their families, 
and setting fire each man to his own 
house. Forty thousand persons are said 
to have perished in the flames. Zidon, 
however, gradually recovered from the 
blow, and became again a flourishing 
town. It is about fifty miles distant from 
Nazareth, and is the most northern city 
which is mentioned in connection with 
Christ's journeys. (The town Saida still 
shows signs of its former wealth, and its 
houses are better constructed and more 
solid than those of Tyre, many of them 
being built of stone ; but it is a poor, mis- 
erable place, without trade or manufac- 
tures worthy of the name. The city that 
once divided with Tyre the empire of the 
766 



seas is now almost without a vessel. Silk 
and fruit are its staple products. Its popu- 
lation is estimated at 10,000, 7000 of whom 
are Moslems, and the rest Catholics, 
Maronites and Protestants. — McClintock 
and Strong's Cyclopaedia. There is a 
flourishing Protestant mission here. — 
Ed.) 

Zido'nians, the inhabitants of Zidon. 
They were among the nations of Canaan 
left to give the Israelites practice in the 
art of war, Judges 3 : 3, and colonies of 
them appear to have spread up into the 
hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth- 
maim, Josh. 13 : 4, 6, whence in later 
times they hewed cedar trees for David 
and Solomon. 1 Chron. 22 : 4. They op- 
pressed the Israelites on their first en- 
trance into the country, Judges 10 : 12, 
and appear to have lived a luxurious, 
reckless life. Judges 18 : 7. They were 
skillful in hewing timber, 1 Kings 5 : 6, 
and were employed for this purpose by 
Solomon. They were idolaters, and wor- 
I shipped Ashtoreth as their tutelary god- 
I dess, 1 Kings 11 : 5, 33 ; 2 Kings 23 : 13, 
as well as the sun-god Baal, from whom 
their king was named. 1 Kings 16 : 31. 

Zif. 1 Kings 6 : 1. [Month.] 

Zi'ha {parched). 1. The children of 
Ziha were a family of Nethinim who re- 
turned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2 : 43 ; 
Neh. 7:46. (B.C. 536.) 

2. Chief of the Nethinim in Ophel. 
Neh. 11:21. The name is probably 
identical with the preceding. 

Zik'Iag {winding), a place which pos- 
sesses a special interest from its having 
been the residence and the private prop- 
erty of David. It is first mentioned in 
the catalogue of the towns of Judah in 
Josh. 15 : 31, and occurs, in the same con- 
nection, among the places which were 
allotted out of the territory of Judah to 
Simeon. Josh. 19 : 5. We next encounter 
it in the possession of the Philistines, 1 
Sam. 27 : 6, when it was, at David's re- 
quest, bestowed upon him by Achish king 
of Gath. He resided there for a year and 
four months. 1 Sam. 27 : 6, 7 ; 30 : 14, 26; 
1 Chron. 12 : 1, 20. It was there he re- 
ceived the news of Saul's death. 2 Sam. 
1:1; 4 : 10. He then relinquished it for 
Hebron. 2 Sam. 2:1. Ziklag is finally 
mentioned as being reinhabited by the 
people of Judah after their return from 
the captivity. Neh. 11 : 28. The situa- 
tion of the town is difficult to determine, 
and we only know for certain that it was 
in the south country. 



ZIL 



ZIP 



Zil'lah {shade). [Lamech.] 

Zil'pah (a trickling), a Syrian given 
by Laban to bis daughter Leah as an at- 
tendant, Gen. 29 : 24, and by Leah to Ja- 
cob as a concubine. She was the mother 
of Gad and Asher. Gen. 30 : 9-13 ; 35 : 26 ; 
37 : 2 ; 46 : 18. (B.C. 1753.) 

Zil'tha-i (shady). 1. A Benjamite, 
of the sons of Shimhi. 1 Chron. 8 : 20. 

2. One of the captains of thousands of 
Manasseh who deserted to David at Zik- 
lag. 1 Chron. 12 : 20. (B.C. 1054.) 

Zim'mah (purpose). 1. A Gershon- 
ite Levite, son of Jahath. 1 Chron. 6 : 20. 
(B.C. after 1706.) 

2. Another Gershonite, son of Shimei, 
1 Chron. 6 : 42 ; possibly the same as the 
preceding. 

3. Father or ancestor of Joah, a Ger- 
shonite in the reign of Hezekiah. 2 
Chron. 29 : 12. (B.C. before 726.) At a 
much earlier period we find the same 
collocation of names, Zinimah and Joah 
as father and son. 1 Chron. 6 : 20. 

Zim'ran (celebrated), the eldest son 
of Keturah. Gen. 25 : 2 ; 1 Chron. 1 : 32. 
His descendants are not mentioned, nor 
is any hint given that he was the founder 
of a tribe. (B.C. 1855.) 

Zim'ri. 1. The son of Salu, a Simeon- 
ite chieftain, slain by Phinehas with the 
Midianitish princess Cozbi. Num. 25 : 14. 
(B.C. 1450.) 

2. Fifth sovereign of the separate king- 
dom of Israel, of which he occupied the 
throne for the brief period of seven days, 
B.C. 930 or 929. Originally in command 
of half the chariots in the royal army, 
he gained the crown by the murder of 
King Elah, son of Baasha. But the 
army made their general, Omri, king, 
who marched against Tirzah, where Zim- 
ri was. Zimri retreated into the inner- 
most part of the late king's palace, set 
it on fire, and perished in the ruins. 1 
Kings 16 : 9-20. 

3. One of the five sons of Zerah the 
son of Judah. 1 Chron. 2 : 6. (B.C. after 
1706.) 

4. Son of Jehoadah and descendant of 
Saul. 1 Chron. 8 : 36 ; 9 : 42. 

5. An obscure name, mentioned Jer. 
25 : 25 in probable connection with De- 
dan, Tenia, Buz, Arabia, the " mingled 
people." Nothing further is known re- 
specting Zimri, but the name may pos- 
sibly be the same as, or derived from, 
Zimran, which see. 

Zin ( flat), the name given to a portion 
of the desert tract between the Dead Sea, 



Ghor, and Arabah on the east, and the 
general plateau of the Tih which stretches 
westward. The country in question con- 
sists of two or three successive terraces of 
mountain converging to an acute angle 
at the Dead Sea's southern verge, toward 
which also they slope. Kadesh lay in it, 
and here also Idumea was conterminous 
with Judah ; since Kadesh was a city in 
the border of Edom. [See Kadesh. 
Num. 13 : 21 ; 20 : 1 ; 27 : 14 ; 33 : 36 ; 34 : 
3; Josh. 15 : 1.] 

Zi'na (abundance); Zizah, the second 
son of Shimei the Gershonite. 1 Chron. 
23 : 10, comp. 11. 

Zi'on. [Jerusalem.] 

Zi'or (smallness), a town in the mount- 
ain district of Judah. Josh. 15 : 54. It 
belongs to the same group with Hebron. 

Ziph (battlement), the name of two 
towns in Judah. 1. In the south, named 
between Ithnan and Telem. Josh. 15 : 24. 
It does not appear again in the history, 
nor has any trace of it been met with. 

2. In the highland district, named be- 
tween Carmel and Juttah. Josh. 15 : 55. 
The place is immortalized by its connec- 
tion with David. 1 Sam. 23 : 14, 15, 24; 
26 : 2. These passages show that at that 
time it had near it a wilderness (i. e. a 
waste pasture-ground) and a wood. The 
latter has disappeared, but the former 
remains. The name of Zif is found about 
three miles south of Hebron, attached to 
a rounded hill of some 100 feet in height, 
which is called Tell Zif. 

3. Son of Jehaleleel. 1 Chron. 4: 16. 
Zi'phah (feminine of Zij)h), another 

son of Jehaleleel. 1 Chron. 4 : 16. 

Zi'phim, The, the inhabitants of 
Ziph, 2. In this form the name is found 
in the Authorized Version only in the 
title of Ps. 54. In the narrative it occurs 
in the more usual form of Ziphites. 1 
Sam. 23: 19; 26:1. 

Ziph'ion, son of Gad, Gen. 46 : 16 ; 
elsewhere called Zephon. 

Ziph'ron (fragrance), a point in the 
north boundaiy of the promised land as 
specified by Moses. Num. 34 : 9. 

Zip'por (sparrow), father of Balak 
king of Moab. Num. 22 : 2, 4, 10, 16 ; 23 : 
18; Josh. 24:9; Judges 11: 25. Whether 
he was the "former king of Moab" al- 
luded to in Num. 21 : 26 we are not told. 
(B.C. 1451.) 

Zip'porah, or Zippo'rah, daughter 
of Reuel or Jethro, the priest of Midian, 
wife of Moses and mother of his two sons 
Gershom and Eliezcr. Ex. 2:21; 4:25; 

767 



* 



ZIT 



18 : 2, comp. 6. (B.C. 1530.) The only 
incident recorded in her life is that of the 
circumcision of Gershom. Ex. 4 : 24-26. 

Zith'ri {protection of Jehovah), prop- 
erly Sithri ; one of the sons of Uzziel the 
son of Kohath. Ex. 6 : 22. In Ex. 6 : 21 
Zithri should be Zichri, as in Authorized 
Version of 1611. 

Ziz {the projection)^ The cliff of, the 
pass by which the horde of Moabites, Am- 
monites and Mehunim made their way 
up from the shores of the Dead Sea to 
the wilderness of Judah near Tekoa. 
2 Chron. 20 : 16 only ; comp. 20. It was 
the pass of A in Jidy — the very same 
route which is taken by the Arabs in 
their marauding expeditions at the pres- 
ent day. 

Zi'za {shining). 1. Son of Shiphi, a 
chief of the Simeonites in the reign of 
Hezekiah. 1 Chron. 4 : 37. (B.C. about 
725.) 

2. Son of Rehoboam by Maachah the 
granddaughter of Absalom. 2 Chron. 11 : 
20. (B.C. after 973.) 

Zi'zah, a Gershonite Levite, second 
son of Shimei, 1 Chron. 23:11; called 
Zina in ver. 10. 




Ruins at Zoan. 



Zo'an ( place of departure), an ancient 
city of lower Egypt, called Tanis by the 
Greeks. It stood on the eastern bank of j 
the Tanitic branch of the Nile. Its name 
indicates a place of departure from a 
country, and hence it has been identified 
with Avaris (Tanis, the modern San), the 
768 



ZOA 



capital of the Shepherd dynasty in Egypt, 
built seven years after Hebron, and exist- 
ing before the time of Abraham. It was 
taken by the Shepherd kings in their in- 
vasion of Egypt, and by them rebuilt, and 
garrisoned, according to Manetho, with 
240,000 men. This city is mentioned in 
connection with the plagues in such a 
manner as to leave no doubt that it is the 
city spoken of in the narrative in Exo- 
dus as that where Pharaoh dwelt, Ps. 78 : 
42, 43, and where Moses wrought his won- 
ders on the field of Zoan, a rich plain 
extending thirty miles toward the east. 
Tanis gave its name to the twenty-first 
and twenty-third dynasties, and hence its 
mention in Isaiah. Isa. 19 : 13 ; 30 : 4. 
(The present " field of Zoan" is a barren 
waste, very thinly inhabited. " One of 
the principal capitals of Pharaoh is now 
the habitation of fishermen, the resort of 
wild beasts, and infested with reptiles and 
malignant fevers." There have been dis- 
covered a great number of monuments 
here which throw light upon the Bible 
history. Brugsch refers to two statues 
of colossal size of Mermesha of the thir- 
teenth dynasty, wonderfully perfect in 
the execution of the individual parts, and 
says that memorials of Rameses the Great 
lie scattered broadcast like the moulder- 
ing bones of generations slain long ago. 
The area of the sacred enclosure of the 
temple is 1500 feet by 1250.— Ed.) 

Zo'ar {smallness), one of the most an- 
cient cities of the land of Canaan." Its 
original name was Bela. Gen. 14 : 2, 8. 
It was in intimate connection with the 
cities of the " plain of Jordan" — Sodom, 
Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. See also 
Gen. 13 : 10, but not 10 : 19. In the gen- 
eral destruction of the cities of the plain, 
Zoar was spared to afford shelter to Lot. 
Gen. 19 : 22, 23, 30. It is mentioned in 
the account of the death of Moses as one 
of the landmarks which bounded his 
view from Pisgah, Deut. 34 : 3, and it 
appears to have been known in the time 
both of Isaiah, Isa. 15 : 5, and Jeremiah. 
Jer. 48 : 34. These are all the notices of 
Zoar contained in the Bible. It was sit- 
uated in the same district with the four 
cities already mentioned, viz. in the 
"plain" or "circle" of the Jordan, and 
the narrative of Gen. 19 evidently im- 
plies that it was very near to Sodom, vs. 
15, 23, 27. The definite position of Sodom 
is, and probably will always be, a mys- 
tery ; but there can be little doubt that 
the plain of the Jordan was at the north 



ZOB 



ZUP 



side of the Dead Sea, and that the cities | 
of the plain must therefore have been 
situated there instead of at the south- 
ern end of the lake, as it is generally 
taken for granted they were. [Sodom.] 
(But the great majority of scholars, from 
Josephus and Eusebius to the present 
day, locate these cities at the southern 
end of the Dead Sea.) 

Zo'ba, or Zo'bah {station), the name 
of a portion of Syria which formed a 
separate kingdom in the time of the Jew- 
ish monarchs Saul, David and Solomon. 
It probably was eastward of Coele-Syria, 
and extended thence northeast and east 
toward, if not even to, the Euphrates. 
We first hear of Zobah in the time of 
Saul, when we find it mentioned as a 
separate country, governed apparently by 
a number of kings who owned no com- 
mon head or chief. 1 Sam. 14 : 47. Some 
forty years later than this we find Zobah 
under a single ruler, Hadadezer son of 
Rehob. He had wars with Toi king of 
Hamath, 2 Sam. 8 : 10, and held various 
petty Svrian princes as vassals under his 
yoke. 2 Sam. 10 : 19. David, 2 Sam. 8 : 3, 
attacked Hadadezer in the early part of 
his reign, defeated his army, and took 
from him a thousand chariots, seven hun- 
dred (seven thousand, 1 Chron. 18 : 4) 
horsemen and 20,000 footmen. Hadad- 
ezer's allies, the Syrians of Damascus, 
were defeated in a great battle. The 
wealth of Zobah is very apparent in the 
narrative of this campaign. A man of 
Zobah, Eezon son of Eliadah, made him- 
self master of Damascus, where he proved 
a fierce adversary to Israel all through 
the reign of Solomon. 1 Kings 11 : 23- 
25. Solomon also was, it would seem, 
engaged in a war with Zobah itself. 2 
Chron. 8:3. This is the last that we 
hear of Zobah in Scripture. The name, 
however, is found at a later date in the 
inscriptions of Assyria, where the king- 
dom of Zobah seems to intervene between 
Hamath and Damascus. 

Zobe'bah {the slow), son of Coz, of the 
tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 8. 

Zo'har {light). 1. Father of Ephron 
the Hittite. Gen. 23 : 8 ; 25 : 9. (B.C. be- 
fore 1860.) 

2. One of the sons of Simeon, Gen. 46 : 
10 ; Ex. 6 : 15 ; called Zeeah in 1 Chron. 
4:24. 

Zo'heleth {serpent), The stone. 
This was "by En-rogel," 1 Kings 1:9; 
and therefore, if En-rogel be the modern 
Um-ed-Deraj, this stone, " where Adoni- 
49 



jah slew sheep and oxen," was in all 
likelihood not far from the well of the 
Virgin. 

Zo'heth, son of Ishi of the tribe of 
Judah. 1 Chron. 4 : 20. 

Zo'phah {a cruse), son of Helem or 
Hotham the son of Heber, an Asherite. 
1 Chron. 7 : 35, 36. 

Zo'pha-i {descended from Zuph), a 
Kohathite L,evite, son of Elkanah and 
ancestor of Samuel. 1 Chron. 6 : 26 (11). 
In ver. 35 he is called Zuph. 

Zo'phar {sparrow), one of the three 
friends of Job. Job 2:11; 11 : 1 ; 20 : 1 ; 
42:9. 

Zo'phim {watchers), The field of, a 

spot on or near the top of Pisgah, from 
which Balaam had his second view of the 
encampment of Israel. Num. 23 : 14. The 
position of the field of Zophim is not de- 
fined. Possibly it is the same place which 
later in the history is mentioned as Miz- 
pah-moab. 

Zo'rah {hornet), a town in the allot- 
ment of the tribe of Dan. Josh. 19 : 41. 
It is previously mentioned, ch. 15 : 33, in 
the catalogue of Judah, among the places 
in the district of the Shefelah (Authorized 
Version " Zoreah "). It was the residence 
of Manoah and the native place of Sam- 
I son. It is mentioned among the places 
fortified by Eehoboam. % Chron. 11 : 10. 
It is perhaps identical with the modern 
village of Sur'ah. 

Zo'rathites, The, i. e. the people of 
Zorah, mentioned in 1 Chron. 4 : 2 as de- 
scended from Shobal. 

Zo'reah. [Zoeah.] 

Zo'rites, The, are named in the ge- 
nealogies of Judah, 1 Chron. 2 : 54, appa- 
rently among the descendants of Salma 
and near connections of Joab. 

Zorob'abel. Matt. 1 : 12, 13 ; Luke 3: 
27. [Zekubbabel.J 

Zu'ar {littleness), father of Nethaneel, 
the chief of the tribe of Issachar at the 
time of the exodus. Num. 1:8; 2:5; 7 : 
18, 23; 10: 15. (B.C. 1491.) 

Zuph {honeycomb), The land of, a 
district at which Saul and his servant 
arrived after passing through the posses- 
sions of Shalisha, of Shalim and of the 
Benjamites. 1 Sam. 9 : 5 only. It evi- 
dently contained the city in which they 
encountered Samuel, ver. 6, and that again 
was certainly not far from the " tomb of 
Rachel." It may perhaps be identified 
with Soba, a well-known place about 
seven miles due west of Jerusalem. 

Zuph, a Kohathite Levite, ancestor of 
769 



ZUR 



ZUZ 



Elkanah and Samuel. 1 Sam. 1:1; 1 
Chron. 6 : 35. In 1 Chron. 6 : 26 he is 
called Zophai. 

Zur (a rock). 1. Father of Cozbi, 
Num. 25 : 15, and one of the five princes 
of Midian who were slain by the Israel- 
ites when Balaam fell. Num. 31 : 8. (B.C. 
1451.) 

2. Son of Jehiel, the founder of Gideon. 
1 Chron. 8 : 30 ; 9 : 36. (B.C. after 
1445.) 

Zu'ri-el (my rock is God), son of Abi- 
hail, and chief of the Merarite Levites at 
the time of the exodus. Num. 3 : 35. 
770 



Zurishad'da-i (my rock is the Al- 
mighty), father of Shelumiel, the chief 
of the tribe of Simeon at the time of the 
exodus. Num. 1:6; 2 : 12 ; 7 : 36, 41 ; 
10 : 19. 

Zu'zim, The, an ancient people who, 
lying in the path of Chedorlaomer and 
his allies, were attacked and overthrown 
by them. Gen. 14 : 5. The Zuzim per- 
haps inhabited the country of the Am- 
monites, who were identical with the 
Zamzummim, who are known to have 
been exterminated and succeeded in their 
land by the Ammonites. [Zamzummim.] 



APPENDIX. 



CONTENTS OF APPENDIX 



PAGE 

Apostles and their History, The ........ 804 

Apostolic History, The 792-801 

Bible, Statistics of the 810 

Christ, Life of (Andrews) 802, 803 

Commonwealth, The Restored 780, 781 

Divided Kingdoms, The 776-778 

Gospel History, The 786-791 

Gospels, Harmony of the ..." 805-810 

Jewish Year, Calendar of the 812 

Judah, Later Kingdom of 778-780 

Judges, Period of the 775 

Measures, Jewish 813 

Monarchy, The Undivided 775 

Money, Jewish 814 

Old and New Testaments, Connection between the . . . 782-785 
Patriarchs, Chronological Table of the . . . . .773 

Period, Patriarchal 774 

Science and the Bible, Chart of 811 

Time, Jewish 814 

Weights, Jewish 813 



772 



YEARS BEFORE CHRIST. 




Kohath 


Tsfiac 


Terah.... 






CD 

c 
: 


►d 

cc 

"'■ 


Eber 


Salah 




Shem 


Noah 


Lamech 


Methuselah 


Enoch 


Jared 


3 
— 

£ 

a 

T> 


Cainan 


m 

n J" 




YEARS FROM THE 
CREATION. 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PATRIARCHS, FROM ADAM TO MOSES, 2500 YEARS. 

The figures at the end of each line show the date of the birth and death of the corresponding person. This table shows the length of each life ; 
what persons were living at the same time ; the rapid decrease of life after the deluge. 

By the heavy lines it is easy to see through how few persons the early history of the race came down to the patriarchs after the flood. Methu- 
selah lived with Adam 243 years, and with Noah 600 years, and Noah lived within two years of Abraham. 


© 
o 
© 












































3900 








































.ami 

130- 


© 
© 


3800 






































235- 


1 


to 
© 
© 


3700 
































( 
« 

c 


: i; 
" f 




I 


s 

© 


3600 
































460- 








1 


© 
© 


3500 








































1 


© 
© 


3400 




























C5 © 

00 to 
- i to 








1 


1 


© 
© 


3300 






































1 


1 


© 
© 


03 

to 
o 
o 




























- 














1 


© 
© 


3100 






















-987 








1 


%> 

03 
O 


CO 

© 
© 


3000 
























1 












o 
to 


© 
© 


2900 
























1 










1140 


1100 


2800 
























1 






1235 
1290 


1200 


2700 
























1 








1300 


2600 
























1 




1422 


1400 


2500 






















1558 






1500 


2400 












1658 


1 SJSJ— '9591: -H-V— 


1600 




2f2Z " 






SI 

c 
C 


2300 












1723 
1757 
1787 






1 


1700 


2200 






1819 
1849 
1878 












1 


00 

8 


2100 






! 


1997 




1996 








1 


1900 


2000 






2026 
2059 

2083 
2008 




2096 


2006 


to 
© 
© 


1900 




2100 

2158 

2126 
2187 

2183 
2108 
2168 


1800 




2255 
2288 


9 
3 
5 
5 


2200 


1700 


2367 


III 1 


2300 


1600 


III 


2421 


2400 


1500 


2504 

2553 


2500 



773 



CHKONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 



Table L— Patriarchal Period. 



COMMON 

Year of the 
World. 


CHRONOLOGY. 

Years before 
Christ. 


According 
to Brugsch 
and others. 


EVENT. 


PLACE. 


A.M. 


B.C. 


B.C. 






1 


4004 






Eden. 


1 


4004 




The Fall 




129 


3875 








930 


3074 








987 


3017 








1056 


2948 








1656 


2348 














Founding of the kingdom of Egypt. 


Egypt. 


1718 


2286 




Founding of the Chaldean empire... 


Chaldea. 


1757 


2247 






Babylonia. 


2006 


1998 






Arabia. 












2008 


1996 






Chaldea. 


2083 


1921 




The call of Abraham 




2086 


1918 




Abraham and Lot move to Canaan... 


Canaan. 


2092 


1912 






Hebron. 


2107 


1897 






Sodom. 


2108 


1896 






Moab. 


2133 


1871 






Jerusalem. 


2144 


1860 






Hebron. 


2147 


1857 






Lahai-roi. 


2166 


1838 






Beersheba. 


2183 


1821 








2199 


1805 








2244 


1760 




Jacob obtains the blessing of Isaac... 




2265 


1739 






Peniel. 








Dothan, near 


2275 


1729 






Shechem. 


2287 


1717 






Hebron. 


2285-8 


1719-16 






Egypt. 


2288 


1716 






2288-95 


1716-1709 








2295-2302 


1709-1702 








2298 


1706 








2315 


1689 






Goshen. 


2369 


1635 








2433 


1571 


1380 




Egypt, 


2473 


1531 


1340 






2512 


1492 


1300 




Arabia. 


2512-13 


1492-91 


1300 




Egypt. 


2513 


April, 1491 


1300 




2513 


May, 1491 


1300 




Arabia. 


2513 


May, 1491 


1300 




Mt. Sinai. 


2513 


July, 1491 


1300 






2514 


March, 1490 






j| 


2514 


April, May, 1490 








2513-2553 


1491-1451 




The wanderings in the wilderness... 


Desert of Paran. 


2552 


April, 1452 






Kadesb. 


2552 


April, 1452 




Waters from the rock 


Meribah. 


2552 


Summer, 1452 




Death of Aaron 


Mt. Hor. 


2552 


September, 1452 




The fiery serpents 


The Arabah. 


2552 


Autumn, 1452 




Balaam's blessing 


Moab. 








Mt. Nebo or 


2553 


February, 1451 




Death of Moses 


Pisgah. 




April, 1451 




Passing over Jordan 


Near Jericho. 




Early summer, 




Ebal and Ger- 




1451 






izim. 




1444 




Appointment of cities of refuge 






1426 






Mt. Ephraim. 



774 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



1435-1427. 

1427-1387. 
1387-1369. 
1369-1289. 

1289-1269. 
1269-1229. 
1229-1222. 
1222. 

1222-1182. 
1222-1182. 
1182-1179. 
1179-1156. 
1156-1134. 



1134-1116. 

1116-1110. 
1110-1103. 
1103-1094. 



Table II. — Period of the Judges. 

The oppression of Chushan-rishathaim during the last years of Joshua, 
8 years. 

First judge, Othniel. Rest for 40 years. 
Oppression by the Moabites. 18 years. 
Second judge," Ehud, delivers them. Rest for 80 years. 
Third judge, Shamgar. 

Oppression by Jabin, king of Canaan, under his general, Sisera, 20 years. 

Deliverance by Deborah and Barak. Rest for 40 years. 

Oppression by the Midianites, 7 years. 

Deliverance by the fifth judge, Gideon. 

Rest under Gideon, 40 years. 

Ruth. 

Rule of Abimelech, 3 years. 
Judgeship of Tola, 23 years. 
Judgeship of Jair, 22 years. 



the first 20 of Eli's judgeship.) 

East Israel. 
Oppression of the Ammonites, 18 
years. 

Jephthah's judgeship, 6 years. 
Ibzan's judgeship, 7 years. 
Elon's judgeship (in part), 9 
years. 



(Of which the last 20 years synchronised with 



West Israel. 



1134-1094. 
1134-1114. 



Oppression of Philistines, 40 yrs. 
This period includes the last 20 
years of Eli. 
I 1114-1094. It also includes the first 20 years 
of Samuel. 

! 1116-1096. And the judgeship of Samson. 



1222-1182. Ruth and Naomi. 

1146. Birth of Samuel. 

1134. Samuel in the temple. 

1114. The death of Eli. 

1116-1075. Samuel judge; or from the victory of Ebenezer, 

1094-1075. (Ussher, 1116-1095.) 

1085. David born. 



Table III.— The Undivided Monarchy* 



The dates are those of the Received Chronology. 



B.C. 


SCRIPTURE HISTORY. 


YRS. OF 
REIGN. 


SYNCHRONISMS. 


1095 


Saul chosen king 


40 




[1075?] 


Samuel dies during his reign. 






1056 


Death of Saul and Jonathan. 








David king at Hebron 


m 






The Ten Tribes resist under Abner. 






1050? 


Ish-bosheth king at Mahanaim. 


2 






32^ 


Tyre flourishes under Hiram. 


1048 




40 


Syrian kingdoms of Zobah and 




in all. 


Hamath. 




He takes Jebus (Jerusalem). 






1042 


Removal of the ark. 






1040 


Victories over the Philistines, Mo- 








abites and Syrians. 






1023 


Revolt of Absalom. 




The 21st (Tanite) dynasty in 


1015 


Death of David. 




Egypt. 


1015 




40 


1012 


Foundation of the temple. 






1006 


Dedication of the temple. 




The 22d (Bubastite) dynasty in 








Egypt. 


975 


Death of Solomon. 




Syrian kingdom of Damascus 




Revolt of Jeroboam. 




founded by Rezon. 


* Kings' names in small capitals. Prophets' names in italics ; which also denote some important events. 



775 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table IV— The Divided Kingdoms. 



975 
970 



955 
954 



953 
941? 



930 
929 



92.1 



918 
914 



897 



889 
886 
885 

884 



878 



(Only one Dynasty.) 

i. Eehoboam 

Shemaiah forbids war. 
Invasion of Shishak. 



ii. Abijah 

Defeats Jeroboam. 

iii. Asa 

2d year. 
Keformation. 

3d year. 

Defeats Zerah the Cush- 
ite. 

Azariah prophesies. 
Alliance with Syria. 
Hnnani prophesies. 
26th year. 
27th year. 



31st year. 



38th year. 

Consults magicians. 



iv. Jehoshaphat 

Reformation. 

Cities of Judah fortified. 

Judges appointed. 
Moab and Philistines 

tributary. 
Alliance with Ahab. 
Jehoshaphat at Ramoth- 

gilead. 
The prophet Jehu. 
17th year. 
Naval enterprise. 
Etiezer, son of Dodavah. 
18th year. 

Defeat of Ammon and 

Moab. 
Associates Jehoram. 

v. Jehoram alone. 

" with Ahaziah. 

vi. Ahaziah alone. 
Alliance with Israel. 
Slain by Jehu. 



953 



925 



914 
910? 



901- 
900 



S97 



H9<; 



(First Dynasty.) 

i. Jeroboam I 

Idolatry of the calves. 

Ahijah prophesies. 
18th year. 
War with Judah. 
20th year. 

ii. Nadab 



(Second Dynasty.) 

iii. Baasha 

Removes from She- 

chem to Tirzah. 
Fortifies Ramah. 
War with Judah. 
Jehu, son of Hanani. 

iv. Elah 

v. Zimri 

Civil war. 

Omri and Tibni... 
(Third Dynasty.) 

vi. Omri 



Builds Samaria. 



I 

vii. Ahab 

Marries Jezebel, dau. 

of Eth-baal. 
4th year. 
Baal-worship. 
Mission of Elijah. 
Three-years famine. 
Successful war with 

Syria. 

New war with Syria. 
Micaiah, son of Imla. 
Death of Ahab. 



viii. Ahaziah 

Consults Baal-zebub. 
Ascent of Elijah. 

ix. Jehoram 

Mission of Elisha. 
Naaman the Syrian. 

8th year. 
11th year. 
12th year. 
War with Syria. 
Slain by Jehu. 



Extinction of AhaVs house in both kingdoms. 



vii. Athaliah (usurp- 
er) 

Murders all the royal 
house except Joash. 

viii. Joash 

Jehoiada regent 

Great reformation. 



878 



(Fourth Dynasty.) 

x. Jehu 

Slays Jezebel and the 

Baalites. 
7th year. 

Worships the golden 
calves. 



22 



28 



SYNCHRONISMS. 



Shishak (Sheshonk 
I.), king of Egypt. 



Tabrimmon, king of 
Damascus. 



Zerah = Osorkon I., 
son of Shishak ? 

Ben-hadad L, king of 
Damascus. 



Eth-baal (Ithobal), 
king of Tyre and 
Sidon. 



Ben-hadad II., king of 
Damascus. 



Hazael murders and 
succeeds Ben-hadad. 



The Older Dynasty is 
reigning in Assyria : 

Shalmaneser. 

Jehu's name on the 
"black obelisk," as 
tributary to Assyria. 

Pygmalion at Tyre. 



776 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table IV— The Divided Kingdoms— continued. 



85G 



850? 



826 
825 



810 

800? 



772 
765? 



701 

759 
758 

747 

742 

741 

740 



7: : ;o 

72G 



Repairs of temple fin- 
ished. 



23d year. 

Death of Jehoiada. 
Worship of Baal. 
Zechariah stoned. 
Hazael threatens Jeru- 
salem. 
37th year. 
Death of Joash. 

ix. Amaziah 

Victory over Edom. 
Worships gods of Edom. 



Defeated by Jehoash. 
15th year. 

Declension and misfor- 
tune during the rest 
of his reign. 

Slain by his servants. 



X. UZZIAH 

Zechariah (as tutor 
Joel. 



38th year. 

Great prosperity of Ju- 
dah. 

39th year. 

His sacrilege and lep- 
rosy. 



50th year. 
52d year. 

Xi. JOTHAM. 



10th year. 
Micah prophesies. 

xii. Ahaz 

Worst king of Judah. 
Isaiah, chap. vii. 
Defeat of Ahaz. 
200,000 captives carried 

to Samaria, and many 

to Damascus. 
Calls in Tiglath-pileser. 
Syrian altar in temple. 
Sacred vessels sent to 

Assyria. 



12th year. 

xiii. Hezekiah 

Religious reformation. 
Great Passover. 



S5C, 



739 



Hazael gains the coun- 
try east of Jordan. 



xi. Jehoahaz 

Hard pressed by Syria. 

[The last two years of 
his reign are the first 
two of his son's.] 

xii. Jehoash 

Death of Jehoahaz. 

2d year of Jehoash. 
Death of Elisha. 
Victories over Ben-ha- 
dad. 

Takes Jerusalem. 

xiii. Jeroboam IT 

Victories over Syria, 

Amnion and Moab. 
Acme of kingdom of 

Israel. 
Jonah prophesies. 
27th year. 
Amos and Hosea. 
[Interregnum?] 

xiv. Zachariah 

(End of JehiCs Dynasty.) 

xv. Shai/lum 

(Fifth Dynasty.) 

xvi. Menahem 

Tributary to Assyria. 

xvii. Pekahiah 

(Sixth Dynasty.) 

xviii. Pekah 

2d year. 

12th year. 

17th year. 

Alliance with Rezin. 

Invasion of Judah. 

Second invasion. 

Jewish captives re- 
leased through the 
prophet Obed. 

Tributary to Assyria. 

Captivity of the 2% 
tribes east of Jordan, 
and partly of the 
northern Israelites. 

Pekah slain by Ho- 
shea. 

[Second interregnum?] 
(Seventh Dynasty.) 

xix. Hoshea 

3d year. 

Hezekiah's messengers 
influence Israel. 



16 



ms.] 



synchronisms. 



Carthage founded 143 
years after the tem- 
ple of Solomon ; about 
B.C. 870 (Josephus). 



Ben-hadad III., king 
of Damascus. 



776. Era of the Olym- 
piads. 

Greek History begins. 



Pul (Vul-lush, or Iva- 
lush?), the first As- 
syrian king named 
in Scripture. 

He takes Damascus. 



753. Era of the foun- 
dation of Rome. 

747. Later Assyrian 
empire, founded by 

TlGLATH - PILESER ; 

and kingdom of 
Babylon by Nabo- 

NASSAR. 

Era of Nabonassar. 

Rezin, king of Damas- 
cus, cir. 742. 

Syrian kingdom of Da- 
mascus destroyed by 
Tiglath-pileser, 740. 



Shalmaneser, king of 

Assyria. 
He attacks Elul^eus, 

king of Tyre. 



777 



CHKONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table IV.— The Divided Kingdoms— continued. 



Revolts from Assyria. 

Defeats the Philistines. 

Micah and Isaiah con- 
tinue to prophesy un- 
der Hezekiah. 



725 
723 
721 

[678 



League with Egypt, 
and revolt from As- 
syria. 

Imprisoned by Shal- 
nianeser. 

Samaria besieged. 

Samaria taken ; its peo- 
ple carried captive. 

End of the kingdom of 
Israel. 

Colonization of Sama- 
ria by Esar-haddon.] 



SYNCHRONISMS. 



725. Sabaco I. (the So 
of SS.), of the 25th I 
dynasty, king of 
Egypt. 



721. Sargon, king of 
Assyria. 

MERODACH - BALADAN, 

king of Babylon. 
War of Sargon with 
Egypt. 



Table V.— Later Kingdom of Judah. 



720 



715 
71:5 



709 



702 
700 



abo't 
678 

642 
639 

629 
625 
616 



7th year of Heze- 
kiah. 



Illness of Hezekiah. 



Invasion of Judah 
—submission of 
Hezekiah. 

Second attack and 
destruction of the 
Assyrian army. 

xiv. Manasseh. 

Anti - religious re- 
action and idola- 
tries. 

Carried prisoner to 
Esar - haddon at 
Babylon. 

Colonization of Sa- 
maria. 

Manasseh's repent- 
ance. 

xv. Amon. 

xvi. Josiah. Great 
reformation. 

Jeremiah prophe- 
sies. 

15th year. Nahum, 
Habakkuk and 
Zephaniah. 



ASSYRIA AND 
BABYLON. 



Sargon 
Tyre. 



Embassy of Mero- 
dach-baladan. 

Sargon takes Ash- 
dod. 

Expels Merodach- 
baladan. 

Sennacherib 
again expels Me- 
rodach and sets 
up Belibus at 
Babylon. Flight 
from Judah to 
Nineveh. 

Assyrian viceroys 
and much confu- 
sion at Babylon 
till 

680. ESAR - HAD- 
DON, becoming 
king of Assyria, 
reigns in person 
at Babylon till 
about 667. 

660. Asshur-bani- 
pal (Sardanapa- 
lus). 

Saracus, last king 
of Assyria. 



Nabo-podassar 
founds the Babylo- 
nian empire, and 
with Cyaxares 
takes Nineveh. 



Sabaco II.? 



). TlRHAKAH. 



671 ? DODECHAR- 
CHY. 

664. PSAMMETI- 
CHUS I. 



OTHER NATIONS. 



Date assigned to 

NUMA POMPILIUS. 



Scythian invasion 
of W. Asia. 

633. Median empire 
founded by Cyax- 
ares (the Ahasue- 
rus of Dan. 9 : 1). 

Adyattes, king of 
Lydia. 

Tarquinius Pris- 
cus. 



778 



CHEONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table V— Later Kingdom of Judah— continued. 



615 



604 
603 
602 



593 

588 



582 



561 



Killed in battle 
with Necho. 

xvii. Jehoahaz 

xviii. Jehoiakim. 
Jeremiah's prophecy 

of the 70 years 
captivity. 

First Captivity. 

Jeremiah's roll 
read. 



Revolts from Bab- 
ylon. 

Jerusalem taken, 
xix. Jehoiachin. 
Rebels and is de- 
posed. 



Great Captivity. 

xx. Zedekiah. 

Jeremiah'' s proph- 
ecy against Bab- 
ylon. 

Jerusalem besieged. 

Hope of relief from 
Egypt. 

Jerusalem taken 
and destroyed. 

End of Kingdom of 
Judah. 

Gedaliah, govern- 
or of the remnant. 
Murdered by Ish- 
mael. 

Johanan carries Jer- 
emiah and others 
into Egypt. 

Further captivity 
by Nebuzar-adan. 



[Jeboiachin, at Bab- 
ylon, released.] 



3 m 



ASSYRIA AND 
BABYLON. 



Babylon. 

Nebuch adnezzar 
sent against Ne- 
cho. Takes Je- 
rusalem. Sacred 
vessels carried to 
Babylon. 

Jan. 21. Nebuchad- 
nezzar. 

603. Daniel, etc., at 
Babylon. 



598. Nebuchadnez- 
zar besieges Tyre 
and marches 
against Jerusa- 
lem. 

Resumes siege of 
Tyre, and thence 
returns to Jeru- 
salem. 

Ezekiel carried to 
Babylon with Je- 
hoiachin. 

Ezekiel's vision of 
the temple. 

Marches against 
Jerusalem and 
Egypt. 

Zedekiah carried to 
Babylon, where 
he dies. 



585. Nebuchadnez- 
zar takes Tyre, 



581. and overruns 
Egypt. 

570. Second inva- 
sion of Egypt. 

569. Madness of 
Nebuchadnezzar ? 

evil-merodach. 

559. Neriglissar. 



NEKO(or Pharaoh- 
necho) marches 
against Babylo- 
nia. Takes Car- 
chemish. Deposes 
Jehoahaz. De- 
feated by Neb- 
uchadnezzar at 
Carchemish. 



593. Psammeti- 
chus IL 

Pharaoh - hophr a 
(Apries) takes 
Gaza, but retreats 
before Nebuchad- 
nezzar. 



Apries defeated by 
Nebuchadnezzar. 



569. Amasis. 



OTHER NATIONS. 



Media and Lydia. 

War of Cyaxares 
and Alyattes : 
ended by the me- 
diation of Nabo- 
polassar. 

Eclipse of Thales: 
probably in B.C. 
610. 



Cyaxares aids Neb- 
uchadnezzar. 



594. Solon, legislator 
at Athens. 

593. Astyages, 
king of Media. 



The "Seven Wise 
Men" flourish in 
Greece. 



Epoch of the settle- 
ment of the Hel- 
lenic states. 



568. Croesus, king 
of Lydia. 

560. Epoch of the 
Greek tyrants. 

Pisistratus at 
Athens. 



779 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table V. — Later Kingdom of Judah— continued. 



B.C. 


JUDAH. 


YRS 


BABYLON. 


EGYPT. 


OTHER NATIONS. 


556 
555 
554 

539 
538 
536 




Laborosoarchod. 
Nabonedus. 


Alliance of Babylon. 


558. Cyrus deposes 
Astyages. 

Egypt and Lydia. 

554. Cyrus conquers 
Lydia. 

Cyrus defeats Na- 
bonedus. 






[Daniel's dream of 
the four beasts.] 

[Daniel's vision, at 
Shushan, of the 
ram and he- 
goat.] 

[Prophecy of the 70 
weeks.] 

Return of the Jews. 


[539. Associates Bel- 
shazzar.] 

Surrenders to Cy- 
rus. 

Babylon taken, and 
Belshazzar slain. 

538. Darius, the 
Median (proba- 
bly Astyages). 

Daniel governor. 

Cyrus alone. 





Table VI— The Eestored Commonwealth. 



536 

535 
534 
529 



525 
522 



521 
520 
515 



486 



474 
465 



Return of the first car- 
avan under Zerub- 
babel and Jeshua. 

Rebuilding of the 
temple. 

Opposition of Samar- 
itans. 

Letter to the Persian 
king from the ad- 
versaries. 



The building stopped 
by a royal decree. 

Haggai and Zechariah. 
Building resumed. 
Temple dedicated. 



PERSIA AND EGYPT. 



1st year of Cyrus. 
Edict for the return 
of the Jews. 



Daniel 10-12. 

Cambyses (the Aha- 
suerus of Ezra 4 : 6. 
Artaxerxes in Ez- 
ra 4 : 7). 

Conquest of Egypt. 

The Pseudo-Smer- 
dis (the Magian 
Gomates). 

Darius I., son of 
Hystaspes, con- 
firms the edict of 
Cyrus. 

Attacks India and 
European Scythia. 

499. Ionian revolt. 



Xerxes (the Aha- 
suerus of Esther). 



Esther and Mordecai. 
Artaxerxes I. 
Longimanus. 



Thespis first exhib- 
its tragedy. 



527. Death of Pisis- 
tratus. 



Death of Polycrate 
of Samos. 



514. Hipparchus 
slain. 

510. Hippias ex- 
pelled. 

Republic of Athens. 



490. Marathon. 

480. Salamis. 

479. Platsea and 

Mycale. 
476. Cimon. 

466. Battles of the 
Eurymedon. 



Tarquinius Su- 
perbus. 



510. Kings ex- 
pelled. Republic 
of Rome. 

495. Patricians op- 
press Plebeians. 

494. Secession to 
the Sacred Mt. 

Tribunes and 
^Ediles of Plebs. 

Wars with Italians. 



780 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table VI.— The Restored Commonwealth— continued. 



B.C. 


JUDEA. 


PERSIA AND EGYPT. 


GREECE. 


ROME. 






460. Revolt of Ina- 


460. Athenians in 








ros in Egypt. 


Egypt. 




458 


Commission of Ezra. 








457 


Great reformation. 












454. Egypt con- 


454. Pericles. 


454. Patricians 






quered. 




yield to Plebs. 










451. Laws of the 










XII. Tables. 










449. Decemvirs de- 










posed. 










445. Tribuni Mili- 


444 


Commission of Nehe- 




444. Herodotus. 


tum. 




miah. 








to 


The walls rebuilt. 










Reading of the law. 








433 


Opposition of Sanbal- 










lat. 




431. Peloponnesian 




428 


Second commission of 




war. 




or 423 


Nehemiah 


425. Xerxes II. 




426. "War with Veii. 






Sogdiantjs. 






424 




Darius II.: Nothus. 










405. Artaxerxes 










II.: Mnemon. 


404. End of ditto. 








401. Expedition of 






400 


Malachi. 


Cyrus the younger. 


400. Xenophon. Re- 




about 


0. T. Canon fixed. 


treat of the Ten 








Thousand. 










399. Death of Soc- 










rates. 


396. Camillus takes 










Veii. 










390. Gauls take 










Rome. 



781 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table VII— Connection between the Old and New Testaments. 

[S signifies a sabbatic year.] 



PERSIA AND EGYPT. 



GREECE, MACEDO- 
NIA AND SYRIA. 



444 

to 
433 
428 
or423 

405 

401 

400 



S359 



323 
320 

312 

285 

283 

280 

264 
S261 

S247 

246 
S226 

223 

222 

S219 

217 



J 205 
197 



Commission of Ne- 

hemiah. 
The walls rebuilt. 
Second commission 

of Neheniiah.. 



Malachi, prophet. 
O. T. Canon fixed. 



Ptolemy takes Je- 
rusalem. 

[Era of the Seleu- 
cidse.] 



Version of the Sep- 
tuagint. 



Simon II. H. P. 



Antiochus over- 
runs Palestine. 

Ptolemy recovers 
Palestine, pro- 
fanes the temple, 
but is driven out 
supernaturally. 

The Jews submit 
to Antiochus the 
Great. 

Palestine and Ccele- 
Syria conquered 
by Antiochus, and 
confirmed to him 
by the peace with 
Rome. 



.'22 



425. Xerxes II. 
424. Darius II. 1 

Nothus. 
Artaxerxes II. 1 

(Mnemon). 
Expedition of Cy- 5 

rus the Younger. 



Artaxerxes dies. .47 



Darius III. (Cod- 1 
omanus). 

Murder of Darius.. 

Death of Alexander 
Ptolemy I. Soter, 



2. Ptolemy II. 
Philadelphus 
(with his father). 

Ptolemy II. alone.. 



The historian Ma- 

netho, fl. 
3. Ptolemy III. 

Euergetes. 
War with Syria. 



4. Ptolemy IV. 
Philopator. 



Victory over Anti- 
ochus. 

Persecutes the Jews 
of Alexandria. 

5. Ptolemy V. Ep- 
iphanes (5 years 
old). 



444. Herodotus 

431 to 404. Pelopon- 
nesian war. 

Xenophon 

Retreat of the 
10,000. 

Death of Socrates .. 

Demosthenes born... 

Accession of Phil- 
ip II., king of 
Macedonia. 

Murder of Philip... 

Alexander the 1 
Great. 

Demosthenes de 7 
Corona? 

at Babylon 14 

Contests of the Di- 
adochi. 

1. Seleucus I. Ni- 
cator. 

2. Antiochus I. 
Soter. 

3. Antiochus II. 
Theos. 

Berosus, historian 
of Babylon, fl. 

4. Seleucus II. 

5. Seleucus III. 
Ceraunus. 

6. Antiochus III. 
the Great. 

Quells revolt in 

Media. 
Makes war in 

Egypt. 
Defeat at Raphia... 

The Jews incline 
toward Syria. 

Renews the war 
against Egypt. 



War with Veii. 



Appius Claudius 442 

censor. 
[Greece. iEtolian 

and Achaean 

Leagues.] 
Gauls and Etrus- 471 

cans defeated. 
War with Pyrrhus. 474 



First Punic war. 
[Greece. Growth of 
Achaean League.] 
Hamilcar Barca. 



Second Punic war. 



Battle of Trasi- 
mene. 



War with Philip V. 
ended by the bat- 
tle of Cynosce- 
phalae. 



782 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table VII— Connection between the Old and New Testa- 
ments — cottiinued. 



S191 



181 



175 
166 
Dec. 
138 
137 
64 



54 
52 

S51 

47 
46 

S44 

43 

42 



Onias III. deposed. 

1. Judas Macca- 
beus. 

Rededication of the 
temple. 

Prosperity of Ju- 
dea. 

Recognized by 
Rome. 

Arbitration of 
Pompey. 

He takes Jerusa- 
lem on the Day of 
Atonement (Sept. 
22) and enters the 
holy of holies. 

Judea subject to 
Home from this 
time. 



Crassus at Jerusa- 
lem ; plunders the 
temple. 

Cassius enslaves 
30,000 Jews, the 
partisans of Aris- 
tobulus. 



Immunities grant- 
ed to the Jews. 

Appoints his sons, 
Phasael and Her- 
od, captains of 
Judea and Gal- 
ilee. 

Decree of Caesar for 
refortifying Jeru- 
salem. 

Cassius plunders 
Jerusalem. 

Herod visits Jeru- 
salem. 



Herod defeats An- 
tigonus and en- 
ters Jerusalem in 
triumph. 



Ptolemy marries 
Cleopatra, the 
daughter of Anti- 
ochus. 

6. Ptolemy VI. 
Philometor (a mi- 
nor), under his 
mother and tu- 
tors. 



Ptolemy Auletes 
expelled by his 
subjects. 



Cleopatra, with 
Ptolemy XII. and 
Ptolemy XIII. 



Antony in Asia. 
Meets Cleopatra at 

Tarsus and goes 

to Egypt. 



Defeated at Ther- 
mopylae. 



Demetrius sent to 
Rome. 



8. Antiochus IV. 
Epiphanes. 

Antiochus in Baby- 
lonia. Dies (164). 

Battle of Bethsura. 

Demetrius prisoner 
to the Parthians. 

13. Antiochus VII. 
Sidetes. 

Pompey at Damas- 
cus. 

Receives Jewish 

ambassadors. 
Roman governors 

of Syria. 
61. L. Marcius Phil- 

ippus, proprcetor. 



Crassus, proconsul... 



Bibnlus, proconsul... 



Julius 
Caesar in Syria. 

Q. Ceecilius Bassus, 
prcetor. 



C. Cassius Longi- 
nus, proconsul, ar- 
rives in Syria. 

[Note. All the sub- 
sequent govern- 
ors are legatiJ] 



War with Antio- 
chus. 



War in Spain. 



Terence exhibits 
the Andria. 



Numantine war. 



Pompey returns to 
Syria. 

Cicero consul. 

Conspiracy of Cat- 
iline. 

Birth of Augustus. 

61. Triumph of 
Pompey. 

60. Caesar in Spain. 

First Triumvirate. 

Caesar consul. 

Caesar in Gaul. 

Cicero banished. 

Caesar in Britain, 
the second time. 

Clodius slain by 
Milo. 



Caesar finishes the 
conquest of Gaul. 

War with Phar- 
naces. 

Caesar dictator. 

African war. 

The Calendar re- 
formed. 

Death of Caesar. 



War of Mutina. 

Second Triumvirate. 



Battles of Philippi. 



783 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table VII. 



-Connection between the Old and New Testa- 
ments — continued. 



EGYPT, ARABIA, 
ETC. 



S 37 



31 

S 30 

27 



Herod marches 
against Jerusa- 
lem in the spring. 

Marries Mariamne. 

Is joined by Sosius, 
and takes Jerusa- 
lem on the Day of 
Atonement (Oct. 
5), and on a Sab- 
bath. 

Death of Antigo- 
nus. 

End of the Asmo- 
noean line. 

Herod the 
Great 1 

His actual reign 
dates by consular 
years from Jan. 1, 
or by Jewish sa- 
cred years from 
the 1st of Nisan. 

Herod 7 

Dreadful earth- 
quake in Judea. 

Herod 8 

Herod 11 

Herod 20 

Rebuilding of the 
temple (the va6<; 
or holy place) 
begun about Pass- 
over. 

The outer temple 
(lepov) finished. 

Herod 30 



Herod 31 

In disgrace with 
Augustus about 
the Arabian war ; 
henceforth to 
rank as a subject. 



Herod writes to 
Augustus. 

Falls ill and alters 
his will, making 
Herod Antipas 
his successor. 



Antony in Italy. 

Returns by way of 
Greece, parting 
from Octavia at 
Corcyra. 



Flight of Cleopatra 
and Antony from 
Actium to Egypt. 

Egypt reduced to a 
Roman province. 

Egypt is among the 
imperial prov- 
inces. 



Herod razes 
the Trachonite 
stronghold and 
makes war on the 
Arabians. 

Aretas succeeds 
Obodas as king of 
Arabia Petrsea. 



Antony at Antioch 
at the close of the 
year, where he 
condemns Antig- 
onus to death by 
scourging and be- 
heading. 



L. Calpurnius 
Bibulus, legatus. 

Q. Didius, legatus. 

Syria an imperial 
province, gov- 
erned by a pre- 
fect, as legatus 
Chesaris. 



Census of Palestine, 
under Saturni- 
nus, perhaps con- 
nected with the 
threat of Augus- 
tus to treat Herod 
as a subject. 

The census was 
ordered in this 

^year and carried 

" out in the next. 



Renewal of the tri- 
umvirate for five 
years. 



Battle of Actium 
(Sept. 2). 

Death of Antony 
and Cleopatra. 

The name of Au- 
gustus conferred 
on Octavian, with 
supreme power 
for ten years. 

Supreme power re- 
newed to Augus- 
tus for five years ; 
and tribunitian 
power to Agrippa 
for five years. 



Augustus receives 
the supreme pow- 
er for ten years 
more. 

Census of Roman 
citizens. 

Tiberius goes to 
Germany. 

Augustus at Rome. 

Preparations for 
absorbing Judea 
into the empire. 



5 end, or 4 beginning, NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST, 
according to Sulpicius and most modern authorities. 



784 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table VII. — Connection between the Old and New Testa- 
ments — continued. 



B.C. 


JUDEA. 


EGYPT, ARABIA, 
ETC. 


SYRIA. 


ROME. 


A.U.C. 


4 

Apr. 
1 


Herod 34 




The census, still in 
progress (if begun 
in b.c. 6), was 
probably one 
cause of the dis- 
turbance at Jeru- 
salem. 




750 


Goes to Jericho. 

Pulling down of 
the eagle, the 
symbol of Bonian 
power. 

Herod dies at 
Jericho, five days 
after the execution 
of Antipater, in his 
70th year. 







50 

1 



785 



CHBONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



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786 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



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787 



CHEONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



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788 



CHKONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



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789 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



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CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. {From Andrews.) 



Annunciation to Zacharias October, 6 B.C. 

Annunciation to Mary April, 5 " 

Mary visits Elisabeth, and remains three months April-June, 5 '• 

Birth of John the Baptist June, 5 " 

Jesus born at Bethlehem December, 5 " 

The angel and the shepherds " 5 " 

Presentation of Jesus , February, 4 " 

Coming of the Magi " 4 " 

Flight of Jesus into Egypt " 4 " 

Beturn to Nazareth, and sojourn there May, 4 " 

Jesus, at twelve years of age, attends the passover April, 8 a.d. 

John the Baptist begins his labors Summer, 26 " 

Baptism of Jesus January, ' 27 " 

Jesus tempted in the wilderness Jan.-Feb., 27 " 

Deputation of priests and Levites to the Baptist February, 27 " 

Jesus returns to Galilee " 27 " 

Wedding at Cana of Galilee " 27 " 

First passover of Jesus' ministry ; cleansing of temple April, 27 " 

Jesus begins to baptize (by his disciples) May, 27 " 

Jesus departs into Galilee, through Samaria December, 27 " 

A few weeks spent, by Jesus in retirement Jan.-April, 28 " 

The Baptist imprisoned March, 28 " 

Second passover ; healing of impotent man April, 28 " 

Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee April-May, 28 " 

Calling of the four disciples, and healing at Capernaum " 28 " 

First circuit in Galilee ; healing of the leper May, 28 " 

Return to Capernaum, and healing of the paralytic Summer, 28 " 

Plucking the corn, and healing the man with withered hand " 28 " 

Choice of apostles, and Sermon on the Mount " 28 " 

Healing of centurion's servant at Capernaum " 28 " 

Journey to Nain, and raising of the widow's son " 28 " 

Message to Jesus of the Baptist " 28 " 

Jesus anointed by the woman, a sinner Autumn, 28 " 

Healing at Capernaum of the blind and dumb possessed; charge of 

the Pharisees that he casts out devils by Beelzebub " 28 " 

Teaching in parables, and stilling of the tempest " 28 " 

Healing of demoniacs in Gergesa, and return to Capernaum " 28 " 

Matthew's feast; healing of woman with issue of blood, and raising 

of Jairus' daughter " 28 " 

Healing of two blind men, and a dumb possessed ; Pharisees blas- 
pheme " 28 " 

Second visit to Nazareth ; sending of the twelve Winter, 29 " 

Death of the Baptist ; Jesus returns to Capernaum " 29 " 

Crossing of the sea, and feeding of the 5000; return to Capernaum... Spring, 29 " 

Discourse at Capernaum respecting the bread of life April, 29 " 

Jesus visits the coasts of Tyre and Sidon ; heals the daughter of the 
Syro-Phoenician woman ; visits the region of Decapolis ; heals 

one with an impediment in his speech ; feeds the 4000 Summer, 29 " 

Jesus returns to Capernaum ; is tempted by the Pharisees ; reproves 
their hypocrisy; again crosses the sea; heals blind man at Beth- 

saida..." " 29 " 

Peter's confession that he is the Christ ; the transfiguration " 29 " 

Healing of lunatic child " 29 u 

Jesus journeys through Galilee, teaching the disciples ; at Capernaum 

pays the tribute money ; goes up to the feast of tabernacles Autumn, 29 " 

He teaches in the temple ; efforts to arrest him October, 29 " 

An adulteress is brought before him; attempt to stone him; healing 

of a man blind from birth; return to Galilee " 29 " 

Final departure from Galilee ; is rejected at Samaria; sending of the 

seventy November, 29 " 

Jesus is attended by great multitudes ; parable of the good Samaritan, " 29 " 
Jesus is told of the murder of the Galileans by Pilate; parable of the 

fig tree ; healing of a woman eighteen years sick Nov.-Dec, 29 " 

Healing of a dumb possessed man ; renewed blasphemy of the Phari- 
sees ; dining with a Pharisee, Jesus rebukes hypocrisy ; parable 

of the rich fool Nov.-Dec., 29 " 



802 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Feast of dedication ; visit to Mary and Martha ; the Jews at Jerusalem 

attempt to stone him ; he goes beyond Jordan December, 29 a.d. 

Jesus diues with a Pharisee, and heals a man with dropsy ; parables 
of the great supper, of the lost sheep, of the lost piece of silver, 
of the unjust steward, of the rich man and Lazarus " 29 " 

Resurrection of Lazarus ; counsel of the Jews to put Jesus to death ; 

he retires to Ephraim Jan.-Feb., 30 " 

Sojourn in Ephraim till passover at hand ; journeys on the border of 
Samaria and Galilee ; healing of ten lepers ; parables of the un- 
just judge, and of Pharisee and publican ; teaching respecting 
divorce ; blessing of children ; the young ruler, and parable of 
laborers in the vineyard Feb.-March, 30 " 

Jesus again announces his death ; ambition of James and John March, 30 " 

Healing of blind men at Jericho ; Zaccheus ; parable of the pounds ; 

departure to Bethany " 30 " 

Supper at Bethany, and anointing of Jesus by Mary j Sa ^p r r ^f J { 30 « 

Entry into Jerusalem ; visit to the temple, and return to Bethany j ^^^'2 30 « 

Cursing the fig tree ; second purification of the temple ; return to J Monday, 

Bethany \ April 3, 30 " 

Teaching in the temple ; parables of the two sons, of the wicked hus-] 
bandmen, of the king's son ; attempts of his enemies to entangle 
him ; the poor widow ; the Greeks who desire to see him ; a voice ! Tuesday, 
heard from heaven ; departure from the temple to the Mount of | April 4, 30 " 
Olives ; discourse respecting the end of the world ; return to 
Bethany ; agreement of Judas with the priests to betray him J 

Jesus seeks retirement at Bethany j ^prU 5^' 30 « 

Sending of Peter and John to prepare the passover ; the paschal f Thursday, 

supper j April 6, 30 " 

Events at paschal supper j ^^p^g e *' 30 « 

After supper Jesus foretells the denials of Peter ; speaks of the com- f Thurs. eve., 

ing of the Comforter, and ends with prayer 1 April 6, 30 " 

Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane j Th ^[iQ e "' so " 

Jesus is given into the hands of Judas j T n^'lpl ^ 30 " 

Jesus is led to the house of Annas, and thence to the palace of Caia- f Fri., 1-5 a.m., 

phas ; is condemned for blasphemy \ April 7, 30 " 

Mockeries of his enemies; he is brought the second time before the j Fri., 5-6 a.m., 

council, and thence taken before Pilate ( April 7, 30 " 

Charge of sedition ; Pilate attempts to release him, but is forced to j Fri., 6-9 a.m., 

scourge him, and give him up to be crucified { April 7, 30 " 

Jesus is crucified at Golgotha j A ' M ' 30 <t 

Upon the cross is reviled by his enemies; commends his mother to (Fri., 12 M.- 
John ; darkness covers the land ; he dies ; the earth shakes, and^ 3 p.m., 
rocks are rent April 7, 30 " 

His body taken down and given to Joseph, and laid in his sepulchre., j F April* 7 P M '30 " 

Resurrection of Jesus, and appearance to Mary Magdalene j ^ U Xpril'9 A ' M 30 " 

Appearance to the two disciples at Emmaus ; to Peter and to the f Sunday, p.m., 

eleven at Jerusalem \ April 9, 30 " 

Appearance to the apostles and Thomas {^Apnl'ie 30 " 

Appearance to seven disciples at Sea of Tiberias, and to five hundred f . , T 

at mountain in Galilee. { April-May, o0 

Final appearance to the disciples at Jerusalem, and ascension to J Thursday, 

heaven j May 18, 30 " 



803 



HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 



EVENTS. 


LOCALITY. 


MATT. 


The Divinity op Christ 






Preface 






Annunciation of the birth of John 
the Baptist 


Jerusalem 




The Annunciation of the birth of 




1:18 


The visitation of Mary to Elisabeth. 
Her return to Nazareth 


Hebron, or 
Juttah 








1 : 20-25 


Birth and infancy of John Baptist. 
Birth of Jesus 


Hebron 

Bethlehem 


Adoration by shepherds 


<t 




1 :25 



Presentation and purification... 

j Genealogies 

3 | Adoration by the wise men 

A.D.! Flight into Egypt 

j Massacre of the Innocents 

1 j Return to Nazareth 

Childhood of Jesus 

7 With the doctors in the temple. 
7-26 Youth of Jesus 



Jerusalem. 



27 



27 



Mission of John the Baptist. 

Ministry of John Baptist 

Baptisms by " " 

Witness to Christ by " 

Baptism of Jesus by " 

Temptation of Jesus 



Bethlehem . 

Egypt... 

Bethlehem . 
Nazareth.... 



Jerusalem . 
Nazareth... 



John Baptist's second testimony. 
Call of first disciples (five;.... 



Christ's Jfirst glpneHnmcc. 



First miracle, at Can a 

Visit to Capernaum 

First Passover; first cleansing of 

temple 

Discourse with Nicodemus 

The Baptist's last testimony 

Christ's visit to Samaria 

" return to Cana 

" healing of nobleman's son. 

First Public Preaching. 

Imprisonment of John Baptist 

Christ's preaching in Galilee : 

" at Nazareth 

" " at Capernaum.. 

Call of Andrew, Peter, James and 

John 

Miracles: Casting out a devil 

Healing Peter's mother-in-law. 
Healing many sick and diseased. 

First General Circuit. 

Preparatory Prayer 

Circuit through Galilee 



Bethabara. 



Wilderness of 

Judea 

Bethabara. 



Cana 

Capernaum. 



Jerusalem. 



iEnon.. 
Sychar. 
Cana.... 



Machserus. 



Nazareth 

Capernaum. 



1 : 17 
2: 1-12 
2 : 13-15 
2: 16-18 
2 : 19-23 



3: 1-4 

3:5 

3: 11, 12 
3 : 13-17 

4: 1-11 



4: 12 

4*:' 13 " 

4 : 18-22 



1 4 : 23-25 



1 : 1-8 



LUKE. I JOHN. 



5 

7,8 



1 : 12, 13 



1: 14 
6:1 



1:16 
1:23 
1:29 
1:32 



1:35 
1:39 



1 : 1-4 



1 : 5-25 
1 : 27 



39-55 
56 



1 : 57-80 
2:1-7 
2 : 8-16 
2 : 21 
2 : 22-29 
3:23 " 



2:39 
2:40 
2 : 46-50 
2:51 



3:1-6 
3:7 

3 : 15-18 
3: 21,22 

4:1-13 



4 : 15-30 
4:31 



4:33 
4:38 
4:40 



4:42 
4:44 



805 



Haemony of the Gospels — continued. 



28 



28 



Sermon on the Mount 

Sermon in the boat; miraculous 
draught of fish 

Healing of a leper 

Retirement for prayer 

Healing of palsied man 

Call of Matthew (Levi), supper and 
discourse 

gtcoitb gear's gtUnistrg. 

Second Passover 

Miracle at Bethesda, and discourse 

on it 

The Sabbath ; plucking corn 

The miracle of the withered hand. 

Opposition of Herodians 

Retirement for prayer 

Ordination of twelve apostles 

Sermon in the Plain (of Gen- 

nesaret) 

Healing centurion's servant 

" son of widow of Nain 

Message from John Baptist; 

Christ's testimony 

Warning to Chorazin, etc 

Mary Magdalene = 

Second General Circuit. 

Through Galilee 

Healing of a demoniac 

Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. 

The unclean spirit 

The interruption of his relatives- 
Parables : The sower 

The tares 

The mustard seed 

The leaven 

The candle 

The treasure 

The pearl 

The net 

Christ calms the storm 

" suffers devils to enter the 

swine 

Parables : Bridegroom 

New cloth and new wine. 

Miracles: Issue of blood 

Jairus' daughter 

Two blind men 

Dumb spirit 

Third General Circuit. 

Mission of the twelve apostles 

Death of John Baptist 

Feeding five thousand 

Walking on the water 

Discourse on the plain and in the 
synagogue 

Sliirb fear's Pmtstrg. 

Discourse on pollution 

Syrophcenician woman 



locality. 



Hill above Gen- 
nesaret 

Gennesaret 

Capernaum 

Jerusalem....... 

Galilee 

Capernaum 

near " 

Nain 

Capernaum 

Capernaum (?).. 

Galilee 

Capernaum 

Plain of Gen- 
nesaret 



Sea of Gennes- 
aret 

Gadara 

Capernaum 

Gennesaret 

Capernaum 

u 

Machserus 

Bethsaida 

Lake 

Capernaum 

Capernaum 

Phoenicia 



5-7 : 27 

8*:' 2-4" 
9 "2 



12: 1 
12 : 10 
12 : 14 

l6":'2-4 



11:2-7 
11:20-28 



12:22 
12:24 
12:43 
12:46 
13 : 1-9, 
18-23 
13:24 
13 : 31 
13:33 

13: 4-f" 

13:45 

13:47 

8:24 

8:28 
9: 15 
9:1G, 17 

I 9 : 18 

9:27 
9:32 



10:1 
14: 1 
14: 13 
14 : 25 

14:34 



15 : 1-20 
15:21 



1:40 
1:45 
2:1 

2 : 13-18 



2:23 

3:1 

3:6 

3:13 

3:14 



3: 19 

3:22 

3:31 
4 : 1, 14- 
20 

4:30 
4:21 



4:37 
5:1 



6 : 6-11 
6: 14 
6:30 
6:48 



7 : 1-23 
7:24 



5:1 
5: 12 
5: 16 
5: 17 



6:1 

6:6 

6:11 

6:12 

6:13 

6 : 17^9 

7:1 

7:11 

7 : 17-24 

7:36 



8:1-3 



: 4, ll- 
lo 



8:16 



8:23 
8:27 



9:1-3 

9:7 

9:12 



5:1 
5:2-47 



6:1 
6:19 



6 : 22-70 



806 



Harmony of the Gospels— continued. 



28 



Miracles : Healing of the deaf and 

dumb man 

Healing of many sick... 
Feeding four thousand.. 

Parable of leaven 

Healing blind man 

Peter's confession of Christ's di- 
vinity 

Transfiguration 

Healing demoniac child 

Predictions of his passion 

The stater in the fish's mouth 

Lesson on docility 

" forgiveness 

" self-denial 

Parable of the unmerciful servant. 
The Feast of Tabernacles 

Discourses 

Officers sent to arrest him 

The adulteress 

Discourses 

Threatened with stoning 

Healing of blind man, and dis- 
courses 

Christ the Door 

" Good Shepherd 

Feast of Dedication 

Christ's oneness with the Father... 

" retreat across the Jordan.. 

" raising of Lazarus 

" retreat to Ephraim 

* " repulse by the Samar- 

itans 

* Mission of the seventy 

* Parable of the good Samaritan.... 

* Visit to Martha and Mary 

* The Lord's Prayer 

Parable of the importunity of a 

friend 

The dumb spirit 

The rich fool 

God's providence to birds and 

flowers 

The barren fig tree 

The woman with an infirmity 

* The mustard seed 

* Healing the man with dropsy 

* Lesson on humility 

Parables : The great supper 

The lost sheep and piece 

of silver 

The prodigal son 

The unjust steward 

The Dives and Lazarus. 

* The ten lepers 

Parables: Importunate widow 

Pharisee and publican- 
Rich young man 

Laborers in the vine- 
yard 

Ten pounds 

* Healing blind Bartimseus 




* As an interval of nearly three months occurred between the Feasts of Tabernacles and Dedication, some 
place the events marked * in that interval, and vary their order, putting the "healing of the ten lepers " imme- 
diately after the " repulse by the Samaritans." 



807 



Harmony of the Gospels— continued. 



Pilate receives a message from his 
wife 

" washes his hands 

" releases Barabbas 

" delivers Jesus to be crucified. 
Simon of Cyrene carries the cross. 
They give him vinegar and gall.... 

Nail him to the cross 

The superscription 



The Seven Words. 



1. Father, forgive them 

His garments parted, and ves- 
ture allotted 

Passers-by rail, the two thieves 

revile 

The penitent thief. 

2. To-day shalt thou be with me in 

Paradise 

3. Woman, behold thy son, etc 

The darkness 

4. My God, my God, why hast thou 

forsaken me? 

5. I thirst 

The vinegar 

6. It is finished 

7. Father, into thy hands I commend 

my spirit 

Rending of the veil 

Opening of graves, and resurrec- 
tion of saints 

Testimony of centurion 

Watching of the women 

Piercing his side 

Taking down from the cross and 
burial by Joseph of Arimathsea 
and Nicodemus 

A guard placed at the door, which 
was sealed 



The Great Forty Days. 



Women carry spices to the tomb... 

An angel had rolled away the 
stone 

Women announce the resurrec- 
tion ! Jerusalem. 



LOCALITY. 



Jerusalem. 



Golgotha. 



Golgotha. 



Jerusalem. 
Golgotha... 



The Garden. 



The Garden. 



Peter and John run to the tomb 

The women return to the tomb 

The guards report it to the chief 
priests 



Appearances of Christ after 
his Resurrection. 



1. To Mary Magdalene 

" All hail! Fear not. Touch me 

not." 

2. To the women returning home.. 
" Go, tell my brethren that they go 

into Galilee ; there shall they see 
me." 

3. To two disciples going to Em- 

maus 

(Exposition of prophecies on the 
Passion.) 

4. To Peter. 1 Cor. 15 : 5 



The Garden . 



The Garden. 



Emmaus ... 
Jerusalem . 



27:19 
27:24 
27:26 

27: 32*' 
27:34 
27:35 
27:37 



27 : 35 
27:39-44 



27:45 
27:46 
27:48 



27:52 
27 : 54 
27 : 55 



27 : 57-60 
27:65,66 



Jerusalem 28 



11-15 



15 : 15 
15:21 
15:23 



15 : 24 
15:29-; 



15 : 33 
15 : 34 
15:'3(i" 



15 : 39 
15 : 40 



16:9, 10 



23:25 
23:26 
23:36 
23:38 
23 : 33 



23:34 
23:23-34 



23 : 35 
23:40 



23:43 
23 : 44" 



23:46 
23:45 



23:47 
23:49 



23:53 



24: 12 
24:1 



24:13 
24:34 



Harmony of the Gospels— continued. 



29 



EVENTS. 

The Last Passover. 

The supper in Simon's house 

Mary anoints Jesus 

Triumphal entry into the temple.. 

Retirement to Bethany 

Cursing the fig tree 

Cleansing the temple 

Retirement to Bethany 

The withered fig tree and its les- 
son 

Discourses in the temple: 

The father and two sons 

The wicked husbandmen 

The wedding garment 

Tribute money 

The Sadducees and resurrection. 

The great commandment 

The widow's mite 

The eight woes 

Destruction of Jerusalem and 

of the world 

Parables: Ten virgins 

Talents 

Sheep and goats 

Warning of the betrayal 

The counsel of the Sanhcdrin 

Judas' betrayal 

Preparation of the Passover 

Washing the apostles' feet 

The breaking of bread 

"One of you shall betray me" 

"Is it I?" 

The giving of the sop. " That thou 

doest, do quickly " 

Departure of Judas 

Peter warned 

The blessing the cup 

The discourses after the supper.... 

Christ's prayer for his apostles 

The hymn 

The agony 

His prayer (repeated thrice) 

His sweat, and the angel's comfort. 

The sleep of the apostles 

Betrayal by Judas 

Peter smites Malchus 

Christ heals the ear of Malchus.... 

" forsaken by his disciples 

" led to Annas 

" tried by Caiaphas 

Peter follows Christ 

The high priest's adjuration 

Christ condemned, buffeted, 

mocked 

Peter's denial of Christ 

Christ before Pilate 

Repentance of Judas 

Pilate comes out to the people 

" speaks to Jesus privately.... 

" orders him to be scourged ... 
Jesus crowned with thorns 

" exhibited by Pilate : " Ecce 
Homo !" 

" accused formally 

" sent by Pilate to Herod, 
mocked, arrayed in purple. 

"Behold your King !" 

Pilate desires to release him 



Bethany. 



Jerusalem 

Bethany 

Mt, of Olives. 

Jerusalem 

Bethany 



Mt. of Olives. 
Jerusalem 



Mt, of Olives... 



Bethany ... 
Jerusalem . 



Gethsemane.... 



Jerusalem . 



MATT. 


MARK. 


26 


6-13 


14 


3-9 


26 


7 


14 


.3 


21 


1-17 


11 


1-11 


21 


17 


11 


11 


21 


18 


11 


12 


21 


12 


11 


15 






11 


19 






n 


20 


21 


28 






21 


33 


12 


1 


22 


1 






22 


15 


12 


13 


22 


23 


12 


18 • 


22 


34 


12 


28 






12 


41 


23 








24 


1 


13 


1 


25 


1 






25 


14 






25 


31 






26 


1 






26 


3 


14 


1 


26 


14 


14 


10 


26 


17 


14 


12 


26 


26 


14 


'22" 


26:22-25 


14 


19 






26 


34 


14 


30 


26 


28 


14 


24 






26 


30 


14 


26 


26 


37 


14 


33 


26:39-44 


14:36-39 


26:40-45 


14:37-41 


26 


47-50 


14:43,44 


26 


51 


14 


47 


26 


56 


14 


50 


26 


57 


14 


53 


26 


58 


14 


54 


26 


63 


14 


61 


26 


66,67 


14 


64,65 
66 


26 


69 


14 


27 


1 


15 


1 


27 


3 










27 


26 


15 


15 


27 


29 


15 


17 


27 


11 


15 


2 






27 


15 


15 


6 



19 : 29-41 



20: 



20: 20 
20:27 



21 1 



22 : 1 
22:3 
22:7 

22:19" 
22:21 



22 : 34 



22: 39 
22:42 
22:43,44 

22 : 47 
22 : 50 
22:51 



22:54 
22:55 



22:63-65 
22 : 55-59 
23:1 



23:2 
23:6-11 
23 : 17 



18: 


17-27 


18 


28 


18 


28 


18 


33 


19 


1 


19 


2 


19 


5 



Harmony of the Gospels— continued. 


A.D. 

29 


EVENTS. 


LOCALITY. 


MATT. 


MARK. 


LUKE. 


JOHN. 


5. To ten apostles in the upper 


Jerusalen 
Jerusalem 

Tiberias 


l 






24 : 36 


20 : 19 
20:36 

21 : 1-24 


"Peace be unto you. As my Father 
hath sent me, even so send I you." 

"Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose 
soever sins ye remit" etc. 
6. To the eleven apostles in the 






16: 14 


"Peace be unto you" 
To Thomas. 

"Reach hither thy finger" etc. 
"Blessed are they that have not 
seen, and yet have believed." 
7. To seven apostles at the Sea of 








To Peter. 

"Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs." 

8. To eleven apostles on a mount- 

ain in Galilee. 1 Cor. 15 : 5 

"All power is given unto me in 
heaven and in earth." 

" Go ye and leach all nations, bap- 
tizing them," etc. 

"Lo, I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world. Amen." 

9. To five hundred brethren at 

once. 1 Cor. 15 : 6 

10. To James. 1 Cor. 15 : 7 

11. Ascension. " " 

12. To Paul. 1 Cor. 15 : 8 


Galilee 

Galilee, or 
Bethany. 

Bethany 

Damascus (?) 


28:16 


16: 19 


24:50,51 


STATISTICS OF THE BIBLE. 




OLD TESTAMENT. 


NEW TESTAMENT. 


WHOLE BIBLE. 


Number of chapters 

Number of letters 

Middle book 

Middle chapter 


39 
929 

23,214 
592,439 
2,728,100 
Proverbs. 
Job 29. 

2 Chronicles 20 : 17. 

Obadiah. 

1 Chronicles 1 : 1. 


27 
260 

7,959 
181,253 
838,380 

2 Thessalonians. 
Romans 13 and 14. 
Acts 17 : 17. 

3 John. 
John 11 : 35. 


66 
1,189 

31,173 
773,692 
3,566,480 
Micah and Nahum. 
Psalm 117* 
Psalm 118 : 8. 
3 John. 
John 11 : 35. 


These facts were ascertained by a gentleman in 1718; also by an English gentleman, at 
Amsterdam, in 1772; and the investigation is said to have taken each gentleman three 
years. 

The Bible has been translated into 226 different languages. 

The Old Testament was divided into chapters, as they now stand, by Cardinal Hugo, in 
the middle of the thirteenth century. These chapters were divided into verses, as we 
now have them, by Rabbi Nathan, and adopted by Robert Stephens, a French printer, in 
his edition of the Vulgate, in 1555, and transferred to the Authorized Version in 1611. 

The New Testament was divided into chapters by Hugo de St. Cher about 1240, and into 
verses by Robert Stephens, and first published by him in 1551, and thence were trans- 
ferred to the English version published in Geneva in 1560. 


* Shortest chapter. 



810 



CALENDAK OF THE JEWISH YEAE. 

Corrected by Rev. Mr. Schindler, Jewish Rabbi of Boston. 
The Jewish year being strictly lunar, and the day of the new moon common to the preceding and suc- 
ceeding month, the correspondences with our month vary in different years, according to the intercalation. 
Generally speaking, the months appended below to the Jewish are to be taken with ten days (or less) of the 
preceding mouth ; but sometimes the overrunning is the other way. For example, according to the present 
calendar of the Jews, the first of Nisan fell on March 21 in 1882, but on April 8 in 1883. 


Corresponding Dates for 
Two Years. 


Jewish Calendar. — Festivals. 
(In the Sacred Order of the Months.) 


Products. 


Weather. 


1882. 
Mar. 21, . . . 
Apr. 4-11, . . 
Apr. 19, . . . 


1883. 
Apr. 8, . . 
Apr. 22-29, . 
May 7, . . 


I. ABIB or NISAN. April. 
1. New Moon. 
15-22. Passover Days, 1-8. 
30. New Moon. 


Barley ripe. 
Fig in blos- 
som 


Occasional rain. 
Wind south. 


Apr. 20, . . . 

May 7 

May 18, . . . 


May 8, . . 
May 25, . . 
June 5, . . 


II. JAR (Yiah). May. 
1. New Moon. 
18. (Lag B'Omer). Feast. 
30. New Moon. 


Barley har- 
- vest. 


Very seldom any rain 
from May to Sep- 
tember. 

Wind south. 


May 19, ... 
May 24, 25, . . 
June 17, . . . 


June 6, . . 
June 11, 12, 
July 5, . . 


III. SIVAN. June. 
1. New Moon. 
6, 7. Pentecost. 
30. New Moon. 


Wheat har- 
vest. 


Frequent hot winds 
(simoons) ; other- 
wise air motionless. 


June 18, . . • 
July 4, . . . 


July 6, 
July 22, '. '. 


IV. THAMMUZ. July. 
1. New Moon. 

17. Taking of Jerusalem by Titus. Fast. 


Early vint- 
age. 


Greatest heat. 
Sky serene. 


July 17, . . . 
July 25, . . . 
Aug. 15, . . . 


Aug. 4, . . 
Aug. 12, . . 
Sept. 2, . . 


^ ^ V. AB. August. 

9 Destruction of the Temple. Fast. 
30. New Moon. 


Ripe figs. 


Dews begin to fall. 
Occasional clouds. 
Wind east. 


Aug. 16, . . . 


Sept. 3, . . 


VI. ELUL. September. 
1. New Moon. 


General 
vintage. 


Much lightning (no 
thunder), very rare- 
ly rain : wind N E. 


Sept. 14, 15, . . 
Sept 16, . . . 
Sept. 23, . . . 

Sept. 28-Oct. 5, 

Oct. 6, . . . . 
Oct. 13, . . . 


Oct. 2, 3, . 
Oct. 4, . . 
Oct. 11, . . 

Oct. 16-23, . 
Oct. 23, . . 
Oct. 24, . . 
Oct. 31, . . 


VII. TISRI. October. 

1, 2. New Year and New Moon. 

3. Death of Gedaliah Fast. 
10. Kipur. Day of Atonement. Fast. 
15-20. Feast of Tabernacles. 

22 End of Feast of Tabernacles. 
23. Feast of the Law. 
30. New Moon. 


Plowing and 
sowing. 

Later grapes. 


Dews heavy. 
Autumnal rains be- 
gin. 

Wind northeast. 

Rainy month. 
Thunder-storms. 


Oct. 14, . . . 


Nov. 1, . . 


VIII. CHESVAN (Marchesvan). November. 
1. New Moon. 


Snow. 


Rainy. 

From December to 
February the great- 
est amount of rain 
in the year. 


Nov. 12, . . . 
Dec. 16, . . . 


Nov. 30, . . 
Dec. 24, . . 


IX. CHISLEU. December. 
1. New Moon. 

25. Hanuca. Dedication of Temple. (8 days.) 


Dec. 11, . . . 
Dec. 20, . . . 


Dec. 30, . . 
Jan. 8(1884), 


X. THEBET. January. 
1. New Moon. 

10 Siege of Jerusalem. Fast. 


Grass aftei 
rain. 


Heavy rain. 
Thunder-storms 
Occasional snow. 


Jan. 9 (1883), . 


Jan. 28, . . 


XI. SEBAT. February. 
1. New Moon. 


Feb. 8, . . . 


Feb. 27, . . 
Mar. 10, . . 
Mar. 11, 22, 


XII. ADAR. March. 
1. New Moon. 

13. Fast of Esther. 

14, 15. Little Purim. 
30. New Moon. 


"Winter fig. 


Heavy rains, etc , as 

in January- 
Wind northwest to 

northeast. 


Mar. 22, . . . 
Mar. 23, 24, . . 




XII. VEADAR (intercalary). Latter part 

of March and beginning of April. 
1. New Moon. 
13. Feast of Esther. 

14, 15. Feast of Purim and Shusham Purim. 
Last Day of the Year. 


Almond blos- 
som. 


Rain. 

Hurricanes. 
Rivers swollen. 
Wind west 


Note.— The Jewish year contains 354 days, or 12 lunations of the moon; but in a cycle of 19 years an 
intercalary month (Veadar) is seven times introduced to render the average length of the year nearly correct. 



812 



JEWISH WEIGHTS, MEASURES, TIME AND MONEY. 



WEIGHTS. 



Avoirdupois. Troy. 

lbs. oz. drs. lbs. oz. dwt. grs. 

A gerah — — .439 = — — — 12 

10 gerahs = 1 bekah — — 4.39 = — — 5 

2 bekahs = 1 shekel — — 8.9 = — — 10 

60 shekels = 1 maneh 2 14.628 = 2 6 

50 inanehs = 1 talent 10.2 13 11.428 =12.5 



SHORTER MEASURES OF LENGTH. 

ft. in. 

A digit, or finger (Jer. 52 : 21) — 0.912 

4 digits = 1 palm (Ex. 25 : 25) — 3.648 

3 palms = 1 span (Ex. 28 : 16) — 10.944 

2 spans = 1 cubit (Gen. 6 : 15) 1 9.888 

4 cubits = 1 fathom (Acts 27 : 28) 7 3.552 

1.5 fathoms = 1 reed (Ezek. 40 : 3, 5) 10 11.328 

13.3 reeds = 1 line (Ezek. 40 : 3) 145 11.04 



LONGER MEASURES OF DISTANCE. 

Eng. miles, paces. ft. 

A cubit — — 1.824 

400 cubits = 1 furlong (Luke 24 : 13) — 145 4.6 

10 furlongs = 1 mile (Matt. 5 : 41) 1 403 1.0 

15 furlongs = 1 Sabbath-day's journey (John 11:18; Acts 

1:12) 2 132 4.0 

24 miles = 1 day's journey 33 172 4.0 



LIQUID MEASURE. 

gals. pts. 

A caph — 0.625 

1.3 caph = 1 log (Lev. 14 : 10) — 0.833 

4 logs = 1 cab — 3.333 

3 cabs = 1 hin (Ex. 30 : 24) 1 2 

2 hins = 1 seah 2 4 

3 seahs = 1 bath or ephah (1 Kings 7 : 26 ; John 2 : 6; 7 4.5 

10 ephahs = 1 kor or homer (Isa. 5 : 10 ; Ezek. 45 : 14) 75 5.25 



DRY MEASURE. 

pecks. gals. pts. 

A gachal — — 0.1416 

20 gachals = 1 cab (2 Kings 6 : 25 ; Rev. 6 : 6) — — 2.8333 

1.8 cab = 1 omer (Ex. 16 : 36) — — 5.1 

3.3 oraers = 1 seah (Matt. 13 : 33) 10 1 

3 seahs = 1 ephah (Ezek. 45 : 11) 3 3 

5 ephahs = 1 letech (Hos. 3 : 2) 16 

2 letechs = 1 kor or homer (Num. 40 : 32 ; Hos. 3:2; 32 



N. B. — The above tables will explain many texts in the Bible, especially those which are 
placed within parentheses. They also make the following from Isaiah much more clear: 
" Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an 
ephah." This curse upon the covetous man was that 10 acres of vines should produce 
only 7 gallons of wine, i. e. one acre should yield less than 3 quarts; and that 32 pecks of 
seed should only bring a crop of 3 pecks, or, in other words, nine-tenths of the seed sown 
should die in the ground, and so produce nothing, only one-tenth sprouting up into plants. 



813 



TIME. 



The natural day was from sunrise to sunset. 
The natural night was from sunset to sunrise. 

The civil day was from sunset one evening to sunset the next ; for " the evening and 
the morning were the first day." 



Night (Ancient). 
First watch (Lam. 2 : 19), till midnight. 
Middle watch (Judges 7 : 19), till 3 a.m. 
Morning watch (Ex. 14 : 24), till 6 a.m. 

Night (New Testament). 
First watch (evening) = 6 to 9 p.m. 
Second watch (midnight) = 9 to 12 p.m. 
Third watch (cockcroiv) = 12 to 3 a.m: 
Fourth watch (morning) = 3 to 6 a.m. 



Day (Ancient). 
Morning, till about 10 a.m. 
Heat of day, till about 2 p.m. 
Cool of day, till about 6 p.m. 

Day (New Testament). 
Third hour = 6 to 9 a.m. 
Sixth hour = 9 to 12 midday. 
Ninth hour = 12 to 3 p.m. 
Twelfth hour = 3 to 6 p.m. 



JEWISH MONEY. 

With its value in English and American money; the American dollar being taken as equal to 4s. 2d. 
Jewish. 

A gerah (Ex. 30: 13) 

10 gerahs = 1 bekah (Ex. 38 : 26) 

2 bekahs = 1 shekel (Ex. 30 : 13; Isa. 7 : 23; 

Matt. 17 : 27) 

50 shekels = 1 minah* (Luke 19 : 13), (Heb. lb.) 

60 minahs = 1 talent 

A gold shekel 

A talent of gold 

N. B. — A shekel would probably purchase nearly ten time 
inal amount will now. Remember that one Roman penny (15 cents) was a good day'; 
wages for a laborer. 



English. 


American. 


£ b. d. 


dolls. 


cts. 


— — 1.36 = 




2.73 


— 1 1.68 = 




27.37 


— 2 3.37 = 




54.74 


5 14 0.75 = 


27 


37.50 


342 3 9 = 


1,642 


50 


1 16 6 = 


8 


76 


5,475 = 


26,280 


00 



much as the same nom- 



GREEK AND ROMAN MONEY (Bagster). 

Greek and Roman. American. English. 

dolls, cts. £ s. d. far. 

A mitef (Mark 12:42) = — 00.187 = — — — 0.375 

2 mites = 1 farthing (Kordantes, Quadrans)— 

Roman brass coin = — 00.375 = — — — 0.75 

8 mites = 1 farthing (Greek, as, assarion), 

(Matt. 10 : 29) = — 01.5 = — — — 3.1 

10 farthings (as) = 1 penny (denarius drachma) = — 15 = — — 73 

2 pence = 1 didrachma = — 30 = — 1 32 

4 pence = 1 stater = — 60 = — 2 70 

100 pence = 1 pound (Greek mina) = 15 00 = 3 4 7 

N. B. — Here we learn that — 

Naaman's offering to Elisha of 6000 pieces (shekels) of gold was more than £10,000 = 
$48,000. 

The Debtor (Matt. 18 : 24) who had been forgiven 10,000 talents, i. e. £3,000,000 = 
$14,400,000, refused to forgive his fellow servant 100 pence, i. e. £3 2s. 6d. = $15. 

Judas sold our Lord for 30 pieces of silver, i. e. £3 10s. 8d. = $16.96, the legal value of 
slave if he were killed by a beast. 

Joseph was sold by his brethren for 20 pieces, i. e. £2 7s. = $11.28. 



* The minah or maneh, according to 1 Kings 10 : 17 compared with 2 Chron. 9 : 16, contained 100 shekels; 
but according to one interpretation of Ezek. 45: 12, it contained 60, but more probably 50. The passage reads 
thus: "Twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh." This is variously 
interpreted. (1) 20 + 25 -f 15 = 60. (2) 20, 25, 15 are different coins in gold, silver and copper, bearing the 
same name. It is well to remark the meaning of these names : shekel = simply iveight ; bekah = split, i. e. the 
shekel divided into two ; gerah = a grain, as in our weights, a grain and a barleycorn, the original standard 
weight. Maneh = appointed, equivalent to sterling, a specific sum ; talent = a round mass of metal, i. e. a 
weight or coin. 

t A mite = 1.87 cents (making it half of the Greek farthing, while Bagster makes it half of the smaller 
Roman farthing) ; 2 mites = 1 farthing = 3.75 cents ; 4 farthings = 1 penny = 15 cents. 



814 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 



Abana River 10 

Aboo-Sinibel, Front of Temple at 159 

Acacia 625 

Aceldama 16 

Acrocorinthus 124 

Adrammelech 21 

Ain Lifta 441 

Alabaster Vases 29 

Almond, The 32 

Almug, The 30 

Altar 33 

Amnion Rabbath 36 

Amon 37 

Amphipolis 38 

Anah, Village of. 183 

Anise 41 

Anklets 469 

Antioch 43 

Antioch in Pisidia 522 

Antioch, Tetradrachm of 43 

Antonia, Fortress of. 44 

. Arab Chieftain 48 

Ararat, Mount 50 

Archer, Egyptian 55 

Areopagus, View of. 384 

Ashdod 59 

Ashtaroth, Figure of 60 

Asia, Seven Churches of (Frontispiece). 

Ass, Eastern 61 

Assyrian Quiver and Bows 548 

Athens 64 

Athens, Acropolis at 384 

Athens, Temple of Victory at 65 

Aven, Ruins of 67 

Baalbec, Ruins of. 67 

Balances, Egyptian 74 

Barada River 10 

Bashan, Salcah in 580 

Bashan, View of 77 

Baskets, Egyptian 77 

Battle-axes, Egyptian 55 

Bay, St. Paul's 394 

Beans, Carob 258 

Bear, Syrian 79 

Beards 227 

Beersheba 81 

Bethany 86 

Bethesda, Pool of 87 

Bethlehem 88 

Bethlehem, Star of. 149 

Bethlehem, Tomb of Rachel near 552 

Bethsaida, Site of. 90 

Birs Nimrud 72 

Boar, Wild 656 

Bottles, Eastern Tear 95 

Bozrah, Ruins of 96 

Bracelets 97 

Branches, Olive 464 

Bread, Egyptian 97 

Breastplate 248 

Brick, Assyrian 97 

Brick, Jews and Captives making 98 



PAGE. 



Brick of Nebuchadnezzar 437 

Brickmaking in Egypt 653 

Bulrush 98 

Caesarea Philippi 101 

Caesarea, Ruins of. 101 

Camels 101 

Camphire 103 

Candlestick, Golden 105 

Captain, Roman 56 

Carmel, Mount 108 

Carrier, Arab Water 95 

Cases, Mummy 170 

Castle, Saracenic 528 

Castor and Pollux 563 

Catapult, The 735 

Cattle, Syrian 472 

Cedar 109 

Censers 110 

Centurion 56 

Cerastes, Horned 19 

Chair of State, Assyrian 694 

Chameleon Ill 

Charger Ill 

Chariot, Egyptian Ill 

Cherubim 449 

Chorazin, Ruins of 116 

Coins, Apamean 454 

Coins, Greek, etc 415 

Coins, Jewish 414 

Coins of Archelaus 51 

Coins of Claudius 119 

Coins of Corinth 124 

Coins of Crete 128 

Coins of Cyrene 132 

Coins of Herod Agrippa 1 245 

Coins of Herod Agrippa II 245 

Coins of Herod Antipas 244 

Coins of Macedon 372 

Coins of Philip the Tetrarch 244 

Coins of Titus 245 

Coins, Persian 414 

Coins Struck by Pontius Pilate 519 

Coins to Commemorate Capture of Judea.. 303 

Colocynthus 222 

Colosse 121 

Coney, The 122 

Coriander, The 123 

Corinth 125 

Cormorant, The 126 

Covenant, Ark of. 53 

Crane, The 127 

Crete, View of 128 

Crocodile 357 

Cross, The Way of 302 

Cross, Three Forms of 129 

Crow, The 736 

Crowns 129 

Cypress 132 

Damascus : Abana River 10 

Damascus, East Gate of. 133 

Damascus, Great Mosque at 134 

815 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Damascus, Street called Straight in 135 

Damascus, Wall of 134 

David, Tomb of. 139 

Deer, Fallow 189 

Dials, Ancient 144 

Diana, Ephesian Temple of (Restored) 177 

Diana, Temple of 145 

Diana, Temple of (Neapolis) 436 

Didrachm of Rhodes 564 

Dog, Syrian 148 

Dove 148 

East, Modes of Salutation in the 582 

Ecce Homo, Arch of. 301 

Edom, Approach to 157 

Edom, Tombs at Petra in 157 

Egypt, Nose-jewels worn in 456 

Egyptian Quivers and Bows 548 

Egyptian Women of the Present Day 749 

Elisha, Fountain of. 290 

Emmaus 172 

Engedi, Wilderness of 173 

Ephesians, Diana of the 145 

Ephesus, Ancient 176 

Esdraelon, Plain of. 180 

Eyes, Painted 187 

Fans, Winnowing 190 

Farthing 190 

Figs 193 

Figure, Colossal 396 

Fish-God, The 133 

Fisherman 195 

Flagellum 595 

Flax 196 

Floor, Threshing 24 

Flower, Fennel 195 

Flower, Pomegranate and 527 

Forum, Ruins of. 569 

Fox, Syrian 198 

Frankincense 199 

Galilee, Cana in 104 

Galilee, Fishes of the Sea of 194 

Galilee, Lake of 696 

Galilee, Sea of. 205 

Galley, Roman 623 

Garment, Fringed 159 

Gate, Jaffa.. 299 

Gate, St. Stephen's 299 

Gaza 208 

Gecko, The 191 

Gennesaret 212 

Gerizim, Mount 213, 322 

Gethsemane, Garden of. 214 

Gilboa, Mountains of 217 

Gilead 218 

Gilead, Balm of 74 

Gizeh, Pyramids of. 160 

Goat, Syrian 219 

Gourd, Wild 222 

Grape-gathering 732 

Haifa 108 

Hands, Washing the 736 

Hare 232 

Harp, Egyptian 233, 424 

Hart, The 234 

Hawk, The 235 

Hebron 238 

Hebron, Mosque at 239 

816 



PAGE. 

Heliopolis, Obelisk at 467 

Helmets, Assyrian 55 

Hermon, Mount 243 

Herod, Temple of 683 

Herod's Temple, Plan of 682 

Hezekiah, Pool of 298 

Hippopotamus 82 

Hoe, Egyptian 388 

Holy Sepulchre, Church of 304 

Hooks, Flesh 251 

Hoopoe 343 

Hor, Mount 252 

House, Court of an Eastern 256 

House, Eastern, Battlemented 257 

House of Simon the Tanner 633 

House, Outer Staircase of. 256 

Hyaena 259 

Hyssop 259 

Iconium 261 

Idols, Egyptian 262 

Incense, Altar of 265 

Inn, Eastern 266 

Instruments of Percussion 424 

Instruments, Threshing 23 

Instruments, Wind 425 

Jabbok 273 

Jaffa 319 

Jehoshaphat, Tomb of St. James in Valley 

of. 285 

Jehoshaphat, Valley of 285 

Jericho 290 

Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre 

in 304 

Jerusalem, David's Tomb at 299 

Jerusalem, Golden Gate at 299 

Jerusalem in Time of Christ 295 

Jerusalem in Time of Herod 294 

Jerusalem, Jaffa Gate at 299 

Jerusalem, Site of Solomon's Temple at.... 679 

Jerusalem, Street in 300 

Jerusalem, View of Modern 293 

Jerusalem, Walls of 297 

Jerusalem, Way of the Cross 302 

Jewels, Nose 456 

Juggernaut, The Idol 262 

Kali, Salsola. 641 

Karnak, Avenue of Sphinxes and Propy- 

lsea at 689 

Karnak, Temple at 688 

Kedron, View of. 335 

Kefr-Kenna 104 

Kerazeh, Ruins of. 116 

Kestrel 235 

Key, Egyptian Iron 334 

Khan, Eastern 266 

Khan Minyeh 212 

Lamps 341 

Laodicea 342 

Lapwing 343 

Laver, Brazen 344 

Lebanon, Mountain Range of. 353 

Lebanon, View of. 351 

Lentils 354 

Leopard, Syrian 355 

Lepers 355 

Leviathan 357 

Lilies 360 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



PAGE. 



Lion, Syrian 361 

Lizard 361 

Loaves, Egyptian 97 

Locusts 362 

Loom, Ancient Roman 738 

Machaerus, Site of 373 

Malta 394 

Manasseh, Ruins of Temple of 584 

Mandrake, The 378 

Market, Sparrows in 647 

Mars' Hill, View of 384 

Materials, Pen and Writing 750 

Mattock 388 

Memphis, Serapeium at 395 

Menephthah 506 

Merom 658 

Merom, The Waters of 398 

Miletus 405 

Millet 407 

Mitre 410 

Moab, Mountains of. 412 

Mosque at Hebron 239 

Mosque, Great, at Damascus 134 

Mosque of Omar 305 

Moths, Cloth 420 

Mourning 421 

Mouse, Field 422 

Mugheir, Ruins of Ill 

Mummy Cases 170 

Myrrh 426 

Myrtle 426 

Nain 432 

Naples, Bay of 546 

Nativity, Chapel of 89 

Nazareth 434 

Nazareth, Carpenter's Shop at 230 

Neapolis 436 

Nebo 437 

Nebuchadnezzar, Brick of 437 

Nebuchadnezzar, Cameo of 437 

Nephtoah 441 

Nettle, The 443 

Nineveh 449 

Nisroch 452 

No, Ruins at 688 

Nubia, Temple at 159 

Nuts, Pistachio 457 

Obelisk at Heliopolis 467 

Obelisk at On 467 

Obelisk, Black 286 

Olives, Mount of 465 

Omar, Mosque of 305 

Ornaments 470 

Ornaments, Head 253 

Ostrich, The 470 

Oven, Eastern 471 

Owl 471 

Ox, Wild 721 

Oyster, Pearl 495 

Palestine, Ancient Well in 743 

Palestine, Nettle of 443 

Palestine, Oak of 458 

Palmyra: Ruins at Tadmor 671 

Partridge, Greek 483 

Patmos, Isle of 487 

Peacock, The 495 

Pelican, The 497 

Pentateuch 498 

52 



PAGE. 



Persepolis, Ruins of 501 

Persian Kings, Burial Place of 501 

Persian Lady 502 

Peter and Paul, Portraits of. 489 

Petra, Tombs at 157 

Pharaoh of the Exodus 506 

Pharaoh's Daughter 507 

Philadelphia 509 

Philippi, Ruins at 511 

Philippi, View at 512 

Phylactery, The 199 

Pine, an Eastern 520 

Pisidia, Antioch in 522 

Plant, Mustard 425 

Plough, Eastern 525 

Ploughing, Arab 526 

Pomegranate and Flower 527 

Pool of Siloam 630 

Pool of the Virgin 630 

Porch, Solomon's 681 

Potter, Eastern 530 

Press, Oil 460 

Priest 247 

Priest, Eastern High 532 

Pulliar, Hindoo Idol 263 

Puteoli 546 

Quail, The 548 

Quivers and Bows 548 

Rachel, Tomb of. 552 

Racing 551 

Ram, Battering 553 

Raven 555 

Reed, Papyrus 559 

Rehoboam 560 

Rhodes, Didrachm of 564 

Rings and Signets 565 

River Abana (now Barada) 10 

Roe, Wild 566 

Roll 567 

Roman Captain 56 

Roman Standards 174 

Rome, Arch of Titus at 51 

Rome, Ruins of Forum at 569 

Rome: The Appian Way 571 

Room, Upper 255 

Rue 573 

Sackcloth, Sitting in 577 

Salcah in Bashan 580 

Salutation, Mode of. 582 

Samaria: Ruins of Temple of Manasseh... 584 

Sandals 588 

Sanhedrin in Council 589 

Sardis, Ruins at 590 

Scribes 596 

Scorpion 594 

Scourging 595 

Sea, Dead 599 

Sea, Molten 597 

Sea, Salt or Dead 598 

Seal and Signets 601 

Sennacherib 603 

Sepulchre, Diagram of Jewish 705 

Serapeium 395 

Serpent 606 

Shadoof, Modern 742 

Shechcm 612 

Shechem, Jacob's Well at 275 

Shechem, Mount Gerizim and 213 

J Shechem, Pentateuch at 498 

817 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Sheep, Broad-tailed 614 

Sheepfold, Eastern 615 

Shepherd, Eastern 617 

Shew-Bread, Table of. 619 

Shiloh 620 

Shishak, Head of. 624 

Sidon, Gate of. 764 

Sidon, View of 765 

Signets, Kings and 565 

Siloam 629 

Silver 631 

Simon the Tanner, House of. 633 

Sinai and Plain of Er Rahah 635 

Sinai, Mount 636 

Smyrna 639 

Snail 640 

Soldier in full Armor 54 

Solomon, Pools of. 528 

Sop, Dipping the 645 

Sower, Eastern 646 

Sparrow, Syrian 646 

Sphinx, The 160 

Spikenard 648 

Sponge of Commerce 648 

Standards, Egyptian 649 

Standards, Roman 174 

St. James, Tomb of 285 

Stocks, Ancient 651 

Stone, The Moabite 413 

Stork, The 652 

Street called Straight 135 

Suez, Gulf of 558 

Swallow 655 

Swine, Husks of. 258 

Sychar (Nablus) 612 

Synagogue, Ruins of Jewish 659 

Syria, Antioch in 43 

Tabernacle and Tent 664 

Tabernacle, General View of 665 

Table, Reclining at 389 

Tablets, Writing 752 

Tabor, Mount 432, 670 

Tadmor, Ruins at 671 

Tares 674 

Tarsus 675 

Tell Hum, Site of 106 

Tents, Arab 686 

Teraphim 686 

Thebes, Ruins at 688 

Thebes, Temple at 688 

Thessalonica 691 

Thorn, Assyrian 694 



PAGE. 



Thorn, Palestine 693 

Thyatira 694 

Tiberias and Lake of Galilee 696 

Tiberius, Emperor 697 

Timbrel 698 

Titus, Arch of 51 

Tomb, Herod's, Facade of 707 

Tomb, Joseph's 322 

Tomb of Judges, Facade of 707 

Tomb of Kings, Entrance to 706 

Tomb of Rachel 552 

Tower, David's 299 

Tower, Watch 710 

Towers in the Desert 711 

Tree, Manna 379 

Tree, Olive 460 

Tree, Palm 480 

Tree, Tamarisk 379 

Troas, Site of 713 

Trumpet, Ancient 714 

Tryphon 714 

Tyre, Modern 717 

Tyre, Ruins at 716 

Unicorn 721 

Valley, The Jordan 320 

Vases, Alabaster 29 

Veil 726 

Vetches 195 

Vine 731 

Viper, The 606 

Virgin, Pool of. 630 

Vulture, The 733 

WadyZurka 273 

Washing- Vessels, Eastern 737 

Water-Carrier, Arab 95 

Water-Jars. Stone 529 

Way, The Appian 571 

Well, Jacob's 275 

Wheat, Egyptian 744 

Wine-Press, Egyptian 746 

Women, Eastern 406 

Wood, Shittim 625 

Wood, Thyine 695 

Wormwood 750 

Zarephath 756 

Zechariah, So-called Tomb of. 758 

Zion 296 

Zoan, Ruins at 768 




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